Free Republic

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Latin America's political shift toward conservative governments was reinforced this week when Chileans elected far-right politician Jose Antonio Kast for the 2026-2030 term. It was the largest vote total ever recorded in a presidential election there. Chile's result strengthened a regional trend that is reshaping domestic political balances and points to closer political and economic alignment with the United States. Chile became the latest country in the region to deliver an electoral swing by handing victory to the opposition and rejecting the ruling coalition's candidate backed by President Gabriel Boric, a leftist. The outcome reflects a...

TEL AVIV –The Democrat strategist identified as an architect of the social protests currently rocking Israel previously ran the campaign of Bolivia's former president, who was ushered into office amid escalating social protests in that country.After Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada took power in Bolivia in 1985, he quickly implemented an economic "shock therapy" crafted by Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor who sits on the board of an organization literally seeking to reorganize the entire global economic system. That group is the Institute for New Economic Thinking, or INET.Philanthropist George Soros is INET's founding sponsor, with the billionaire having provided...

The Trump administration on Thursday said import taxes on coffee and bananas will be lowered as part of trade deals with four Latin American countries. The agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador come as US President Donald Trump faces scrutiny over his handling of the economy and concerns about affordability. As part of an initial framework, a reciprocal tariff of 10% will stay on goods from Guatemala, Argentina and El Salvador, as will a 15% rax on imports from Ecuador into the US. But the deals will exempt products that cannot be produced in the US "in sufficient...

Over the past year, Hezbollah has faced a growing existential crisis, intensified by the targeted assassinations of senior figures including Fuad Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, Jawad Tawil, and particularly Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Hashem Safi al-Din. Once Iran’s most formidable proxy and a significant strategic actor in the Middle East, Hezbollah now contends with depleted leadership, military setbacks, and mounting international pressure. Does this signal genuine weakening within the Shiite terrorist organization? According to Lebanese sources, Hezbollah is undertaking drastic measures to ensure its survival, notably relocating the families of hundreds of senior commanders to Latin America. Lebanese journalist...

A report from the USDA last year estimated an outbreak of screwworm could cost Texas at least $1.8 billion due to livestock deaths, labor costs and medication.The first human case of the flesh-eating parasite new world screwworm has been detected in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services said early Monday. The case, related to a person who had recently traveled to El Salvador, was confirmed to be screwworm by the CDC on Aug. 4, HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon confirmed to Reuters, who first reported the story. "The risk to public health in the United States...

Argentine President Javier Milei channels his $1 million Genesis Prize into a groundbreaking alliance, bringing Israel closer to Latin America through the newly launched Isaac Accords. In a bold diplomatic move underscoring his unwavering support for Israel, Argentine President Javier Milei has announced the launch of the Isaac Accords – a visionary initiative aimed at boosting cooperation between Israel and Latin American nations

The famous DataRepublican data analyst dropped damaging information she had gathered about Code Pink's connections to the communist Chinese government after the group threatened legal action against her. The database kernel engineer, whose real name is Jennica Pounds, said Wednesday on social media that the group sent her a message accusing her of libel. "We are writing to formally address and correct the false and defamatory statements made in your recent social media posts regarding CODEPINK," the group reportedly wrote. "These claims — which falsely allege that our organization is funded by China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or any...

The most vulnerable nations on Earth are facing a “tidal wave” of debt repayments as a Chinese lending boom starts to be called in, a new report has warned. The analysis, published on Tuesday by Australian foreign policy thinktank the Lowy Institute, said that in 2025 the poorest 75 countries were on the hook for record high debt repayments US$22bn to China. The 75 nations’ debt formed the bulk of the total $35bn calculated by Lowy for 2025. “Now, and for the rest of this decade, China will be more debt collector than banker to the developing world,” the report...

Communist/socialist-inspired groups have been quickly winning converts and taking control of the Democratic Party, at both the national and local levels. Four U.S. communist groups have formed an alliance to take over the Democratic Party at every level. With a combined membership of more than 65,000 and significant financial backing from unions, foundations, and even some churches, the plan is credible and is already well under way. Three of the four groups involved — Communist Party USA (CPUSA), Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS), and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) — are loyal to Beijing, while the fourth...

José Mujica, a member of a Marxist rebel group that terrorized Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s who later became a mainstream politician and one of his country’s most venerated presidents, died May 13 at his home in Rincón de Cerro, in the rural outskirts of Montevideo. He was 89. Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi, a protégé of the former leader, announced the death. Mr. Mujica said in April 2024 that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and that any treatment with chemotherapy and surgery would be complicated by an autoimmune disease he also had. Mr. Mujica, widely known as...

New research from writers and researchers Trevor Loudon and Cliff Kincaid shows that Leon Panetta, the CIA director being considered on Thursday for the position of Secretary of Defense, had a previously undisclosed personal and friendly relationship with Hugh DeLacy, a prominent member of the Communist Party USA. DeLacy visited such countries as China and Nicaragua and was himself a personal contact of identified Soviet spies Solomon Adler and Frank Coe and accused spy John Stewart Service. Panetta spoke at DeLacy’s memorial service, directed a series of letters to him personally as “Dear Hugh,” and placed a tribute to him...

Key names, entities: François Genoud, Shukeiri, Fatah, PLO, PFLP, Yasser Arafat, George Habash [Habbache], Karl van de Put, Johan Schuller, Herald Angelke, [Udo] Otto Albrecht, Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, Gundolf Keller [Köhler], Willi Voss [Pohl], L'oeuvre Francaise, Jean Tireault, Jean Robert Debbaudt, Manfred Roeder [Röder], Volker Heidel. AHMAD SHUKEIRI [SHUKAIRY / SHUQAIRY] AND TACUARA (1962) (his promoting of neo-Nazis at UN, while quoting NYT, which in fact details its Nazism) Recall of Arab Delegate from U.N. is Sought; ‘saluted’ Tacuara December 3, 1962 [PDF] A move for the recall by Saudi Arabia of its permanent representative to the United Nations, Ahmad Shukairy,...

The late Jimmy Carter didn’t come up spontaneously with the idea of giving away the Panama Canal, which America spent blood and gold on and which is an essential part of its national security. Instead, he had Robert A. Pastor, a communist, whispering in his ear. A globalist who desired to merge incrementally the U.S., Mexico, and Canada into a “North American Union” (NAU) along the model of the European Union, Pastor’s intellectual development was rooted in Marxism. Pastor played an instrumental role in the Carter administration’s decision to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. ... In what appears to...

The governments of ten Latin American nations expressed concern over the “threat” of mass deportations under President Donald Trump in a joint statement released over the weekend. Last week, foreign ministers and representatives of Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Venezuela gathered in Mexico City for a “Meeting on Human Mobility on the Northern Route of the Continent,” a joint initiative of the far-left Presidents of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum and Honduras’s Xiomara Castro. According to the Mexican government, which served as the gathering’s host, the meeting sought to discuss actions aimed at “protecting the human...

CrowdStrike Intelligence has since observed threat actors leveraging the event to distribute a malicious ZIP archive named crowdstrike-hotfix.zip. The ZIP archive contains a HijackLoader payload...Notably, Spanish filenames and instructions within the ZIP archive indicate this campaign is likely targeting Latin America-based (LATAM) CrowdStrike customers.

Sheinbaum, 61, is poised to make history as Mexico’s first female president and first Jewish head of state. Polls a week before Mexico’s election show her enjoying a wide lead over the next candidate, the conservative entrepreneur Xóchitl Gálvez. Still, after nearly a quarter-century in the public eye, she remains an enigma, known mainly as the low-key protégé of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the charismatic leader known as AMLO. AMLO doesn’t speak English and dislikes traveling abroad. Sheinbaum did postdoctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley; her sister and daughter live in the United States. The president,...

Socialism always fails! But people still want it. They should listen to Gloria Alvarez.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to Buenos Aires to meet with Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei at an undisclosed date, Milei’s press office said in a statement published on Thursday. According to the statement, Trump held a phone conversation with Milei on Wednesday evening, congratulating Milei on his victory in Argentina’s November 19 presidential runoff election, in which the libertarian economist defeated outgoing socialist Economy Minister Sergio Massa with a nearly 12-point lead. During the conversation, Trump reportedly pointed out that Milei’s victory in Sunday’s election had a “great impact worldwide.” “Trump anticipated that he will travel to the...

This is all over twitter/X now that their TV stations considers Milei the winner. Betting markets are at prohibitive short odds. This is done. I'm happy enough

Mexico City (AFP) – When a dozen Latin American presidents and foreign ministers meet on Sunday in Mexico, they'll face a huge task: finding a solution to migration flows roiling two continents as people make their way to the United States. This year alone, 1.7 million migrants arrived at the Mexican-US border. Immigration is becoming a huge political issue in both nations, which each have presidential elections next year. September alone saw 60,000 migrants arrive in Mexico from Venezuela, along with 35,000 Guatemalans and 27,000 Hondurans, according to the Mexican government. "It is very difficult to be able to manage...