There is talk of regime change in Venezuela. US military aircraft are flying missions out of El Salvador. About 10,000 American troops have amassed in the region, alongside drones, bombers, and half a dozen warships. A US aircraft carrier has left the Mediterranean and is headed to the Caribbean Sea, where US gunships have killed at least 70 “suspected drug smugglers”, essentially civilians, since September.
Latin America has long been the laboratory where the United States installs friendly right-wing autocrats to stamp out the contagion of freedom and revolution before it reaches US shores, and where dictators wear the guise of leftist revolutionaries to oppress their own people. The people organise and fight to get power, only to see their leaders toppled and their dreams and economies shattered.
“Power, they say, is like a violin,” Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano once wrote, recounting an Argentinian joke from the 1970s. “It is held by the left hand and played by the right.”
And so it is in this week’s richly reported lead story from Chile, where a resurgent right wing is seeking to grasp power in the upcoming elections. From Ecuador, we bring you an account of how President Daniel Noboa’s far-right government has unleashed a reign of repression, in part to push through legal changes to allow US military bases on Ecuadorian soil. And from openDemocracy’s office in Uruguay, our Americas editor Diana Cariboni writes of how people’s movements are democracy’s best defence in Latin America.
And on the theme of movements and organising, our podcast this week is an archival interview with legendary American organiser George Goehl on why organising locally matters globally.
Thank you for all your insightful and supportive comments on last week’s immigration edition. As always, reply to this email to leave us your thoughts. | 
