🌟 🇺🇸 🌎 Donald Trump’s king-making has proved to be the kiss of death to decades of Left-wing rule across much of Latin America, with all seven presidential elections won by his allies since he took office.

The new leaders have come to power with mandates centred on free-market economic policies and heavy-handed security tactics – an ideal scenario for a US president wanting to reduce immigration, curb the flow of drugs and get contracts from the region.

Mr Trump has made no secret of his plans to dominate Latin America, backing Right-wing candidates who will give him unfettered access to the mineral-rich countries in return for security guarantees.

John Feeley, the former US ambassador to Panama, said Mr Trump’s eyes were on the continent’s oil and gold. He claimed that the US president would probably send troops to the now US-friendly nations to exert further control and escalate his war on drugs.

“He wants to exert dominance over the Western hemisphere, not for the purposes of creating an alliance-based community of healthy democracies, but for the purposes of commercial exploitation,” Mr Feeley told The Telegraph.

Daniel Noboa, Ecuador’s president, a long-time Trump ally, has already introduced a “strategic alliance” with Erik Prince, the Trump-supporting founder of the paramilitary firm Blackwater, to help him run his war on what he calls narcoterrorism.

He is trying to open up protected lands for mineral exploitation and allow a US military base on the nature-rich Galapagos Islands.

Mr Trump is taking advantage of this shift to the Right. Insiders have told The Telegraph he will be looking at sending in American forces to help tackle the cartels that he says pose a threat to the US.

Despite his public opposition to any US incursion, it is expected that, under a De la Espriella presidency, US forces will be sent into Colombia to raze forests harbouring cocaine production, kill cartel kingpins and battle paramilitary groups hiding in the jungle.

The US now controls Venezuela’s oil production and has signed trade deals with El Salvador, Argentina and Guatemala. It is also examining expansion of access to rare earths and critical minerals in Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

“This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened,” the US state department wrote.

After a successful round of elections, it appears the department was right.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/11/donald-trumps-plan-to-take-over-latin-america

📎 The Telegraph

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — CENTCOM announces concluding a third round of strikes against Iran. 140 targets, including missile, UAV, & ammo sites, naval capabilities, communications networks, and coastal surveillance systems, were struck by United States military aircraft, watercraft, and UAVs.

CENTCOM claims these strikes are intended to degrade's Iran's ability to strike vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

🇻🇪💥 — Video shows buildings collapsing as if they were made of sand during the earthquake that struck Venezuela.

🇺🇸⚡️ — NBC News reports reviewing police scanner audio of emergency personnel responding to cardiac arrest at Lindsey Graham's home. NBC News also reports receiving photos of a person, likely Lindsey Graham, being carried out on a stretcher.

🇷🇺🇯🇵⚡️ — A New York Times investigation says Russia has turned Japan into a major hub for military espionage and sanctions evasion, using weak counterespionage laws and the country’s advanced technology sector to obtain components needed for the war in Ukraine.

At the center of the operation is a secretive Russian military intelligence unit known as the 20th Directorate, whose officers allegedly pose as diplomats or businesspeople to buy, steal, and smuggle sensitive equipment into Russia.

The investigation identifies Maksim Filchenkov, a veteran GRU officer operating under cover as an Aeroflot employee in Tokyo, as a key figure in the network. Western intelligence officials say he has cultivated relationships with logistics companies capable of routing restricted goods through third countries before they reach Russia.

Japan is a particularly valuable target because it is a leading exporter of dual-use technology, including microchips, transmitters, machine tools, and other components used in advanced weapons. One Tokyo-based logistics company linked to Filchenkov denied knowingly moving sanctioned products.

Ukraine and other Western governments have repeatedly warned Tokyo that Japanese components are being recovered from Russian missiles and military equipment used in attacks on civilians. Ukrainian officials sent multiple diplomatic notes containing photographs and lists of Japanese-made circuit boards, semiconductors, and transmitters found in Russian weapons.

🇺🇸⚡️ — President Trump orders all U.S. flags in the United States to fly at half mast for the next six days in honor of Lindsey Graham:

In honor of the remarkable life and achievements of Senator Lindsey Graham, a dear friend of mine, and a truly great man, who achieved so much for our Country, and his beloved Home State of South Carolina, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Saturday evening at 6 P.M. GOD BLESS YOU LINDSEY!

🇺🇸⚡️ — Shortly after his call with Trump on Saturday night, where he briefed him on his recent trip to Ukraine and his Russia sanctions bill, Senator Lindsey Graham complained to another person that he feels unwell but said he would wait until Sunday morning to seek medical attention after his scheduled appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Axios reports.

When urged to get help immediately by the person on the call, Graham joked: "I can't die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out, and do Israeli-Saudi normalization."

He died several hours later.

🇺🇸🇹🇷⚡️ — U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker tells CNN that he thinks the F-35 deal with Türkiye will happen if legal conditions are met, particularly regarding the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.

🇮🇱⚡️ — Israeli elections will be held on October 27, according to Israeli Channel 12.