A lot has happened in the region – and the world – since we last wrote to you.

A week ago, we woke to the terrible news that Venezuela had been rocked by two earthquakes, killing over 2,000 people, injuring many more and leaving tens of thousands missing. A tragedy in its own right, it comes on the back of political turmoil following Trump’s illegal abduction of Nicolás Maduro, and the unclear position of interim president Delcy Rodríguez.

The US government has offered help to the people of Venezuela. Will the Trump administration expect something in return? And will the UK and others now release the billions of frozen assets belonging to Venezuela, which could help finance emergency aid and reconstruction? The Disasters Emergency Committee has recently opened an emergency appeal which you can donate to here. Our thoughts are with the Venezuelan people at this time.

This month’s newsletter takes a Brazil focus. We travel first to Belém – host city of November’s global COP climate conference – to examine how the eco-city seen by international delegates conceals a hidden reality of inequality. Elsewhere, we explore Brazil’s hunger paradox – why are plates empty in a nation which produces so much food? This and more in our Brazil section – and before we go, we also take a look at the far right’s presidential win in Colombia, as well as how politics and football are clashing as the World Cup comes to Mexico City.

Join us in planning LAB’s future

Next year, LAB turns 50! As we look back at the last half-century of reporting, we also turn our attention to the future. LAB relies on a bank of over 180 volunteers to research, write, translate and publicise our stories – but it has been directed by a smaller number of long-standing council members. The council would like to involve and hand over to a younger cohort of writers and researchers to take LAB into the future – and we’d love you to be part of that transition.

If you would like more information and to find out how you can get involved, please email volunteer@lab.org.uk Let us know if you would like to join the discussion on our LABFuture WhatsApp group.

Focus on Brazil

Two Beléms

Shaped by European elites profiting from the rubber trade, Belém has been a city of two halves for well over a century. COP30 has done nothing to change that. The promise of an environmentally resilient host city was a para inglês ver – something done for appearances. In this post first published by LAB partner Amazônia Latitude in the run-up to COP, and translated for us by Stanton Geyer, we look at how old inequalities repeat.

The Amazon hunger paradox

We live in an age of abundance – no better example of which is Brazil’s booming agricultural industry. So why do 33 million Brazilians live in severe food insecurity? Brazil illustrates that hunger is not a problem of production, but of unequal distribution under a system based on profit rather than human need. This post – originally published in Amazônia Latitude and translated for LAB by Stanton Geyer – looks at how this plays out on a human level in Brazil.

Fishing for recognition

Brazil’s marétorios are traditional maritime territories where locals live harmoniously with the sea, estuaries, mangroves and islands which sustain them. Yet these areas are threatened by top-down ‘Marine Spatial Planning’, which could see tourism and energy encroach on traditional ways of life – while locking communities out of decision-making processes. In another piece from Amazônia Latitude translated for us by Stanton, we look at what fishing communities are doing to demand recognition of the marétorios.

30 years since the Eldorado massacre

2026 marks three decades since 19 rural workers were murdered by military police in Eldorado do Carajás, southeastern Pará. This crime occurred during the post-dictatorship ‘New Republic’ period, when armed police confronted landless workers marching for agrarian reform. Maria Zelzuita, who was in the firing line, describes how police opened fire on the demonstrators, under instruction to get the workers ‘off the road by any means possible’. This piece, originally published in Sumaúma and translated for LAB by Theodora Bradford, follows the workers’ long struggle for justice.

Who’s really in charge?

June saw the election of the far-right Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia’s presidential elections. The 47-year-old Trump-endorsed businessman beat his leftist rival by just 250,000 votes, and his victory threatens to bring an end to the progressive, pro-environmental policy agenda of the outgoing president Gustavo Petro. Charli McMackin talked to LAB author and Latin America expert Jenny Pearce to discuss the likely consequences of the far-right win – and who really holds power in Colombia.

⚽ What we’re listening to…

And if you thought we’d forgotten that Mexico is co-hosting the World Cup, I wanted to share a fascinating bit of listening with you. Mexico Solidarity Media’s Soberanía podcast – which presents Mexican news and analysis from a grassroots leftist perspective – recently discussed the ongoing teachers’ protest in Mexico City. What are the teachers’ legitimate demands? And how is the right cynically exploiting the protests to undermine Claudia Sheinbaum’s leftist Morena government? You can find the episode here – happy listening!

And a reminder – if you value our newsletter and our wider reporting here at LAB, we would love you to get involved in the future direction of our organisation. Please email volunteer@lab.org.uk for more details and let us know if you would like to join our LABFuture WhatsApp group.

Thanks from me and everyone here at LAB!

Jamie and the LAB team