U.N. Authorizes New Military Force to Fight Gangs

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.

The highlights this week: The United Nations approves an enlarged security mission in HaitiChina pushes back against Mexico’s tariff plansand street protests hit Ecuador and Peru.

The international security force stationed in Haiti will soon become more muscular.

A Kenyan-led contingent of police offers that deployed to Haiti in June 2024 has made little progress in pushing back against gangs, which were estimated to control 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in July. On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution to expand the multinational force to also include military troops.

The decision came just before the mandate for the largely U.S.-funded deployment was set to expire on Thursday. The current mission is not U.N.-run, but it has the Security Council’s endorsement.

The mission’s ineffectiveness prompted fierce debate in Latin America and at the Security Council in recent months. Some policymakers argued that it should be beefed up, while others suggested scrapping it in favor of a new approach. Haiti’s interim government called for the former, and the Security Council agreed.

The new “Gang Suppression Force” has a 12-month mandate. It will feature more people and more expansive military powers. The U.N. resolution caps the force at 5,500 personnel, up from its current size of around 1,000. It says forces should be able to detain and “neutralize” gang members rather than just supporting Haitian law enforcement officials.

It also envisions drawing on U.N. funding for the first time, rather than solely relying on direct donations from countries. And it suggests new guidance roles for the U.N., the Organization of American States (OAS), and a strategic steering committee made up of the Bahamas, Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kenya, and the United States.

Many details about the mission are still pending, especially who will pay. But for now, Haitian, U.S., U.N., and OAS officials are exhaling after a dramatic negotiation process. It was unclear until the last minute whether China and Russia would veto the proposal. They ended up abstaining, along with Pakistan, while 12 countries voted in favor and none against.

There was more drama on the road to Tuesday’s vote. Though Washington has now endorsed the OAS as central to the new plan in Haiti, as recently as June U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau questioned the organization’s need to exist in a speech to its members. That had observers worried that the United States could yank OAS funding, as it has for other international bodies.

Trump administration officials have urged the OAS to be more active on Haiti. Newly elected OAS Secretary-General Albert Ramdin has called for the same thing. The organization carried out consultations with Haitian and other Caribbean authorities to publish a road map for “stability and peace in Haiti” in August. Post-stabilization, the road map envisions elections and economic development initiatives.

For now, OAS support for the Haiti mission may have helped preserve Washington’s working relationship with the organization.

Many Haitians’ cautious optimism about the security mission stands in contrast to their concerns about another major U.S. policy change this week. On Tuesday, a two-decade U.S. program that granted Haitian textiles duty-free access to the United States expired.

The United States helped build up Haiti’s textile sector as part of economic aid following a 2010 earthquake. Clothing is now Haiti’s biggest export. But amid U.S. protectionism and partisan gridlock, there was not enough appetite in Washington to renew the duty-free program. Its demise is expected to lead to job losses.

The American Apparel & Footwear Association has urged U.S. lawmakers to renew the program, calling it “mutually beneficial.” The president of the Haiti Industrial Association, Maulik Radia, said young Haitians who might lose work as part of the policy change could be easily recruited into gangs.

“While we appreciate that the [United States] is concerned about security issues in Haiti,” Radia told Bloombergmaintaining the duty-free program “could be the biggest plus for security in the country.”

Sunday, Oct. 19: Bolivia holds a presidential runoff election.

Sunday, Oct. 26: Argentina holds midterm legislative elections.

Petro’s protest escalation. Last week’s U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York allowed Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to move toward de-escalating a multipronged dispute with the Trump administration.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro went the other direction, attending a pro-Palestinian protest where he said U.S. soldiers should disobey President Donald Trump’s orders. Petro also called for an international army to “liberate Palestine.”

The United States revoked Petro’s visa after the incident, citing his “reckless and incendiary actions.” In response, multiple senior Colombian officials said they were renouncing their visas to the United States.

The Petro administration’s relations with the United States and Israel have only worsened in recent days, with Petro saying he will try to amend the Colombia-U.S. free trade deal and end a free trade agreement with Israel. After Israel’s interception of an activist aid flotilla bound for Gaza and detention of two Colombians this week, Petro expelled the remaining Israeli diplomats in Colombia.

After Colombian private sector and civil society groups worked in recent weeks to put a Band-Aid on bilateral relations to maintain U.S. financial aid, Petro appears to be trying to rip it off.

Mexico-China trade probe. China announced a probe into Mexico’s proposed tariffs on goods such as cars, textiles, and steel last week, after the Mexican government said in September that it would put new duties on goods from all countries with which it does not have a trade agreement. China would be one of the most affected countries.

China also announced an anti-dumping investigation into Mexican pecan exports and said it would probe other Mexican trade actions from previous years. Beijing has accused Mexico City of imposing the new tariffs due to U.S. pressure, which Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum denies.

Although some in Mexico’s private sector have voiced apprehension about the tariffs, Sheinbaum may be in a strong position to resist pushback. She just finished her first year in office with a whopping 78 percent approval rating, according to one recent survey, higher than her predecessor at any point in his administration.

New country music. Music from—and about—the plains that stretch across the Orinoco River Basin in north-central Colombia and Venezuela is known as plainsman or Joropo music. These ballads are historically accompanied by a guitar, harp, and maracas and sung by men.

But a new generation of artists is creating variations on the genre, Rolling Stone in Spanish wrote last month.

Some such groups have already catapulted to international fame, such as Lamentationa woman-led group that also draws on Indigenous and Afro-Colombian music in its compositions. There is Psychedelic chimówhich at times mixes joropo with punk, and the Latin Grammy-winning C4 triowhich plays mostly using only one instrument, the four-stringed Venezuelan cuatro.

Even artists from Spain are taking note: Up-and-coming Spanish pop star Judeline embraced the genre, which ethnomusicologists trace to Spanish fandango music, with her single “Joropo.”

Demonstrators clash with riot police during an anti-government protest in Quito, Ecuador, on Sept. 30.Rodrigo Buendia/AFP Viety Images Images

Recent street demonstrations in neighboring Peru and Ecuador have underscored citizens’ simmering grievances with officials in those countries.

Peru’s demonstrators feature a mix of local and international inspiration. Just as self-proclaimed Gen Z protesters have recently filled streets in countries such as Nepal and Moroccoyoung demonstrators reached for the same label in Peru, spraying the letter Z on posters.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has for months had an approval rating of less than 10 percent. Police have raided her home in an anti-graft probe, and she recently faced new public discontent over pension reform.

Many Peruvian activists are wary after police responded with deadly force to countrywide protests in 2022. But Gen Z rallies around the world appeared to provide demonstrators new energy. So, too, did taxi and bus drivers who in recent weeks have called for the government to extend them stronger protection against extortion and then joined the youth marches.

For now, Peru’s protests don’t appear large enough to dramatically alter the country’s politics ahead of next April’s presidential election.

In Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa is far more popular than Boluarte, with a 52 percent approval rating in a recent poll. Demonstrations have for the most part been led by a familiar actor: the country’s federation of Indigenous groups, known by its acronym CONAIE. The federation has demonstrated across the country in recent weeks, opposing an increase in fuel prices; at least one Indigenous demonstrator was killed in the protests.

Noboa said without evidence that the demonstrators were being directed by Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and Ecuadorian authorities blocked the bank accounts of some Indigenous leaders.

However, Noboa’s measures have not immediately quieted unrest in the country. Last weekend, his convoy was hit with Molotov cocktails.