Hello, and welcome back to the Latin America Weekly newsletter. In this issue: the FARC guerrilla group no longer classed as a terrorist organization in the U.S. New data shows the extent of Latin America’s welfare crisis. And Brazilian vaccine donations a pipe dream.
FARC no longer on U.S. terrorism list
Five years after a peace deal between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) put an end to a six-decade internal conflict, a new landmark was reached this week as the U.S. — a key Colombian ally since the Cold War — removed the FARC from its State Department Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
The decision. In a press release, the State Department said it now considered FARC to be “formally dissolved and disarmed” and that it “no longer exists as a unified organization that engages in terrorism or terrorist activity or has the capability or intent to do so.”
- The move opens the door for U.S. officials to cooperate with the now-demobilized group, as well as facilitating commercial and financial activities for its former members — as those who associate with them will no longer be seen as aiding terrorism in the eyes of...