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Latin America & Caribbean
La crisis... en MÚSICA! 🎤🇻🇪 Trump, Maduro, Xi, y Putin nunca sonaron mejor // never sounded better! #puppetregime
Watch more videos from PUPPET REGIME aqui!
Palestinians walk in the rain at a makeshift camp in Gaza City, on Nov. 25, 2025.
20,000-25,000: As part of his vision for Gaza, US President Donald Trump is drawing on his background as a real estate guy, with plans to build a number of temporary residential compounds for Palestinians in eastern Gaza, each of which would house as many as 20,000-25,000 people. The aim is to entice Gazans sheltering elsewhere in the strip to move back to the area, which they were driven out of by the Israeli military. Officials say the first compound won’t be ready for months.
$40 billion: Taiwan will boost defense spending by $40 billion in order to face down the persistent threat from China, which considers the self-governing island part of its own territory. The US, which backs Taiwan, has called on Taiwan to fund more of its own military. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly discussed Taiwan this week. Meanwhile, for more on the rising tension between China and Japan over Taiwan, see our recent report here.
13: At least 13 people have died after a fire tore through a group of apartment buildings in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Hundreds of firefighters are at the scene seeking to quench the blaze. The cause remains unclear, but the buildings were enveloped in bamboo scaffolding, which the government had started to phase out in March over safety concerns.
46%: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would win in any plausible matchup in the 2027 presidential election, according to a new poll. In a face-to-face with São Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, Lula would win 46%, while the man widely considered the right-wing heir to former President Jair Bolsonaro would win 39%. The jailed Bolsonaro remains the kingmaker of the Brazilian right.
2: Cheers to this, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will open two more liquor stores for foreigners, one each in Jeddah and Dhahran. Last year they opened one in the capital, Riyadh as part of a wider modernization drive that is meant to bring more foreign tourists and workers into the country. Name us a cocktail! The Jeddah Julip? The Dhahran Daiquiri? Let us know your proposal, we’ll publish the best ones next week.
He says the strongest pushback is coming “on the international front,” where Trump's leverage is proving weaker than expected.
China is the clearest example. After aggressive tariffs and export controls, Beijing “called America’s raise” and now has Trump moving toward approving advanced Nvidia chip sales in exchange for easier access to critical minerals.
Brazil is also pushing back, despite sweeping US tariffs tied to former president Bolsonaro’s imprisonment.
The big wild card: a looming Supreme Court ruling that could limit Trump’s authority on tariffs.
Former US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story warns that removing Maduro would be the easy part—what comes next is the real challenge.
In this clip from Ian Bremmer’s interview with former US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story, the two discuss the risks and realities of a possible regime change in Caracas. While the Maduro government is increasingly isolated and unpopular, Story cautions that the collapse of the regime would only be the beginning of a much larger crisis.
“For 25 years, the institutions in that country have been systematically destroyed,” Story says, adding that Venezuela has become a failed state teeming with criminal organizations like the ELN, Hezbollah, and the Tren de Aragua. Any transitional government, he argues, would have to rely on a military that has long been complicit in repression and corruption. “The easy part would be getting rid of Maduro,” Story says. “The hard work happens after that.”
Drawing on lessons from past US interventions in Iraq, Libya, and Haiti, Story urges careful planning and warns against dismantling institutions too quickly. If the US plays a role in removing Maduro, he says, it must also take responsibility for what comes next: “You break it, you fix it.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
- Regime change in America’s backyard? ›
- Is Trump aiming for regime change in Venezuela? ›
- Can Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado unseat Nicolás Maduro? ›
- Is the US about to invade Venezuela? ›
- Trump wouldn't actually invade Venezuela...would he? ›
- New Venezuela talks: Maduro won, so what’s there to talk about? ›
- Trump’s risky Venezuela strategy, explained ›
If the US does intervene in Venezuela, former US Ambassador James Story explains why the real battle begins after boots hit the ground.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sits down with Ambassador James Story, former US envoy to Venezuela, to examine one of the most urgent questions in US‑Latin America policy: could Washington go to war with Caracas? With US naval assets and aircraft carriers now stationed off the Venezuelan coast and President Trump declining to rule out deploying troops, Story says regime change is only the beginning.
“The easy part would be getting rid of Maduro,” Story says. “The hard work happens after that.” With lawlessness, paramilitary control, narco‑trafficking networks and a collapsed economy, Venezuela is broken. Story warns: “How do you trust any part of a government whose sole purpose was keeping a criminal organization functioning?”
Even if opposition leaders like María Corina Machado or Edmundo González take power, how do you rebuild faith in a government that, for decades, served only to protect a criminal enterprise? “You’re going to need the military,” Story says, “but it’s the same military that’s been keeping Maduro in power.”
The bigger question? If the US plays a role in removing Maduro, who takes the lead on what comes next—and how much are Americans really willing to take on?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube.Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
- Regime change in America’s backyard? ›
- Is Trump aiming for regime change in Venezuela? ›
- Can Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado unseat Nicolás Maduro? ›
- Is the US about to invade Venezuela? ›
- Trump wouldn't actually invade Venezuela...would he? ›
- Trump’s risky Venezuela strategy, explained ›
The Trump administration is ramping up pressure on Venezuela, with the USS Gerald R. Ford deployed to the region, CIA covert operations approved by the White House, and strikes on suspected narco‑trafficking vessels attributed to Caracas. Many analysts now see regime change as the ultimate goal. On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer and former US Ambassador James Story game out what a US intervention in Venezuela might look like—and more importantly, how the US would manage the aftermath.
Story points out that while removing Nicolás Maduro may sound feasible, rebuilding Venezuela’s institutions, economy and social fabric would be far harder. “The country is a failed state,” he says. “You’re going to need the military to help you secure peace while you rebuild.” As Washington talks of sanction relief and diplomatic pressure, Story asks: does the US have the capability, resources or will to stay for the long haul?
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published
In the latest “Ian Explains,” Bremmer traces the US invasion of Panama in 1989. He then asks: how is Venezuela different?
Well, it's bigger, more oil‑rich, more chaotic. With recent US deployments at sea and covert operations inside Caracas, the risk of escalation is real. While regime change may be tempting, Bremmer reminds us that the success of an intervention depends not just on toppling a leader, but on what comes next.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.