Latinoamerica 21Una región, todas las voces

The study of Chinese influence in Latin America has undoubtedly focused on the economic and trade relations between the Asian giant and the countries of the region. While there is a considerable body of research on, for example, China’s soft power, analyses of the country’s political and institutional influence in the region are less common. Among Beijing’s instruments of political internationalization are people-to-people diplomacy, Chinese paradiplomacy, and the multilateral engagement of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Latin America through forums such as the China-CELAC Forum and its various subforums, which facilitate exchanges with media outlets, think tanks, political parties, and civil society sectors. These mechanisms, which in democratic countries function as vehicles of sharp power, acquire particular significance in their interaction with non-democratic regimes. In Central America, the cases of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras—classified by V-Dem respectively as a closed autocracy, an electoral autocracy, and a gray-zone electoral democracy—illustrate...

In a world shaped by fragmentation and uncertainty, Global South economies developed a degree of trade flexibility that is now becoming a model for the traditional powers.

The photograph that never appeared revealed the true power behind Leo XIV’s visit to Spain: the Vatican’s ability to construct meaning even through absence.