☀ Domingo Brief — Ecuador’s Russia Problem

Each Sunday, take two minutes to catch key stories and opportunities shaping Latin America.

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Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! This week, we’re looking at the winner of last week’s Sambadrome in the Rio Carnival, impressive rankings for Mexican beer, Colombia’s new peace process, and more.

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Trivia of the Week

No satisfaction in saying this, but less than half of you (44%) got it right: Nicaragua, not Haiti, is the country that is not in the Organization of American States (OAS). Nicaragua withdrew from the inter-American organization in 2022 following anger that the OAS called out its 2021 election for being an illegitimate sham. The Ortega regime, like its allies in Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia, has long accused the OAS of being a tool for US domination of Latin America.

Each week, tune back in for the answer to the previous week’s trivia question. No cheating!

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🇧🇷 Viradouro won last week’s Sambadrome parade competition at Rio Carnival. The samba school, based out of the Rio suburb of Niterói, won with a perfect score of 270 points, though it is expected to be docked a half-point for excessive number of people in its front commission. Nonetheless, with a sizeable lead the samba school, which had a theme emphasizing the power and grace of black women, has scored its third trophy.

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🇨🇴 Colombia is beginning a peace process with Segunda Marquetalia, a roughly 1.6K-member guerrilla group that split off from the better-known FARC rebel group following the latter’s 2016 demobilization. Forming part of President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan, this beginning of talks coincides with a 6-month ceasefire extension with the much larger ELN rebel group.