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Americas Weekly Roundup: Bolsonaro Flight, Cuba Vote, Venezuela

Our Americas weekly roundup: Lula’s win and Flávio Bolsonaro’s flight to Miami, Cuba’s UN vote and blackouts, Venezuela talks and the ELN.

ByPeter
Map graphic of the Americas with Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Haiti highlighted
Graphic: Peter's World; map data: Natural Earth (public domain)

This Americas weekly roundup covers the seven Americas daily reports Peter’s World published from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2026. It pulls the week’s main threads together, then adds our analysis. Each fact appears once, with its source, and the full daily list is at the end.

The week in brief

Brazil: Lula’s win and Flávio Bolsonaro’s flight

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term as Brazil’s president with 51.79% of valid votes against Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.21%, by the electoral court’s final count, the BBC reported. Bolsonaro at first called for the result to be annulled, then dropped the demand and said he would lead the opposition, El País reported. On Oct. 28 he left Brazil for Miami by way of Argentina and Ecuador, defying a Supreme Court order to surrender his passport, O Globo reported. US records allow him to stay until October 2027, g1 reported. Brazil summoned Argentina’s top diplomat in Brasília over his exit through Puerto Iguazú, El Nacional reported. On Nov. 1 Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States did not help Bolsonaro leave Brazil, though President Trump approved his entry, in remarks published by the State Department.

Cuba: a weaker UN majority and a failing grid

The UN General Assembly adopted Cuba’s resolution against the US embargo by 130 votes to 17, with 25 abstentions, UN News reported. More countries sat out the vote after US pressure, the South China Morning Post reported. In the US explanation of vote, Ambassador Mike Waltz said a Cuban diplomat had assaulted an American diplomat during the Oct. 27 session and “will be put on a plane back to Havana,” according to the US Mission to the UN.

At home, Cuba’s grid operator forecast it would meet less than 36% of peak demand on Oct. 26, with 1,030 megawatts available against 2,900 expected, CiberCuba reported. Blackouts of more than 40 hours hit parts of Havana, 14ymedio reported, and state power companies reported 168 Havana circuits without electricity late on Oct. 31, with the country’s largest plant still offline, according to CiberCuba. Trump said Cuba’s government “is not going to last much longer” and called the island “a failed country,” 14ymedio reported.

Venezuela: a roadmap and a new channel

Venezuela’s transition talks set a mid-December target for a new 32-member Supreme Court, a senior State Department official said in a State Department briefing. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez ordered officials to seek the return of about $2 billion in gold held at the Bank of England, El Nacional reported. Venezuela’s new foreign minister, Oliver Blanco, met US chargé d’affaires John Barrett and called the meeting cordial and constructive, according to El Nacional. A US appeals court rejected the administration’s bid in a case over Temporary Protected Status, so the protection for Venezuelans could return on Nov. 6 unless the Supreme Court acts, El Nacional reported.

Colombia, the ELN and regional security

Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella ordered troops into Cúcuta after a mayoral candidate was killed and a bomb near the Venezuelan border wounded six people, El Nacional reported. Colombia also agreed to work with the FBI and Europol on security at its border crossings with Venezuela, according to El Nacional. On the Venezuelan side, a rights group said an unconfirmed army strike on a National Liberation Army (ELN) camp in Apure killed nine to 19 people, El Nacional reported.

Defense leaders from 19 nations drafted a joint campaign plan against drug cartels at a forum in the Dominican Republic, US Southern Command said, in a war.gov news story. In Haiti, El Salvador’s president said his deployment of more than 2,000 troops is a rescue mission, not an invasion, El Nacional reported, and a US diplomat said 600 tons of equipment were flown from Bangladesh to Haiti for the Gang Suppression Force, Infobae reported.

What changed this week

Analysis (Peter’s World’s view): Brazil’s election crisis turned into a diplomatic one. The losing candidate left the country against a court order, and now three governments, Brazil’s, Argentina’s and Washington’s, are answering questions about how. In Venezuela, contact with Washington moved from statements to an in-person meeting with the new foreign minister. Cuba’s position weakened on two fronts at once, in the UN vote and on its power grid.

Why it matters

Analysis (Peter’s World’s view): A defeated presidential candidate living in Miami under a US entry approval will shape US-Brazil relations for as long as he stays. In Cuba, long blackouts plus a shrinking UN majority leave Havana with less help from abroad and less tolerance at home, and street protests over power and water bear watching. Along the Colombia-Venezuela border, troops in Cúcuta, an FBI and Europol deal and a reported Venezuelan strike on the ELN suggest both governments are now acting against armed groups on their shared frontier.

What to watch next week

  • Confirmation, or denial, of the Apure strike, and any ELN response.
  • How the FBI and Europol border deal is put into practice.
  • Havana’s power supply while the largest plant stays offline.
  • Nov. 6: whether TPS for Venezuelans returns or the Supreme Court steps in.
  • Any change in US policy toward Cuba around the Nov. 3 midterms.

This week’s daily reports

For every report in this theater, see the Venezuela, Cuba and the Americas news hub or the War Room dashboard.

Sources

Additional sources

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