At least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Saturday, a police source told Reuters, in violence authorities have blamed on dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group.
The attack took place on the Pan-American Highway in the El Tunel area of Cajibio municipality, about 35 km (22 miles) from Popayan, the capital of Cauca province, according to authorities.
Cauca Governor Octavio Guzman said on X the attack was one of several criminal actions reported in the province on Saturday.
&#8220;Cauca cannot continue to face this barbarity alone. We are facing a terrorist escalation that demands immediate responses. We demand forceful, sustained and effective action from the national government in the face of the grave public order crisis we are experiencing,&#8221; he added.
Presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party who is from Cauca, called the attack &#8220;terrorism&#8221; carried out by the dissident FARC faction, which rejected a 2016 peace deal.
&#8220;President Gustavo Petro&#8217;s government cannot continue minimizing the violence or dismantling the state,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We demand immediate action, full backing for our Armed Forces and police, and concrete results.&#8221;
Petro, a former rebel himself whose term as president is nearing an end, has pursued a &#8220;total peace&#8221; policy with guerrillas through negotiations and intermittent ceasefires.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta and Diego Ore; Editing by Alistair Bell, Rod Nickel)

Colombia

Explosives Attack In Colombia Kills Over A Dozen

Crime

Explosion

South America

World

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Latin American leaders to Florida on Saturday to launch a new coalition against drug cartels, telling officials their countries had allowed gangs to seize territory and joking that he had no time to learn their languages.
Trump framed the effort as an aggressive campaign to confront drug cartels, citing them as a primary reason for ramping up U.S. involvement in Latin America, including a pressure campaign against Venezuela that culminated in the January capture of President Nicolas Maduro. At one point, Trump suggested the United States could use missiles against cartel leaders if partners requested it.
He also singled out Mexico as the center of cartel activity and predicted major political change in Cuba, saying the country was &#8220;very much at the end of the line&#8221; and repeating previous statements that Cuban officials are negotiating with him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
At least a dozen leaders from Central America, South America and the Caribbean joined the &#8220;Shield of the Americas&#8221; summit, where Trump signed a proclamation launching the coalition.
&#8220;Leaders in this region have allowed large swaths of territory in the Western Hemisphere to come under the direct control of transnational gangs, and they&#8217;ve run areas of your country,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;We&#8217;re not gonna let that happen.&#8221;
In an opening speech that ran more than 30 minutes, Trump also touched on topics far beyond drug cartels, including Iran, Ukraine, Pakistan and India, political endorsements, Dominican sugar, building battleships, and the importance of interpreters.
Trump joked about language differences between himself and the mostly Spanish-speaking group of leaders. &#8220;I&#8217;m not learning your damn language,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t have time.&#8221;
Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, later delivered brief remarks in English and Spanish, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed Trump&#8217;s stance.
&#8220;I only speak American,&#8221; Hegseth joked.
Trump has pushed to build a coalition of regional partners around a more forceful approach to combating drug cartels and organized crime. Saturday&#8217;s event also gave him an opportunity to project strength closer to home as the war with Iran escalates and threatens to push up global oil and gas prices.
Earlier in the day, Trump said Iran would be &#8220;hit very hard&#8221; on Saturday and that he was considering widening the areas and groups of people targeted, without providing details.
Among those who attended the summit were Argentine President Javier Milei, Chile&#8217;s President-elect Jose Antonio Kast and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whose gang crackdown, criticized by human rights groups, has become a model for parts of Latin America&#8217;s right.
Politicians from across the region have toured Bukele&#8217;s sprawling &#8220;mega-prison&#8221;, where the United States last year deported more than 200 Venezuelans without trial.
Also in attendance was Honduran President Nasry Asfura, who narrowly won a disputed election with Trump&#8217;s backing, and Ecuador&#8217;s President Daniel Noboa, who has echoed parts of Trump&#8217;s economic agenda and recently announced joint operations with the U.S. in a military crackdown on drug trafficking.
Many of the leaders share Trump&#8217;s hardline view of crime and migration, favoring crackdowns over deeper social fixes and private business over the state. Their rise reflects a broader rightward turn in parts of Latin America at a time when the region is being pulled between Washington and Beijing.
Trump did not mention China specifically but warned that the United States would not allow &#8220;hostile foreign influence&#8221; to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, including in the Panama Canal, a key global freight route.
The comments, while not explicit, come as Washington increasingly views Latin America through the lens of strategic competition with Beijing.
China’s trade with the region reached about $518 billion in 2024 and Beijing has extended more than $120 billion in loans to governments across the Western Hemisphere, according to Ryan Berg of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China’s growing footprint — from satellite tracking facilities in Argentina to a Chinese-backed port in Peru and economic support for Venezuela — has long troubled U.S. officials.
In response, the Trump administration has pressed governments across the region to curb Beijing’s role in ports, energy projects and other strategic infrastructure.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Miami, Florida, David Brunnstrom in Washington and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington and Natalia Siniawski in Mexico City, Editing by Sergio Non, Himani Sarkar, Alex Richardson and Alistair Bell)

Donald Trump

Trump Launches New America-Led Security Push To Crush Cartels, Counter China

Communist China

Drug Cartels

Global Politics

President Javier Milei’s economic revolution represents more than a policy pivot; it’s a moral restoration of economic freedom in a country long suffocated by political patronage and false populism.
For over half a century, Argentina sabotaged its own potential through destructive experiments in statism. Now, at last, a government in Buenos Aires is aligning economic reality with moral clarity: wealth is created by entrepreneurs, not bureaucrats.
This return to first principles is rekindling optimism not only among Argentines but across a region desperate for proof that markets and democracy still deliver shared prosperity.
One crucial reform remains for President Milei: fulfilling his campaign promise to replace the discredited peso with the U.S. dollar, which would slay the inflation dragon once and for all. Other Latin American nations have successfully done this.
This weekend, President Milei will join <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/world/trump-to-host-latin-american-leaders-including-milei-in-miami-on-march-7.phtml__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!1lj03JOV51ushNRZ8I6bEicd-MCjFM8_7oSRvGjC-ZdxY1yQmBNK7tvJUriYzI4RmGou_Pok0uqJL1psbIsm4g$">President Donald Trump in Miami</a>, where several Latin American leaders will discuss a renewed hemispheric push for pro-growth cooperation. The very fact that Argentina now sits at such a table signals how far it has come in restoring credibility. A nation once dismissed as ungovernable is suddenly at the center of regional attention, reminding the world that bold ideas grounded in free markets can reshape national destiny. The discussions will also test whether Argentina can sustain reform momentum amid political resistance at home.
Shortly afterward, Milei&#8217;s administration will host “<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://x.com/ArgMilei/status/1992720098612940853?s=20__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!1lj03JOV51ushNRZ8I6bEicd-MCjFM8_7oSRvGjC-ZdxY1yQmBNK7tvJUriYzI4RmGou_Pok0uqJL1qR77feuw$">Argentina Week</a>“ in New York, showcasing opportunities for American investment in energy, agriculture, and finance. The symbolism is powerful: Buenos Aires is stepping out of its long isolation and back into a world governed by trust and transparency. For many investors who had written off Argentina years ago, this gathering marks the ultimate test of Milei’s reforms under political and legal scrutiny that past regimes failed. Clear progress will bring capital home, along with the modern infrastructure, technology, and competition needed to reinvigorate Argentina’s middle class and stabilize its currency.
Markets, however, are built on trust, not slogans. The outcome of the <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-08/argentina-ordered-to-pay-at-least-8-4-billion-in-ypf-lawsuit__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!1lj03JOV51ushNRZ8I6bEicd-MCjFM8_7oSRvGjC-ZdxY1yQmBNK7tvJUriYzI4RmGou_Pok0uqJL1rXv1ks2w$">Petersen v. Republic of Argentina</a> case — a $16 billion judgment tied to the Peronism-driven seizure of the energy company YPF — will test Argentina’s commitment to the rule of law. YPF’s nationalization back in 2012 was another failed experiment of Argentina’s Peronist past – one that resulted in major fallout for American investors. If the government honors that judgment and turns this costly dispute into a milestone of legal redemption, it would signal that the old habits of expropriation are truly over.
Refusing to honor that decision would risk undermining the very revival Milei seeks. It would chill investment just as confidence begins to return and cast doubt on Argentina’s reliability as a trading and financial partner. Upholding accountability, by contrast, would not only calm financial markets but also energize entrepreneurs at home, eager to build without fear of arbitrary intervention. It would confirm to foreign investors that Argentina’s new age of reform is anchored in institutions, not personalities.
The United States has already shown its faith in Argentina’s reform course. President Trump‘s $20 billion swap line was more than financial aid — it was a vote of confidence that free people and free markets can succeed where socialism failed. That confidence, however, will last only if Argentina maintains predictable legal and economic rules.
Milei has shown rare determination by slashing spending, ending price controls, and dismantling the bureaucracies that choked private enterprise. But lasting success depends on consistency: clear rules, sound money (hence the need for dollarization), and dependable institutions. Property rights are the oxygen of capitalism. When governments confiscate, investment dies. When they keep their word, growth flourishes.
The temptation to cut corners in the name of short-term relief always lurks nearby. But the only sustainable path forward is steady adherence to economic liberty and institutional reliability. The meetings in Miami and New York offer the ideal stage for Milei to affirm those values — and to show that Argentina’s new direction is not a passing wave but a permanent shift in national character.
If Argentina stays this course — resolving old debts, deepening ties with the United States, and proving that freedom and responsibility are inseparable — it can once again become a beacon of prosperity in the Western Hemisphere. The world is watching, and this time Argentina has a real chance to prove that freedom works.
* * *
Steve Forbes is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Javier Milei Opens 2026 Legislative Sessions

STEVE FORBES: Argentina’s Reinvention Depends On Faith From Free Markets

STEVE FORBES: Argentina's Reinvention Depends On Faith From Free Markets

Argentina

Economics

finance

Free Market

Miami

New York City

Opinion

US dollar

The U.S. and Ecuador carried out a joint operation targeting drug trafficking operations in the South American country, authorities in both countries said on Friday, with the U.S. calling the move &#8220;lethal kinetic operations.&#8221;
Neither the U.S. Southern Command, a branch of its military that oversees forces in Latin America, nor Ecuador&#8217;s defense ministry, said if anyone was killed or captured in the strike, which Ecuador dubbed operation &#8220;Total Extermination.&#8221;
The operations used helicopters, aircraft, river boats and drones to locate and bomb a drug traffickers&#8217; training camp in north-east Ecuador near the Colombian border, Ecuador&#8217;s defense ministry said in a statement.
The camp belonged to the Comandos de la Frontera (CDF), a Colombian crime group made up of FARC dissidents, and had a capacity for 50 people, it added.
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa has made a military crackdown on organised crime a cornerstone of his administration, and his government imposed tariffs on its larger neighbor Colombia, accusing it of not doing enough to fight drug trafficking.
He is set to travel to Miami this weekend to take part in the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;Shield of the Americas&#8221; summit, which brings together many right-wing leaders across the region with a focus on regional security and organized crime.
&#8220;The United States is a key ally in this fight,&#8221; the defense ministry said.
&#8220;At the request of Ecuador, the Department of War executed targeted action to advance our shared objective of dismantling narco-terrorist networks,&#8221; Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X.
The operation followed a similar U.S-Ecuadorean operation announced by the U.S. Southern Command earlier this week.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington, Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Martinez and Diane Craft)

Ecuador Military

U.S., Ecuador Bomb Drug Trafficker Camp Near Colombia Border, Militaries Say

Ecuador

WASHINGTON — Days after President Donald Trump warned that he was open to another military operation in Colombia, President Gustavo Petro was ringing the White House with explanations and promises of a visit to Washington, D.C.
Petro&#8217;s call followed Saturday&#8217;s unprecedented midnight raid in Venezuela, wherein the United States captured Venezuela&#8217;s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and brought them back to New York to face American justice.
The next day, aboard Air Force One, President Trump told reporters of Colombia: &#8220;Colombia is very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.&#8221;
&#8220;He&#8217;s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,&#8221; the president predicted, and asked if the United States would conduct an operation against Colombia, he responded: &#8220;It sounds good to me!&#8221;
Petro initially released a statement on the raid in Venezuela on Sunday slamming Trump for his criticisms and arguing that his name &#8220;does not appear in the judicial files on drug trafficking over 50 years, neither from before nor from the present.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1024811" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-threats-from-trump-colombian-president-rings-the-white-house/colombia-venezuela-us-conflict-crisis" rel="attachment wp-att-1024811"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1024811" class="wp-image-1024811 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2254524553-865x576.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2254524553-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2254524553-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2254524553-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2254524553.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" /></a>Colombia&#8217;s President Gustavo Petro sings the national anthem during the March for Sovereignty and Democracy against US President Donald Trump&#8217;s threats to Petro at Bolivar Square in Bogota on January 7, 2026. (Photo by Luis ACOSTA / AFP via Getty Images)</div>
But on Wednesday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social and shared that he had received a call from Petro.
&#8220;It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,&#8221; the president shared.
&#8220;I appreciated his call and tone,&#8221; Trump continued, &#8220;and look forward to meeting him in the near future. Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Foreign Minister of Colombia. The meeting will take place in the White House in Washington, D.C.&#8221;
During Wednesday&#8217;s White House press briefing, The Daily Wire asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the president&#8217;s threats to Colombia, and whether Petro should expect a visit from Delta Force.
&#8220;That would be a very unwise question for me to answer,&#8221; Leavitt responded.

President Trump, With Secretaries Of Navy And War, Makes An Announcement From His Mar-a-Lago Resort In Florida

After Threats From Trump, Colombian President Rings The White House

White House

Something crucial happened with President Trump’s actions in Venezuela.
President Trump substantively killed the Iraq syndrome.
The Iraq syndrome arose in Americans&#8217; minds concerning our role in the world after the failure of the Iraq War and the subsequent occupation.
You have to go back in history to understand this. In the aftermath of the disastrous Vietnam War, America&#8217;s foreign policy establishment fell into disarray. According to a lot of experts, the Vietnam War hadn&#8217;t been lost because of a combination of terrible war strategy and domestic discontent, they argued. Instead, the new conventional wisdom said the Vietnam War never should have been fought in the first place. Not only that, but America had to fundamentally rethink its role in the world.
The new conventional wisdom suggested that the United States should stop engaging in aggressive foreign policy in its own interests. Instead, the United States ought to pursue a more dovish or isolationist foreign policy in order to avoid quagmires. This conventional wisdom came to be known as Vietnam syndrome.
Undergirding the Vietnam syndrome was a thinly veiled anti-Americanism; the belief that America was not good, but a malign force on planet Earth. Former Princeton professor Richard Falk said at the time, “I love the Vietnam syndrome because it was the proper redemptive path for American foreign policy to take after the Vietnam defeat.”
In other words, America was guilty, as we learned in Vietnam, and now we ought to withdraw from the world and acknowledge our guilt.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2340-the-ben-shapiro-show?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
But the Vietnam syndrome in the real world came with serious costs. The world without a strong America is a far worse world. An America dedicated to self-castration on the international stage ushered in the Cambodian genocide, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran, among other foreign policy tragedies.
By the mid-80s, Ronald Reagan had decided that it was time for America to move beyond the Vietnam syndrome. In 1983, the Reagan administration intervened to depose a Marxist government in Grenada, a successful intervention that cost few American lives and restored that small island nation to freedom. And just a few months later, Reagan&#8217;s defense secretary, Caspar Weinberger, spelled out six standards to be met prior to a military intervention.
1) A vital interest had to be at stake. 
2) The United States had to be prepared for outright victory. 
3) America needed to have clear political and military goals. 
4) America had to be willing to adjust its strategy continuously. 
5) Public support had to be maintained. 
6) All other options had to be exhausted. 
The Reagan administration and the subsequent George H. W. Bush administration ended the Vietnam syndrome with the Weinberger Doctrine in 1989.
The United States intervened in Panama to arrest dictator Manuel Noriega, restoring democracy to that nation. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush initiated Operation Desert Storm to eject Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. That intervention was specifically designed to fulfill Caspar Weinberger’s criteria.
And so the Vietnam syndrome was basically dead.
Then came the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan, which revived it.
Both wars began with specific missions. The Afghanistan War was designed to depose the Taliban regime and prevent the installation of another regime friendly to al-Qaeda. The Iraq War was designed to get rid of Saddam Hussein. Both of those objectives were achieved in the early going, but then the aftermath in both countries turned into an exercise in large-scale nation building, a project that lasted years and cost over $1 trillion and the blood and lives of thousands of American troops.
Ever since, critics of American foreign policy have basically revived the Vietnam syndrome in the form of an “Iraq syndrome,” the idea that every single conflict in which the United States is involved must or will become Iraq — not, contra the usual definition, a justified skepticism of intelligence findings, or fear of nation building — but a full-scale restoration of the Vietnam syndrome: Every single foreign policy intervention is supposed to become Iraq or Afghanistan.
You hear this repeated ad nauseam from the horseshoe Left and the horseshoe Right.
Unsurprisingly, just as with the Vietnam syndrome, the Iraq syndrome ushered in a period of American retreat and international chaos, predominantly led by Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Withdrawal from Iraq led to the rise of ISIS under Barack Obama, Iranian proxies around the region grew, and that eventually resulted in the cataclysm of October 7, 2023.
Joe Biden&#8217;s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers and prompted, at least in part, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. China looked at the United States and the world and decided that it was going to spread its tentacles throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
But now, on the tail end of Joe Biden&#8217;s catastrophic foreign policy presidency, an Iraq syndrome presidency, just as Ronald Reagan once did, President Trump has now put the Iraq syndrome to bed.
Trump has done so with what could be called the “Trump Doctrine.” That&#8217;s a term that I defined back in November 2024 with the following criteria: First, America&#8217;s interests are paramount, and they include a lot of things, from freedom of the seas to the strength of American allies in contentious regions, to U.S. oil interests. Second, America&#8217;s interests must be carefully calibrated to our investment in them. Big interest means big investment, small interest, smaller investment. Third, all measures and means necessary to achieve America&#8217;s interests are on the table, from diplomacy to military interventionism. And fourth, all of this should be made very public all the time. The threat should be on the table. The threat of the gun should always be on the table.
President Trump has done this. I said this was his doctrine in November 2024. In the last year, he has done it twice. First, he did so with the June 22, 2025, B-2 strikes on Iran&#8217;s nuclear reactor at Fordow, reestablishing America&#8217;s deterrence power in the Middle East, reshaping the geopolitics of the region in dramatic fashion.
Despite all of the caterwauling from his supposed allies declaring that World War III would break out because they had been captured by Iraq syndrome, President Trump moved ahead. President Trump has done the same with the ouster of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
In pursuing these actions, Trump has reestablished American deterrence globally. He&#8217;s made clear America&#8217;s enemies are on notice — FAFO — and he&#8217;s demonstrating that such action doesn&#8217;t need to lead to a quagmire or to a full-scale, nation-building exercise draining America&#8217;s attention and resources.
The Iraq syndrome should be dead. If it is, it died at the hands of President Trump.
America is indeed once again feared on the global stage, which is an incredible accomplishment given where we were just one year ago.
This is what many of us voted for.
At least those of us who actually would like to make America great again in the world.

President Trump Returns To The  White House After Spending Holidays In Florida

Masterstroke: Trump’s Venezuela Coup Ends The Iraq Syndrome 

Ben Shapiro

Foreign Policy

George H.W. Bush

Nicolas Maduro

Ronald Reagan

Venezuela

Vietnam

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) believes Congress could soon play a larger role in the actions taken by the Trump administration against Venezuela.
Biggs spoke with The Daily Wire’s AmericaFest pre-show to discuss the recent actions against the South American nation and what it means in terms of border anti-drug policies as a border state lawmaker.
“Where we’re heading is Venezuela, effectively, has declared a narcoterrorist drug war on the United States of America. And we are engaged right now in trying to prevent them from getting to our country, and we’re trying to leverage, quite frankly, economically for Maduro to basically say, &#8216;Okay, we’re done being an exporter of narcoterrorism,&#8217;” he said.
Recently, the United States government has seized oil tankers with ties to the South American country, as Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro has not ceded power.
“Until he’s willing to do that, you’re going to see some action, and my guess is you’re going to see Congress be much more involved in this come January,” Biggs said.
When asked if there should be a formal declaration of war from Congress, he said, “The checklist that has to be gone through before there can be any kind of an attack on them, a kinetic attack on them, is the same thing that you would see in any other kind of threat or theater in the world.”
“We know who they are, we know that they&#8217;re drug runners, we know what they&#8217;re carrying, we know where they&#8217;re going. All that has to be confirmed, and they will stop; they won&#8217;t do it if they can&#8217;t answer all of those checkpoints,” Biggs continued.
However, he’s predicting that Congress will eventually be part of the process, as the situation could be “accelerated.”
The Republican is currently running for Arizona governor in a primary with businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson and Rep. David Schweikert.
Both Biggs and Robson have been endorsed by President Donald Trump, and whoever wins the primary will face off against Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs in November in one of the nation’s most competitive gubernatorial races. The Cook Political Report ranks the general election as a “toss-up.” Trump won the key battleground state in 2024.
Running to replace Biggs in Congress is former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who’s been a leading voice on border-related issues for years.
On the border, which has gone largely quiet since Trump took office, Biggs said it serves as proof that “we didn’t need new laws, we just needed to enforce the old ones.”
“We still have some problems — Arizona’s still the number one human and drug trafficking corridor,” he said. “We have it in our state, [and] we’re going to have to shut that down, but I will tell you, the morale is high from those who guarded the border, the Border Patrol guys and gals,” the congressman said.

Andy Biggs

Congressman Explains What Actions Could Come Next Against Venezuela’s ‘Narcoterrorist Drug War’

Arizona

Drugs

Military

El Salvador&#8217;s President Nayib Bukele, who came to power in 2019 and is now serving a second term which critics have called unconstitutional, said he was open to staying in power for another decade.
&#8220;If it were up to me, I would stay for 10 more years,&#8221; Bukele said in a video interview published by Spanish YouTuber TheGrefg on Monday. He noted that he had initially agreed with his wife that he would leave politics in 2029.
El Salvador is expected to hold its next presidential election in 2027, to decide who will run the country through to 2033.
Bukele will be eligible to run for a third term, after the ruling party-controlled Congress pushed through a constitutional reform in July to abolish term limits, bring forward the next election and extend presidential terms from five to six years.
Legal experts at home and abroad have questioned the legality of Bukele&#8217;s attempts to extend his term. The country&#8217;s constitution prohibits presidents&#8217; consecutive reelection in at least six of its articles.
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Early in 2024, Bukele won his second term with a landslide victory despite a constitutional ban.
The wildly popular 44-year-old publicist enjoys some of the world&#8217;s highest approval ratings thanks to a hardline approach to crime which has helped drastically reduce murder rates.
Critics say this has come at the expense of civil rights and people have been arbitrarily detained, tortured and even killed in custody.
Bukele, who once described himself on his Twitter account as &#8220;the world&#8217;s coolest dictator,&#8221; said he did not plan to establish a dictatorship in El Salvador and it would be up to Salvadorans to decide whether he should continue in power.
(Reporting by Gerardo Arbaiza; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Gregorio)

President Of El Salvador Nayib Bukele Visits “The Story With Martha MacCallum”

El Salvador’s Bukele Open To Staying In Power For ‘Ten More Years’

El Salvador

Nayib Bukele

Trump brings home some major W’s from his Asia trip, the administration looks to crack down on commercial driver&#8217;s licenses for illegal immigrants, and South America trends toward the Right. 
It’s Friday, October 31, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-2501031-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump And Xi Reach Agreements</h2>
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Topline: Following his showdown with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump has returned from his Asia tour with new deals in hand and perhaps most importantly, reduced tensions with China. 
After the meeting, Xi described the feeling as “warm” and Trump touted what he called an “amazing meeting.” Here he is grading the talk aboard Air Force One. 
“Overall, I guess on the scale of 0-10, with ten being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hY2qJYtj0">said</a> Trump.
Trump said official terms of a deal are “very close to resolved,” but it appears the big ticket items on his wishlist were met. In a Truth Social post early Thursday, the President said Xi had agreed to “work diligently with us to stop the flow of Fentanyl into our Country.” As a result of those assurances, Trump announced plans to lower the existing tariff that was imposed on China in response to fentanyl trafficking. 
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In addition, Trump said Xi agreed to “purchase American energy,” potentially oil and gas from Alaska. Trump is looking to keep Beijing from buying Russian oil, so that would be a win-win.
On the agricultural front, Trump says China has also agreed to begin purchasing massive amounts of soybeans, sorghum, and other farm products. With that news, he encouraged farmers to “immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors.” And finally, he said the Chinese would resume the sale of rare earth minerals used for tech products and large magnets.
Trump says the overall tariff rate on Chinese exports will fall from 57% to 47%, leaving significant trade barriers in place, but far lower than the 100% plus rate that was looming without a deal. The two countries also agreed to remove port fees that had been impacting cargo ships from each side. Looking ahead, Trump said the two leaders will continue to meet on a more regular basis — he’ll travel to Beijing in April, and Xi will come to the US shortly after, potentially to Mar-a-Lago.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">How Illegals Keep Scoring CDLs</h2>
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Topline: The Trump administration has pledged to crack down on illegal immigrant drivers, but Americans have been left wondering: why do these crashes keep happening?
An accident in Florida brought this issue into the national spotlight. An accident was allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant identified as Harjinder Singh, an Indian national. Singh allegedly made an illegal u-turn, blocking a highway, and causing a van to careen into Singh’s trailer. Three people were killed in the crash.
Several similar cases have happened since then, often involving illegal immigrants carrying California-issued commercial driver&#8217;s licenses (CDLs).
Some of the major contributors to this issue of illegal immigrants obtaining CDLs have been the flood of illegal immigration into the United States under former President Joe Biden, and then the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-illegal-immigrant-truck-drivers-ended-up-on-americas-roads">failure</a> of the federal government to ensure that CDL applicants received proper testing before they were handed driver&#8217;s licenses.
In Singh’s case, the Indian national failed an English language proficiency test in the aftermath of the fatal collision, “providing correct responses to just 2 of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identifying 1 of 4 highway traffic signs,” according to the Department of Transportation.
A Republican-backed bill in Congress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-bill-takes-aim-at-democrat-states-giving-truck-licenses-to-illegal-aliens">aims</a> to crack down on these holes in the system. Under the legislation, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy would have the authority to revoke a state’s ability to grant “non-domiciled CDLs,” or commercial licenses for applicants who live out of state, if the state were found in violation of federal rules around CDLs.
The bill would also standardize some rules about the CDL process by requiring all testing to be conducted in English and that all CDL applicants hold a driver’s license for at least one year.
The Trump administration is taking steps to ensure that all testing is done in English. Duffy is also conducting a nationwide audit of state CDL permitting programs. The worst offender is California, where more than 25% of non-domiciled CDLs reviewed by the feds were improperly issued, <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-takes-emergency-action-protect-americas">according</a> to the Department of Transportation.
The Trump administration is also restricting who can get a CDL. Foreigners must have specialized work visas. They can&#8217;t be border crossers who are awaiting the fate of their asylum cases.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">South America Moves Right</h2>
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Topline: Massive political shifts are taking place in South America – including rightward shifts in multiple countries, such as Bolivia and Argentina – and the Trump administration is playing a key role on several fronts. Morning Wire spoke to Andres Martinez-Fernandez, senior policy analyst for Latin America at The Heritage Foundation, for more on South American governments. (The following interview has been lightly edited.)
Morning Wire: We’ve seen rapidly changing dynamics between the administration and various political leaders in South America. Let’s start with Argentina. We just saw Javier Milei’s party win a landslide victory. How significant is this victory in the country?
Martinez-Fernandez: It&#8217;s really significant because President Milei is representing a major departure from what has been for the past couple decades. Argentine leadership is typically Left, far-Left leaning and socialist in its nature for economic policies. That has brought about generally an anti-American bent. But President Milei has brought an agenda which is really the opposite of all those – very pro-market, individual responsibility, cutting government. As far as relations with the United States, we&#8217;ve likely never had a more aligned leader in Argentina. This victory really solidified what was, with his victory a couple years back for the presidency, a massive shift. But it really solidifies that with this legislative win, which is going to help him with his agenda.
Morning Wire: The U.S. recently helped Argentina with a $40 billion support package – how much of a role did that play in this election?
Martinez-Fernandez: I think a very significant role, and President Trump deserves a lot of credit for the victory that we saw for Milei’s party. What we saw was, just in the days prior to the election, the White House meeting with President Milei and President Trump and the announcement of this package, which is directly aimed at stabilizing the financial crisis, which was generated by the socialist policies which dominated in Argentina for so long. This is a vital economic stability move, but in addition to that, it&#8217;s a major sign of confidence from the United States and from the world, which I think translated into more confidence from Argentines in the president of Argentina&#8217;s ability to stabilize the economy and try a new path forward.
Morning Wire: Turning to Bolivia. We recently saw a monumental election there  – the first conservative president in 20 years. What is the significance of the election there and does it fit into a larger trend in South America?
Martinez-Fernandez: Yeah, absolutely. It does seem to be certainly part of a broader trend that we&#8217;ve seen. In a lot of ways, President Milei was the start of this as far as the current wave of right-of-center leaders coming to power, Bolivia being the most recent. But before that, we saw elections in Ecuador, which solidified a more conservative leader, and also elsewhere in the region. We have upcoming elections in countries like Chile, Brazil, and Peru, where a conservative candidate is well-poised also for victory there. I do think part of that is centering from the impetus that we see from the successes of Argentina, but more broadly, the Trump administration&#8217;s very positive engagement with these partners. The shift in Bolivia specifically is historic. This is a country which has just been completely controlled politically by the socialist movement there, which has dominated institutions and weaponized those to maintain power. The people just overwhelmingly, despite all of that, rejected that movement and now have a more conservative leader who has promised to do a series of shifts – not only as far as domestically aligning with more pro-market economic and stable policies, but also as far as shifting toward the United States and Western alliances.

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Morning Brief: Trump Moves Needle With Xi, Illegals Endanger U.S. Roads, & South America Shifts Right

Morning Brief: Trump-Xi Make A Deal, CDL Loophole For Illegals, And South America Moves Right

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More scuttlebutt has been bandied about that the Trump administration is indeed becoming more interested in the alliances it can build closer to home rather than with the traditional European allies.
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/03/us-news/trump-mulls-pivot-from-european-conflicts-building-latin-american-alliances-after-zelensky-oval-office-blowup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that a “source close to the White House” stated in reference to the administration’s desire for Europe to shoulder the assistance of Ukraine, “This is going to be part of a larger pivot away from conflicts in Europe and a pivot towards building alliances in Latin America and in the Western Hemisphere.” The source mentioned conservative Argentinian President Javier Milei, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado Parisca as leaders with whom the White House would like to build strong alliances.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said Monday morning in reference to supporting Ukraine, “The American people’s patience is not unlimited; their wallets are not unlimited, and our stockpiles and munitions are not unlimited.”
In late January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear that when President Donald Trump spoke of America First, that meant that the United States needs to prioritize problems closer to home.
In an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/an-americas-first-foreign-policy-secretary-of-state-rubio-writes-western-hemisphere-too-long-neglected-a81707b0?st=Ga7aQt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opinion piece</a> published in The Wall Street Journal, Rubio said it was “no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state, to Central America on Friday, will keep me in the hemisphere.&#8221;
“This is rare among secretaries of state over the past century,” Rubio pointed out. “For many reasons, U.S. foreign policy has long focused on other regions while overlooking our own. As a result, we’ve let problems fester, missed opportunities and neglected partners. That ends now.”
“We see a prosperous region rife with opportunities,” he declared. “We can strengthen trade ties, create partnerships to control migration, and enhance our hemisphere’s security. El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic — the countries I will visit on this trip — all stand to benefit tremendously from greater cooperation with the U.S.&#8221;
“Covid exposed the fragility of America’s dependence on far-flung supply chains,” he recalled. “Relocating our critical supply chains to the Western Hemisphere would clear a path for our neighbors’ economic growth and safeguard Americans’ own economic security. &#8230; As our regional partners build themselves up, they can more easily resist countries such as China that promise much but deliver little.”
“The threats Mr. Trump was elected to stop are threats to the nations of our hemisphere as well,” he stated. “We share a common home. The safer, stronger and more prosperous that home becomes, the more all our nations stand to benefit. Together, there are few limits to what we can accomplish.”

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Trump May ‘Pivot’ Away From Europe, Focus On Central And South America, White House ‘Source’ Says

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear that when President Donald Trump speaks of America First, that means that the U.S. needs to prioritize problems closer to home.
In an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/an-americas-first-foreign-policy-secretary-of-state-rubio-writes-western-hemisphere-too-long-neglected-a81707b0?st=Ga7aQt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opinion piece</a> published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Rubio said it was “no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state, to Central America on Friday, will keep me in the hemisphere. “
“This is rare among secretaries of state over the past century,” Rubio pointed out. “For many reasons, U.S. foreign policy has long focused on other regions while overlooking our own. As a result, we’ve let problems fester, missed opportunities and neglected partners. That ends now.”
Rubio spoke of Trump’s agenda emphasizing securing the nation’s borders and “reversing the disastrous invasion abetted by the last administration,” adding, “We need to work with countries of origin to halt and deter further migrant flows, and to accept the return of their citizens present in the U.S. illegally.”
“We see a prosperous region rife with opportunities,” he declared. “We can strengthen trade ties, create partnerships to control migration, and enhance our hemisphere’s security. El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic — the countries I will visit on this trip — all stand to benefit tremendously from greater cooperation with the U.S.&#8221;
“These nations were neglected by past administrations that prioritized the global over the local and pursued policies that accelerated China’s economic development, often at our neighbors’ expense,” he noted.
“Covid exposed the fragility of America’s dependence on far-flung supply chains,” he recalled. “Relocating our critical supply chains to the Western Hemisphere would clear a path for our neighbors’ economic growth and safeguard Americans’ own economic security. &#8230; As our regional partners build themselves up, they can more easily resist countries such as China that promise much but deliver little.”
Speaking of mass migration to the United States and the ever-present danger of drug cartels, he continued, “Illegitimate regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are intentionally amplifying the chaos. All the while, the Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economic leverage — such as at the Panama Canal —t o oppose the U.S. and turn sovereign nations into vassal states.”
“I am confident that the countries I will soon visit will be ready partners,” he asserted. “Like President Trump, their leaders are pragmatists who put their citizens first. And because they are pragmatists, they also know that there is much more to be gained from working with the U.S. than not.”
“The threats Mr. Trump was elected to stop are threats to the nations of our hemisphere as well,” he stated. “We share a common home. The safer, stronger and more prosperous that home becomes, the more all our nations stand to benefit. Together, there are few limits to what we can accomplish.”

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