Tracking Latin America at the 80th UN General Assembly

As is tradition, the president of Brazil gave the first speech of the event. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the session with a defense of multilateralism and several indirect criticisms of Trump. "We are witnessing the consolidation of an international order marked by repeated concessions to power play, attacks on sovereignty, arbitrary sanctions, and unilateral interventions are becoming the rule," he said.

Lula celebrated the recent indictment of former President Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup. "Before the eyes of the world, Brazil sent a message to all would-be autocrats and those who support them. Our democracy and our sovereignty are non-negotiable," he said.

Lula spoke of regional issues, including increased polarization and instability. He warned of the danger of conflating crime and terrorism and said, "Using lethal force in situations that do not constitute armed conflict is tantamount to executing people without trial" referencing the U.S. military's lethal strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of Venezuela. Lula contended that battling money laundering and arms trafficking are better solutions to the problem of narcotrafficking.

In November, Brazil will host COP30, the UN climate change conference in the Amazonian city of Belém, which Lula said "will be the time for world leaders to prove the seriousness of their commitment to the planet." At the conference, Lula said he will push for the establishment of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, which would create financial mechanisms to prevent deforestation. He also called for the UN to establish a permanent council to monitor climate change commitments, alongside a call for an expansion of the UN Security Council.

U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the UN stage where he delivered a near hour-long speech that extolled his government’s his hemispheric policies on issues such as trade, migration, and security.

"We've used tariffs as a defense mechanism under the Trump administration," said the president, who has applied tariffs to all hemispheric countries. No country faces higher U.S. tariffs than Brazil. and Trump said the measure was "a response to its unprecedented efforts to interfere in the rights and freedoms of our American citizens and others with censorship, repression, weaponization, judicial corruption, and targeting of political critics in the United States."

Trump did mention that he passed Brazilian President Lula while at UNGA and the two embraced, adding they agreed to meet next week. 

In the speech, Trump covered a range of issues affecting the Americas, including strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela, the designation of drug cartels as terrorist organizations, and increased security on the border with Mexico. Trump emphasized the decrease in migration since the start of his presidency and thanked El Salvador for its role in jailing migrants.

On September 23, Trump met with the Argentine President Javier Milei on the sidelines of UNGA to discuss potential U.S. support for the Argentine economy, amid the implementation on Milei's economic adjustment policies. A day earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that "all options were on the table" for how Washington might aid Argentina, including buying Argentine pesos. or debt and currency swap lines.

In his meeting with Milei, Trump ruled out the possibility of a bailout but did not clarify what instruments his administration might leverage. He did endorse Milei for reelection.

Also on September 23, the World Bank announced that it is making available a portion of its $12 billion support plan for Argentina earlier than planned. The agency will deploy a total of $4 billion available over the coming months for public-sector financing and private-sector investment. 

In her debut speech at the UNGA, President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons outlined Suriname's position on issues affecting the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as global climate financing policy.  Geerlings-Simons, who assumed the presidency in July 2025, highlighted the current insecurity in Haiti, expressed support for CARICOM's reparations plan, called for the U.S. embargo on Cuba to be lifted, and declared Latin America and the Caribbean "a zone of peace," affirming, "We do not want military aggression in our region."

While pointing to the $10 billion dollars in investments Suriname has attracted to kickstart its incipient oil and gas industry as a "new beginning" for the country, Geerlings-Simons reiterated commitment to advancing the energy transition.

Additionally, she advocated for "predictable finance for high-forested, low deforestation countries… and the communities that live in and protect the forest." She noted that Suriname was one of three carbon-negative countries in the world, with the Amazon rainforest covering 90 percent of its territory, a fact, she said, "doesn't happen by default, but by design."

Like many of her colleagues from the Global South, she pushed for a reform of the UN system. With regard to the UN Security Council, she backed Brazil and India's bids for permanent seats, as well one for an African country. She added that there should also be a rotating, non-permanent seat for Small Island Developing States.

"Uruguay is recognized worldwide for its commitment to peace," stated President Yamandú Orsi during his debut UNGA address. Throughout his remarks, Orsi promoted his country’s lack of political polarization and its reputation for social and macroeconomic stability as a model for multilateral negotiation.

The South American leader bemoaned the impact of reduced levels of financing for international aid and development programs. Orsi commented that the "principles of liberty and equality are increasingly divorced, and you hear more about supposed individual freedom than egalitarian societies when it comes to income and rights."

He also echoed recurring anti-war messages, and called for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza and the release of hostages, as well as endorsed a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

Noting Uruguay’s record as the Latin American country that has contributed the most troops to UN peacekeeping missions, he offered the country as "a host for negotiations" for global conflicts.

President Dina Boluarte of Peru used her final UNGA speech to defend her presidential record. Boluarte alluded repeatedly to the government of her predecessor Pedro Castillo, whom she accused of fomenting corruption, "class hatred," and political violence, culminating in what she called "the failed coup d'etat" of 2022.  She referred to her administration as "the most stable government of the last five years," noting that Peru’s economy grew over 3 percent in 2024 with similar growth expected this year as the country maintains a relatively low debt burden and fiscal deficit.

In a nod to a controversial amnesty law she signed in August 2025, Boluarte also defended the actions of police and soldiers during the country’s civil war in the 1980s and 1990s against leftist insurgent groups, referring to the state's armed forces as "heroes who defended democracy." The new law pardons police and soldiers convicted or on trial for crimes committed during the conflict, including mass murder, disappearances, and sexual violence. 

The Peruvian president also raised the issue of transnational organized crime, and particularly drug and sex trafficking, as well as illegal mining, which she noted endangered the Amazon rainforest. Additionally, she joined calls for a more "representative" UN "in tune with the times," and advocated for the next Secretary General to be Latin American. 

On September 22, dozens of world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York to revive the question of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

Among the speakers at the one-day summit co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, Brazil’s Lula described the conflict as "the greatest symbol of the obstacles multilateralism faces" and said, "assuring Palestine's right to self-determination is an act of justice and an essential step to restoring force to multilateralism." Lula also announced Brazil’s decision to join South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. 

At her daily press conference that same day, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, who is not attending the UN General Assembly in New York, reaffirmed her country's recognition of both Israel and Palestine. She added that her administration had been Mexico's first to receive a Palestinian ambassador. 

A day prior to the conference, Canada formally recognized Palestine as a state. This leaves Panama and the United States as the only countries in the Americas that do not recognize a Palestinian state. 

On September 22, Kenya, with support from the United States, convened a meeting to discuss paths to exit the ongoing political instability and widespread violence in Haiti. 

In comments to the meeting, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau echoed calls for the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti to be expanded to a Gang Suppression Force (GSF) and for a UN Support Office to be established in Haiti. The meeting comes a few weeks after the United States and Panama proposed these initiatives to the UN Security Council,  receiving support from the member countries of both the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). 

The MSS mission, which is due to expire on October 2, has only received around 40 percent of the 2,500 troops pledged by various countries. The proposed GSF would up that number to 5,500. Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, Haiti’s fellow CARICOM member, expressed reservations about the proposed change, stating "We need more clarity on what the mission is going to be like and what the numbers are going to be like."