Thomas Graham

US action in Venezuela fails to budge oil markets Analysts dismiss as ‘nothing burger’ any expectation of near-term profits

The Trump admin decapitated Maduro's regime on Saturday and now wants US oil majors to charge in and start drilling in Venezuela.

But the companies themselves don't seem too keen on the nation building role Trump has in mind for them.

For @theobserveruk.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/news/interna...

US action in Venezuela fails to budge oil markets Analysts dismiss as ‘nothing burger’ any expectation of near-term profits

The Trump admin decapitated Maduro's regime on Saturday and now wants US oil majors to charge in and start drilling in Venezuela.

But the companies themselves don't seem too keen on the nation building role Trump has in mind for them.

For @theobserveruk.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Trinidad and Tobago stakes its future on a Trump triumph ... The island nation insists it is only interested in fighting drug trafficking, not regime change in neighbouring Venezuela, as the US military is given access to its airports

Trinidad and Tobago stakes its future on a Trump triumph in the Caribbean bit.ly/3YDTVwT

Trail of Drug-Linked Planes Leads Back to California Seller – and U.S. Aviation Regulatory ‘Blind Spot’ OCCRP reviewed the sales of 30 planes by Lance Zane Ricotta’s companies since 2014, and found evidence that 11 of them were seized, investigated, or found abroad in suspected or confirmed drug cases. ...

NEW INVESTIGATION:
While the Trump Administration threatens military action in Venezuela and Mexico over drug trafficking, the US has left loopholes wide open allowing traffickers to obtain private jets in the US, completely anonymously, for flying cocaine across LatAm
www.occrp.org/en/project/n...

The Observer is no longer just a Sunday paper; you can now get a little bit of Sunday every day.

Our new website and app are live, and we’re publishing daily for the first time in 233 years.

Sign up today: https://bit.ly/3M6Okw3
Download our app here: https://bit.ly/4oE3ZAR

Bolivia Voted for Change. Can Its New Centrist President Deliver? Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia’s president-elect, will face a dire economic crisis and a fragmented political system.

Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia’s president-elect, will face a dire economic crisis and a fragmented political system, @thomas-graham.bsky.social writes.

Before they even take office, Bolivia's future VP is already warning Rodrigo Paz not to stray from the people who put them - or rather him - in power.

“Many people supported the people's ticket because they believed in Captain Lara, and I will not let those people down."

larazon.bo/nacional/202...

Centrist Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivia’s presidential election Son of former leader inherits deep economic crisis

Centrist Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivia’s presidential election-The election ends a long period in power for the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), which governed for all but one of the past 20 years, first under the charismatic…
www.ft.com/content/8de3... @thomas-graham.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Why China Built 162 Square Miles of Solar Panels on the World’s Highest Plateau

China is building a "network of clean energy industries on the Tibetan Plateau, the world’s highest ... to harness the region’s bright sunshine, cold temperatures and sky-touching altitude to provide low-cost, renewable energy."

Bolivia should too.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/b...

Rupert Cornwell Award: £5,000 bursary for budding foreign correspondents The award honours the memory of Rupert Cornwell, one of The Independent’s most distinguished journalists

The Rupert Cornwell Prize for young foreign correspondents is open for applications.

A few years back it allowed me to spend a summer reporting from Ceuta and Melilla, the Spanish North African enclaves.

Feel free to get in touch with any questions.

www.the-independent.com/news/media/r...

Bolivia divided in election run-up as ruling party implodes Leftwing government’s infighting and deepening economic crisis boost opposition candidates

Bolivia divided in election run-up as ruling party implodes—Bolivia’s next president will have to take immediate measures to address the economic crisis. The government’s foreign exchange reserves all but ran out in March 2023 www.ft.com/content/90ea... @thomas-graham.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

MAS’ Implosion Has Blown Bolivia’s Presidential Election Wide Open The Arce-Morales feud has effectively split Bolivia’s long-dominant MAS party, opening the door for the opposition in August’s presidential election.

In all likelihood, Bolivia's long-ruling MAS party will cease to exist as a political force after Sunday's presidential election.

It's a pretty disorienting development, but not unexpected after the disarray of the past few years.

Great backgrounder here by @thomas-graham.bsky.social.

MAS’ Implosion Has Blown Bolivia’s Presidential Election Wide Open The Arce-Morales feud has effectively split Bolivia’s long-dominant MAS party, opening the door for the opposition in August’s presidential election.

The Arce-Morales feud has effectively split Bolivia’s long-dominant MAS party, opening the door for the opposition in August’s presidential election, @thomas-graham.bsky.social writes.

Coming soon: Missing in the Amazon – a new Guardian investigative series In one of the most remote corners of the Amazon jungle, a journalist and an indigenous defender disappear without a trace. Missing in the Amazon – our new six-part investigative podcast series uncover...

Out tomorrow: the first episodes of our six-part podcast series about Dom and Bruno and the Amazon. Listen wherever you get your podcasts www.theguardian.com/technology/a...

Ruth López, a senior figure at Cristosal, the most important human rights organisation in El Salvador, was arrested by the government last night.

Arce declina su candidatura a las elecciones generales El presidente Luis Arce anunció este martes que baja su candidatura presidencial de cara a las elecciones generales del 17 de agosto y aboga por la unidad. «Hoy doy a conocer al pueblo boliviano con a...

More big news from Bolivia. Luis Arce, the current president who's been polling awfully, has withdrawn his candidacy for August's election

That leaves the MAS candidacy open. Note that Andrónico Rodríguez is still a member of the MAS and is yet to say who he will run for

larazon.bo/nacional/202...

🚨 British + UK-based correspondents under 30 🚨

You've got until May 26th to apply for the Richard Beeston Bursary, which offers £6,000 to report a story for
@thetimes.com anywhere in the world.

richardbeestonbursary.com

Still lots of uncertainty. It's unclear which party/alliance Rodríguez and Morales will run for, or if Morales will even be allowed to run.

Meanwhile the opposition is much divided too.

Andrónico mueve el tablero electoral, acepta ser candidato "Desde acá, queridos hermanos y hermanas, quiero expresar en respuesta a este pedido: acepto", dijo el senador Andrónico Rodríguez en Oruro.

Big news in Bolivia, where Andrónico Rodríguez, president of the senate and VP of the six tropics coca growers federation, says he will be a candidate in August's election.

That means three will be going for the MAS vote: Arce, Morales and now Rodríguez.

larazon.bo/nacional/202...

🚨 British + UK-based correspondents under 30 🚨

You've got until May 26th to apply for the Richard Beeston Bursary, which offers £6,000 to report a story for
@thetimes.com anywhere in the world.

richardbeestonbursary.com

FPV anuncia que ‘ya no va’ el acuerdo con Evo Morales para las elecciones generales - La Razón FPV anuncia que ‘ya no va’ el acuerdo con Evo Morales para las elecciones generales

Evo Morales's deal with Frente Para la Victoria to run in Bolivia's forthcoming elections seems to have broken down.

Morales already left the MAS, having lost control of it. There are not many siglas left that he could make a deal to run for.

la-razon.com/nacional/202...

Alarms raised over legitimacy of Fyre festival 2: ‘An event that does not exist’ After the announcement of a follow-up festival in Mexico, tourism and local officials have denied any knowledge of its existence

This week the organisers of Fyre festival, the notorious disaster that became a Netflix doc, announced that Fyre 2 would take place on Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

This was news to the local government...

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Alarms raised over legitimacy of Fyre festival 2: ‘An event that does not exist’ After the announcement of a follow-up festival in Mexico, tourism and local officials have denied any knowledge of its existence

This week the organisers of Fyre festival, the notorious disaster that became a Netflix doc, announced that Fyre 2 would take place on Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

This was news to the local government...

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Stopping traffic, and the state Dear friends, Early this morning (Saturday 22 February), thousands from the Zapatista communities of the Lacandon jungle took to the highways that link the towns of Palenque, Comitán, San Cristóbal...

Dispatch from Chiapas and thoughts on not fetishizing the Mexican state. www.thetroubledregion.com/stopping-tra...

What Is Plan Sonora? How the border state became the center of Mexico’s ambitious renewable-energy plan.

For @theborderchronicle.bsky.social, I wrote the first installment in a series about the controversial energy development plan called Plan Sonora: www.theborderchronicle.com/p/what-is-pl...

El cadáver del periodista desaparecido Jesús Alberto Camacho llevaba tres años en una morgue sin identificar Las autoridades dicen que el reportero no tenía una denuncia por desaparición y se estima que hay más de 70.000 cadáveres sin identificar en las morgues del país

The remains of Mexican journalist Jesús Alberto Camacho Rodríguez were just identified after lying in a morgue for three years.

It's estimated that more than 70,000 other unidentified bodies currently sit in Mexico's morgues.

elpais.com/mexico/2025-...

British journalist missing in Brazil for 11 days Foreign correspondents’ association urges authorities to step up search for Charlotte Alice Peet, 32

"A British journalist has been missing in Brazil for 11 days, a foreign correspondents’ association in the country said on Tuesday, urging authorities to step up their search efforts," writes @tiagorogero.com www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

In search of the ancient Amazonians who left only eerie forest islands In Llanos de Moxos, an expanse of floodplains fringing the Bolivian rainforest, strange clumps of trees offer clues about a lost civilisation

In the middle of Bolivia’s worst fire season, I went with @umbamoxos.bsky.social to the scorched plains on edge of the Amazon, where archaeologists are drilling into the deep history of the mysterious forest islands.

For @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/world/latin-...

In search of the ancient Amazonians who left only eerie forest islands In Llanos de Moxos, an expanse of floodplains fringing the Bolivian rainforest, strange clumps of trees offer clues about a lost civilisation

🧪 Report of @thomas-graham.bsky.social about our 2024 field work just published in @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/world/latin-... @demodrivers.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

In search of the ancient Amazonians who left only eerie forest islands In Llanos de Moxos, an expanse of floodplains fringing the Bolivian rainforest, strange clumps of trees offer clues about a lost civilisation

In the middle of Bolivia’s worst fire season, I went with @umbamoxos.bsky.social to the scorched plains on edge of the Amazon, where archaeologists are drilling into the deep history of the mysterious forest islands.

For @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/world/latin-...