
How Trump’s policies could reverse decades of progress in Latin America’s HIV response
CNN
It was nearly 30 years ago when Rosember Lopez received a life-altering diagnosis: he was HIV positive.
It was nearly 30 years ago when Rosember Lopez received a life-altering diagnosis: He was HIV positive. With scant government resources for HIV support at the time in Mexico, Lopez joined advocacy groups to secure the funding he needed for medication to help him survive. “In the first years after my diagnosis, it was very difficult for me,” he told CNN. “We had to fight for access to medications,” he added of himself and others with the disease. The experience inspired him to start his own organization in Tapachula, in southern Mexico, to help destigmatize HIV with the help of funding from the United States. Today, his is one of dozens of aid groups across Latin America in jeopardy due to the Trump administration’s freeze on almost all international aid and the gutting of the US’ global development network. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a George W. Bush-era program that has enjoyed bipartisan support, was among those hit by US President Donald Trump’s actions. Relief groups have warned that halting programs such as PEPFAR could pose a risk to the lives of millions of people who will have to stop their HIV treatment, potentially opening the door to a HIV resurgence.

In Venezuela, daily routines seem undisturbed: children attending school, adults going to work, vendors opening their businesses. But beneath this facade lurks anxiety, fear, and frustration, with some even taking preventative measures against a possible attack amid the tension between the United States and Venezuela.

The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east of Venezuela – the admiral who oversaw the operation told lawmakers on Thursday according to two sources with direct knowledge of his remarks.











