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This Maya cup dates between 550 and 950 CE. It features detailed brushwork depicting a ruler seated on a jaguar cushion facing a text column. The text contains a primary standard sequence dedicatory formula. Origin: Peten department, Guatemala.

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Reposted by Bart van Zwieten

Brazilian elections on 4 October determines the US hegemony in South America. Will Brazil join Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Peru in cozying up to Washington? The candidates are in a statistical tie. Washington’s preference: the Bolsonaro oligarchy, over leftwing Lula.

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Reposted by Bart van Zwieten

How Mexico's Fuel Theft Market Went Transnational

Authorities in the central state of Guanajuato seized a whopping 59 million liters of stolen fuel. Learn more about how fuel theft has become a multibillion-dollar criminal economy that even involves large-scale clandestine imports from the United States. bit.ly/4iWtDPI

bit.ly

Mexican groups are expanding their local, illicit fuel markets into cross-border smuggling networks that affect the US energy sector.

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How Mexico's Fuel Theft Market Went Transnational

bit.ly

Mexican groups are expanding their local, illicit fuel markets into cross-border smuggling networks that affect the US energy sector.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This Zapotec ceramic artifact features a face split longitudinally to represent life and death. It encapsulates the ancient Mesoamerican concept of duality: life-death, day-night, rain-dry; not necessarily conflict, but complementary balance. The piece was found in Soyaltepec, Oaxaca, 500-800 CE.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

China’s growing control over critical minerals and industrial inputs, is creating a new “China Choke” in which Latin America could gain leverage as a supplier of food, energy and minerals but risks exporting raw commodities without building domestic capacity www.americasquarterly.org/article/from...

From China Shock to China Choke

The Asian giant is reshaping the global landscape with its trade preferences. Latin America and the world have a great deal at stake.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Guna tribe in Panama debate a major electricity-interconnection that would bring a road through Gunayala near the Darién Gap. Supporters see access to health care and markets, while opponents fear deforestation, migration and erosion of Guna autonomy/sovereignty. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/m...

nytimes.com

They Kept Outsiders Away for 500 Years. Their World Is About to Change.

My father dedicated his life to studying the Guna people of Panama, and they may soon allow unprecedented development through their land. I went on a trek through the jungle to find out why.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This Zapotec effigy of the opossum man from Oaxaca dates to 500-800 CE. In ancient myth, the clever opossum stole fire from the underworld for humans. Because it carries babies in a pouch and plays dead, it symbolizes fertility, life cycles, and cunning.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

After nine years of decline, democracy scores have risen in more than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. That trend may happen elsewhere, too. www.economist.com/interactive/...

economist.com

Global democracy is in better shape than you think

EIU’s annual index suggests an end to the democracy recession

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Peru dominate Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Latin America, led by Brazil's US$ 4.8 billion annual average. Capital heavily targets infrastructure, mining, and manufacturing, providing critical project funding while raising long-term debt questions.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This striking pre-Columbian greenstone masterwork depicts an Olmec shaman in mid-transformation, adopting the powerful facial features of a sacred were-jaguar. Originating from archaeological sites in the Gulf Coast region of Veracruz state, it was crafted between 900 BCE and 600 BCE.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

What began two decades ago as friends filming melons rolling down a cobblestone bridge in Xalapa, Mexico, has evolved into an annual festival drawing hundreds of competitors and thousands of spectators for melon races and a “most handsome melon” competition. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/w...

nytimes.com

The Most Handsome Melon in Mexico? Yes, It’s a Real Contest.

In the eastern city of Xalapa, what started as a joke among friends over two decades ago has become a vibrant annual tradition that highlights creativity and absurdity with melons.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Brazil’s economy is slowing under high interest rates and rising household debt, but not sharply enough to be the decisive issue in October’s election, with the Supreme Court crisis, corruption and relations with the U.S. potentially weighing more heavily. americasquarterly.org/article/braz...

Brazil’s Economy Is Slowing. Will It Ruin Lula’s Chances?

Voters are feeling the squeeze from high interest rates and other factors.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This breathtaking gold pendant from Oaxaca showcases the peak of Mixtec metallurgy. Discovered in Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, it features an avian head emerging from a solar disc with bell-like dangles. Dating to roughly 1300–1450 CE, it reflects ancient spiritual connections to celestial deities.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Zócalo (central square) of Oaxaca City, around 1885. Colours added recently of course.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Isn’t the Oaxaca valley beautiful?

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A remarkable Mexica gold serpent labret (lip jewelry), cast by the lost-wax method and fitted with a movable, bifurcated tongue. From Central Mexico, though its exact state of origin is unknown, 1325–1521 CE, it likely marked elite status and powerful speech.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Mexico surpasses the 130-million-inhabitant mark amidst a slump in births. For the first time, the country is heading toward a fertility rate of fewer than two children per woman and is feeling the impact of a decline in migrant arrivals. elpais.com/mexico/2026-...

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The 16th-century Azcatitlan Codex is back in Mexico for the first time since 1840 and will be on display at Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology through December. www.reuters.com/lifestyle/ce...

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Trump gives a thumbs-up gesture, while Rodríguez flashes a “v” with her fingers. In Venezuela it is associated with Chavismo. Maduro flashed the same sign when he was taken to prison in January. At the time, Chavistas took it as a symbol of resistance, “venceremos” rather than “victory.”

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3,000 years old! The Olmec Arroyo Pesquero Mask, carved from a single piece of grey-green jadeite, 900–300 BCE, discovered in 1969 in the Arroyo Pesquero region of Veracruz, featuring incised facial lines and symbols that convey religious status, political authority or lineage.

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Latin American Allies Are Going All In on Trump’s Drug War

Latin American governments are embracing more militarized U.S.-backed tactics against drug trafficking, with Ecuador bombing suspected traffickers, Peru seeking military cooperation with Washington and Colombia using US intelligence to kill an alleged trafficking leader. www.wsj.com/world/americ...

wsj.com

Regional security forces are bombing jungle encampments, capturing kingpins and killing couriers with Washington’s help.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

President Sheinbaum responded to Trump's UNGA remarks calling Mexico the "epicenter" of cartel violence, "unacceptable" as a bordering country "controlled by enemy cartels," saying she could just as easily call it "very difficult to live next to a country" with such high drug use and gun production.

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The Puebla cathedral is an architectural masterpiece, beautifully restored. Worth the visit!

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hanging from the lower lip, this Mixtec lip plug (bezote) features a carved green jade pheasant head set into a brilliant gold base. Reserved for elite rulers and high-ranking lords, it represents late Postclassic artistry from Monte Albán, Oaxaca, 1250-1521 CE.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

President Sheinbaum said that Mexico is investing 750 billion pesos ($43 billion), in railroad project. Sheinbaum highlighted ongoing lines connecting Mexico City to Querétaro and Pachuca, and Saltillo to Nuevo Laredo, saying trains reduce emissions, connect regions and drive economic growth.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Created between 755 and 780 CE, the Maya Vase of the Eleven Gods captures a complex creation conclave. It depicts God L, an old underworld deity with feline ears, smoking a sacred cigar on a jaguar-skin throne. Ten other gods present tribute bundles. Origin: Petén, Guatemala.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The Global Witness report found that 124 environmental defenders were killed in 2025, 85% in Latin America, with organized crime implicated in >33% of the deaths. Causes: expanding criminal activity in Indigenous territories and declining international assistance www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

theguardian.com

People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder

Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin America

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In Puebla, the Santo Domingo Temple has a side Chapel of the Rosary, which is completely decorated with gold; very ostentatious but also very beautiful. Really impressive!

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Mayan jade necklace associated with the Divine Lord of Calakmul, which was ultimately deposited as an offering within the central staircase of El Castillo at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan. Viewed from the back, where the inscription is located.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It’s good to be back in Puebla, a very nice city!

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Reposted by Bart van Zwieten

In Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum’s security strategy has notched important successes, including reducing the murder rate, but extortion and disappearances remain major problems. Stronger federal-state cooperation is part of the answer. americasquarterly.org/article/mexi...

Mexico’s Homicides Are Falling, but a Broader Violence Crisis Persists

Sheinbaum’s security strategy has lowered murder rates but should address rampant extortion and disappearances and seek stronger federal-state cooperation.

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Life-size terracotta Eagle Warrior from Tenochtitlan (in modern day Mexico City) 1440–1469 CE. It honors the elite Mexica soldiers who wore avian gear into combat. The Mexica (Aztec) military was a strict meritocracy where social advancement depended entirely on capturing enemies for sacrifice.

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The US Anti-Drug Missile Strikes Are Back. But Are They Working?

US strikes may have disrupted maritime drug trafficking, but traffickers have adapted. Cocaine seizure figures and prices in the United States suggest strikes haven’t reduced trafficking. insightcrime.org/news/united-...

insightcrime.org

The impact of US missile strikes on drug trafficking. Have these actions effectively curbed maritime drug transport?

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Mexico’s Homicides Are Falling, but a Broader Violence Crisis Persists

Sheinbaum’s security strategy has lowered murder rates but should address rampant extortion and disappearances and seek stronger federal-state cooperation.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A masterpiece of ancient artistry: a Late Postclassic Mixtec gold and turquoise necklace from Caballito Blanco, Oaxaca. Dated to 1200–1521 CE, it features large gold spheres, turquoise beads, and a central monkey pendant made via lost-wax casting. Beautiful!

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

What South America's country names actually mean. It's a perfect reminder: South America has always been about commodities. Red wood. Silver. Rivers. Water.

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Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered an undisturbed tomb at Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom, preserved despite centuries of Inca and Spanish conquest and looting. The 600-year-old mausoleum contained 38 bodies and artifacts, built for the Chimu elite. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/w...

nytimes.com

Ancient Tombs, Untouched by Looters, Are Found Under Peru’s Sands

One archaeologist called the tombs “the discovery of the decade” as the first burials from the Chimu kingdom to have escaped centuries of plunder.

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Reposted by Bart van Zwieten

More than 330,000 olive ridley sea turtles arrived at Oaxaca’s La Escobilla sanctuary in the season’s sixth mass nesting event, as Mexican environmental officials warn that climate change increasingly threatens their survival. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

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Reposted by Bart van Zwieten

Brazil has almost the same population as all other countries in South America together.

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Over 3,000 years ago: the Olmecs thrived from 1200 to 400 BCE in Veracruz and Tabasco. Long before the Maya or Aztecs, this foundational culture carved massive stone heads and shaped Mesoamerican tradition. Their ancient legacy began in these tropical lowlands, leaving a lasting mark on history.

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