, Columnist
Brazil Is the Big Loser of Latin America's Geopolitical Reshuffle
The guy on the left is holding all the cards.
Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images AsiaPacBrazil’s leadership ambitions are having a bad moment.
The White House’s historic intervention in Venezuela has exposed the geopolitical impotence of Latin America’s largest economy. The US not only removed the leader of a South American country in a matter of hours without suffering a single casualty; it effectively installed a protectorate in a nation that shares some 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) of border with Brazil. Brasilia’s response amounted to little more than a joint communiqué with five ideological allies, expressing “deep concern” over the unilateral military incursion. Careful words, private grudges, minimal action.