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"Trump's bluster won't help a Caribbean region that needs solutions."

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March 24, 2025

Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit this week to the Caribbean and a push in Mexico to create a national care system.

But first, here’s our take on today’s top stories:

Supporters of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu rally following his arrest, in Istanbul, Turkey, March 21, 2025 (Sipa photo by Nazim Serhat Firat via AP images).

In Turkey, hundreds of thousands of people have protested across the country against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a widely popular opposition figure, over the weekend. More than 1,100 people, including at least eight journalists, have been detained in a crackdown on the protests. (AP)

In Israel, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara lost a no confidence vote in the Israeli Cabinet yesterday, as PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies accused her of undermining them. The vote comes just days after the Cabinet approved Netanyahu’s firing of Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service. Baharav-Miara remains in her post pending a formal removal proceeding, and Bar’s dismissal has been frozen by Israel’s Supreme Court. (New York Times)

Our Take: There are two frameworks through which to understand these developments, neither of which are mutually exclusive. First, there are the...

	Subscribe to WPR to read our take on today’s top story.

This week U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the Caribbean, where he will visit Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname. Having already traveled to Central America and the Dominican Republic in February, this is Rubio’s second trip to the hemisphere in the two months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Jan. 20.

In general, Trump and Rubio are bringing more bluster than substance to Caribbean policy, which is a mistake. While the region is given short shrift in terms of time and attention by all U.S. administrations, the Caribbean’s current list of urgent priorities is lengthy. As a result, regional leaders are intent on making the most of Rubio’s visit, James Bosworth writes.

Trump’s Bluster Won’t Help a Caribbean Region That Needs Solutions By James Bosworth As U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to the Caribbean, the Trump administration’s regional policy is offering more threats than opportunities.

*****

At the heart of unpaid care work in Mexico lies a paradox: The labor sustains the economy, even as it creates barriers to women joining the workforce. All told, the value of uncompensated domestic labor in Mexico amounts to more than 26 percent of GDP, outpacing both the manufacturing sector and trade, according to the country’s statistics agency. Yet roughly 20 million Mexican women are not employed because they are busy providing that unpaid labor.

Now, a push to build a national care system seeks to recognize and rebalance that work by creating a network of services covering care for children, people with disabilities, the elderly—and the caretakers themselves. But the devil is in the details, and building a national care system will take time and resources. Can Mexico get there?

Carin Zissis writes:

In Mexico, the Push for a National Care System Is Gaining Momentum By Carin Zissis A national care system would go a long way toward addressing Mexico’s workforce gender gap, but building it will take time and resources.

Question of the Day: The first iteration of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP, was introduced in what year by the six founding members of the European Economic Community?

1957 1962 1967 1972

Find the answer in the latest WPR Weekly Quiz, then read John Boyce’s briefing on how the CAP rules have distorted Europe’s agricultural sector, creating a farming crisis across the bloc.

Gabon’s Constitutional Court approved a list of eight candidates, including interim President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, to run in the country’s upcoming presidential election, its first since a military coup led by Oligui in 2023. Gabon approved a new constitution last year that notably paved the way for Oligui to participate in the election.

In the months after the August 2023 coup, the junta moved quickly to consolidate its power, securing some domestic approval by casting Oligui as an accessible, affable and transparent figure. And yet, as Chris O. Ògúnmọ́dẹdé wrote last year, the coup largely just shuffled the deck on Gabon’s political class, meaning it is unlikely to result in the reforms that many Gabonese citizens still desire.

In Post-Coup Gabon, It’s Business as Usual—For Now By Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé Jan. 4, 2024 | Since taking over in a coup, the junta leading Gabon have consolidated power quickly.

*****

The U.S. and Philippines began three weeks of large-scale joint military exercises today, just days before U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to visit Manila. The trip will make him the highest-level U.S. official to visit the Philippines since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Trump’s return has raised serious concerns about the future of the U.S. alliance with the Philippines, which under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has wholeheartedly embraced ties with Washington in recent years. But as Joshua Kurlantzick and Abigail McGowan wrote in December, since Marcos has already sidelined China as a potential partner, potential abandonment by the U.S. under Trump would leave the Philippines out in the cold.

Marcos’ All-In Bet on the U.S. Could Leave the Philippines Out in the Cold By Joshua Kurlantzick Dec. 20, 2024 | In doubling down on the U.S.-Philippines alliance, President Marcos angered China. Trump’s return might leave him out in the cold.

*****

Israel launched airstrikes on Saturday on several sites in southern Lebanon that it said were linked to Hezbollah, after having intercepted three rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. The exchange was the heaviest since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah began nearly four months ago.

Despite the fragile truce, much of southern Lebanon still lies in rubble, and any return to fighting would further derail the country’s already stalled postwar reconstruction. Read more in this briefing by Kanika Gupta.

*****

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said he will start discussing the future of the Cobre Panama copper mine with his team next week. The mine accounted for 5 percent of the country’s GDP before it closed in 2023 following a Supreme Court ruling that deemed the mine’s contract unconstitutional. Read more about how Mulino could approach potentially reopening the controversial mine in this briefing by Cristina Guevara.

More from WPR

Jessica Moody on West Africa’s fraying security cooperation. Paul Poast on the pandemic’s impact on the global order. Francisco Serrano on the recent violence in Syria. John Boyce on the EU’s farming crisis.

Read all of our latest coverage here.

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