Domingo Brief — When the Ground Moved

Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! A Venezuelan port city lies in **rubble** after the worst earthquake in the country's modern history, with the dead now past **1,400** and tens of thousands still missing. Among the first responders digging through the wreckage: the **United States**, reaching into a Venezuela it spent decades treating as an enemy. A self-styled outsider just won a presidency and declared war on the single biggest thing his country sells abroad, and the math says it's bigger than he is. Plus: customs agents stopped eight trucks at a border crossing and found as much as 50 tonnes of cocaine soaked into the timber inside; the world's cheapest major stock market just got cheaper, and it isn't the one you'd guess; an American giant is wagering it can out-sell the street vendors who invented its signature dish; and a stablecoin app born out of one economy's collapse just raised millions to grow across the region.

Each Sunday issue of the Domingo Brief curates the most important stories shaping Latin America — economics, politics, business, and markets — with original Latinometrics data analysis on every story, plus venture-capital and startup funding updates, a trivia question, and curated reading picks sourced from the best local and international outlets.