Mexicans in the US have had a terrifying week. Though officials say the pace of raids to detain illegal immigrants has not increased, local news broadcasts are full of stories of some of the 5.8m Mexicans living there without papers who are too scared to go out much for fear they will be caught and deported.
Anxiety has ratcheted up with the arrest of a so-called “dreamer" (the young people brought to the US illegally as children but since granted permits to work legally). Mr Trump may not – yet – be the Deporter-in-Chief, but for those whose lives have been ripped apart by his actions, he is shaping up as family Destroyer-in-Chief.
It’s not just families that are vulnerable. According to Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s president from 2006-12, the very fabric of society is threatened. “The foundations on which modern civilisation is built are themselves at risk,” he wrote in a tough opinion piece. “They are being challenged by the most powerful politician on earth.”
The might of the US presidency is, indeed, formidable. But after spending a turbulent news conference this week attacking his favourite foe, the media, Mr Trump might be wondering if he wouldn’t have more clout being Nicolás Maduro. The Venezuelan president simply ordered CNN’s Spanish-language channel off the air, accusing it of undermining the country’s stability. Mr Trump’s thundering tweets against “fake news” pale by comparison.
They may hold the media in the same regard, but Mr Trump and Mr Maduro disagreed on two important points this week. One, that jailed dissenter Leopoldo López should be freed. Venezuela’s top court upheld his 14-year sentence a day after Mr Trump called for his release. And two, that Venezuela’s vice president, Tareck El Aissami is an international drugs kingpin. “Personally, I take this miserable and infamous aggression as a recognition to my condition of anti-imperialist revolutionary. We will be victorious!” Mr El Aissami responded on Twitter.
Despite the long shadow Mr Trump is casting over the economy, Mexico’s largest company, Pemex, wrapped up the biggest bond issue in euros ever sold by an emerging market issuer. At the other end of the continent, Argentina is seeing the green shoots of economic recovery in a credit revival, though private sector lending remains tiny by international standards.
Quote of the week
"They broke my dream. That man is breaking up our families" - deportee Armando López on the fears for his undocumented wife and their five US-born children in Mr Trump's America.
Chart of the week
Mexicans apprehended at US borders
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