Tatiana Benavides Santos

Political Scientist. Democratization and governance in the Americas. Sorbonne U, Columbia University Research Aff, PM, media analyst Univisión #RedDePolitólogas

[Samantha Power @SamanthaJPower]

Starting in early 2025, Elon Musk and the Trump administration began terminating USAID's programs and firing its staff — with Musk himself boasting about "feeding it into the woodchipper." One year ago today, USAID was officially dissolved, its remaining programs haphazardly folded into the State Department. Amid all the lies and misinformation that have followed, some facts about what has actually been lost:

• USAID saved more than 3 million lives a year at a cost of less than $10/month per American. That is what was destroyed. On purpose.
• According to Boston University's Global Impact Counter — which tracked deaths attributable to the cuts until it stopped operations in February 2026 — an estimated 781,000 people died preventable deaths in the first year, including 518,000 children.
• Global child mortality (the number of children who die before their fifth birthday) rose in 2025 for the first time in 35+ years — by 200,000 additional deaths.
• USAID's 50-country disease surveillance network — the system that cut outbreak response times from 2 weeks to 48 hours — is gone. We are now watching an unprecedented Ebola outbreak unfold in real time — with the highest first-month caseload and death rate in modern history.
• Programs reaching 93 million women and children were cut 92%. TB programs cut 56%. Water and sanitation cut 86%. Over 2,000 health facilities permanently closed.
• 25 million fewer people received humanitarian assistance in 2025. The overall humanitarian budget was slashed 74% — from $14.1 billion to $3.7 billion.
• 363 million people face acute hunger in 2026. The famine early-warning system that would have seen it coming went dark for five months.
• $1.7 billion in democracy and governance funding (election monitoring, anti-corruption work, support for independent media and civil society) was terminated.
• 360+ independent media outlets lost funding. Hundreds of legal clinics closed.
• Far from saving money, the Trump administration itself has already said the dismantlement will cost taxpayers at least $19.2 billion in cancellation fees, severance, and penalties. That's more than half of USAID's annual budget — spent on destruction and closeout, not support for vulnerable people.
• American farmers, universities, and businesses are among the casualties too. USAID partnered with more than 3,500 U.S. companies and maintained 17 university-based research labs. Its work with U.S.-based contractors and the private sector generated hundreds of thousands of American jobs and multiplied the return on every dollar spent. Those markets and partnerships are gone.

[David Axelrod @davidaxelrod]

Beyond the staggering moral dimensions, the wholesale destruction of USAID in the blink of an eye last year will live as one of the worst foreign policy and national security blunders in American history.
@SamanthaJPower lists just some of the tragic, immediate costs and consequences below.
Longterm, it will mean a world less stable and free--with more violence and conflict; disease, pandemics and mass migrations. Neither oceans nor the military can shield the U.S. from the impacts.
AND this shameful and foolish abandonment will result in less respect for, and allegiance to, the United States of America.

[Christopher Sabatini @ChrisSabatini]

“promised economic growth & social peace cannot be achieved w/out reforms to ensure the rule of law..success of US plan hinges on Venezuela establishing & sustaining an independent, efficient judicial system, & improving contract rights and human rights” https://t.co/160bHembxR

[Rachel Schwartz @rachel_schwartz]

Excited to share the publication of the @CUP_PoliSci Element "New Forms of Democratic Erosion in Latin America" (co-authored with the brilliant @l_gamboag).

Available to download and read for free until June 3 here: https://t.co/oe3cTlSQQ2

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

Exporting censorship: The Trump administration has cancelled visas for more than half of the board members of Costa Rica’s leading newspaper, La Nación. Why? Because it has criticized the country’s president, Rodrigo Chaves, an ally of Trump.  https://t.co/dQz5dBGdzL

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Applebaum: Orban was a spirit guide for the international far right, and Hungary was their test case.

If he can lose badly, and Budapest can erupt in celebration afterward, then the myth that illiberal rule is somehow destined to last forever is broken. 1/

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Illiberalism is not Inevitable.
Neither MAGA nor Putin get to rule forever.
https://t.co/LExzWbwd1L

[Dr. Jennifer McCoy @jlynnmccoy]

Magyar's victory in Hungary today shows perfectly the concept I describe here: repolarize to depolarize. Shifting the line of conflict from L-R to Nation vs Oligarchs is a winning move, and a lesson for U.S.

Repolarize to Depolarize, by @better_conflict https://t.co/xPt5cTur2n

[LarryDiamond @LarryDiamond]

It is difficult to overstate the global significance of Orbán's massive, stunning defeat after 16 years in power. His was the paradigmatic case of right-wing authoritarian populism, becoming ever-more undemocratic, arrogant, and corrupt. It is not only Orbán that lost today, but Putin, Trump and foes of liberal democracy worldwide. Erdogan, Modi, and others should take note.
https://t.co/AN554gTcdx

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Orban concedes defeat. The support of Trump, Vance, Putin, Lavrov, Weidel, Milei, Le Pen, Fico, Babis and many others could not overcome Hungarian anger at a stagnant, corrupt regime

https://t.co/yfMCWUFk34

[Foreign Affairs @ForeignAffairs]

“The real danger is not that Venezuela will fail to hold elections, but that it will hold them too soon and present the result as proof of a democratic overhaul,” writes @MoisesNaim.
https://t.co/f8ToJYB2T2

[Flavia Freidenberg @flaviafrei]

✳️Seminario Internacional: “Nuevas aproximaciones a la medición democrática en América Latina"

📆15 y 16 de abril de 2026

Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM
Ciudad de México, México

Regístrate aquí: https://t.co/wAU5BZxILi

[Tatiana Benavides Santos @tabenavides]

Trump fires AG Pam Bondi:

[The New York Times @nytimes]

President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, removing the nation’s top law enforcement officer as his frustration with her job performance deepened. https://t.co/6Ltv3byKuM

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

More than 33,000 young men -- 36 percent of those arrested in El Salvador president Nayib Bukele’s crackdown -- were never listed as gang members, highlighting the sweeping nature of this arbitrary and cruel detention practice. https://t.co/A7UJTRiV54

[Michael Reid @michaelreid52]

El nuevo imperialismo de EEUU en America Latina, y sus antecedentes. Mi ensayo en@Letras_Libres
https://t.co/hmHYvKTXhQ

[Benjamin Lessing @BigBigBLessing]

For ~70-100 million Latin Americans, criminal groups provide order and reduce local crime. Criminal governance is positively correlated with state presence, especially police. Our piece now out in PoP, w Andres Uribe, @noahschouela, & @ElayneStecher.

https://t.co/4z7Y3TvpWL

[EL PAÍS América @elpais_america]

Más de 33.000 detenidos por Bukele no figuraban como pandilleros en los registros policiales

Documentos internos de inteligencia revelan que el 36% de los capturados durante el régimen de excepción no estaban perfilados como criminales antes de la medida

https://t.co/JMVhLKXtLi

[ian bremmer @ianbremmer]

6:49am: sudden spike in oil futures trading. no news. no announcement. nothing public.
7:05am: trump announces a pause on iran strikes. markets move.
someone knew. 16 minutes early. $580 million in contracts. the corruption is staggering.

[Christopher Sabatini @ChrisSabatini]

A great opportunity for young professionals to scholars focused on Latin America/Caribbean. Come to Chatham House!! 2026-2027 Chatham House Academy Fellowships - Chatham House https://t.co/thGXLnRkfF

[Pippa Norris @PippaN15]

The latest data just released from the Varieties of Democracy project estimates that in the United States, the 100-point Liberal Democracy Index peaked at .85 in 2008, slid 10 points under Trump 1.0, recovered slightly after J6, and then plummeted to .57 in 2025 under Trump 2.0, reflecting the largest one-year fall in American history. Data and definitions here: https://t.co/dsQO4liOMU