Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro are both including multimillion-dollar data centers and AI investment as central elements of their proposals for the October presidential election. ^[1] US President Donald Trump said on 2026-09-02 to reporters in the Oval Office that Latin American countries have 'gone from the left to the right' and that 'everyone is going toward the right,' attributing the shift to his influence. ^[2] Brazil aims to become the Latin American center for AI computing capacity, competing against rivals Argentina and Chile that offer incentives and infrastructure. ^[3] Lula has invoked data sovereignty and promised jobs and increased foreign investment while pressuring legislators to pass a law to drastically reduce taxes on IT equipment for data centers. ^[4] The tax reduction aims to accelerate megaprojects such as the Rio Al City development, valued at US$65.000 billion, which is planned for Brazil's second-largest city. ^[5] The Rio AI City project is valued at USD 65 billion and depends on tax incentives. ^[6] The article reports that far-right politician Abelardo de la Espriella became president of Colombia in 2026, succeeding leftist Gustavo Petro after years of tensions between Bogotá and the US administration. ^[7] Trump said he backed Abelardo de la Espriella, whom he described as not the favorite, in the Colombian presidential runoff and took credit for part of his victory. ^[8] Trump said that many countries in the region had no respect for the United States two years ago but now do, and that Washington is 'doing very well in South America, in Latin America.' ^[9] Donald Trump cited the recent election of Colombian ultrarightist Abelardo de la Espriella as an example of the shift. ^[10] Donald Trump claimed he supported Abelardo de la Espriella in the second round of the Colombian presidential election. ^[11] Donald Trump stated that countries in Latin America now respect the United States more than they did two years ago. ^[12]