Brian A. Nichols is US Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

He is on an official visit to Spain, a country with which he shows good harmony. “Unlike China and Russia, we consider civil society and free media indispensable, especially now, as support for democracy has declined over the past decade,” he says. In 2023, around 184 million people, 2.3% of the world's population, were living outside their home country, according to World Bank data.