Paraguay and the United States put pen to paper this week on a new civil nuclear cooperation agreement, extending a bilateral relationship that has been warming steadily since Paraguay's conservative government took office in 2023. For Washington, deepening a nuclear relationship with a government that has already resisted Beijing's overtures is a relatively low-cost way to keep that alignment locked in. Venezuela, Nicaragua and the Security BackdropThe nuclear signing didn't happen in a vacuum. Paraguay cut diplomatic ties with Caracas in 2019 and has since built a reputation as one of Washington's steadiest partners on regional security. Whether this memorandum grows into a full operating nuclear partnership, or stays largely symbolic, depends on follow-through neither government has spelled out yet.