Brazil is slowly taking over as the standard-bearer for Chinese investment in Latin America as the people’s republic diversifies away from oil-dependent ideological allies such as Venezuela.

Beijing’s growing presence in what Washington considers its “backyard” has allowed Latin American leaders an amount of welcome independence from the US and has freed them to pursue pet projects. Between 2010-14, $90bn in lending from China to Latin America exceeded disbursements to the region from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), according to a report from Boston University’s Global Economic Governance Initiative.

Nowadays, the purse across the Pacific is no longer quite so open. The steep drop in oil prices is correlated with a weakening in investments by China into oil-dependent nations. In Latin America, that means China is pivoting away from “left-leaning” friends such as Venezuela or Ecuador towards other countries, including Brazil and Chile.