Category Archives: Mexico

Far-Reaching Demonstrations Against AZ Law

By Eliot Brockner | Published: May 14, 2010
How divisive is Senate Bill 1070? There was a universal rejection of the law by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), as well as protests on both sides of the border: But the protests have spread to countries where a large diaspora stands to be impacted by the law. On 14 May, hundreds of Ecuadorians  in [...]
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Selective Impunity

By Eliot Brockner | Published: March 29, 2010
El Chiguire Bipolar has a good take on the concept of selective impunity. In the Onion-like fashion for which the blog is known, it tells the story of Maria Angelica Guerrero, a two-time victim of lightning kidnappings and exasperation at the police’s ineffectiveness. Thinking creatively, she attempts to get her kidnapper to speak negatively about Hugo [...]
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Merida 2.0: A New Phase in U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation

By Dora Beszterczey | Published: March 26, 2010
Responding to a growing sense that an exclusive focus on a military-led fight against drug trafficking organizations is failing to curb violence on the other side of our southern border, the United States and Mexico formally announced a shift in their counternarcotics strategy that had been in the works since the fall of 2009. The “new stage” in bilateral cooperation will aim to strengthen civilian law enforcement institutions and rebuild communities crippled by poverty and crime.
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The International Reach of Organized Crime

By Eliot Brockner | Published: November 27, 2009
Earlier this year, LatAmThought wrote a commentary about the international reach or criminal organizations in the Americas. Last week, we published an article on the International Relations and Security Network about the indirect presence of Mexican Cartels in the Andes. The amount of drug seizures in Bolivia have increased in 2009. Additionally, raids on drug-processing labs [...]
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Creative thinking on the drug war?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 25, 2009
The taboo that kept some from outright admitting that current antinarcotics policies have failed has all but disappeared.  A recent report by former Brazilian President Crdoso, former Colombian President Gaviria, and former Mexican President Zedillo made precisely this point and an op-ed by the three this week in the WSJ with the headline “The War [...]
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Latin America as a Role Model for Drug Policy

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 11, 2009
“Cardoso, Gaviria, Zedillo Urge Obama to Decriminalize Marijuana”  read the Bloomberg News headline today on a new report released by The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, a group led by former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, and former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, on the future of counternarcotics strategies. [...]
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Mexico’s Drug War?

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 11, 2009
On 12 January, US President-Elect Barack Obama will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderón to discuss the future of US-Mexican relations. The two have a lot to talk about. Mexico is limping out of one of its most violent years in history, in which 5,630 people were killed in drug and gang-related [...]
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Argentina and the Drug Trade

By Eliot Brockner | Published: December 14, 2008
The nation most known for its meat and tango is facing the possibility of adding something more to the notoriety list: a haven for drug smuggling. Within the last two weeks, Argentine customs officials and police have seized over 1000 kilos of cocaine in the port of Buenos Aires, destined for Spain for distribution [...]
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The Next President’s Policies Toward Latin America

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: October 20, 2008
Back in 2000 then-candidate George W. Bush pledged to make this a “Century of the Americas.” ”Our future cannot be separated from the future of Latin America,” then-candidate George W. Bush told a Miami audience in 2000. ”Should I become the president, I will look south not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental [...]
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