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Tag Archives: Cartels
Overstating Cartels’ Relevance to the American Electorate
The lead article in last week’s Proceso talks about the political importance of capturing El Chapo for both the Calderon and Obama administrations. The article is worth a read in its entirety, but the focus of this post is on a quote from the informed and esteemed analyst/lawyer/economist Edgardo Buscaglia:
“For Obama, El Chapo is Osama [...]
Reclaiming Brand Mexico
Roberto Newell Garcia of the Woodrow Wilson Center has published a great report titled “Restoring Mexico’s Reputation.”
The basic premise of Newell’s argument is that Mexico is facing a number of problems, but that the one that gets far and away the most coverage – organized crime/drug-related violence – is not necessarily the most important. Citing [...]
Central America, crime, and what the Americas are doing about it
On 3 March 2009, The Wall Street Journal published an Op-Ed titled “In Praise of Mexico’s War on Drugs”. Although it was written nearly two years ago, it is still a highly relevant and recommended read.
A day later, LatAmThought wrote the following in response to the article
Bret Stephens’ commentary “In Priase of Mexico’s War on [...]
Posted in Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Latin America, Panama, nicaragua Also tagged democracy, drug war, Organized crime Leave a comment
Selective Impunity
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 [...]
Posted in Mexico Also tagged border issues, ciudad juarez, drug war, security, United States Leave a comment
The International Reach of Organized Crime
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 [...]
Creative thinking on the drug war?
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 [...]
The Growing Presence of Mexican Cartels in Latin America
On the night of 18 October, Mexican Police raided a party in the outskirts of Mexico City. Like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster, the party featured exotic pets (two African lions, two white tigers, two black panthers) and $200,000 dollars in cash lying around. The international guest list included people from Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, [...]
Why Guatemala’s Pérez Molina Is Considering Legalizing Drugs