Tag Archives: drug war

The FARC’s announcement to halt kidnapping: why?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: February 27, 2012
The FARC’s announcement last Sunday that the organization will no longer kidnap civilians was a surprise to most observes and experts of the region. The mainstream media has reported on the event, but has been unsuccessful at explaining why the FARC would do this. In the past 48 hours, online media and blogs have [...]
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Why Guatemala’s Pérez Molina Is Considering Legalizing Drugs

By Natalie Kitroeff | Published: February 15, 2012
Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina has been acting strange lately. Just one month after his inauguration, he is already ruffling U.S. feathers, and making waves in the politics of the region in unexpected ways. Pérez Molina’s military past and hard-line “mano dura” security policy made many worry that he would backtrack on justice reforms led by [...]
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Overstating Cartels’ Relevance to the American Electorate

By Eliot Brockner | Published: November 2, 2011
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 [...]
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In Ciudad Mier, deploying troops is not enough

By Eliot Brockner | Published: September 5, 2011
Back in November 2010, a small town on the US-Mexico border, Ciudad Mier, made headlines when most of the town’s residents left because of intense fighting between the Zetas and Gulf cartels. Both groups wanted the plaza, which is a strategic smuggling corridor for weapons, cash, and money between the United States and Mexico, and [...]
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Ideas, not money, will make Central America safer

By Eliot Brockner | Published: June 24, 2011
Boz has a great point about the fresh funding headed to Central America: I think a lesson is that there is no amount of money that the US could put on the table and no amount of attention the US could give that would guarantee Central America’s success in fighting organized crime. The US is not [...]
Posted in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Latin America, Panama, nicaragua | Also tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Reclaiming Brand Mexico

By Eliot Brockner | Published: June 13, 2011
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 [...]
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Central America, crime, and what the Americas are doing about it

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 28, 2011
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 , , | Leave a comment

Organized Crime in Costa Rica and the Other Balloon Effect

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 13, 2011
A few years ago, LatAmThought wrote about the balloon effect, which argues that cutting down on the production of drugs in one area simply pushes their cultivation elsewhere. The same may be said of the transportation of drugs. On 12 January, the AP reported on the investigation of an armed group suspected of being involved with drug [...]
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Colombian Trafficker Arrested in Rio

By Eliot Brockner | Published: April 21, 2010
On 16 April, a joint task force of Brazilian and US agencies (including the Drug Enforcement Administration) arrested Nestor Caro Chapparo, aka Felipe, as he was leaving his luxury apartment in Rio’s upscale Copacabana neighborhood. This is the second consecutive month Caro Chapparo has made headlines. Last month, a video was leaked showing a number of [...]
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From Partner by Default to Partner of Choice: Shifting US Policy in Latin America

By Eliot Brockner | Published: April 13, 2010
On March 26, US Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said the US is close to signing bi-lateral military accords with two unspecified countries in Latin America. In October 2009, following a failed attempt to keep the details secret, the US and Colombia hastily announced a deal allowing US troops and advisors to use seven military bases [...]
Posted in Brazil, Panama, United States | Also tagged , , , | 1 Comment