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Tag Archives: drug war
Merida 2.0: A New Phase in U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation
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.
Posted in Mexico Also tagged border issues, corruption, democracy, Diplomacy, security, United States, war on drugs Leave a comment
Beyond Playa del Carmen: Tourism and Diplomacy in Ecuador and Colombia
Last week’s Rio Summit between high ranking dignitaries of the Americas – The United States and Canada conspicuously excluded – produced a number of notable events:
The announcement of the creation of a Brazil-led regional bloc to convene in July 2011
Universal [...]
Posted in Colombia, Ecuador Also tagged Alvaro Uribe, border issues, Diplomacy, Nation Branding, Rafael Correa, Tourism Leave a comment
Anti-drug bases in Panama and the Drug War in 2010
One of the biggest stories emerging from the Americas in 2009 was Colombia’s decision to let the United States access military installations throughout Colombia in efforts to combat narcotrafficking. The move exacerbated already tenuous relations between Colombia and Venezuela, with the latter claiming that US presence in Colombia was a direct threat to sovereignty, another [...]
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 [...]
The Dangers of Prison Transfers
The (dare I say, even sarcastically) classic 1997 movie Con Air is based on the premise of a prison transfer gone awry. In the movie, a group of criminals hijack the airplane on which they are being transported from one prison to another. The movie highlights the dangerous nature of violent criminals and their ability [...]
The End of the Drug War?
U.S. policy on drugs is as close to center stage as it has been probably since ten years ago, when Plan Colombia was first debated in Congress. This is mostly due to the rising levels of violence in Mexico, with over 6,000 people murdered last year in drug-related killings, and the crossing of [...]
The War on Drugs: Eradication of Colombia’s Indigenous People
The deadline for the FARC to return the slain bodies of the 27 Awa indigenous community members killed earlier this month expired at 6:00 PM on February 23, 2009. The killings, carried out on two separate occasions in the Nariño area of southwestern Colombia, have brought terror to the region and left more than 400 [...]
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 [...]
Selective Impunity