Twitter: latamthought- Correa to attend Santos investidura, but legal issues in Ecuador to continue http://bit.ly/9G46Jt
- Who is Joran van der Sloot? http://bit.ly/bs9Iy1
- This claim is based on "internal polls" carried out in the days leading up to the election. Interview here: http://bit.ly/bXqqvu
- Interview w/Colombian pollsters says they knew the gap b/w Santos-Mockus would be very large, but weren't allowed to publish the results
- New Post: Business as Ideology http://bit.ly/ahUmki HT @bloggingsbyboz
Tag Archives: security
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, Cartels, ciudad juarez, drug war, United States Leave a comment
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, drug war, United States, war on drugs 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 [...]
Paraguay’s Anti-Terrorist Group and the US
On 4 November 2009, the United States announced they would donate US$1.39 million in equipment towards the formation of an elite unit of highly trained troops in the Paraguayan army. Backed by US funding (sources put the total amount of the expedition at US$3 million) and training from SOUTHCOM, the troops are trained in counterterrorism [...]
Posted in Brazil, Paraguay, United States Also tagged border issues, Fernando Lugo, Terrorism 1 Comment
Accountability Amongst Brazil’s Police
O Globo, a Rio de Janeiro-based daily, published an article on 24 March talking about a unique and creative way Brazil is battling high levels of crime and police corruption. In Brazlandia, a neighborhood in the capital city of Brasilia, a program was launched on 23 January titled “A Policia Militar e voce – Uniao [...]
Coffee Smuggling and the Importance of Successful Nation Branding
At first glance, the Honduran-Guatemalan border at El Florido appears no different from any other international land border crossing in Latin America. Migrant day workers mix with road-weary truckers, soldiers, little kids selling everything from candy to cigarettes, and myriad other overland travelers destined for points unknown. Customs officials dutifully check documentation of each person [...]
Brazil’s Army Cont’d
I recently had a letter published in this week’s edition (January 31-February 6) of The Economist. The letter, which I’ve copied and pasted below, is in response to this article about the Brazilian military from the January 17 edition of the economist, and is related to the 24 January commentary found on LatAmThought about securing [...]
Brazil’s Other Frontier
It is far less alluring, polarizing, and smaller than the Amazon. It attracts very few tourists and minimal attention from Brazilian and international conservation groups. Nestled between the Paraguay and Paraná rivers lay an isolated area known as the Chaco, home to an approximately 500 mile-long border shared by Brazil and Paraguay. Just southeast of [...]
The Skeletons in Brazil’s Closet