Special Report

Colombian Gold Enriches Criminal Groups, Impoverishes Soil and Population

Colombia is currently the 16th largest gold producer worldwide and the third largest in Latin America, according to the Statista world ranking. In 2022 alone, the country exported 70.7 tons of gold worth $2.9 billion, according to figures from Colombia’s National Mining Agency. Following oil, coal, and coffee, gold is Colombia’s fourth largest export product.

The price of gold increased in recent years. Its value in the international market went from $340 per ounce in March 2013 to $1,912 in late March 2023. In other words, in just a decade, gold’s value increased by 560 percent. At the same time, demand also increased and reached its highest point in 2022, according to data from the World Gold Council.

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Academia

Race to the Bottom: China and the Self-Defeating Logic of Transactional Diplomacy in the Americas
Race to the Bottom: China and the Self-Defeating Logic of Transactional Diplomacy in the Americas

This article was originally published on The Diplomat on April 18, 2023. Having closely followed China’s advance in the Western Hemisphere for more than two decades, I have always felt discomfort with the reasonable sounding, but self-defeating explanation from our Latin American partners: “Well, the U.S. isn’t offering us anything better…” To be clear, I strongly believe that it is in the U.S. interest to do far more to support the economic development of the region, and the vital related tasks of combatting its endemic corruption, improving citizen security, and strengthening effective and transparent governance. Doing so is the only [ … ]

What China’s Global Security Initiative Tells Us About Its Strategic Engagement with Latin America
What China’s Global Security Initiative Tells Us About Its Strategic Engagement with Latin America

This article was originally published on The Diplomat.   Chinese engagement with Latin America may be mostly about commerce, but it is nonetheless strategic in its character. Its new Global Security Initiative (GSI) openly highlights the explicitly military and other strategic dimensions of its approach toward Latin America and other parts of the world. The GSI, introduced in 2022 and outlined in February 2023 through a Ministry of Foreign Affairs concept paper compliments the 2013 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the PRC’s Global Development Initiative (GDI) in its evolving and increasingly ambitious narrative about how China seeks to interact [ … ]

Sovereignty in Space, No One Can Own It, which Drives Competition, Cooperation
Sovereignty in Space, No One Can Own It, which Drives Competition, Cooperation

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) fired off a letter to the United Nations in December 2021 complaining it had been forced to maneuver its newly occupied space station twice in four months to avoid colliding with two Starlink satellites, part of the constellation launched by United States-based SpaceX to bring the internet to underserved areas of the globe. In its complaint letter the PRC selectively interpreted the terms of the U.N.’s Outer Space Treaty and did not admit that it failed to proactively consult with other nations as outlined in the treaty. Countries are to consult with one another [ … ]

Cyberspace Freedom, Allied and Partner Nations Resist Authoritarian Controls Imposed Under the Guise of Digital Sovereignty
Cyberspace Freedom, Allied and Partner Nations Resist Authoritarian Controls Imposed Under the Guise of Digital Sovereignty

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the internet in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) echoed the Chinese government’s noncommittal stance, declining to portray Moscow’s military assault in Europe as an unprovoked attack. Censors commissioned by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were similarly vigilant in early 2022, limiting online exchanges during a COVID-19 lockdown, including information on how cloistered residents could get food and medicine. Though a few online posts thwarted government surveillance, the crackdown largely was successful. The internet in the PRC is neither open nor free.Posts that criticize government actions disappear, subscribers’ accounts are suspended or [ … ]

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U.S. Air Force Major General Barry Cornish, commander of U.S. Air Forces Southern/12th Air Force
Primarily, we do security cooperation. We focus in the aerospace and cyber domains. Our planning assumptions and our campaign support plan mesh with SOUTHCOM’s [U.S. Southern Command] campaign planning and strategy.
U.S. Air Force Major General Barry Cornish, commander of U.S. Air Forces Southern/12th Air Force
Brigadier General Steven Ortega, commander of the Belize Defence Force
Our relationship with Mexico is very good. Presently, we offer Mexico overflight rights, so they can try to locate the illegal flights and try to identify where they could land, so we are in a better position to respond. We do combined patrols along the border with the Mexicans and it’s working excellently.
Brigadier General Steven Ortega, commander of the Belize Defence Force
Brigadier General Miguel Ángel Rivas Bonilla, deputy chief of the Salvadoran Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff
We integrate in different ways to combat transnational organized crime on our borders. One of them is through the Central American Armed Forces Conference, where we build relationships based on mutual support and trust, a highlight of which is transnational border patrols.
Brigadier General Miguel Ángel Rivas Bonilla, deputy chief of the Salvadoran Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff