Colombian Criminals Export Moneylending Practices to Brazilian Narcotrafficking Groups
The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police’s arrest of five Colombians this summer for loan sharking — illegal loans at exorbitant interest rates — using narcotrafficking money drew the attention of Brazil’s security sector, because reports of this practice by narcotraffickers were so far unheard of, Police said. “This type of [ … ]
US Coast Guard Conducts High Seas Boarding for First Time in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization Convention Area
The U.S. Coast Guard recently completed an operation to counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, within the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) Convention area. The SPRFMO Convention area covers nearly a fourth of the Earth’s high seas. The SPRFMO Commission consists of 16 members from Asia, [ … ]
Training for a Resilient Caribbean: The Jamaica Defence Force and the 571st MSAS
It was during a key leader engagement at Up Park Camp in Kingston, between Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Brigadier Markland Lloyd, Force executive officer (FXO), and Brigadier General Hernando Garzon Rey, U.S. Army South (ARSOUTH) deputy commanding general for Interoperability, that the future of the JDF’s humanitarian assistance and disaster [ … ]
Chinese Fishing Fleet Threatens Marine Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean
“Illegal, unreported, and unregulated [IUU] fishing poses a potentially enduring threat to the security and well-being of the United States and its neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean,” the August report IUU Fishing Crimes in Latin America and the Caribbean of the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies [ … ]
Ecuadorian Armed Forces, Committed to National Security
His nearly four decades of military service in the Ecuadorian Armed Forces speak to the experience and professionalism of Army Major General Nelson Proaño Rodríguez, who took office as head of the Armed Forces’ Joint Command on May 5, 2022. Maj. Gen. Proaño, who graduated as an infantry second lieutenant [ … ]
104th Fighter Squadron Lends Expertise to Exercise Tapio
Pilots from the 104th Fighter Squadron, Maryland Air National Guard, recently traveled to the Campo Grande Air Force Base in the largest city in the Mato Grosso do Sul state to assist the New York Air National Guard (NYANG) train with their partner, Brazil. Exercise Tapio is a Brazilian combat [ … ]
Peruvian Armed Forces Dismantle Shining Path Cell
Peruvian security forces neutralized 15 Shining Path (SL) terrorists, seized weapons, and dismantled the group’s communications system as part of Operation Patriot, Peruvian Army General Manuel Gómez de la Torre, head of the Armed Forces’ Joint Command, told the press. The operation in the Vizcatán area of the Apurímac, Ene, [ … ]
Pacific Ocean: Preferred Cocaine Route to the US
In late July 2022, the Secretariat for Citizen Security of Mexico City (SSC), in coordination with the Attorney General’s Office, carried out what it described as the largest cocaine seizure in Mexico City with the interdiction of two trailers containing 1.68 tons of cocaine from Colombia bound for the United [ … ]
Russia ‘Launders Information’ on Ukraine Invasion
Since the ban in the European Union (EU) of RT and Sputnik, two of the main outlets spreading disinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sites under other names that publish the same content have been on the rise, experts who track fake news on the internet said. NewsGuard, a journalism [ … ]
Strength in Sports: Brazilian Navy Serves Underprivileged Children
Nearly 570 children and teens between 6 and 18 years old, in socially vulnerable situations, have found a safe haven at the Brazilian Navy’s Marine Corps Base on Governador Island, in Rio de Janeiro. The naval complex serves as a venue for the Ministry of Defense’s Strength in Sports project [ … ]
Exercise Viekaren: Friendship and Cooperation Between Chilean and Argentine Navies
The southernmost tip of the Americas was the scene of the 22nd edition of the combined naval exercise Viekaren, which brought together the Chilean and Argentine navies in Ushuaia, capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, known as the end of the world. “The proximity of Ushuaia and [ … ]
Perry Center Honors Excellence in Security and Defense Education Award Recipients
Each year, the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies recognizes individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions advancing mutually supportive approaches to security and fostering transparent and capable defense and security governance institutions. On September 22, Daniel P. Erikson, U.S. deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for the [ … ]
