Bullets for Cocaine
The arrests of Syrian Monzer al-Kassar in Spain in 2007 and Russian Viktor Bout in Thailand in 2008 shed light on how easy it is to smuggle weapons into Latin America.
Naval Base Targets Traffickers
Navy boats were on display Dec. 1, in Isla Chapera, Panama, at the inauguration of Panama’s first naval base aimed at fighting regional drug traffic. The base is the first of 11 planned to cut maritime trafficking routes from South America to North America. The base will be operated by [ … ]
Global Narco-Enterprise
Drug trafficking organizations follow the model of transnational businesses while developing criminal links and violence across the region
Reward Offered for Militants
Peru is working on a new approach to counter the violence from the remnants of the Shining Path guerrilla group. Rafael Rey, Peru’s minister of defense, told the news agency EFE that the approach includes new military intelligence and elite forces. It also includes a reward program that could pay [ … ]
Breaking the Criminal’s Bank
Colombia’s Extinction of Dominion over Assets Law Serves as a Model for Other Governments
Transformation in Communications
A new fiber-optic cable is set to increase Guyana’s bandwidth capacity, reported the Web site Caribbean Net News. The cable is set to increase Internet capacity by 3,000 times and will bring national development opportunities including e-governance, e-health, e-learning and e-security, among others, said officials from the Guyana Telephone and [ … ]
Parallels in Narcoterrorism
The FARC in Colombia and the Taliban in Afghanistan fund violence through the drugs they once disdained
Belize Benefits from Mérida Initiative
Night vision equipment, bulletproof vests and metal scanners were part of the equipment received by Belize as part of the U.S. government’s Mérida Initiative in January, reported Belizean newspaper The Guardian. The Mérida Initiative is a multiyear regional effort to strengthen the capacities of the governments in Central America, Mexico, [ … ]
Peaceful Nuclear Partnerships
Latin America sets the standard for nuclear nonproliferation
Military Education
Military forces in Latin America and the Caribbean have a variety of military institutions to educate their personnel about dealing with new challenges. As a follow-up to the previous edition, DIÁLOGO again presents a selection of military academic institutions, this time in the Andean region.
Anti-Trafficking Project
Two victims who found refuge at a halfway house in Manila reflect the problem of human trafficking in the Philippines. The Australian and Philippine governments have launched a project in Manila that aims to strengthen the Philippine criminal justice system in combating human trafficking. The $17 million project will provide [ … ]
Africans Seek Asylum in Latin America
Increasing numbers of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls. They are escaping violence and civil war, and arriving on cargo ships or commercial planes. “One night I went to the seaport,” Sierra Leone immigrant Ibrahim Abdoul Rahman (pictured here selling jewelry in Buenos [ … ]
