A Conversation With

Under the leadership of Minister of Public Security Frank Ábrego, Panama has strengthened its role as a key partner in regional security. The country has intensified efforts to combat drug trafficking, curb irregular migration through the Darién region, and safeguard strategic infrastructure such as the Panama Canal. These efforts have [ … ]

Army Colonel Lorenzo Agustín Cabrera Burgos is a senior officer in the Paraguayan Armed Forces with extensive experience in international operations, military education, and multinational cooperation. A graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom, he has developed a career marked by operational leadership and institutional strengthening, [ … ]

Ecuador’s Minister of Defense Gian Carlo Loffredo Rendón has been at the forefront of the country’s efforts to combat organized crime and narco-terrorism during one of the most challenging security periods in its recent history. Since taking office in November 2023, Minister Loffredo has focused on strengthening the capabilities of [ … ]

Originally conducted in mid-2025, the following conversation offers a timely look at the structural shifts in hemispheric relations that continue to define the current landscape. Over the past two decades, China has transformed its presence in Latin America and the Caribbean from a commercial relationship centered on trade into a [ … ]

From the quiet erosion of democratic norms to shifting diplomatic allegiances and the rise of transnational criminal networks, Beijing’s expanding influence is reshaping Latin America’s political and strategic landscape. In the second part of this interview with Diálogo, Ryan C. Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and [ … ]

In the first part of this interview, Leonardo Coutinho, director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), painted a disturbing picture: Organized crime in Latin America is no longer a marginal phenomenon, but has become a potent political actor capable of disrupting economies, institutions, and regional stability. He [ … ]

Leonardo Coutinho, director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS) and expert on drug trafficking, corruption, and transnational crime, spoke exclusively with Diálogo about the profound transformation of organized crime in Latin America. Coutinho warns that these structures are no longer just illicit businesses, but political actors with [ … ]

In the first part of this interview, Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, director of the Inter-American Institute for Democracy (IID) and former Bolivian Defense minister, provided an assessment that reinforces the hemispheric debate on security and democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sánchez Berzaín revealed how Venezuela went from being a [ … ]

Venezuela is facing a crisis. What began as a failed state under the Nicolás Maduro regime has metastasized into a functional criminal machine that threatens regional stability. Such is the assessment of the transformation and its geostrategic implications provided by Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, director of the Inter-American Institute for Democracy [ … ]

In this in-depth interview with Diálogo, Ryan C. Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), discusses how China’s engagement with Latin America has evolved from a seemingly benign economic partnership into a complex web of strategic, political, and security entanglements. Over two decades after [ … ]

In the first part of this interview, Luis Fleischman, an expert in international relations, sociology professor at Palm Beach State College, and founding co-chair of the Palm Beach Center for Democracy, revealed the criminal roots that sustain the Nicolás Maduro regime and its close collaboration with armed groups and illicit [ … ]