With inflation at a record high, millions of its citizens fleeing the country, and a political opposition recognized by most Western democracies as the legitimate government of Venezuela, the regime of Nicolás Maduro seemed to be on the brink of collapse in 2019. But Maduro regime survived, thanks to a [ … ]
The indirect threat made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as the crisis in the Ukraine escalated in January 2022, that Russia could not rule out deploying military forces to Venezuela and Cuba, highlighted the strategic risks posed by Russia's position in the Western Hemisphere. On its face, the [ … ]
The predictable triumph by Maduro loyalists in Venezuela’s rigged November 2021 elections was a symbolic nail in the coffin for the attempt by the de jure government of Juan Guaido to restore the more liberal type of democracy previously prevailing in the country. Venezuela now seems to ever more resemble [ … ]
A lack of due diligence, corruption, and a disregard for indigenous rights and the environment have characterized many Chinese infrastructure projects in the region. On December 7, a few days after the third China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released the China-CELAC Joint [ … ]
Nicaragua’s diplomatic flip from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), announced on December 9, was almost inevitable, but it will accelerate a worrisome trend in parts of the Western Hemisphere closest to the U.S. to a China-funded form of authoritarian populism. That growing threat, in a part of [ … ]
The Guyanese government’s announcement that it is contracting with China Railway Group to build and fund the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project, and possibly take out as much as $1.5 billion in loans for Chinabuilt infrastructure, symbolizes the renewed takeoff of Chinese projects and PRC influence in Guyana. An earlier version [ … ]
On September 11, 2001, then US President George W. Bush had just completed a historic summit with his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, the week prior. The interaction built on the “special friendship” between the two nations and the intertwined commercial, security, and other strategic interests binding the United States and [ … ]
Panama’s maritime business is being transformed by the complex interaction between multiple factors. These include the growing economic and political power of China and US-China competition, the long-term structural impacts of Covid on both the region and global trade, US policies to contain immigration from the Northern Triangle, climate change, [ … ]
Modern international law came into existence at the end of the Thirty Years’ War in Europe.1 Horrified by the unprecedented destruction of a series of wars over religion, European negotiators at Westphalia coined the phrase “cuius regio, eius religio.”2 Literally translated, it means “whose realm, his religion.” It could be loosely translated [ … ]
How SOUTHCOM is Re-Shaping Intelligence Security Cooperation in the AOR through Collaboration Warfare “We’re connected to the nations in Latin America and [the] Caribbean by history, culture, and geography. We’re connected in every domain, sea, air, space, and cyber and land. Our security and prosperity are inextricably linked. When our [ … ]
Executive Summary Iran’s ability to shape the information environment and spread the narrative of the United States as an imperialist force—perpetrating violence and instability in Latin America—has grown in recent years. These ongoing and multifaceted campaigns of disinformation and care- fully curated messages are coordinated with Russian and Venezuelan state [ … ]
In the past five years, a confluence of events in Colombia and Venezuela have empowered the National Liberation Army (ELN) to become a far more dangerous and intractable threat to both countries, and the region. The reinforcing effects of the partial demobilization the rival Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),1 [ … ]
For more on security and defense issues around the globe, click on the links below:
