Russia relies on hacker gangs to launch disruptive attacks against Western infrastructure, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international investigative journalism organization specializing in organized crime, indicated on June 3. “Russia makes agreements with different Russian cybercriminal groups [...], in exchange for leniency on certain crimes, if [ … ]
International Relations


UN Rights Chief Issues Blistering Report on Nicaragua
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has issued a blistering report on Nicaragua’s deteriorating human rights situation, which she said was spurring unprecedented numbers of people to flee to other countries. She presented her report June 16 to the U.N. Human Rights Council, where it remains under review. [ … ]

Fuerzas Comando 2022 Closing Ceremony
Fuerzas Comando 2022 closing ceremony was held at the Honduran military parade field in Campo Marte, June 24, 2022. Honduran President Xiomara Castro was the ceremony’s principal speaker, with U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) International Affairs and Exercise Director Kevin Bostick as the honorary guest speaker. Colombia won the multinational Special [ … ]

USAID Announces Multiple Latin American and Caribbean-Focus Initiatives
At an event on the sidelines of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, a hemispheric meeting of leaders of the region held in Los Angeles, California, June 6-10, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power announced approximately $331 million in humanitarian and long-term development assistance to address [ … ]

Ecuador Increases International Cooperation to Combat Narcotrafficking
Ecuador has been experiencing increased violence, including car bombs and prison riots, which have resulted in nearly 400 death in little more than a year, France 24 reported on May 25. “A series of factors such as geographic proximity to Colombia, a porous border, corruption, new criminal alliances, Mexican cartels, [ … ]

Fuerzas Comando 2022 Kicks Off in Honduras
Honduras hosted Fuerzas Comando 2022 opening ceremony at Campo Marte, Tegucigalpa, June 13, 2022. Seventeen countries will compete in a Special Operations Forces skills competition to earn the title of the Best Special Forces of the Americas, June 13-23. “Without a doubt, this event is an opportunity to strengthen our [ … ]

US and 4 Latin American Countries Commit to Protect Marine Resources
The governments of the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama signed June 6 a Memorandum of Understanding in support of the Eastern Pacific Tropical Marine Corridor. Senior officials of the governments involved signed the document during the 9th Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. A U.S. Department [ … ]

US 4th Fleet Conducts Maritime Staff Talks with Peru
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Jim Aiken, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet commander, hosted delegates from the Peruvian Navy for the 28th annual Maritime Staff Talks (MST), at St. Francis Barracks, Florida National Guard Headquarters in St. Augustine, June 1-3, 2022. MSTs with Peru began in the early 2000s [ … ]

US-Guyana Defence Force Noncommissioned Officer Jungle Symposium Cooperation
From June 1-3, 2022, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) co-hosted the first ever Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Jungle Symposium in Guyana. Participants from the GDF, SOUTHCOM Headquarters, U.S. Army 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army South, Colombia, Brazil, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras attended the symposium, as well [ … ]

Colombian Forces to Train Ukrainian Military on Landmine Removal
Landmines have killed 2,341 people in Colombia and injured 11,581 since 1990, according to the Colombian government. The nearly 60 years of internal conflict between the Colombian Military Forces, leftist groups, right-wing paramilitaries, and drug cartels has turned Colombia into one of the world’s most-mined countries, according to the United [ … ]

US, Colombia Reaffirm Holistic Counternarcotics Partnership
Colombian President Iván Duque, U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary James Walsh, and U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg reaffirmed the comprehensive holistic U.S.-Colombia counternarctics strategy, the Colombian government announced April 26. “This new approach seeks to overcome the drug problem, but at [ … ]

Bahamas, US Strengthen Security and Defense Cooperation
In late April, representatives from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) met with officials from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) at Coral Harbour Naval Base in Nassau. The officials participated in an executive session as part of the Bilateral Security Cooperation Framework (BSCF) [ … ]