The Dominican Republic has emerged as one of the Caribbean’s key operational partners in the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition and as a regional leader in multinational efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that use Caribbean maritime corridors to move cocaine to North America and Europe. “The government of the Dominican Republic, through the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), the Attorney…
Browsing: Caribbean
Inside GAESA: How Cuba’s Military Conglomerate Projects Influence Beyond the Island
More than a business conglomerate, the Business Administration Group S.A. (GAESA) has become the primary vehicle through which Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) control much of the country’s strategic economy. Ports, logistics, tourism, financial services, foreign trade, and other hard-currency-generating sectors form part of a corporate structure unlike any other in Latin America and the Caribbean. For analysts, GAESA’s significance…
Beyond Health Care: The Strategic Role of Cuba’s Overseas Medical Missions
As Cuba’s health care system faces one of the worst crises in its history, marked by increasingly frequent blackouts, chronic medicine shortages, and hospitals in poor condition, its international medical missions continue to represent one of Havana’s main sources of revenue, in some cases surpassing even tourism. Each year, they generate billions of dollars, providing the regime with essential resources…
China’s Solar Energy Projects Deepen Cuba’s Technological Dependence
As blackouts continue to cripple Cuba and fuel growing public discontent, China is leveraging the island’s worst energy crisis in decades to deepen its dependence on Chinese-made solar technology. By supplying photovoltaic panels, inverters, specialized equipment, and technical assistance, Beijing is establishing an increasingly important position in a sector critical to restoring Cuba’s electrical system while expanding its strategic influence…
Solar Power and Strategic Influence: China’s Expanding Footprint in the Caribbean
As Caribbean countries accelerate their energy transition, China is steadily expanding its presence in the region’s renewable energy sector, particularly in solar power. Between 2020 and 2024, Chinese exports of green technologies to the Caribbean grew by more than 570 percent. At the same time, this expansion has raised concerns about project transparency, growing technological dependence, and the possibility that…
Capabilities, Coordination, and Preparedness: Lessons from Haiti and Chile for a Stronger Regional Disaster Response
The two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 once again underscored the enormous challenges countries face when a catastrophe overwhelms national response capabilities. Beyond the scale of the disaster itself, such events also test the speed, coordination, and effectiveness of regional and international cooperation. In an exclusive interview with Diálogo, retired Chilean Army General Ricardo Toro, former director…
China Strengthens Its Influence in Cuba’s Strategic Nickel Sector
As Canadian company Sherritt International’s participation in Cuba’s nickel sector faces a period of uncertainty after initially announcing plans to withdraw from one of its joint ventures with the Havana regime, China is steadily expanding its technological support for the island’s mining industry. The introduction of Chinese-supplied equipment to modernize aging facilities is helping keep one of the Cuban regime’s…
Beyond Crime: The Security Challenges Facing Latin America and the Caribbean
Over the past several decades, security in Latin America and the Caribbean has seen both progress and setbacks in the face of increasingly sophisticated threats. While some countries have made significant progress in reducing violence, others continue to face the expansion of illicit economies and transnational criminal organizations. In an exclusive interview with Diálogo, former Minister of Defense of Colombia…
China’s Strategic Infrastructure in Cuba: Surveillance, Intelligence, and Regional Power
Since May, Cuba has seen several protests over the country’s deepening energy crisis and the rolling blackouts that continue to disrupt daily life. Independent journalists have also reported repeated internet outages, even after electricity service has been restored. “The regime cuts communications,” journalist Mag Jorge Castro wrote on X, describing a “massive internet outage in Havana.” These incidents point to…
Jamaica’s MOCA: Leading the Fight Against Cyber-Enabled Transnational Organized Crime
For years, the public image of Jamaica’s fraud problem has been dominated by one phrase: lottery scamming. But according to the Director General of Jamaica’s Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), Colonel (R.) Desmond Edwards, that characterization no longer reflects the scale, sophistication, or operational realities of the threat facing Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. “What we are confronting…
Gen. Reynoso: ‘Space is the New Frontier for our Armed Forces’
With nearly three decades of service in the Dominican Air Force and extensive experience in joint operations, intelligence, and international cooperation, Brigadier General Jonás Reynoso Barrera, executive director of the National Antiterrorism Directorate (DNA), has played a key role in strengthening the country’s defense and security capabilities. His career includes serving as liaison officer to Joint Interagency Task Force South…
American Air Chiefs Reaffirm Commitment to Regional Security, Address Shared Challenges at CONJEFAMER 2026
Air chiefs and senior military leaders representing air forces from 19 nations across the Western Hemisphere gathered in the Dominican Republic June 15-19 for the 66th annual Conference of the American Air Chiefs (CONJEFAMER), reinforcing a shared commitment to regional security, cooperation, and interoperability through the System of Cooperation Among the American Air Forces (SICOFAA). The annual conference serves as…