China’s lending has shifted from the Belt and Road Initiative to emergency bailouts, a new report by the AidData Research Institute at the University of William and Mary in the United States, indicated. After lending more than $1.3 trillion to developing countries to build infrastructure projects, it now concentrates on [ … ]
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Colombian Military Forces Deal Heavy Blows to Clan del Golfo
Captures, combats, and seizures of drugs, laboratories, and weapons are some of the successes of the Colombian Military Forces against the organized armed group Clan del Golfo organized armed group. These results have been achieved within the framework of the Ayacucho Joint Strategic Plan, which addresses security problems differentially by [ … ]
Brazil Expels Illegal Miners from Indigenous Lands
Nine months after launching a major operation to dismantle extensive illegal gold mining activities in the Yanomami indigenous lands of the Amazon, the Brazilian government has achieved great success with a reduction of almost 80 percent of the territories affected by the illegal activity, the Brazilian Ministry of Defense said [ … ]
Investigation Lays Out Deep Involvement of Maduro Regime in Drug Trade
The latest transnational journalistic investigation, led by the international investigative journalism organization Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in partnership with the Latin American Center of Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and various other Latin American organizations, highlights the deep involvement of the Venezuelan regime and its military in the drug [ … ]
US and Chilean Navies Strengthen Interoperability with Naval Exercise
With the aim of increasing interoperability, readiness, and strengthening ties of friendship and cooperation, the navies of the United States and Chile completed a new edition of naval exercise Teamwork South, October 6-12, between the regions of Coquimbo and Valparaíso, in central Chile. “There is a manifest interest in terms [ … ]
Air Forces of the Americas Meet in Chile
The Chilean Air Force (FACH) hosted the 46th Committee of the System of Cooperation among the American Air Forces (SICOFAA) for the 2023-2024 cycle at the Quinchamalí Club in Santiago, Chile, November 7-9. The international committee brought together representatives of the air forces of 16 countries of the Americas and [ … ]
Colombian Military Forces Activate New Command in the Northwest
In mid-October, the Colombian government inaugurated the creation of the Northwest Joint Command No. 5 (CCON5), tasked with guaranteeing the security, defense, and well-being of communities in the departments of Antioquia, Córdoba, Sucre, Bolívar, Boyacá, and Chocó. The new military unit composed of more than 30,000 men and women from [ … ]
Religious Persecution Continues Unabated under Ortega-Murillo Regime
The Catholic Church has been under assault in Nicaragua under the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo regime, experiencing a troubled reality marked by persecution, imprisonment, and exile. Authorities and people sympathetic to the regime have routinely harassed Catholic clergy and worshippers. Among the regime’s latest actions was the expulsion of 12 catholic [ … ]
Paraguay under Threat from Organized Crime
In the latest edition of the Global Organized Crime Index 2023, by Swiss-based nongovernmental organization Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, Paraguay climbed to fourth place among 193 United Nations member countries that took part in this biannual study on the main centers of criminal activity and organized crime. The [ … ]
US Army South Hosts Tradewinds 2024 Scenario Development Conference
Planners from across the region concluded the Tradewinds 2024 (TW24) Scenario Development Conference (SDC) held in San Antonio. Texas, December 5-7. The three-day planning conference included military planners from Barbados, Canada, and the United States, and interagency partners from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), [ … ]
Russia Hits Latin America with Anti-Ukraine Fake News
The Russian government is financing with considerable resources an ongoing disinformation campaign in Latin America aimed at weakening support for Ukraine and propagating anti-U.S. and anti-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sentiment, the U.S. State Department said on November 7. The Kremlin campaign seeks to leverage contacts established with media in [ … ]
Inter-American Defense Board Addresses Cybersecurity
In early November, government representatives, cybersecurity experts and military personnel from the armed forces of the countries that make up the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) took part in the Hemispheric Cyber Defense Conference 2023. The event was held in Washington, D.C. Under the theme Strengthening Cyber Shields: Toward Hemispheric Cooperation [ … ]