Highlighting the opportunity to strengthen ties with Latin American and Caribbean partner nations through military women empowerment, U.S. Army Major General William L. Thigpen, U.S. Army South commanding general, welcomed participants to the first-ever Army South’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Symposium, in San Antonio, Texas, February 21-24. “Our goal is to [ … ]
News
Colombian Navy’s Demining Work Brings Hope
The Colombian Navy closed 2022 with good news for the inhabitants of the department of Sucre on the Caribbean coast, declaring it free of antipersonnel mines. The efforts of the Humanitarian Demining Company, which cleared nearly 13,000 square meters of land, allowed the inhabitants to return to the fields to [ … ]
US Announces Humanitarian Assistance for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced on February 15 an additional $42.5 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The sum “will help enable our United Nations (U.N.) and NGO partners to reach an additional 182,000 people across the region with [ … ]
Colombia and Ecuador Fight Narcotrafficking on Common Border
Colombia and Ecuador’s top military leaders pledged in late December 2022 to strengthen operations in the fight against narcotrafficking and organized crime along their common border, some 586 kilometers across coastal, Andean, and Amazon regions. Army General Helder Fernán Giraldo Bonilla, commander of the Colombian Military Forces, and Army Major [ … ]
Panama Creates IUU Fishing Protection Center
In early January, Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo announced the creation of an interinstitutional center, which objective will be to rigorously combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The center will contribute to the development of measures against IUU fishing and water pollution for the conservation and protection of the marine [ … ]
Cocaine Trade from Latin America to Africa on the Rise
Countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are receiving much larger illegal shipments of South American drugs than previously thought as global cocaine markets expand, InSight Crime, an organization that studies organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, indicated in an early January report. "Cocaine trafficking from Latin America through [ … ]
‘Ndrangheta, Main European Ally of Latin American Narcotraffickers
The reach of Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta mafia extends throughout Central and South America, and the criminal organization, among the most powerful in the world, has become one of the main European allies of Latin American narcotraffickers, InSight Crime, an organization dedicated to the study of organized crime in Latin America and [ … ]
Colombia Strengthens Its Space Capabilities
Colombia is committed to strengthening its space capabilities for the benefit of its people. Those were the words of Colombian Air Force (FAC) Brigadier General Luis René Nieto Rojas, Air and Space Operations commander, to participants of the Space Conference of the Americas, held at the headquarters of U.S. Southern [ … ]
US Invests $13.7 Million in Costa Rica to Combat Narcotrafficking
On February 7, the United States pledged to give Costa Rica $13.7 million worth of security equipment to “improve” the Central American country’s ability to combat narcotrafficking, said U.S. Army General Laura J. Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). “I am pleased to announce [...] initiatives that will enhance [ … ]
CENTSEC Discusses Collaboration Opportunities to Address 21st Century Challenges
“Collaboration opportunities to address 21st century challenges” was the theme that gathered military and security leaders at the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC) 2023, a U.S. Southern Command- (SOUTHCOM) sponsored event co-hosted by Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security, in San José, Costa Rica, February 6-8. “We gather here at [ … ]
Expanding Partnerships: US Coast Guard Cutter Stone Arrives in Port of Suape, Brazil
The USCGC Stone (WMSL 758) arrived in the Port of Suape, Pernambuco, Brazil for a scheduled port visit January 30. This port visit marks the first stop for Stone on its scheduled multi-mission deployment in the South Atlantic to counter illicit maritime activities and strengthen relationships for maritime sovereignty throughout [ … ]
The Political Prisoners of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela
In its Annual Report 2022, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States indicated that Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela closed the year with 1,476 people, including service members and civilians, imprisoned for political reasons. “This leaves an extremely weakened social system,” Daniel Varnagy, a political [ … ]