The United States sanctioned state-owned Nicaraguan mining company ENIMINAS and its board president for their growing ties with Russia.
US Sanctions Ortega-Murillo Regime’s Mining Company
July 28, 2022
Recent News
Argentine Navy Strengthens Fleet to Combat Illegal Fishing
June 30, 2022
The Argentine Navy took delivery of the last of four ocean patrol vessels recently acquired to control illegal fishing on June 2, 2022. The ARA Contraalmirante Cordero ship joins surveillance and control tasks in the South Atlantic, to deter Chinese fishing fleets that trespass Argentina’s maritime boundaries to exploit its fishery resources.
Chilean Police Derails El Tren de Aragua Operations
May 06, 2022
Chile’s Investigative Police (PDI) dismantled an arm of the transnational criminal organization El Tren de Aragua, originally from Venezuela, which has been terrorizing South America with homicides, kidnappings, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, and extortion, among other crimes. Operation Clandestino, which extends to different cities in the north and center of the country, led to the March 24th arrest of five men and a woman from the criminal group, Chilean news site El Mostrador reported.
Chile Takes Part in US Mountain Course
May 06, 2022
Chilean Army Captain Gustavo Schwerter, commander of the 8th Mountain Detachment Tucapel’s Andean Company, traveled on March 29, 2022 to the frozen North to participate in the Basic Military Mountaineering Course in Alaska.
Seminar Analyzes Human Rights and Operational Law in Colombia
May 05, 2022
A man advances with a machete toward a Colombian service member who during a patrol finds an illegal coca leaf plantation. A member of the LGBTQ community refuses to be searched by a uniformed male soldier. An indigenous man returns from a hunt to find his wife and child surrounded by camouflaged soldiers and threatens them with arrows. These are just some of the scenarios students of the Human Rights (HR) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) course from the Sargento Inocencio Chincá Noncommissioned Officer Military School, in Tolemaida, Cundinamarca department, presented. In the audience was a group of representatives from U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Human Rights Office and their counterparts from partner nations. The presentation was part of preliminary activities to the III International Seminar on Human Rights and Operational Law, which took place April 28-29, 2022.
Paraguay: SENAD Carries Out Largest Operation Against Organized Crime
April 15, 2022
More than 100 raids, 30 arrest warrants, and $100 million confiscated in assets. These are the results as of late March of A Ultranza PY, the largest operation against organized crime and money laundering in the history of Paraguay.
Colombia, US Strengthen Fight Against Money Laundering
March 31, 2022
On March 4, 2022, the U.S. and the Colombian governments signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of money laundering and related crimes, the Colombian Office of the Attorney General said. The initiative targets transnational organized crime and narcotrafficking groups that carry out criminal activities from Colombia.
Ecuador Fights Against Drug Smuggling in Containers
March 31, 2022
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record amount of drugs, confiscating 210 tons and dealing a harsh blow to narcotrafficking. According to the Ecuadorian National Police’s Anti-drug Investigation Directorate, 60 percent of drug seizures were made in ports, the Ecuadorian news site Primicias reported. As of early March 2022, authorities have already seized more than 40 tons of drugs, while also conducting most of the operations in ports.
The Transitional World Order: Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean
March 30, 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—indirectly underwritten by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and with the Western response hampered by the threat of nuclear war—highlights a world transitioning away from the institutional, economic, and ideological order that has prevailed since the end of World War II. The transition will have significant and grave implications, and its dynamics are likely to be uneven, with the U.S. and democratic, market-oriented states likely to be some of the most adversely affected.
Chinese Waste Pollutes Galápagos Islands
March 30, 2022
The Chinese fleet that periodically threatens the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador goes beyond engaging in predatory fishing that plunders the oceans of Latin America. The vessels also throw tons of waste into the sea, killing wildlife, polluting the waters, and destroying an ecosystem that is home to more than 7,000 endemic species.
US Helps Strengthen Paraguay’s Health System
March 25, 2022
[caption id="attachment_56040" align="alignright" width="300"] The United States trained personnel of the Paraguayan Ministry of Health and the Armed Forces to set up and operate the hospitals. (Photo: Paraguayan National Emergency Secretariat)[/caption]
Operation Discovery Dismantles Cybercrime Network in the Dominican Republic
March 25, 2022
Following months of investigations, the Dominican Republic Office of the Attorney General dismantled a transnational cybercrime network believed to have defrauded hundreds of U.S. citizens of more than $200 million, through sexual and economic extortion and identity theft, the Attorney General’s Office said in a March press release.
