Get the latest security and defense stories from across the Americas.
Peru fights for its economic, social, and cultural rights as it faces the disproportionate growth of Chinese companies. Peruvian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) expressed their concern about the growing economic influence and increasing participation of Chinese companies in Latin America. These companies consistently violate human rights, pollute waters and the region, and threaten the health and culture of indigenous populations, as…
Russia increases military cooperation with the Chavista regime to claim its role as a worldwide leader. The National Bolivarian Armed Force of Venezuela seeks to empower its defensive capabilities as Venezuela goes through a deep economic and institutional crisis. Russia, a partner of the South American nation, is willing to supply them with weapons to gain military space in Latin…
Russian interests in Latin America involve military expansion, and regional crises favor their intentions. Nicaragua’s instability since April 2018 isn’t coincidental. The Central American country was already an entry point for Russian interests in the Latin American region, as Daniel Ortega’s return to power in 2007 reactivated a close relationship that started during the Sandinista revolution and during Ortega’s presidency…
Russia takes advantage of the Maduro regime’s difficulties to project its military power in Latin America. Venezuelans live times of turmoil due to their country’s serious crisis, and thousands of citizens flee to access minimal health and food needs. Meanwhile, the government of Nicolás Maduro focuses its efforts on asserting its partnership with Russia, a situation the Eurasian country uses…
A Pentagon spokesman highlights the Comfort’s 2018 humanitarian assistance mission. Medical personnel aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort have thus far treated more than 25,000 civilians, and performed more than 600 surgeries in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Honduras, U.S. Army Colonel Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters December 10, 2018. The Comfort is currently treating patients in Honduras. A…
Thousands of Chinese vessels are stripping the oceans, accelerating the extinction of the planet’s marine life. China’s insatiable appetite for fish has its vessels take advantage of Latin America’s difficulties in protecting areas close to international waters. Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Chile, and Mexico are some of the countries that directly suffer the impact of Chinese vessels in their…
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) takes note with the greatest concern of the news coming from Venezuela about the possibility that aircraft capable of using nuclear weapons from Russia are in its territory. The presence of this foreign military mission violates the Venezuelan Constitution because it has not been authorized by the National Assembly, as…
Companies from the Asian country are building up presence in Latin American commercial terminals. Chinese interests are growing stronger as the country increases its presence in commercial ports around the world—Latin America is no exception. On the contrary, Latin American countries are increasingly handing over control and development of port terminals to Chinese companies, yielding strategic commercial and military locations…
Links with mafia organizations and the complicity of the financial system make the Asian country a perfect destination for Latin American money from drugs and other illicit activities. In August 2018, a special jury in Colorado pressed charges against 16 narcotraffickers who moved cocaine from Mexico to the United States and laundered money through Chinese banks. The process isn’t new:…
Criminals in Costa Rica and Panama transport Chinese citizens to Central America for labor exploitation or to take them illegally to the United States. In September 2018, Costa Rican and Panamanian authorities dismantled a human trafficking ring that smuggled people from China to Latin America. Wálter Espinoza, head of the Costa Rican Judicial Investigation Agency, a unit of the Costa…
The expansion of Chinese commercial activities in Latin America and the Caribbean raises questions. On September 7, 2018, the U.S. ambassadors to El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. charge d’affaires to Panama met in Washington D.C. to discuss the recent decision by those three countries to switch their diplomatic relations from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to…
Loans strangle the South American nation, making it an easy prey for China’s hidden interests. In mid-September 2018, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro visited one of the few international partners his government has left: China. Maduro sought funding to give his administration some relief. Although he returned without a loan, he signed about 20 agreements leaving Venezuela in an even more…
