In recent years, China has sold and exported weapons to more than 40 countries worldwide. A growing problem has been arising, however, concerning the quality, safety, and performance of this equipment, global research organization RAND Corporation indicated in a June report. “Many countries acquiring Chinese military equipment for the first [ … ]
Transnational Threats
CFAC Protects Central American Borders
Military officials from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, members of the Central American Armed Forces Conference (CFAC), held multiple meetings during May to coordinate joint patrols to protect the multinational borders of the Northern Triangle, region that encompasses all three countries. “The meetings were focused on support for public security [ … ]
Bolivia Strengthens Operations Against Narcotrafficking
Bolivian authorities stepped up operations to counter the advances of international drug trafficking. On July 6, Vice Minister of Social Defense and Controlled Substances Jaime Mamani told Bolivian newspaper Opinión that authorities have carried out more than 25,000 anti-drug operations in the last two and a half years, seizing more [ … ]
Panama Strengthens Fight Against Crime with US Vehicle Donation
The U.S. Embassy in Panama presented the Ministry of Public Security with a donation of 63 Jeep J8 all-terrain vehicles and $3 million in spare parts at the National Border Service’s (SENAFRONT) facilities in Panama City. The equipment, totaling $8 million and donated in May, will be used for counter-terrorism, [ … ]
Chile Captures Tren de Aragua Criminals
Chile’s Investigative Police (PDI) arrested 55 members of Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua in different parts of the country in June. The crimes the criminals have been charged with include drug trafficking, arms violations, kidnapping for ransom, money laundering, and human trafficking for sexual exploitation, among others. According to [ … ]
US Neutralizes Russian Snake Malware Program
A coalition of U.S. security agencies dismantled Russia’s global Snake Malware network, considered “the most sophisticated cyber espionage tool designed and used by Russia’s Federal Security Service [FSB] for long-term intelligence gathering on sensitive targets,” the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) said in May. “This network, supported by Russian intelligence, [ … ]
China Increases Its Lithium Footprint in Argentina
Chinese mining companies have new projects in sight in lithium-rich Argentina and have committed to investing millions of dollars in pursuit of the “white gold,” the Argentine government indicated in an early June statement, following the visit to Shanghai of Economy Minister Sergio Massa. Among those, Tibet Summit Resources will [ … ]
Brazil Experiences Record Wave of Venezuelan Migrants
In the first three months of 2023, a record 51,838 Venezuelan migrants and refugees entered Brazil. This is the highest number ever recorded in the first three months of the year since 2020. Operation Shelter (Operação Acolhida), executed and coordinated by the Federal government, with the support of federal entities, [ … ]
China Clears Chilean and Peruvian Marine Forests
China’s uncontrollable demand for brown algae is causing overexploitation of this vital resource in Chile and Peru, destroying the region’s kelp forests, science journalism platform Historias sin Fronteras indicated in its May report, Underwater Deforestation. Algae are the marine lungs of the earth. “Sixty percent of the oxygen generated on [ … ]
China Seeks Greater Interference in Argentina
Argentina’s relations with China as well as some of its trade agreements are not only raising many questions at home but also having a deep impact in the international arena. Of the more than 200 existing agreements, 40 percent are related to science and technology with a focus on space [ … ]
China Sells Fentanyl for Cryptocurrencies
In two May reports, cryptocurrency-tracing firms Elliptic and Chainalysis indicated that chemical producers in China have been accepting cryptocurrencies as payment for ingredients for fentanyl, a lethal drug produced on a large scale in different countries worldwide. Elliptic researchers found more than 90 China-based companies supplying fentanyl precursors. Ninety percent [ … ]
China’s Cyber Hackers Sabotage Countries Worldwide
U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant, a subsidiary of Google, said that Chinese hackers, backed by their government, used a vulnerability in a well-known e-mail security device to access the networks of numerous public and private organizations in several countries worldwide, the Associated Press (AP) reported on June 15. “The Chinese state [ … ]