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 [ … ]
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 [ … ]
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 [ … ]
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 [ … ]
Panama closed 2022 accomplishing a major feat in the fight against narcotrafficking with the seizure of 128.6 tons of drugs in different operations throughout the year, Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo told the National Assembly in January. “Due to its geographic location Panama is easily connected to all ports in Europe, [ … ]
In late December 2022, the U.S. Embassy in Chile, the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), and its international arm ONR Global launched a project to encourage students, particularly girls and gender non-conforming students, to develop skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and the Arts (STEAM). The initiative will [ … ]
After almost two years of inter-guerrilla conflict between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia and Venezuela’s borderlands remain war-torn and an epicenter of the drug trade in the Americas. Inconsistencies in official data for Venezuela’s drug seizures in 2022, [ … ]
The Peruvian National Police (PNP) has been dealing a forceful and systematic blow to the Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s most powerful transnational criminal organization, and a threat to security in the region. The criminal group that originated in Venezuela’s Aragua state claims Tocorón prison, in Aragua, as its headquarters, where [ … ]
Peru became the first country in South America to expressly recognize wildlife trafficking as part of a law against organized crime, said Oceana Peru, a branch of the international organization for ocean conservation. “The approval of the November [2022] initiative, which had been under discussion since 2018, is an important [ … ]
On January 11, the Iranian Navy announced plans to expand military operations to the Panama Canal later in the year to strengthen its presence in international waters, state-run The Tehran Times reported. According to experts, the move is a sign that the Islamic country seeks to strengthen ties with its [ … ]
Eight of the 10 companies responsible for nearly 25 percent of known illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are from China. So says a recent report by the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC), a global network of civil society, governments, and experts. According to the study, China and its state-owned companies [ … ]
In the midst of bloody disputes between local gangs in cahoots with large international mafias, Ecuador is positioning itself as a hub for cocaine trafficking to the United States and Europe, the Ecuadorian daily El Tiempo reported. “The boom in violence in Ecuador converges with the impact of COVID-19, the [ … ]
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