On July 29, 2019, the Cuban government authorized the use of private data networks to establish remote internet connections. The new regulations, however, contain a series of restrictions that violate international norms and prohibit the participation of basic components that managed to connect entire municipalities. “It’s unbelievable that a country [ … ]
Transnational Threats
China Exports Citizen Control Model To Bolivia
Bolivia launched the BOL-110 Integrated System for Citizen Security in August 2019. Six hundred facial recognition cameras were added to the more than 2,000 surveillance units already installed in the streets, in addition to patrols, and drones. Bolivian authorities will also use high-tech communications equipment to counter crime and obtain [ … ]
US Imposes Additional Sanctions On Companies Moving Venezuelan Oil To Cuba
On September 24, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned four companies that operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy. Additionally, OFAC identified four vessels that transport oil and other petroleum products from Venezuela to Cuba as blocked property owned or controlled by [ … ]
Russia Seeks Strategic Positions in Central America
Russia continues to search for spaces in Central America to take advantage of the isthmus’s geographical position, this time with an accord signed in the first half of 2019 with the Guatemalan-based Central American Parliament (PARLACEN, in Spanish), consisting of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. [ … ]
The Cacao Monopoly Under Maduro
In the cacao-growing region of Barlovento, in Miranda state, about 62 miles west of Caracas, the Venezuelan chocolate business is a bitter one. While producers in the region face a series of obstacles — red tape, theft, and even the confiscation of cacao beans by security forces — members of [ … ]
Argentina Dismantles Chinese Transnational Criminal Organization
The organization, a fish and seafood exporter, was charged with smuggling, tax evasion, and money laundering. Authorities estimate that the criminal activities caused the loss of more than $23 million to the Argentine Treasury between 2017 and 2019. Argentine authorities determined that the organization was made up of six companies [ … ]
European Union Sanctions 7 Other Officials under Maduro in Venezuela
The European Union (EU) said on September 27 that it will continue to impose new economic sanctions on the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela, after announcing measures against seven other officials under his authority. The announcement marks a more severe tone by the European bloc, which until now has focused [ … ]
Colombian Navy Continues to Seize Semisubmersibles
On August 30, the Colombian Navy’s Pacific Naval Force destroyed two vessels on land, before they could be launched, capable of carrying 4 to 8 tons of cocaine. On September 20, authorities intercepted another semisubmersible carrying 8 tons of cocaine hydrochloride worth $320 million, with the support of the U.S. Coast [ … ]
Duque at UN: Venezuelan Dictatorship ‘One More Link in the Transnational Terrorism Chain’
On September 25, Colombian President Iván Duque accused Nicolás Maduro of being “one more link in the transnational terrorism chain” and announced before world leaders at the United Nations (U.N.) that he would submit evidence proving the disputed Venezuelan government’s connections to narcotrafficking and terrorism. Duque made his statements during [ … ]
Colombia, United States Agree To Speed Up The Prosecution Of Former Insurgents
Colombia and the United States agreed to speed up the exchange of legal evidence to prosecute former leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, in Spanish) Jesús Santrich, Iván Márquez, and other guerrillas who announced the creation of a new armed group, believed to be receiving protection from [ … ]
How the Maduro Regime Hurts Venezuelan Women
The regime has targeted women engaged in political activism with threats and exclusion from social programs, according to a July 5 United Nations (U.N.) human rights report. Women and girls held in detention by the regime have been subjected to torture and sexual violence. The dire health situation in Venezuela, [ … ]
Migratory Crisis Worsens in Nicaragua
More than 80,000 Nicaraguans fled their country between August 2018 and July 2019, escaping violence, kidnapping, and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Daniel Ortega regime, according to a September 3 report from United Nations (U.N.) High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Situation of Human Rights in Nicaragua. “To this [ … ]