Security & Strategic Review - September 2024

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro seems to have secured himself a further six years in power following the disputed 28 July presidential election, but he has done so at the expense of all democratic legitimacy.... Read More

Hopes are fading fast for a negotiated peace settlement with Colombia’s Estado Mayor Central (EMC) – the largest alliance of dissident units from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group.... Read More

The government of President Gabriel Boric has announced more measures to address violent crime in Chile, including the deployment of more police and the construction of a new prison.... Read More

A series of armed attacks against indigenous peoples in the south and southwest of Brazil has raised concern for the federal government.... Read More

Argentina’s former president Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) has been accused of subjecting his ex-wife to domestic abuse, in a scandal which forced him on 14 August to step down as leader of the Peronist opposition Partido Justicialista (PJ).... Read More

More questions than answers have emerged in the weeks following the arrest of two alleged leaders of the Sinaloa drug trafficking organisation (DTO) in the US at the end of July.... Read More

The murder of a prominent business figure in the northern state of Tamaulipas on 30 July and the closure of convenience stores in a major city in the same state due to insecurity have brought the threats that organised crime poses to Mexico’s business community into stark focus.... Read More

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador visited the municipality of La Concordia in the southern state of Chiapas on 2 August.... Read More

In early August a Nicaraguan human rights NGO, Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más (CDHNN+), warned of an escalation of repression hitherto not seen this year by the authoritarian government led by President Daniel Ortega targeting the Catholic Church – a lone voice of dissent.... Read More

In early August Costa Rica’s migration authorities (DGME) announced the dismantling of an organised crime structure dedicated to the illegal trafficking of migrants and related crimes.... Read More

A group of Salvadorean human rights organisations have launched a registry of disappeared persons.... Read More

In late July Guatemala’s national council for food security and nutrition (Conasan), the inter-ministerial body that leads policy direction on food and nutritional security, approved its annual operative plan for 2025, which earmarks funding of Q$14.2bn (US$1.84bn), up 33% on the 2024 budget.... Read More

Just over a year ago, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) met to celebrate its 50th anniversary, a landmark undoubtedly worthy of celebration given that its predecessor, the West Indies Federation, lasted just four years (1958-1962).... Read More