Security & Strategic Review - February 2025

Donald Trump’s threat upon his 20 January inauguration as US president to take back the Panama Canal, based on claims of Chinese involvement in the waterway, and complaints of high fees, was among the most headline-grabbing of his announcements.... Read More

A rapid offensive by the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) guerrilla group in north-eastern Colombia has all but dashed hopes for a negotiated peace settlement and has forced an uncharacteristically bellicose response from President Gustavo Petro.... Read More

“Organised crime is on the offensive,” Peru’s Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén warned on 23 January, saying that the country is at risk from “a crime wave that has not been seen before”.... Read More

The transnational Venezuelan organised crime group Tren de Aragua, which began as a prison gang in the northern state of Aragua before spreading to other countries in the Americas amid mass emigration from Venezuela, has been an early target of US President Donald Trump since he took office on 20 January.... Read More

International human rights organisations Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have recently released reports expressing concern over the security policies pursued by Argentina’s government under President Javier Milei and other risks to upholding human rights.... Read More

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich shared a video on social media celebrating the eviction on 9 January of a Mapuche indigenous community from the Los Alerces national park in Chubut province.... Read More

Public concern over organised crime intensified on 13 January in Porto Velho, the capital of Rondônia state, after gang members set fire to buses.... Read More

President Gabriel Boric travelled to the US-run Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station on 3 January, making him the first Latin American president to visit the South Pole.... Read More

On 10 January Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum launched ‘Sí al Desarme, Sí a la Paz’ (Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace), a programme aimed at reducing violence by encouraging civilians to hand in their firearms in exchange for money.... Read More

Press freedom groups have widely condemned the killing of Mexican journalist Alejandro Gallegos León, whose body was found in Cárdenas municipality, Tabasco state, on 25 January.... Read More

Citizens of the Valle de México, which comprises Mexico City (CDMX) and surrounding areas in Estado de México (Edomex), woke up on New Year’s Day to alerts of extremely poor air quality.... Read More

Last month Guatemala’s anti-corruption reformist President Bernardo Arévalo, who swept to victory in 2023 pledging to take on the ‘pacto de corruptos’ network of institutional corruption, marked his first year in office.... Read More

On 10 December, four days before the 43rd anniversary of the El Mozote massacre, one of the worst atrocities of El Salvador’s 1980-1992 civil war, various civil society groups issued a statement decrying a lack of progress in the case.... Read More

In 2020, Guyana held a highly contested election on the eve of its transformation into an oil-rich nation.... Read More