Security & Strategic Review - April 2025

President Claudia Sheinbaum is facing a critical moment.... Read More

It is only in the last three years that the Tren de Aragua (TdA), an organised crime group of Venezuelan origin, began generating concern abroad, but in that timeframe the group has leapt towards the forefront of policymakers’ agendas.... Read More

The murder of a singer in Lima on the night of 15 March triggered another troop deployment in the Peruvian capital as President Dina Boluarte reached yet again for her preferred tool in the battle against organised crime – declaring a state of exception to suspend civil liberties and enable the military to carry out policing duties.... Read More

Ecuadorean authorities once again struggled to contain an oil spill in March, in the latest environmental disaster to strike the pipeline network.... Read More

Uruguay’s new interior minister, Carlos Negro, suggested on 25 March that the country’s security situation was worse than the new government led by President Yamandú Orsi had thought.... Read More

In early March, heavy rains caused floods in Bahía Blanca, a port city in the southwest of Buenos Aires province.... Read More

In a move which bypassed the senate, on 26 February President Javier Milei directly appointed two controversial supreme court (CSJN) nominees by presidential decree.... Read More

Authorities in some major cities such as São Paulo have been seeking to expand the powers of local law enforcement institutions.... Read More

On 12 March the coordinator for the centrist opposition Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in the Mexico City (CDMX) chamber of deputies, Tania Larios, presented an initiative to include bullying in the state penal code.... Read More

Rafael Caro Quintero, one of Mexico’s most famous drug kingpins, may face the death penalty in the US, according to comments made by federal prosecutors on 26 March.... Read More

Even before the chaos which characterised the 9 March primaries ahead of Honduras’ 30 November general elections, in which polling stations opened hours late due to delays in the delivery of electoral material [WR-25-10], civil society groups had raised multiple concerns about the electoral process – not least the lack of transparency of campaign finance.... Read More

On 13 March Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino announced the closure of migration centres which have been functioning since 2016 in the Darién Gap, the lawless jungle area bordering Colombia that hitherto served as a key migration route northwards.... Read More

At the end of February Nicaragua’s government led by authoritarian President Daniel Ortega announced its withdrawal from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (UNHRC).... Read More

Belize’s ruling centre-left People’s United Party (PUP) won a sweeping victory in snap general elections on 12 March that strengthened Prime Minister John Briceño’s mandate as he heads into his second term after his first election victory in 2020. ... Read More

Faced with a deteriorating security situation in neighbouring Haiti, the Dominican Republic is continuing to crack down on immigration from across the border through controversial measures that range from mass deportations to building a wall.... Read More

Although Jamaica remains a violent country, the number of homicides has begun to trend downwards.... Read More

On 1 March a Venezuelan coastguard vessel entered Guyana’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), approaching FPSO Prosperity, an oil rig operated by US firm ExxonMobil, and demanding information from its crew.... Read More