Security & Strategic Review - August 2025

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum used an extraordinary ten-day session of congress from 23 June to 2 July to significantly advance her government’s national security strategy.... Read More

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has made several assertive moves on security policy since being sworn in for a second term in late May.... Read More

Peru’s national drugs agency (Devida) published its annual coca crop monitoring report on 27 June, which stated that 89,755 hectares (ha) of land were dedicated to coca cultivation in 2024.... Read More

In a major ruling on 23 July, a Colombian court sentenced seven former employees of the Colombian subsidiary of multinational banana firm Chiquita Brands to 11 years in prison for financing paramilitary groups in the 1990s and 2000s.... Read More

The authoritarian government of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro very briefly allowed hopes to flicker that its crackdown on the opposition might be easing after a particularly fierce period of repression since the disputed July 2024 presidential election.... Read More

Brazil hosted the leaders’ summit of the Brics group of developing countries in July, out of which came a joint declaration that sought to highlight long-running priorities for Brazilian diplomacy, such as international cooperation on poverty reduction and climate action.... Read More

In late June and early July two of the three branches of Chile’s armed forces were hit by corruption scandals.... Read More

The lower chamber of congress has rejected a controversial bill that proposed authorising the Paraguayan air force to shoot down planes suspected of trafficking drugs or other contraband.... Read More

Since taking office in January this year, the US administration of President Donald Trump has made no secret of its aim to crack down on major Mexican drug cartels.... Read More

President Claudia Sheinbaum has followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), in many ways.... Read More

In early July international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a new report documenting the human rights toll of inadequate access to water and sanitation in Guatemala.... Read More

The murder in Costa Rica on 19 June of retired major Roberto Samcam, an opponent of Nicaragua’s authoritarian President Daniel Ortega, has sent shockwaves through the exile community.... Read More

The arrest in June of Costa Rica’s former security minister (2014-2015) and supreme court (CSJ) justice (2016-2018), Celso Gamboa, who in July was then charged with drug-related crimes in the US, has exposed a major drug scandal which could implicate members of President Rodrigo Chaves’ government.... Read More

The 25 May general election in Suriname was one of the most consequential ever, with oil-fuelled GDP growth set to accelerate to as much as 50% in 2028, two years ahead of the next election, as oil production from the Block 58 project comes online.... Read More

In July, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a US think tank, published a comprehensive report on how the Caribbean can best manage the transition to renewable energy.... Read More