Security & Strategic Review - December 2025

The brazen murder of the outspoken, anti-crime mayor of Uruapan municipality on 1 November has thrown Mexico’s western state of Michoacán into the centre of debate around the government’s security strategy.... Read More

Following the 15 September announcement that the US government was decertifying Colombia as a counter-narcotics ally, it initially seemed that Colombia might get away with just a slap on the wrist [SSR-25-11].... Read More

Reforming Ecuador’s violent and overcrowded prison system, which serves as a headquarters for some of the country’s main gangs, is an urgent priority in President Daniel Noboa’s efforts to confront organised crime.... Read More

Since launching its first strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean in mid-September, the US military has, as of 18 November, carried out 21 strikes with a reported death toll of 83 people.... Read More

“We know what they do, we know where they are, and now the counterattack is coming,” Peru’s new President José Jerí said on 3 November after promulgating a new law aimed at tackling extortion gangs.... Read More

The state civil and military police forces of Rio de Janeiro raided gang-controlled territory in late October, carrying out what turned out to be the deadliest police operation in Brazilian history.... Read More

Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña has issued a decree to designate Brazilian criminal groups Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) as international terrorist organisations.... Read More

Uruguay’s congress approved a piece of legislation in October known as the ‘Muerte Digna’ (Dignified Death) bill which legalises euthanasia for adults with incurable, terminal illnesses.... Read More

Mexico’s government has launched a plan to tackle sexual assault and harassment after President Claudia Sheinbaum was publicly groped in early November, in a shocking incident that garnered attention across the world.... Read More

During the first year of the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, Mexico recorded a significant drop in homicides.... Read More

Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo is under pressure to address what critics are calling a “security crisis” sparked by a prison break involving 20 high-ranking members of the Barrio 18 gang in October.... Read More

In October Nicaraguan civil rights groups expressed fresh concerns that Chinese mining firms are being allowed to operate in the country by the authoritarian government led by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, without any respect for the environment or the rights of local indigenous communities.... Read More

In early November the Costa Rican authorities announced that they had carried out a major operation targeting a local drug trafficking organisation (DTO), which they claim fits the definition of a transnational cartel.... Read More

Hurricane Melissa, which formed over the Caribbean Sea on 21 October, was the strongest storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica in the country’s history.... Read More