Security & Strategic Review - May 2026

General Vladimir Padrino López was a stalwart of Venezuela’s Chavista regime, in which he had served as defence minister since 2014.... Read More

The assassination of conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay, who died in August 2025, just over two months after he was shot in the head while campaigning in Colombia’s capital Bogotá, continues to cast a shadow over the 2026 presidential campaign and has sharpened candidates’ focus on insecurity.... Read More

At a moment of high political tension as the vote count crawled on following the 12 April first round of Peru’s general election, the country teetered on the edge of another bout of instability as opposition lawmakers called for President José María Balcázar’s impeachment over a messy deal to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the US.... Read More

Brazilian indigenous activists led by the umbrella organisation Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib) held the annual Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL) from 5-11 April, a series of demonstrations and events in Brasília, in which they reiterated the long-running demands of indigenous movements and sought to exert pressure on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.... Read More

Chile’s President José Antonio Kast continued the tradition of his predecessors of choosing Buenos Aires as the destination for his first international visit after taking office in March.... Read More

The Chilean government has announced a new security initiative known as the ‘Escuelas Protegidas’ (Protected Schools) plan, which aims to reduce the risk of violent attacks in schools.... Read More

On 8 April Mexico’s senate ratified the appointment of Roberto Velasco Álvarez as the country’s new foreign minister.... Read More

What began as faint traces of tar washing ashore on the beaches of Tabasco state in early March has grown into one of Mexico’s most complex environmental crises in recent years.... Read More

Mexico is known worldwide for its archaeological sites.... Read More

In April the first 25 migrants from third countries arrived in Costa Rica under a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed the previous month with Washington, whereby Costa Rica would accept up to 25 third country nationals deported from the US per week.... Read More

In mid-April Honduran women’s rights group Centro de Derechos de Mujeres (CDM) warned that in the first three months of 2026, 59 femicides and violent deaths of women had been registered in the country.... Read More

Nicaraguan and international human rights organisations have marked the eighth anniversary of the brutal crackdown on dissent which began on 18 April 2018 by the authoritarian Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) government led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife, now co-president, Rosario Murillo.... Read More

In 2010, at the start of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s first term in power (2010-2015), Trinidad & Tobago had a total GDP of US$22.52bn and GDP per capita GDP of US$16,960, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and on current prices.... Read More

Most Caribbean nations are concerned about the trajectory of US foreign policy under President Donald Trump.... Read More