Security & Strategic Review - April 2024

The official campaigning period for Mexico’s 2 June presidential elections began on 1 March.... Read More

President Gustavo Petro issued an apology on behalf of the Colombian state for persistently high levels of femicide on 8 March, in a video address to mark International Women’s Day.... Read More

Peru’s congress approved two constitutional reforms on 6 March, voting to resurrect the senate which has not sat since 1992 and allowing the immediate re-election of legislators.... Read More

It has now been two months since Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a state of ‘internal armed conflict’ on 9 January in response to an unprecedented uprising by criminal gangs, which he has described as an “attempted coup d’état” [SSR-24-02].... Read More

At least 30 people were reportedly killed in a mine collapse in Venezuela’s central state of Bolívar on 20 February, casting a spotlight once again on the issue of illegal mining in the country.... Read More

Amid escalating violence in the port city of Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina’s right-wing government led by President Javier Milei convened a crisis committee on 8 March co-chaired by the national security minister, Patricia Bullrich, and the governor of Sante Fe, Maximiliano Pullaro.... Read More

Brazil’s federal health ministry reported on 18 March that national dengue cases in 2024 have surpassed the total cases registered for the whole of 2023, hitting an annual record of 1.89m cases.... Read More

The president of Brazil’s superior electoral court (TSE), Alexandre de Moraes, has often spoken of the risks posed to democracy by disinformation generated using artificial intelligence (AI).... Read More

Representatives from business associations were among those to take to the streets on 4 March in Ciudad del Este (CDE), the capital of Alto Paraná department and Paraguay’s main commercial hub along the triple border with Brazil and Argentina, calling on national law enforcement and judicial authorities to address robberies, assaults, and violence.... Read More

On 17 March three state police officers, including the regional police commander, were killed in Pátzcuaro municipality, Michoacán state.... Read More

The lack of security for those working on Mexico’s roads has been highlighted in recent months, with several drivers’ unions calling strikes to demand better protection measures.... Read More

A US federal jury has unanimously found Honduras’ former president Juan Orlando Hernández (Partido Nacional, PN, 2014-2022) guilty on three drug and weapons-related counts.... Read More

On 3 March Nicaragua held regional elections in the North Atlantic and South Atlantic autonomous regions (Raan and Raas) on the impoverished Caribbean Coast.... Read More

In early March Panama’s government led by President Laurentino Cortizo ordered international humanitarian NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to stop all medical activities for migrants arriving in the south of the country after crossing the perilous Darién Gap, a roadless expanse of jungle on Panama’s border with Colombia.... Read More

In March Guatemala’s new President Bernardo Arévalo inked a development agreement with authorities from three indigenous Ixil Mayan municipalities in Quiché department.... Read More

Jamaica’s ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is in the last 18 months of its current mandate.... Read More

The 140th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) included a review of Guyana’s August 2021 submission of its Third Periodic Report.... Read More