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Security & Strategic Review - June 2026
LEADER
The US administration led by President Donald Trump continues to ramp up its maximum pressure campaign on Cuba, aimed at forcing political and economic change, recently indicting Cuba’s former president Raúl Castro (2008-2018) over the deadly shootdown of two planes in 1996.... Read More
ANDEAN COUNTRIES
The Caribbean has been a central diplomatic priority of Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodríguez since she took office in early January.... Read More
Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodríguez announced on 23 April that the amnesty process for political prisoners was drawing to a close, eliciting a chorus of condemnation from the opposition.... Read More
Ecuador’s health system is in crisis, with the country facing shortages of medicines and having cycled through seven health ministers since President Daniel Noboa took office in November 2023.... Read More
BRAZIL & SOUTHERN CONE
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched a new initiative dubbed the ‘Brazil against organised crime’ programme, which will focus on priorities such as combatting money laundering, improving the prison system, strengthening homicide investigations, and curbing arms trafficking.... Read More
On 9 May Brazilian supreme court (STF) justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended a law that proposed reducing prison sentences for individuals convicted in relation to the far-right riots in Brasília on 8 January 2023.... Read More
President José Antonio Kast has carried out a mini cabinet reshuffle just over two months into his term, replacing the security minister Trinidad Steinert with the public works minister Martín Arrau.... Read More
Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña shored up ties with Taiwan during a four-day state visit in May, affirming Paraguay as one of the few remaining countries to officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state.... Read More
MEXICO & USMCA
The US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against four current Mexican officials, including a state governor and federal senator, and six former officials on 29 April.... Read More
On 28 April, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares arrived in Mexico City (CDMX) for a two-day visit to consolidate growing ties between the governments of Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.... Read More
CENTRAL AMERICA
Guatemala’s now former attorney general (AG) María Consuelo Porras (2018-2026) “politicized justice like no other AG had done in 41 years of democratic rule”.... Read More
CARIBBEAN
The recently published Democracy and Development Report 2026 for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), describes the Caribbean as “one of the most democratic regions in the developing world”, but it also cautions that Caribbean democracies are “under pressure”.... Read More
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- Spotlight on Cuba’s Gaesa as Castro indicted
- VENEZUELA: Rodríguez looks for friends in the Caribbean
- VENEZUELA: Political prisoner’s death renews scrutiny of amnesty process
- ECUADOR: Grappling with a medicine shortage
- BRAZIL: Lula boosts funding for law enforcement
- BRAZIL: Governing institutions clash over far-right rioter sentencing bill
- CHILE: Security minister replaced after two months in office
- PARAGUAY: Peña under pressure over Taiwan visit
- MEXICO: Sheinbaum in tight spot as US escalates campaign against cartels
- MEXICO: Patching up relations with Spain
- GUATEMALA: End of an era as Porras steps down
- REGION: Building state capacity seen as key to protecting Caribbean democracy