Security & Strategic Review - March 2019

A new rule of law index (RLI) shows that some of Latin America’s largest countries – including Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia – are slipping back in the world ranking.... Read More

On 19 February, the Peruvian government began a three-phase operation known as ‘Mercurio’ to retake areas of the Amazon rainforest that had been lost to destructive illegal mining camps.... Read More

President Jair Bolsonaro took office in Brazil promising to crack down on crime and corruption, and appointed Sérgio Moro, a now-former federal judge known for his crusade against corruption, as justice & public security minister to lead the charge on this.... Read More

On 13 February, 22 criminals were transferred from São Paulo state prisons to high-security federal prisons in three other states, a mega-operation which mobilised an extraordinary number of Brazil’s security forces.... Read More

The Paraguayan authorities are under growing international pressure to demonstrate their commitment to combating money laundering and the organised criminal networks that feed off it.... Read More

Jorge Larrañaga, an opposition senator for the Partido Nacional (Blancos) presented, just over 405,000 signatures to the Uruguayan parliament on 25 February, backing his request for a referendum on tougher measures against crime, to be held on the same day as the first-round presidential elections due on 27 October this year.... Read More

An amended version of the new law creating a National Guard (Guardia Nacional – GN) was approved in a 463-to-1 vote in the chamber of deputies on 28 February.... Read More

The murder of a local activist; an angry community; suspicions that politicians and officials may be complicit; a poorly managed investigation; evidence that goes missing.... Read More

One of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s key decisions at the start of his presidency was to cancel the construction of a massive new airport for Mexico City, at least partly on the grounds that the whole project was tainted by corruption.... Read More

Keeping young people on the straight and narrow can be a challenge in any part of the world, and youths growing up in Central America face myriad difficulties.... Read More

Nayib Bukele, the charismatic former mayor of San Salvador (2015-2018), won an outright victory in the 3 February presidential election on the ticket of the centre-right Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (Gana).... Read More

The US is turning the screws on Cuba for its support of Venezuela, prompting some fierce reaction about its behaviour.... Read More

TRINIDAD | Police warn about gang weapons.... Read More