Security & Strategic Review - September 2019

El Salvador’s new President Nayib Bukele took office on 1 June promising, as his predecessors before him, to address the notorious security crisis afflicting the country which registered 3,094 homicides in 2018, the highest in Central America.... Read More

In recent times, Latin America has made considerable progress when it comes to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) rights.... Read More

Human rights groups are warning that the criminalisation of primarily indigenous communities in Latin America is on the rise, while three out of five countries in the Andean region are still among the most dangerous places to be an indigenous human rights defender: Colombia, Venezuela and Peru.... Read More

Argentina has become the first Latin American country to designate the Islamist Shi’a militant group Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, something which has been a demand of the US and Israeli governments, as well as Argentina’s Jewish community, for years.... Read More

In the first few months of 2019, the Brazilian state of Roraima reportedly exported US$6.5m worth of gold to India, making the precious metal the state’s second-largest export after soya.... Read More

As of 6 August, Chile’s armed forces are authorised to work alongside the police force in the fight against drug trafficking along the country’s borders.... Read More

The murder of a farm manager at the hands of an armed group in the Paraguayan department of Amambay, which borders Brazil, has raised questions around the involvement of indigenous peoples in the Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP) insurgent guerrilla group.... Read More

Along with the rest of Central America, Honduras is facing its worst dengue outbreak in over 50 years.... Read More

On 22 August, the United States concluded its four-month long New Horizons 2019 exercise in Guyana, led by US Air Forces Southern, the air component of US Southern Command (Southcom).... Read More

Trinidad & Tobago, like its mainland neighbour Guyana, is a society riven by race, and with an election due in 2020 it is perhaps no surprise to see issues of race being raised by politicians.... Read More

The Dominican Republic is preparing for May 2020 elections in the face of anti-corruption protests, a bitter divide in the ruling party, and key strategic debates.... Read More

Recent cases suggest witness protection programmes are inadequate and are contributing to criminal impunity.... Read More

In recent years much of the focus has been on Mexico’s (rising) drug trafficking organisation (DTO) violence, and on the country’s (falling) outflow of undocumented migrants bound for the United States.... Read More

Comments made by Mexico’s interior minister, Olga Sánchez Cordero, have led to speculation that the government is exploring the possibility of reaching some sort of pact with armed criminal groups that would help to reduce the high levels of violence in the country.... Read More