Security & Strategic Review - December 2020

Still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Central America is now facing further devastation following the recent passage of hurricanes ‘Eta’ and ‘Iota’ in what has been the most active Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history - a phenomenon linked to climate change.... Read More

Senator Roy Barreras, of Colombia’s centre-right Partido de la U, in November accused former attorney general Néstor Humberto Martínez (2016-2019) of conspiring with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to organise “undercover entrapment operations to discredit the peace process”.... Read More

The domestic opposition to Nicolás Maduro’s government has increasingly struggled to mobilise public support within Venezuela, as the failure of large-scale protest movements in 2017 and 2019 has disillusioned much of the population.... Read More

A group of Peruvian indigenous organisations met with representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on 6 October, to denounce the murder of four community leaders since the country entered a state of emergency in March in response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

Political violence in Brazil captures fewer headlines than in other countries in the region, such as Colombia or Mexico.... Read More

A series of recent reports and rankings highlight the erosion of press freedom in Brazil, where the attitude and language adopted by President Jair Bolsonaro have negatively impacted journalists and their work.... Read More

Chile held its much-anticipated plebiscite on the rewriting of the country’s constitution on 25 October, in which the ‘apruebo’ vote in favour of replacing the dictatorship-era constitution won with a resounding 78% of the vote.... Read More

A historic cocaine seizure by the Paraguayan authorities in October has served as a reminder that the country operates as an important transit point for cocaine trafficking in South America, while also forcing the authorities to confront the weaknesses which facilitate such illegal activity.... Read More

The surprise arrest in the US of Mexico’s former defence minister, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda (2012-2018), on drug trafficking related charges has produced a watershed moment that could reshape Mexico-US relations.... Read More

Despite their best efforts to combat money laundering, the Mexican authorities have failed to effectively reduce the risk factors that enable this illegal practice.... Read More

In late October two local anti-corruption organisations presented reports estimating the cost of alleged irregularities relating to public spending by the government led by President Juan Orlando Hernández in response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

The victory of Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 3 November US presidential election has generated expectations of a shift in US policy towards Central America away from that pursued by the current administration led by President Donald Trump, which focused on blocking illegal immigration.... Read More

On 11 November, after three terms in office, Belize’s centre-right United Democratic Party (UDP) government was ousted in a landslide 26-5 seat victory for the centre-left People’s United Party (PUP), marking a return to form for the once-dominant PUP after 12 years in the political wilderness.... Read More