Latin America Week in Review - July 7, 2014 Share This /

This past week, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of five Black Hawk helicopters, 2,000 officials at the U.S./Mexico border were investigated for ties to organized crime, and Secretary of State John Kerry met with Central American leaders in Panama for President Juan Carlos Varela’s inauguration. Read these stories and other highlights below. 

• Last Tuesday, the U.S. State Department approved the possible sale of five UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters along with parts and logistical support to Mexico for $225 million. According to the Defense Department, the helicopters will “modernize its armed forces and expand its existing naval/maritime support in its efforts to combat drug trafficking organizations.”  The decision comes after the State Department approved a sale of 18 Black Hawks in April for a price tag of $680 million, which went to the army for similar purposes.
• Soldiers clashed with gang members in the state of Mexico on Monday, leaving 22 dead and one injured. Peña Nieto’s administration has reinforced both military and police presence within the state over the past two months to curb drug related violence. Analyst and former intelligence official Alejandro Hope stated “the policy of sending in troops will probably lead to more armed confrontations,” in an article for the New York Times. Some are skeptical of Peña Nieto’s increasingly militarized drug war strategy, which mirrors that of former President Felipe Calderon, given the death toll under the previous administration.
• Alejandro Hope outlined challenges to public security in Tamaulipas and Michoacán, both of which have seen increased federal police and military presence in the past year, created by Mexico’s federalist system in an articled published Tuesday by Nexos.
• Over 2,000 U.S. officials, in particular those on the Mexican border, have been investigated for possible ties to organized crime groups. Growing levels of corruption could be due to the spike in agents stationed at the U.S./Mexico border, according to InSight Crime.
• Fifty-three policemen were arrested in Michoacán as of last Sunday for alleged ties to organized crime. The purge was part of an ongoing effort by state officials to tackle police corruption. The Mexican Attorney General (PGR) listed their crimes ranging from information sharing to possession of military grade weapons.
• Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Panama for President Juan Carlos Varela’s inauguration. Kerry used the inaugural celebration as an opportunity to discuss the evolving crisis of unaccompanied minors at the U.S./Mexico border with the presidents of El Salvador and Guatemala as well as Honduras’ foreign minister. Kerry remarked that, “we need to work together, to communicate to our people, to try to apply the law, and most importantly, to work with each of these countries to address the fundamental underlying causes of this particular challenge.”
• In a briefing before Kerry’s visit, a senior State Department Official called for more regional cooperation to combat root causes of the humanitarian crisis underway at the U.S./Mexico border, including escalating levels of violence and insecurity. The official commented that “until the Central Americas really get past some of the arguing among themselves and focusing on going it alone...they’re not going to overcome these problems.”
• The U.S. Department of Justice began collaboration with Colombian intelligence officials to capture and extradite three prominent narcotraffickers. Two of those traffickers are leaders of the Urabeños, the dominant paramilitary group in Colombia. The government is aiming to dismantle the group by the end of the year.
• The U.S. Department of Treasury placed the “Oficina de Envigado”, a Colombian criminal organization that provides services such as money laundering and extortion to other organized crime groups, under the purview of the Kingpin Act. Although the organization has been in decline since 2008, the Treasury’s designation will eliminate potential for growth, according to U.S. officials.
• U.S. Southern Command began training with the Colombian Army on the elimination of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Colombia has the largest number of IED incidents outside of Iraq and Afghanistan. The initiative is being carried out along with the Department of Defense's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and the Colombian Army’s Counter IED and National Mines Center (CENAM).
• Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez dissolved the country’s immigration directorate on Wednesday by creating the new National Migration Institute. The overhaul came after allegations of official involvement in facilitating human trafficking.
• Jose Misael Cisneros, a fixture in El Salvador’s organized crime world and a key gang-cartel intermediary, was released after prosecutors failed to bring a case against him within two years of his arrest. Cisneros is one of six MS-13 affiliates to be placed on the U.S. Treasury’s Designated Nationals. MS-13, which has roots in the city of Los Angeles, is El Salvador’s largest gang. His release was a major blow to the country’s effort to curb impunity among organized crime groups within the judicial system, according to InSight Crime.