Latin America Week in Review - July 25, 2014 Share This /

This week Guatemala’s President called for a “Plan Central America” security package, the FBI ramped up its anti-gang efforts in Central America, and the U.S. issued indictments against Shinning Path guerrilla leaders in Peru. Read these highlights and more below. 

• The New York Times reported the Obama administration might take executive action to grant Honduran children in-country refugee status. If approved, the proposal would be the first American refugee effort for a country that is reachable by land.
• To address the ongoing immigration crisis occurring at the U.S./Mexico border, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina proposed on Wednesday the U.S. government devise a “Plan Central America,” a security plan that would look similar to Plan Colombia or the Mérida Initiative for  the region. More from the Pan-American Post.
• Guatemala’s attorney general Thelma Aldana announced on Monday that four new prosecutors would be sent to the country’s border with Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico to better monitor organized along the most heavily trafficked drug corridors.
• Officials from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama will be visiting the Federal Intelligence Bureau’s (FBI) training center in Virginia and North Carolina this week in an effort the ramp up the bureau anti-gang efforts in the region. Included in an article published in Honduras’ El Tiempo on Wednesday is a list of the FBI’s current anti-gang operations in Central America.
• Data collected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revealed that nearly half of all guns seized from criminals in El Salvador and traced using the bureau’s online system during 2013 originated in the U.S. This is compared to 38% and 24% respectively for Honduras and Guatemala. Many of the guns were imported through legal channels, but around 20% in both Honduras and Guatemala were traced to retail sales, according to New Republic.
• Various high level officials in El Salvador, including a former defense minister, an ex-defense minister and a police/intelligence chief, are all currently under investigation for selling military weapons that were set to be destroyed. Many of the weapons stolen from the country’s military stockpiles over the years are believed to have been sold to organized crime groups, according to InSight Crime.
• American military members disembarked from the USNS Spearhead in Guatemala to begin an offload of gear and personnel as part of Southern Partnership Station 2014, a program launched by U.S. Southern Command that focuses on expert information exchanges within 31 of its partner countries in the Americas. The informational exchanges will focus on maritime security tactics, weapon handling, and land navigation among other measures.
• Special operations forces from the United States, Republic of Korea, and Peru took part in a covert training mission aboard the USS Independence on Tuesday. The mission was part of the Rim of the Pacific 2014 (RIMPAC), the world’s largest naval exercise with 23 countries and 25 militaries participating to date.
• Ten suspected traffickers that were part of an expansive multimillion-dollar drug ring spanning throughout Puerto Rico and the U.S. were indicted on Tuesday following an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Those under the indictment are charged with generating $127 million in revenue from trafficking cocaine sourced from the Dutch island territory of St. Maarten and for conspiring to transport more than $12 million from the island.
• The U.S. issued an indictment against Peru’s Shining Path leaders in a show of support for the country’s counter-insurgency efforts against the guerilla group. The U.S. has ramped up its counternarcotic operations in Peru since the country, with assistance doubling at a total of $100 million in 2013. It is unlikely that any of those indicted will stand trial abroad given the country’s limited track record of sending traffickers to the U.S. The move could potentially generate more sympathy for the group within Peru if its members are able to link the indictment to the U.S.’s role in forced coca eradication, according to InSight Crime.
• The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Repeals dismissed a lawsuit brought forth by 4,000 Colombian claimants that would have held the Chiquita Brands International Inc. liable for their relatives deaths’ during the country’s civil war. In March 2007, the corporation pleaded guilty and paid fines for having made payments from 1997 through February 2004 to Colombia’s right wing paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).  The court overturned the ruling after finding that its jurisdiction did not extend far enough to charge the corporation for crimes it had committed outside of the United States.
• In preparation for President Obama’s meeting with the Northern Triangle presidents, Department of State counselor Shannon travelled to Central America on Tuesday and to set the agenda for Friday. Foreign ministers of each country said Thursday at the Woodrow Wilson Center,that the unaccompanied minor crisis “is not a problem of bad governance,” but one fueled by several factors including drug trafficking, human smugglers more aggressively targeting Central American populations and economic problems, including the governments’ ability to tax. They underscore the need for Central American and North American countries enhance cooperation and for the U.S. to provide more funding. .
• In preparation for President Obama’s meeting with the Northern Triangle presidents, Department of State counselor Shannon travelled to Central America on Tuesday and to set the agenda for Friday. Foreign ministers of each country said Thursday at the Woodrow Wilson Center, that the unaccompanied minor crisis “is not a problem of bad governance” but one fueled by several factors including drug trafficking, human smugglers more aggressively targeting Central American populations, and economic problems, including the governments’ ability to tax. They underscore the need for Central American and North American countries to enhance cooperation and for the U.S. to provide more funding.
• Ahead of their meeting with President Obama, the Northern Triangle presidents met with Chairman Menendez from the Senate Committee of Foreign Affairs, who made it clear that “U.S. commitment has to be matched by equal commitment and funding from Central American governments”. For their part, the presidents stated their positions in different press events. Guatemalan President Perez Molina said, “If we had aggressive cooperation from the United States, I am sure we could accomplish much more.”