This is cross-posted from the Latin America Working Group's blog, the LAWG Blog. It was written by Jenny Johnson, Vanessa Kritzer, and Ben Leiter Mounting pressure from rights groups in Mexico and the Obama Administration, and a ticking clock on an order by the Inter-American Court, spurred President Calderón to...
Since 2008, Colombia's security forces claim to have killed 7 of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group's top 14 commanders. The group's membership, estimated at over 18,000 by 2002, is now approximately 8,000. With the killing of Jorge Briceño, alias "Mono Jojoy," FARC's top military leader, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos announced that it was "the beginning of the end...
On November 2nd, California voters will head to the polls to vote on, among many other things, Proposition 19. Also known as the "Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010" (the text of the proposed law can be downloaded here), Proposition 19 is a ballot proposition which would legalize and regulate recreational marijuana use in California. "Adults could possess up to one ounce of the drug and grow small gardens on private property. Local governments would decide whether to allow and tax...
Writing in Influencias y Resistencias, a new book about civil-military relations in Latin America, FLACSO-Ecuador analyst Simón Pachano remarks on the Ecuadorian armed forces’ history of high political activity, especially during times of crisis. “[T]he armed forces,” Pachano writes, “have occupied, directly or indirectly, a place of importance on the political scene.” He notes “their participation as actors of...
Institutional impunity, human rights violations, and terror continue to fuel Mexico’s weakening security environment. Among the latest pieces of news related to violence in Mexico and drug trafficking:
- Mexican President Felipe Calderón strongly criticized California’s Proposition 19 ballot initiative that would legalize the sale and use of marijuana. Calderón alleged that, if passed, the California provision would encourage U.S. ...