Sarah Kinosian
This week Cuba was still considered a State Sponsor of Terrorism, the U.S. Congress looked at the effects of budget cuts on drug war operations, Colombia deployed the military to deal with rural protests and several countries in the region got a failing grade for press freedom. Here's a roundup of these stories and other highlights from around Latin America this week.
This week Ecuador kicked Defense Department officials out of the country, the State Department cleared the way for Mexico to buy 18 Black Hawk helicopters, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel promoted increased training with Mexican forces and we found out that the State Department needs to update its list of wanted drug traffickers.
An interesting graphic by William Leogrande over at American University compiles threats cited by Southern Command leaders in their Posture Statements over the past 14 years.
This week we learned that Brazil spent a lot of money on its military in 2013, that more drugs en route to the United States are going through the Caribbean, and that the U.S. can play a crucial role in ending 50 years of conflict in Colombia.
Please note that this is the last week this blog will be found at Justf.org. We are excited to announce that next Tuesday, Just the Facts will become the Latin America section of Security Assistance Monitor, a project that expands the scope of Just the Facts to include data on U.S. military and police aid worldwide. See here for more information
Due to the success of Just the Facts, the Center for International Policy and its partners are expanding the scope of the project to include data on U.S. military and police aid worldwide.
This week Honduras made plans to double the number of military police in its most violent city, federal troops were deployed to one of Rio's largest slums and the Venezuelan military reaffirmed its support for the government after three air force officers were arrested for allegedly planning a coup. Here's a roundup of these stories and other highlights from around the region over the past week.
This post was drafted by CIP intern Elijah Stevens
This week Mexico's national security commissioner resigned, U.S. Southern Command deployed more ships to help Honduras' Navy interdict drugs and Colombian security forces were deployed to the country's primary cocaine port, where neo-paramilitary groups are terrorizing residents. Here's a roundup of these stories and other highlights from around the region over the past week.
We recently obtained reports from the Defense Department that detail the department’s allocations and spending on foreign-assistance related programs in Latin America in 2011 and 2012.