GALLERY - Dialogo forum Breaking News From South America the Caribbean

Illegal mining in Colombia is reportedly overtaking coca as the principal source of income for FARC guerrillas and newly formed armed groups known as “bandas emergentes” — especially in regions of the country where precious metals and minerals are found and the state presence is thin.
On June 17, the Colombian Congress House of Representatives passed a constitutional reform bill that will extend the military code of law.
The U.S. government will donate 42 armored Jeep J8 vehicles to the Guatemalan Army and Police forces, to be used for public security joint tasks; 20 of the units were delivered in late May.
The country has announced a new commissioner for the formalization process targeting about 100,000 miners.
The six host cities of the Confederations Cup – Brasília (capital city), Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais state), Fortaleza (Ceará state), Recife (Pernambuco), Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro), and Salvador (Bahia) – received important reinforcement for the security infrastructure built for the soccer...
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate the strategic significance of tactical actions by junior and noncommissioned officers who interact with local populations. This kind of interaction benefits from extensive cultural training, but opportunities for such training are limited by the compre...
As U.S. Soldiers and Airmen wrap up the final weeks of humanitarian assistance projects in isolated regions of Panama during Beyond the Horizon 2013, they’re leaving behind a long-term impact, the commander of Joint Task Force Panama told American Forces Press Service.
Pristine blue waters, sandy beaches and palm trees were the backdrop for a Dominican-led two-day Civil-Military Operation event in the province of Pedernales, Dominican Republic, on June 6 and 7. These events kicked off a campaign called Costas Seguras (Safe Coasts) in Isla Beata and Cabo Rojo, w...
Brazilian Minister of Defense, Celso Amorim, stated that Brazil supports the creation of a South American Defense School. The proposition to build the school was recently formalized by Ecuador during a meeting between deputy defense ministers, in Lima, Peru, within the scope of UNASUR’s South Ame...
Without a doubt, the 21st Century terrorism is different than the terrorism of the 2000s, which was characterized by major attacks sponsored by international networks, resulting in many deaths.
Latin America spent $34.1 billion on weapons and defense last year — a 4.2 percent rise over 2011 figures — while falling throughout the rest of the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent organization that researches global armament trends.
On June 13, The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated 18 individuals and 15 entities linked to Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug trafficker. Rafael Caro Quintero is a significant Mexican narcotics trafficker who began his criminal career in the late 1970s when he and others, including Jua...
Interview with Colombian Army Brigadier General Germán Saavedra Prado, coordinator of the team of Humanitarian Attention to Demobilized People
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Charles D. Michel, relinquished Command to U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steve Mehling, in a Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) change of command ceremony at The Tennessee Williams Theatre, Key West, Florida, on June 14. U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, Depu...
Several Guatemalan congressmen are pushing to reform their country’s controversial mining law in a bid to prevent further clashes between mining companies and local residents.
Residents of the sprawling shantytowns known as favelas that surround Rio de Janeiro have benefitted from a dramatic drop in drug-related violence and street crime since the establishment of a comprehensive policing program known as Police Pacification Units [Unidades de Policia Pacificadora, or ...
The Peruvian Navy launched a new ship, the “PIASS,” in Iquitos, on June 7. The ship’s mission is to travel along the rivers of the Amazon to deliver government-provided medical, educational and banking services to isolated populations.
Four members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed during a military operation in Chocó department, authorities reported on June 12.
The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded nearly 3,500 pounds of marijuana, worth an estimated wholesale value of $3 million, at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, Florida, on June 7. The drugs were seized on May 10 in the Caribbean Sea during a counter-drug patrol by the Royal Netherlands Navy vessel, HNLMS Fri...
DARPA-funded researchers recently demonstrated the world’s smallest vacuum pumps. This breakthrough technology may create new national security applications for electronics and sensors that require a vacuum: highly sensitive gas analyzers that can detect chemical or biological attacks, extremely ...
On June 11, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated four Lebanese supporters of Hezbollah who are responsible for aiding the organization’s attempts to extend its influence throughout West Africa. Ali Ibrahim al-Watfa, Abbas Loutfe Fawaz, Ali Ahmad Chehade, and Hicham Nmer Khanafer, who ar...
Guatemala and Mexico are strengthening operations against drug and human trafficking, smuggling and money laundering among other crimes on their shared border, officials from both of the Central American nations announced on June 10.
On June 11, Mexican authorities in the west of the country rescued a group of at least 280 people, some of whom were minors, who were forcibly held against their will and exploited by a manufacturer that packed and exported tomatoes, an official source stated.
The results of Operation Ágata 7 were presented on June 6, during a meeting with the Chief of Joint Staff of the Brazilian Armed Forces (EMCFA), General José Carlos De Nardi, at the Ministry of Defense headquarters, in Brasília. Senior officers and representatives from ministries and government a...
Interview with Lieutenant General Hellmuth René Casados Ramírez, chief of the Guatemalan National Defense General Staff
Command’s history goes back to World War II, when the former U.S. Caribbean Defense Command was created to defend the Panama Canal. In the 1950’s the command’s mission evolved to include security cooperation in Central and South America.
The selection of Rio de Janeiro as the venue for the upcoming major international events may have been too premature. Conducting events the size of the World Cup or the Olympics requires much more than the construction of sports arenas, small subway expansions, and some added portions to the roads
Brazilian security forces have made a record drug seizure and disrupted the production of 30 tons of cocaine in neighboring Peru during a massive 19-day border operation, authorities said on June 7.
A Peruvian court sentenced Florencio Flores Hala, “Camarada Artemio,” to life in prison on June 7. He was the last historical leader of the Shining Path guerrillas and was found guilty of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering.
Six members of the U.S. Army South Personnel Recovery Coordination Cell completed a Personnel Recovery training on the first week of June, aimed at bolstering Uruguayan Air Force Peacekeeping Operation mission readiness in the areas of combat and non-combat Search and Rescue and Personnel Recovery.
A Soldier carries a 61-pound load while walking in a prototype DARPA Warrior Web system during an independent evaluation by the U.S. Army. Warrior Web seeks to create a soft, lightweight under-suit that would help reduce injuries and fatigue common for Soldiers, who often carry 100-pound loads fo...
Life in the small farming district of Yasy Cany in Canindeyú department, Paraguay is tough, and it shows on the faces of its 30,000 residents.
With peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group now in their ninth round, some Colombians are starting to wonder what — if anything — has been achieved in Havana after half a year.
The Mexican army has freed 165 migrants, mostly from Central America, who said they were kidnapped and held for several weeks by a criminal group in northern Mexico, authorities said on June 6.
Armed criminals recently stopped a driver transporting 19 tons of Costa Rica’s world-famous arabica coffee to the shipping port, forcing him to turn over his load. The gunmen later sold the prized coffee on the black market.
The Brazilian Navy Combat Divers Group, or GRUMEC for its Portuguese name, is a military organization under the Submarine Force Command on the island of Mocanguê, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, at the headquarters of the Brazilian Squadron.

Diálogo is a professional military magazine published quarterly by the Commander of the United States Southern Command as an international forum for military personnel in Latin America.