South America

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The ‘Marset Model’: How Regional Cooperation Is Changing the Fight Against Organized Crime

In the early hours of March 13, 2026, a small team of counternarcotics agents entered a residence in the Las Palmas neighborhood of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The operation, the result of weeks of coordination and intelligence sharing between Bolivian authorities and international partners, had been prepared under strict information compartmentalization. Only a limited number of officials knew…

Central America

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Water First: How Panama Balances Essential Services and Canal Security During PANAMAX

As Panama prepares to host PANAMAX 2026, national authorities are approaching the multinational exercise through a principle that has become increasingly central to the country’s long-term planning: water comes first. The exercise, which brings together partner nations to strengthen coordination for the protection of the Panama Canal and other strategic infrastructure, will take place within a system where water management…

Caribbean

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Solar Power and Strategic Influence: China’s Expanding Footprint in the Caribbean

As Caribbean countries accelerate their energy transition, China is steadily expanding its presence in the region’s renewable energy sector, particularly in solar power. Between 2020 and 2024, Chinese exports of green technologies to the Caribbean grew by more than 570 percent. At the same time, this expansion has raised concerns about project transparency, growing technological dependence, and the possibility that…

Spotlight Interviews

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Academia

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Inside Hezbollah’s Network in Brazil

The rapid expansion of Brazil’s major criminal organizations — particularly the recently U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (Red Command) — is driving them to collaborate with actors linked to Middle Eastern terrorism, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Fueled by billions of dollars in proceeds from drug trafficking and other illicit activities, these groups increasingly rely…

Nothing Happens Until Something Moves: Designing a Multinational Movement and Transportation Manual to Enable Military Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

Hurricanes devastate Caribbean islands, earthquakes destroy infrastructure across multiple countries, and volcanoes spew lava, isolating mountain towns from the rest of the country. These disasters often exceed a nation’s capacity to rescue and care for its affected citizens. When that happens, nations typically turn to national and international civilian organizations, such as the United Nations. However, when those organizations cannot…

Special Report

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Ecuador at the Crossroads of Transnational Crime: Violence, Criminal Reconfiguration, and Regional Challenges – PART II

For decades, Ecuador was perceived as an exception in a region plagued by drug trafficking, armed violence, and criminal capture of the state. While neighboring countries faced open wars between cartels and state forces, Ecuador seemed to remain on the sidelines of these dynamics. That image began to slowly crack and finally collapsed in January 2024, when President Daniel Noboa…

Photo Galleries

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