Latin America

Experts react: How the world is responding to the US-Israeli war with Iran

By Atlantic Council experts

We turned to our global network to explain how leaders in Europe, Asia, and Latin America are viewing the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran.

Decapitation strikes are not enough to take on Mexico’s cartels. Here’s what else the US should do.

By Charlotte Bertrand

Strikes on cartels should be combined with greater efforts to disrupt supply and reduce substance use disorder in the United States.

One month in, can Honduras’ new president put the country on the path to lasting economic gains?

By María Fernanda Bozmoski, Isabella Palacios

President Nasry Asfura’s early reforms have signaled a focus on fiscal austerity and competitiveness, sending positive messages to investors and to President Donald Trump, who backed him during the campaign. Sustaining this momentum will require significant structural reforms.

Lessons from Sudan for US economic engagement with Venezuela

By Lesley Chavkin

Sudan offers important lessons for the United States as it looks to stabilize Venezuela and rebuild its economy following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

The US and Mexico need stronger financial cooperation to disrupt illicit financial flows

By Phil Lovegren

Killing cartel leaders grabs headlines, but lasting progress in curbing the illicit drug trade requires following the money. If the United States and Mexico truly want to tackle organized crime, they must deepen cooperation to disrupt the financial flows that sustain it.

Why Colombia’s veterans are going to war in Ukraine

By Erin K. McFee

A lack of economic opportunities and pathways to reintegration is leading Colombian veterans to fight for Ukraine.

Dispatch from Mexico City: Trump’s latest consideration of USMCA withdrawal meets a measured reaction

Mexican officials and business leaders are not in a panic over news that the US president is considering exiting the trilateral trade pact.

Narco noir: Drugs, gangs and mercenaries in Latin America

By Alia Brahimi

In Season 2, Episode 14 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown, a renowned expert on non-state armed groups and organised crime. They begin by discussing the escalation of gang violence in Haiti over the last year, despite the arrival of the American PMC, Vectus Global, which is led by the Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Vanda points out that a recent air campaign weaponizing off-the-shelf drones was intended to decapitate the gangs but, while hundreds of Haitians have been killed, none of them have been significant gang leaders. They go on to explore why governments in the region allow and coopt street militias, the bunkering of fuel by colectivos in Venezuela, Hizballah’s continuing narcotics operations across Latin America, the IRGC’s role in drug trafficking, and how the regime in Iran ends.