Our Wednesday Sociedad Media Now daily newsletter on the latest developments across the Security front in Latin America.
Bolivia Completes Its Reversal: From Expelling the DEA to Joining Washington’s Hemispheric Crime Coalition
Bolivia and the U.S. met in La Paz to build joint anti-crime strategies — a striking reversal from expelling U.S. counter-narcotics agencies in 2008, now formalized under new President Rodrigo Paz's push to join Washington’s hemispheric “Shield of the Americas” coalition.
The pivot lands alongside a $20 million security assistance deal, a five-nation regional pact, and domestic protests Paz’s own government alleges are partly financed by organized crime.
Timber Record Drug Bust: Bolivia & Chile Now In Dispute Over Cocaine Shipment
SANTIAGO, CHILE — Chile’s largest drug bust in history — 108 tons of cocaine and ketamine allegedly impregnated directly into Bolivian timber shipments, worth an estimated $8.3 billion and bound for at least 14 international ports — has become the subject of a genuine dispute between the two governments.
Bolivia’s executive branch now claims its own lab tests found no drugs at all and is demanding the release of the seized cargo and trucks, while Chile’s prosecutors insist the investigation remains active and reject any suggestion the case is closed.
The standoff marks the third such cocaine-in-timber interdiction in three years, and lands at a delicate moment as Bolivia works to rebuild its security credibility with Washington and its regional neighbors.
São Paulo Security Chief: U.S. Terrorism Label on PCC & Comando Vermelho Will Not Open Door to Military Action
São Paulo’s security chief Guilherme Derrite rejected speculation that Washington’s new terrorist designation of PCC and Comando Vermelho could pave the way for U.S. military operations in Brazil, insisting international treaties bar it — a firm line drawn even as the same designation category has already been used to justify the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro and an ongoing campaign of lethal strikes in the Caribbean.
