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Welcome to the Newsletter of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung's Latin American Network for Inclusive Security

Traditionally, critical debates about security in Latin America have been focused on the concepts of reform and civilian control of military power. These issues have not been settled, although the militaries now hold quotas of power and influence through civilian representatives. On top of these issues is the growing weight that organized crime has gained in the last three decades.

Whether local crime (as the three authors of the article that we present here analyze a case in Argentina) or organized crime with international connections, they both have structures, actions, and projections which are linked to the capacity of the state and its policies. Likewise, crime and all its variables are related to the political, corporate, and judicial branches, and in societies with high levels of poverty, it co-opts particularly young people with a lack of alternatives.

In addition to other issues, this Newsletter offers relevant resources on the military, crime, and the role of the State in various countries of the region.

Rosario, a laboratory for the entry of organized crime in Argentina?

The increase in criminal violence in Rosario city has led to describing it as a laboratory for the entry of organized crime in Argentina. Sabina Frederic, Mariana Galvani, and Alina Ríos analyze this not as an increase in "drug trafficking" but as a crisis in the forms of governance and in the formal and informal mechanisms for regulating violence. To understand this violence, it is essential to consider the role of the state.

On the same subject, Rut Diamint questions the decision to involve the Army in the fight against drug trafficking in Rosario, given the evidence that "public security has not improved in Mexico, Ecuador, Haiti or El Salvador" with similar strategies.

The governability that limits constitutional guarantees under regimes of exception is the model of security that has been normalized in several areas of El Salvador and Honduras, as explained in this WOLA analysis, while Catalina Gil Pinzón asks in El modelo Bukele y el costo de nuestra tranquilidad whether security is equivalent to a continuous cession of rights and freedoms.

Organized crime is a major security concern in the region. Its links range from illicit drugs to illegal resource extraction (gold, timber, species, and minerals) as seen in this podcast. The International Crisis Group also examines this growing threat to security and human rights and explains how the EU and its member states can address it.

Indeed, the impact of gangs and political insecurity is proving devastating in Haiti, as Frank Giustra discusses in this video.

In Mexico, the constant violence of organized crime is related to transpartisan pacts of impunity and the normalization of horror by a paralyzed society. Juan Antonio Le Clercq points out that proposals to contain violence and end impunity should be at the core of what is required from candidates for the upcoming elections. Some of its manifestations are the self-defense groups in Michoacán. There are two audiovisuals that focus on concrete aspects: La mente de un sicario, and Las mujeres en el crimen organizado. From a different point of view, here we can also find how violence strongly conditions women's lives.

The growing involvement of the military in domestic assignments raises problems, for example, in Chile. As this analysis suggests, civilian neglect of defense matters leads to the use of the military in internal affairs which generates a "normalization of constitutional states of exception". Also on military matters, in El Futuro de la Cuba Postrevolucionaria, Coord. and Ed. Susanne Gratius, Tecnos (forthcoming), Rut Diamint and Laura Tedesco address the transformation of the Armed Forces, "from revolutionaries to inefficient and repressive capitalists".

With an alternative view of the prevailing trends, the Sou da Paz Institute has taken stock of successful public security policies in Brazil. Its director Carolina Ricardo explains the agenda required for the security forces in Lula da Silva's government.

On a more general level, Maritza Islas addresses the relationship between militarization and climate change, and militarism in times of environmental and climate emergency. From a broad and critical perspective, this publication of the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) studies the predominant culture of punishment and one of its main expressions, punitivism, including a glance at how this practice names and binds peace, security, and justice.

The upsurge of the extreme right and its impact on democracy both in Europe and, especially, in Latin America is addressed in a series of essays coordinated by José Antonio Sanahuja and Pablo Stefanoni. In fact, the recent electoral victory of the extreme right adds a new layer of complexity to the Chilean situation. In September 2022, 62% of the citizens rejected the proposal for a new constitution. In December, the parties signed the Agreement for Chile: the 12 Constitutional Bases, in order to carry out a new constituent process. For Augusto Varas, the criticisms to the initial proposal are the core of the axis of this Agreement in a process that will now be carried out with an adverse parliamentary configuration.

In Guatemala, the shutdown of El Periódico is the most recent setback in the increasingly fragile Guatemalan democracy, in the midst of the ongoing persecution against the freedom of the press, which is closely linked to the situation of the media in other countries in the region, such as Nicaragua.

The School for a Culture of Peace (Autonomous University of Barcelona) presents in its yearbook Peace Talks in Focus. Report on Trends and Scenarios the evolution and dynamics of the 39 negotiations on armed conflicts that were in progress worldwide last year. On this subject, Jonathan Cohen, director of the NGO Conciliation Resources, asks why, in a world of growing conflict, political and financial support for diplomacy and peaceful conflict resolution is decreasing.

In this interview, Francisco Díez reflects on his three-year experience as a member of the UN Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisers, and the dilemmas and challenges that this instrument of international support to conflict resolution faces. And Teresa Whitfield, former Director of the Policy and Mediation Division of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs presents here the updated version, with interesting negotiation experiences in ETA: el desenlace. La paz esquiva en el País Vasco.

From a historical point of view, Swedish diplomat Pierre Schori, who worked with Prime Minister Olof Palme, shares in Conversaciones con el enemigo, the story of the secret diplomacy that took place in Latin America for several decades.

The Principles for Peace Initiative has developed a Peacemaking Covenant to promote inclusive processes based on pragmatism and political feasibility. The document is based on consults with international experts, including Latin America.

Several centers and universities in the region are organizing in June the Conflict Transformation Across Borders virtual summer academic program. Information and registration can be made here. Registrations will be accepted after the deadline.

Gustavo Petro's government is advancing in negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN) as it implements the total peace initiative, which includes armed groups of different natures. International Crisis Group has spoken with Alvaro Leyva, Minister of Foreign Affairs, about this plan. Cécile Mouly and Esperanza Hernández Delgado coordinated the volume Una paz aplazada, pero urgente y necesaria. Proceso de paz entre el Gobierno colombiano y el Ejército de Liberación Nacional (2010-2019) which will be freely available soon. It was released at the Bogota International Book Fair (FILBO).

Environmental defenders in the Colombian Amazon face an ongoing situation of violence. Reporting freely and confidently is a high-risk practice. Two studies by Viso Mutop analyze variables related to illicit crops. In the first one, Jaime Díaz studies the impact of cannabis on the indigenous community located in the northern part of Cauca. The second one focuses on the life of women " among the coca bushes".

Meanwhile, ABColombia highlights the advances made in the development of in the Colombian National Action Plan of UN Resolution 1325 of 2000.

In 2021, the Carolina Foundation and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) started a project to discuss Latin America's most pressing challenges in relation to gender justice. The results are captured in this publication.

The Regional Institute on the Study and Practice of Strategic Nonviolent Action in the Americas has published its latest newsletter and a call for proposals on nonviolent youth campaigns. The second season of its podcast is also available.

The University of the Americas Puebla’s team has analyzed the issues of climate responsibilities and climate justice, and will participate in several events throughout the year:

Lecture: ¿Importa la seguridad climática? Detonadores, impactos y el espacio de solución, at the XXXVI Congress of the Mexican International Studies Association, AMEI, October 19-21, 2023.
Lecture: Resultados del Índice de Impunidad Ambiental América Latina, at the XXXVI Congress of the Mexican International Studies Association, AMEI, October 19-21, 2023.
Lecture: The Unbearable Lightness of Justice in the IPCC AR6, in the 2023 Radboud Conference on Earth System Governance, ‘Bridging Sciences and Societies for Sustainability Transformations.’ Nijmegen, October 22-27, 2023.
Analysis board: Crime and environmental justice in Latin America, en 2023 Radboud Conference on Earth System Governance, ‘Bridging Sciences and Societies for Sustainability Transformations. ’ Nijmegen, October 22-27, 2023.

FES Venezuela brought together leading Venezuelan experts at the meeting of the Colombia-Venezuela Binational Working Group, held on May 25 and 26, 2023. Crucial issues for the bilateral relationship were addressed: an analysis of the current situation, reestablishment of diplomatic and commercial relations, and challenges in citizen security.

Likewise, FES ILDIS Ecuador held a panel discussion on (In)seguridad y Crisis: ¿qué hacer?, available here. There, a reflection was made on the militarized response to the escalation of violence, criminal governance, and the logic of necropolitics inside the country's prisons.

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Newsletter of the Latin American Network for Inclusive Security

Edited by Mariano Aguirre and Mabel González Bustelo

Translated by Yenni Castro (Valestra Editorial)

More information: MariaAlejandra.Rico@fes.de

Calle 71 # 11 - 90, Bogota, Colombia