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

The international system is going through a period of turbulence. In this FES Briefing, several authors compare the Cold War period and the current moment from the international relations perspective. One of the main differences is the disappearance of communism from the global political horizon, while an obvious similarity is the trend towards international rearmament. In this text, Marc Saxer, FES coordinator in the Asia Pacific, examines the trend towards a multipolar world and argues that new universal norms and principles of coexistence must be fulfilled or created.

The Political Observatory on the United States [OPEU, by its Portuguese acronym] studies some of the challenges and dilemmas of U.S. foreign policy in this multi-power context, using President Joe Biden's speeches to the UN General Assembly.

During the 15th BRICS Summit that took place last August in Johannesburg, the current members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) invited other countries to join this association starting in 2024: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Andrés Serbin describes this summit as a Copernican turn in the international system, which, as various power blocs consolidate, will no longer be governed by Western rules. In the same spirit, this article argues that the BRICS group poses serious challenges to the established order. Brazilian scholar Oliver Stuenkel explores what the geopolitical implications will be for Latin America.

In light of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Latin American countries have been prompted to express their positions. In view of the current conflict in the Middle East, several authors underline that the perspectives of Latin American states depend on issues such as their historical relationship with that conflict (in many cases influenced by the migratory flows of communities from that region), the influence of Arab and Jewish communities, the level of autonomy of each one in relation to the USA, and their relationships with Israel.

Mexico and Chile (with policies that have already been approved) and Colombia (where they have been announced) are the first countries in the region to adopt the principles of the "feminist foreign policy", a controversial first step intended to promote gender-focused policies in diplomacy, trade agreements, multilateral negotiations, and mediation processes, among other matters.

Carolina Jiménez, from the Washington Office on Latin America [WOLA], argues that, despite multiple problems in Latin America, there are still more opportunities to defend and consolidate democracy than in other parts of the world. This is due to a thriving civil society and a committed youth.

Latin America's multiple crises and the emergence of security as a regional priority are the subject of Francisco Rojas Aravena's analysis in this chapter. A challenge for effective democratic control and accountability of institutions is the role played by the different security forces in maintaining order in the region. Thus, in Mexico, the growing power and functions of the armed forces lack effective civilian controls and impunity remains massive.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Carolina Ricardo points out that the politicization of police forces that occurred during Jair Bolsonaro's government and continues today weakens democracy. Also in this country, the Sou da Paz institute has published two reports that study the cost of violence on public health, and the teachings and recommendations for implementing body-worn cameras in the police and enhancing accountability.

A symptom of democratic health is the right to peaceful protest and demonstration. The Regional Institute on the Study and Practice of Strategic Nonviolent Action in the Americas has examined positive experiences of peaceful demonstration and resistance in Guatemala and Costa Rica, and in Bolivia and Chile. In this vein, it also addresses the practice of responding with infiltrators and provocateurs, both in the 2019 Bolivian electoral protests, and in Ecuador here and here. And new episodes of its podcast Relatos de la resistencia no violenta [Stories of nonviolent resistance] over criminal violence in Mexico, peace processes in Colombia, corruption in Guatemala, and the struggle of Amazonian women in Ecuador are available.

The Escola de Cultura de Pau of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has published the 2023 edition of its Yearbook on conflict, human rights, and peacebuilding, a reference work to understand the status of the world in terms of conflict and peacebuilding.

Armed non-state actors are major players in today's conflicts, with a variety of objectives, loyalties, organization, and size. Insurgencies, militias, warlords, or semi-criminal groups pose dilemmas for conflict resolution and peacebuilding. This report by GIGA (Hamburg) sets out a conceptual framework for their transformation and applies it to Mali, Colombia, and the Philippines. From the same center, a new book addresses another key issue in the transition from war to peace as the Security Sector Reform (SSR), and proposes to add a focus on minorities, gender, and human rights as key elements in this topic.

The International Crisis Group questions what progress the Colombian government is making towards "total peace" whilst parts of the country suffer new waves of violence, and what the European Union can do to promote inclusive negotiations with a focus on protecting civilians.

Since May 2021, UN member states have been negotiating an international treaty on countering cybercrime. If adopted, it would be the first binding UN instrument on the subject. Isabella Wilkinson, from Chatham House, reflects on the scope and risks of this treaty. Meanwhile, Latin America faces the configuration of the new international governance on cybersecurity in a fragmented and vulnerable way. Marcos Robledo examines this context in which the region, as in other areas, is still absent as a global actor.

An emerging actor in global security analysis is organized crime. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has published its Global Organized Crime Index 2023 showing the continuing rise of this phenomenon. About 83% of the world's population lives in high-crime contexts, although resilience to the phenomenon is also increasing. Responses to date have been inadequate, and practical data-driven strategies are needed. For its part, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) shows in this publication the expansion of cocaine production from the Andes into Central America, and the emergence of laboratories in Europe and other developed markets. It is, definitively, a market in broad expansion.

Hundreds of thousands of people each year cross the dangerous area known as the "Darién Gap" between Colombia and Panama on their way to Central America, Mexico, and the United States. The absence of the State makes them extremely vulnerable to extortion and organized crime violence, which can only be countered by addressing their countries' crises, enforcing the law, and improving humanitarian care.

In this conference Cecilia Menjívar, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), studies the violence continuum in the lives of Central American migrant women seeking asylum in the United States. And this article recounts what it means to be an immigrant in Brazil. A new WOLA report proposes far-reaching reforms for U.S. border agencies to improve accountability and prevent continued violations of the human rights of migrants upon arrival at this country's border.

"Natural Conservation Contracts" are a formula used in Colombia after the 2016 Peace Agreement to stabilize land access for populations living within Forest Reserve Zones. The Chr. Michelsen Institute (Bergen, Norway) analyzes the figure and its results. A different approach, that of "green militarization" adopted under the Artemisa Operation, actually meant the displacement of populations by a militarized forest conservation strategy mixed with the fight against illegal actors in those territories.

Environmental crimes have a high degree of impunity. UDLAP's Institute for Research on Public Administration and Institutional Innovation [APII, by its Spanish acronym], directed by Juan Antonio Le Clercq, has published the Environmental Impunity Index in Latin America, an important resource for understanding the scope of this problem.

• The Institute of Social Research [IIS, by its Spanish acronym], from the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM) will organize the IX National Congress on Social Sciences in Mexico from the 8th to the 12th of April 2024. For further information: congresoix@comecso.com
• Updates from Adam Isacson (WOLA researcher) provide valuable information on Latin America, migration issues, violence, and U.S. defense assistance to the region. The latest issue provides an update on the border situation and includes multiple resources and links. Subscription for free.
• ABColombia's (a coalition of British NGOs) Autumn Newsletter contains numerous resources. For example, it covers the first months of the ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the opening of Macrocase 11 in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) which will investigate more than 35,000 cases of gender-based violence in the context of the armed conflict. Subscription for free.

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

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