Small Wars Journal

El Centro

SWJ El Centro, or "downtown" in Spanish, is our town square for analysis and discussion of Latin America's guerilla wars and criminal insurgencies.  More about El Centro here.

Recent El Centro Journal Articles and SWJ Blog Posts:

by The New York Times | Sun, 05/05/2019 - 6:02am | 0 comments
"In one of the deadliest cities in the world, an embattled group of young men had little but their tiny patch of turf — and they would die to protect it. Journalists from The New York Times spent weeks recording their struggle."
by SWJ Editors | Fri, 05/03/2019 - 11:07am | 0 comments
In a new report published by the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, author Michael L. Burgoyne, a U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer, looks at the limitations of current policing models in Mexico and Central America to confront “militarized criminal violence.”
by The Washington Examiner | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 9:43am | 0 comments
"A northern Texas sheriff says his county has seen a big uptick in methamphetamine and heroin seizures since October, saying Mexican drug smugglers are using large groups of migrants to divert Border Patrol’s attention while they run narcotics over the border in nearby areas."
by SWJ Editors | Fri, 04/05/2019 - 2:57pm | 0 comments
Via 'Americas Quarterly' - "Traditional mafia-busting tactics could help solve the crisis in Venezuela ." H/T Andrew Gibbons
by The Washington Post | Tue, 03/26/2019 - 11:06am | 0 comments
"This type of shift could have serious policy implications."
by The Los Angeles Times | Sat, 03/16/2019 - 12:27am | 0 comments
"The report by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice found that five out of six of the world’s most violent municipalities were in Mexico, where homicides have risen to historic levels in recent years amid a military-led war against criminal groups."
by The New York Times | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 4:10am | 0 comments
"Mexican officials are carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration agenda across widespread stretches of the border, undercutting the Mexican government’s promises to defend migrants and support their search for a better life."
by The New York Times, by The Washington Post | Fri, 03/01/2019 - 12:14am | 0 comments
"Mexico’s Congress on Thursday approved the creation of a 60,000-member National Guard to tackle the nation’s public security crisis, a force that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made a cornerstone of his plan to confront organized crime and curb soaring violence."
by Max G. Manwaring | Tue, 02/19/2019 - 12:04am | 0 comments
by The Wall Street Journal | Tue, 02/12/2019 - 10:54pm | 0 comments
"The trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, and his conviction Tuesday on drug-smuggling charges, brought to an end the decadeslong career of the notorious “El Chapo.” It also revealed in remarkable detail the inner workings of the criminal empire he built, one that rivaled governments and multinational companies in its power and sophistication."
by InSight Crime | Thu, 02/07/2019 - 1:46pm | 0 comments
"A new pro-government Venezuelan militia or 'colectivo' allegedly trained by Colombian rebels may have posted itself alongside security forces on the Venezuela-Colombia border."
by Real Clear World | Thu, 02/07/2019 - 11:08am | 0 comments
"The leftist ELN became Colombia’s largest guerrilla group after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, disbanded following a peace agreement with the government in September 2016. As I write in my new book on the counter-insurgency efforts leading up to the peace deal, there were already clear signs that neutralizing the FARC would not end Colombia’s 52-year armed conflict."
by The Council on Foreign Relations | Thu, 01/31/2019 - 2:13pm | 0 comments
"Violence continues to rage in Mexico more than a decade after former President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on drug cartels."