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:
While transnational organized crime elements operating in Latin America may not be engaged in an ideological “terrorist insurgency,” the observed conflict between them and regional states can be accurately described as a “criminal insurgency.”
New Book by SWJ El Centro Fellow Paul Rexton Kan: "Cartels at War: Mexico's Drug-Fueled Violence and the Threat to U.S. National Security".
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 13: City of Hidalgo, Texas, Fearful of Cartel Violence Potentials - Will Not Release New Police Chief’s Photo.
Continue on for a recent article and report by SWJ El Centro Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown.
The apparent election of Enrique Pena-Nieto as President of Mexico is a development that is full of irony and contradictions
Recent InSight Crime articles by SWJ El Centro Fellow Steven Dudley.
Subcommittee Hearing: Border Security Threats to the Homeland: DHS’ Response to Innovative Tactics and Techniques - Opening Statements and Witness Testimony.
Border School was held 26-27 June 2012 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Sponsors of this training were the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (LA HIDTA) in coordination with the Southwestern Border Sheriff’s Coalition, Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition, Coalition for a Drug Free California, and Chabot Strategies, LLC.
A New Anti-drug Strategy in Mexico? By Nathan Jones, Baker Institute Blog.
Splinter Gangs Wage War in Acapulco: The Future of Mexico's Conflict - Southern Pulse and InSight.
Why the U.S. Can't Afford to Ignore Latin America by Christopher Sabatini and Ryan Berger, CNN.
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #12A: Lanzagranadas y Lanzacohetes - Tracking The Sources of Mexican Cartels’ RPG7s.
Small Wars Journal and El Centro is saddened to announce the death of Graham H. Turbiville Jr.
Now available at Amazon.com: Mexico's Criminal Insurgency: A Small Wars Journal-El Centro Anthology by John P. Sullivan and Robert J Bunker.
Western Banks 'Reaping Billions from Colombian Cocaine Trade' by Ed Vulliamy of The Guardian.
A New Front Line in the U.S. Drug War by Damien Cave, Charlie Savage, and Thom Shanker of the New York Times.
Mexico Cartel Drops Aerial Leaflets Against Gov't - AP via The Seattle Times. BLUF:
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #12: Forensics of Recovered Weapons from Piedras Negras Tactical Engagement Between Los Zetas and GATE (Grupo de Armas y Tácticas Especiales).
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #11A - MG 34 Machine Guns in Mexico : The Guatemalan Connection.
Mexico’s Two Major Crime Cartels Now at War by William Booth, Washington Post.
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #11: MG 34 Machine Guns Recovered in Nayarit— Hezbollah Arms Transfer Concerns