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 InSight Crime | Sun, 09/29/2019 - 12:04am | 0 comments
"The discovery of two drones in the department of Nariño has raised fears about what impact such technology could have on the current conflict in the southwest of Colombia."
by InSight Crime | Fri, 09/27/2019 - 1:48pm | 0 comments
"A 400-page document by Peru’s Shining Path guerrillas details the group’s elaborate plans to increase drug trafficking operations and attacks on the military, which may be possible in the group’s limited stronghold. But its long-held ultimate goal — to overthrow Peru’s government — is farfetched."
by Foreign Policy | Sun, 09/22/2019 - 1:49pm | 0 comments
"Future conflicts will mostly be waged by drug cartels, mafia groups, gangs, and terrorists. It is time to rethink our rules of engagement."
by The Wall Street Journal | Sun, 09/22/2019 - 12:42am | 0 comments
"Key FARC drug smugglers renew the guerrilla war.... It’s doubtful there was ever a FARC commitment to peace."
by The Wall Street Journal | Mon, 09/16/2019 - 2:36am | 0 comments
"Documents prepared by U.S. federal prosecutors outline for the first time the possible role of the former Venezuelan president in drug trafficking."
by InSight Crime | Fri, 09/06/2019 - 12:09pm | 0 comments
"The announcement in late August that three important former leaders of the demobilized FARC were returning to war did not only threaten the fragile Colombian peace agreement but raised questions about the power the ex-FARC Mafia have in neighboring Venezuela."
by Pedro Cardoso | Fri, 09/06/2019 - 1:39am | 2 comments
by SWJ Editors | Mon, 08/05/2019 - 12:34pm | 0 comments
SWJ El Centro Fellow Dr. Max G. Manwaring has a new book out:"Confronting the Evolving Global Security Landscape: Lessons from the Past and Present".
by The British Broadcasting Corporation | Wed, 06/26/2019 - 12:47pm | 0 comments
"Four men with suspected ties to the Islamic State (IS) group were arrested in Nicaragua after crossing illegally from Costa Rica, officials say."
by The Modern War Institute | Fri, 05/31/2019 - 12:16pm | 0 comments
"The case of Colombia offers not a shining success story but a cautionary tale of how the US military can assist a foreign military and a weak government in fighting a counterinsurgency to bring about peace."
by The New York Times | Mon, 05/27/2019 - 10:36pm | 0 comments
"The head of Colombia’s army, frustrated by the nation’s faltering efforts to secure peace, has ordered his troops to double the number of criminals and militants they kill, capture or force to surrender in battle — and possibly accept higher civilian casualties in the process, according to written orders and interviews with senior officers."
by Georgetown Security Studies Review | Mon, 05/27/2019 - 9:53am | 0 comments
"The growing complexity and capabilities of criminal organizations in Latin America necessitate a new approach to fight crime in the region."
by The New York Times | Sat, 05/18/2019 - 12:17pm | 0 comments
"The head of Colombia’s army, frustrated by the nation’s faltering efforts to secure peace, has ordered his troops to double the number of criminals and militants they kill, capture or force to surrender in battle — and possibly accept higher civilian casualties in the process, according to written orders and interviews with senior officers."
by The New York Times | Fri, 05/17/2019 - 2:07pm | 0 comments
"When things go wrong, those in power often promise to make it right. But do they? This is the first in a series in which The Times is going back to the scene of major news events to see if those promises were kept."