This is a source for analysis, interviews, and commentary on security in Latin America. Herein you will find rumors, the results of off the record interviews, and information you'll not find in international or United States news media.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Catching up on some reading

I've been on the road since last Thursday, and only today have I been able to catch up on some reading. I've added here some interesting stories with more detailed posts to follow later today.

1. Ecuador troops hunting down the FARC. This is one of the first stories I've seen that sheds some light on what Ecuador is doing to stop the spread of the FARC inside Ecuador.

2. Just over a ton of explosives found near Colombia/Venezuela border. This cache allegedly belonged to the FARC. The amount of explosives is the most alarming aspect of this news. A seizure this large certainly puts a dent in any short-term plans the FARC has for exploding anything east of Bogota.

3. Dominican and French "terrorists" busted in Venezuela. El Universal piece here. These guys had assault rifles, C-4 explosives, and other toys. Chavez is still mum on these guys, but rumors have spread in the gov't that it was a group set up to try to overthrow the Chavez regime.

4. A well-heeled lawyer killed in Guatemala City's Zona 14 - a nice part of town. This is an interesting case that authorities are still trying to unravel. The lawyer blamed the President Alvaro Colom, in a post-humusly released video, for his death. More here.

5. A former member of Los Zetas spoke with a white boy. I've seen interviews in Mexico, but this is the first English language piece I've seen out there... The information is not new.
 
UPDATE (May 16, 2009): a much better interview, prepared by Charles Bowden for Harper's Magazine, is on the stands. From what I heard, the other interview is a bit thin...

6. Finally, an interesting piece from the LA Times that looks at the immigration debate, again.

2 comments:

Sylvia Longmire said...

I read Todd Bensman's interview on GlobalPost of the former Zeta as well. It was interesting, but the guy's been out of the action for a while, and the direction of the questions was so focused on the weapons trafficking issue that many other issues were seemingly bypassed.

PLEASE tell me that you've read Charles Bowden's interview of a more recent sicario in this month's Harper's Magazine. All I have to say is WOW! Now THAT's what an interview with an assassin should look like, and it puts Bensman's piece to shame. If you get a chance to pick up the mag (it's not available online), you've got to read it. I can also email it to you or fax it.

Samuel Logan said...

I have read Bowden's interview. I agree, it was very well done. I haven't read Bensman's piece, but I've head from a number of people that it was a bit thin.

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