Interamerican Watch Newsletter - Issue 483
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Inter-American Watch
Thursday 4/9/2026Analysis
How soccer fuels drug trafficking in Paraguay, Mexico's latest extradition request to the United States, and what the latest cocaine seizure in El Salvador reveals are the focus of this week's summary of the main organized crime stories in Latin America. ...Read more >>Source: insightcrime.org
Bolivia
During the five-year administration of former President Luis Arce, now detained in San Pedro prison, the following individuals were arrested: former President Jeanine Áñez; former Ministers of Justice, Álvaro Coimbra, and of Energy, Rodrigo Guzmán; and the Governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho. and the former president of the Potosí Civic Committee (Comcipo), Marco Antonio Pumari, all of them accused of participating in the coup d'état after the resignation of former president Evo Morales. ...Read more >>Source: vision360.bo
The Minister of Economy, Gabriel Espinoza, responding to criticism from former president Evo Morales regarding the use of the reference dollar exchange rate for credit and debit card transactions abroad and on digital platforms, suggested that the coca growers' leader will flee to Nicaragua to escape Bolivian justice. ...Read more >>
Source: oxigeno.bo
One of the most repeated refrains by the MAS leadership was sovereignty, and they never tired of proclaiming that the country had freed itself from imperialism and was now master of its own destiny. The anti-colonial discourse resonated in plazas and international forums. However, more than 1,400 pages of leaked documents reveal a profoundly contradictory truth: while preaching independence, they were silently surrendering sovereignty to another imperial power, this time based in Moscow. The international leak, led by the Forbidden Stories consortium, exposes, with names, surnames, and budgets, how a Russian intelligence structure, called "the Company," operated in Bolivia during 2024. This was not a vague or symbolic influence. Seven Russian specialists were physically present in La Paz, writing speeches for then-President Luis Arce, designing communication strategies to contain the political impact of the controversial "self-coup" of June 26, and carrying out covert operations to discredit Evo Morales. All of this was financed with a total budget of $7.3 million between January and October 2024. ...Read more >>
Source: eldia.com.bo
The national government annulled 161 decrees on Monday that authorized the direct contracting of public works, considering that they facilitated irregularities in the use of public funds. The decision was presented in La Paz by President Rodrigo Paz, along with authorities from the economic sector. ...Read more >>
Source: reduno.com.bo
Colombia
On March 31, the Colombian Attorney General's Office suspended arrest warrants against 23 of the most dangerous leaders of criminal gangs and drug trafficking organizations, held in various prisons across the country, at the request of President Gustavo Petro's government. The government intended to appoint them as “peace facilitators” within the framework of the so-called “total peace” policy. Law 2272 of 2022 empowers the President of the Republic to request the lifting of judicial measures against members of armed groups in order to advance peace talks. However, the designation of leaders of groups such as the Clan del Golfo or FARC dissidents as peace facilitators has been interpreted by various political and opinion sectors as a challenge to the principles of legality and justice. ...Read more >>Source: cnnespanol.cnn.com
In recent hours, the presidents of Colombia and El Salvador engaged in another clash on social media over the prisons in the Central American country. The Salvadoran president responded to his Colombian counterpart's criticism of El Salvador's prisons, which he described as "concentration camps for the civilian population"... The head of state said that El Salvador is willing to "facilitate the transfer of 100% of its prison population, everyone, including so-called political prisoners and any other case that it considers violates its 'love and life' policy" to Colombia. But only under the condition, shared by Petro, that "it must be everyone. Because if it's a matter of 'concentration camps,' even a single detainee remaining there would be unacceptable." ...Read more >>
Source: ntn24.com
Cuba
The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Edgar Stuardo Ralón, stated in an interview with AFP that elements of forced labor and human trafficking exist in Cuban international medical missions. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
What's behind Cuban espionage in the United States? An analysis of its methods, its evolution, and its impact on security and politics. ...Read more >>
Source: cubanet.org
Ecuador
Prosecutor Mayra Soria's decision to reactivate the investigation is based on the existence of pending proceedings to clarify the event that shocked the country...Córdova stated that former Interior Minister José Serrano has requested the case be closed on more than two occasions. "I don't understand how an authority figure could be the person who so desperately wanted to close the case," he lamented. ...Read more >>Source: fmmundo.com
On the afternoon of April 7, Gustavo Petro posted a message on his Twitter account in which he asserted that Jorge Glas, the former vice president of Ecuador convicted of corruption, is a “Colombian citizen and a political prisoner.” His statements did not go unnoticed by the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, who sent a diplomatic note protesting Petro's words. ...Read more >>
Source: es-us.noticias.yahoo.com
Nicaragua
The revelation of a list of Nicaraguan opposition members identified as targets for elimination after the assassination of Roberto Samcam on June 19, 2025, exposes the severity of the persecution against exiles in Costa Rica. According to information obtained by the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ, Costa Rican judicial police) during the course of the investigation and cited by the regional digital media outlet Centroamérica 360, this was a politically motivated contract killing, ordered from the top of the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo dictatorship in Nicaragua, reflecting a systematic strategy of political persecution that extends beyond national borders. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
Panama
China's acts of commercial harassment against Panama have sparked outrage across Latin America. This could even spur a rapprochement with Taiwan. ...Read more >>Source: thehill.com
United States
Donald Trump asserted on the social network Truth Social that “47 years of extortion, corruption, and death” will come to an end in Iran after a “total and complete regime change,” alluding to the recent political events in that country. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
The US Department of Justice and the FBI executed a court-ordered operation on Tuesday to neutralize a network of home routers compromised by the Russian Military Intelligence Service's Unit 26165, known as the GRU. The campaign, active since at least 2014, used thousands of devices installed in homes and small offices in at least 23 states as a covert platform to steal login credentials from targets in the military, government, and critical infrastructure sectors worldwide. ...Read more >>
Source: infobae.com
World
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will suspend all military action against Iran for two weeks, after receiving Tehran's acceptance of a temporary ceasefire and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about a fifth of the world's oil flows in peacetime. Trump indicated that Iran presented a 10-point peace plan that he considers “viable” and that could serve as a basis for moving toward a resolution of the conflict initiated by the United States and Israel on February 28. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com