Interamerican Watch Newsletter - Issue 539
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Inter-American Watch
Thursday 10/22/2026Analysis
On October 8, the National Security Agency (NSA) joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and others in releasing the Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), “Chinese Government-linked Cyber Threat Actors Combine Automated and Hands-on Hacking Tools to Steal Sensitive Data,” to provide at-risk organizations with the information necessary to proactively defend their networks and protect critical data from cyber targeting. ...Read more >>Source: intelligencecommunitynews.com
Chile
Three police operations carried out in different parts of the Antofagasta Region (1,330 km north of Santiago) resulted in the seizure of 798 kilos of marijuana and the arrest of six people over a period of four days. The operations, conducted last week, took place along Route 5 North, in Calama, and in the Inacaliri border area, on the border with Bolivia. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
Colombia
The head of state indicated that 7.6 tons of cocaine were seized. According to De La Espriella, this is the “biggest heist recorded in the last 10 years at the port of Cartagena.” ...Read more >>Source: semana.com
On October 24, 2025, seven months before the 2026 presidential elections, a meeting took place between representatives of the government of then-President Gustavo Petro and former leaders of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) who had been appointed as 'peace facilitators'... Photographs released by the Ministry of the Interior documented a meeting that was later linked to allegations of pressure to obtain statements against opposition political leaders. The allegations arose from statements by former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso, who claimed that government delegates had asked former members of the AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) to accuse Abelardo de la Espriella, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, and Germán Vargas Lleras for electoral purposes. ...Read more >>
Source: infobae.com
Cuba
A Cuban political prisoner from the July 11, 2021, protests on the island sent a four-page handwritten letter to the organization Prisoners Defenders, in which he denounced five years of torture, death threats, and an attempt by State Security to recruit him as an informant in exchange for his freedom. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
Haiti
Gangs in Haiti opened fire on an armored vehicle over the weekend, leaving four soldiers from El Salvador unaccounted for in the first major attack since an international gang suppression force began operations in the violence-wracked Caribbean country. The attack occurred Sunday in Croix-des-Bouquets, an once-peaceful community in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, that is now controlled by violent gangs. ...Read more >>Source: edition.cnn.com
Interamerican Institute for Democracy
By our Director: Carlos Sánchez BerzaínTwenty-three years ago, the coup d'état of October 17, 2003, began the destruction of Bolivia, the Republic, democracy, social morality, and the economy; the establishment of a narco-state; and the instigation of confrontation among Bolivians to liquidate the "Bolivian Nation." The actions to destroy Bolivia were publicly announced in the "October Agenda," which established as its central objectives: a constituent assembly, nationalization of hydrocarbons, free cultivation of coca, and the persecution of democratic political leaders and parties. ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
Guest Columnist | Hugo Marcelo Balderrama
It would be incredibly naive to continue believing that high school students have the logistical capacity to set fire to the Limoges town hall, vandalize public buildings in Marseille, and loot banks in Grenoble. We are facing a classic asymmetric conflict where, on one side, you have highly trained street gangs, and on the other, law enforcement agencies that, even with all that violence, have very limited access to riot control techniques and tactics. ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
By our Director: Beatrice E. Rangel
The French crisis, therefore, compels us to look beyond the immediate crisis. What is at stake is the capacity of the nation-state to sustain a community of citizens and the capacity of the welfare state to make its promise of protection credible. ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
Nicaragua
The Attorney General's Office of El Salvador recently announced that it dealt a "blow to a transnational drug trafficking structure that transported cocaine by sea from Nicaragua to Guatemala, using El Salvador as a transit country," generating an immediate reaction from the Nicaraguan regime, which demanded evidence "to support the statement." ...Read more >>Source: martinoticias.com
Paraguay
The United States government will provide Paraguay with information to intercept aircraft linked to drug trafficking and other crimes, within the framework of an air security cooperation agreement signed on Monday in Asunción. Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez explained that the agreement enables the exchange of satellite data from U.S. security systems, focusing on the country's borders. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
United States
A Miami judge authorized an arrest warrant for Raúl Castro after finding probable cause to charge him with conspiring to commit first-degree murder for the downing of two Brothers to the Rescue civilian aircraft in 1996, which left four dead. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
Venezuela
The NGO Penal Forum asserted that the renewal of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice must include changes to the judicial structure, legal reforms, and the dismantling of the apparatus. The organization stated its position as the National Assembly, controlled by Chavismo, moved forward with the formation of the Judicial Nominations Committee, which will evaluate and pre-select the next magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). The process includes the incorporation of 12 members of civil society along with 11 deputies. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com