Last week the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Justice published a report into the handling of sexual misconduct by law enforcement agent. Much of the report discusses handling of sexual misconduct inside and outside the workplace in the different law enforcement organisations and makes recommendations on improving it. But the…
The US Department of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has released its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has released a report which states that the chemical that Colombia is spraying to eradicate coca plantations is probably carcinogenic. Vice has published a new…
Rethinking the Problem In the run-up to the special session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem in 2016, the debate on drug policies has gained fresh impetus. Nevertheless, on the ground in production countries such as Colombia, strategies have not changed much so far: we continue to fumigate coca cultivations, destroy…
The Honduran National Police have arrested José Miguel ‘Chepe’ Handal Pérez, a former congressional candidate, businessman, and alleged drug trafficker. He had been on the run for two years. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reportedly seized US$180 million worth of cocaine from Colombian drug traffickers, after five tonnes were found on a boat…
Colombian security forces have reportedly killed a long-serving FARC commander with strong links to international drug shipments, Jose David Suarez, also known as ‘El Becerro‘. In Peru, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Minagri) has reportedly officially approved a programme to convert hundreds of hectares of coca fields into alternative crops in the VRAE region.…
Mexican security forces have arrested Omar Trevino Morales, known as ‘Z-42’, the leader of the Zetas drug cartel. He is believed to have run the cartel since his brother was captured in 2013, and had a reward for his capture of US$2 million from the Mexican government, and US$5 million from the government. A retired…
Jamaican lawmakers have passed an act to decriminalise small amounts of marijuana, and establish a licensing agency to regulate a medical cannabis industry. Colombian police have reportedly seized 3.3 tonnes of cocaine, close to the border with Panama. Police believe they were being transported to Mexico. The Pope has apologised to Mexico in regard to…
Former US President Bill Clinton has apologised to Mexico, saying the US war on drugs has ‘backfired’, and has fuelled spiralling violence. Colombian police have reportedly discovered 3.5 tonnes of cocaine in the northern port town of Cartagena. US authorities have reportedly dismantled a ‘major drug trafficking network’, alleged to have shipped 130 kilograms of…
The EU and CELAC (association of Latin American and Caribbean states) have been holding an annual ‘high level dialogue’ on drugs since 2007. A chapter in the inter regional dialogue is dedicated to drugs, and the EU is committed to exchanging viewpoints with so called producer and transit countries by subscribing to the principle of…
Small recreational drones flown autonomously by remote pilots have gained popularity.Used for photography, film-making and sports, most recreational drones are innocuous. Punitive anti-drugs strategies in Latin America may be creating a new market for drones though. For example, the destruction of landing strips in Peru by the military creates a need for new ways to…
