Latin America and Caribbean


  • Illicit Innovation: Latin America Is Not Prepared to Fight Criminal Drones

    June 11, 2025

    The scene is by now all too familiar for those acquainted with coverage of modern war. A bird’s-eye view frames two figures ambling about below, then charts the path of an improvised explosive charge as it tumbles down, impacting with a puff of smoke and an explosion that is felt, not heard, through the camera ...

  • Colombia: At least four dead in wave of explosions outside police stations in southwest

    June 10, 2025

    At least four people were killed in Colombia on Tuesday as rebel groups detonated bombs near police stations in the city of Cali and the neighboring Cauca province, according to authorities. Military and police spokespeople blamed the attacks on the FARC-EMC, a group led by former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who broke ...

  • Brazil: Government delivers equipment and strengthens Public Security in Pará

    June 6, 2025

    The State Government delivered new equipment to enhance and strengthen Public Security actions in Pará this Tuesday (3), at the Boulevard das Feiras, in Estação das Docas, Belém. Among the equipment delivered by Governor Helder Barbalho are submachine guns, bomb suits, briefcases for fingerprint and crime scene investigations, portable X-ray machines, optical magnifiers, lasers, and a ...

  • Colombia: Troops of the Omega Task Force neutralized four explosive devices in the southeast

    June 5, 2025

    Within the framework of the Ayacucho Plus Campaign Plan conducted by the Omega Task Force of Colombian National Army, four improvised explosive devices were destroyed in two military operations. In the first operation, in the Peñas Coloradas village of Cartagena del Chairá, in Caquetá, the Rapid Deployment Force Nº 12 carried out tasks that led to ...

  • Mexico arrests 10 Colombian ex-soldiers after deadly blast

    May 30, 2025

    Ten Colombian former soldiers were among the suspects arrested after an improvised landmine killed six Mexican troops in a drug cartel heartland this week, authorities said Friday. More than 40 explosive devices were seized along with other weapons in the western state of Michoacan, according to statements from the national and local governments. In total, 17 ...

  • Colombia’s Bicentenario pipeline stops pumping after attack

    May 29, 2025

    Pumping on Colombia’s Bicentenario pipeline was suspended after an attack with explosives, its operator Cenit, a subsidiary of state-run energy company Ecopetrol, said on Thursday. The attack, in Arauca province, was committed by an unknown group, Cenit said in a statement. Bombings of pipelines are common in Colombia and are often carried out by rebel groups ...

  • Haiti’s Beleaguered Government Launches Drones Against Gangs

    May 24, 2025

    A new front for drone warfare has opened a two-hour flight south of Miami. Haiti’s besieged government is using drones strapped with explosives to strike gangs that have turned the nation’s capital into a hellscape. The government is relying on lightweight drones carrying rudimentary bombs to reach beyond the 10th of Port-au-Prince it controls. But the ...

  • Venezuela suspends flights from Colombia after arrests of ‘mercenaries’

    May 20, 2025

    Venezuela has suspended flights from neighbouring Colombia after authorities detained more than 30 people allegedly plotting activities to destabilise the country before Sunday’s parliamentary election. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced on state television on Monday that the flight ban was “immediate” and would last for a week. Cabello said the antigovernment plans involved placing explosives ...

  • Guyana: Home-made explosive device rips off police outpost gate

    May 17, 2025

    An improvised explosive device early Saturday morning knocked off the back gate of the East Ruimveldt Police Outpost hurling it several feet away, police said. Head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Deputy Police Commissioner Wendell Blanhum told Demerara Waves Online News that “an improvised explosive device was thrown into the East Ruimveldt Police Station compound.” Police ...

  • Brazilian police arrest 2 suspects over alleged plot targeting Lady Gaga’s concert in Rio

    May 4, 2025

    Two individuals were arrested in connection with an alleged planned attack targeting Lady Gaga’s free concert on Copacabana Beach, Brazilian Civil Police confirmed. The suspects – one adult male detained in Rio Grande do Sul and a teenager arrested in Rio de Janeiro — are both reported fans of the pop singer and were allegedly planning ...

  • Colombia: Sok, the explosive detection trained dog that prevented attacks in Neiva, department of Huila

    April 29, 2025

    Under pressure of the Military Forces, the perpetrators abandoned a cloth bag containing four explosive devices, each weighing approximately one kilogram, in a wooded area. The troops moved to the place, and following the security protocols, the Sok on a thorough tour of the area made the positive signal that confirmed the presence of explosive material. ...

  • Bolivia: An explosion at a standoff between rival gold miners kills at least 5 people

    April 4, 2025

    A powerful explosion killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman and 1-year-old baby, during a standoff between rival groups of gold miners early Thursday in northwestern Bolivia, police said, a rare instance of territorial disputes between the nation’s mining cooperatives turning fatal. The blast thundered through the Yani mining camp as two rival mining ...

  • Haiti: Armed gangs seized control of local prison in the city of Mirebalais

    March 31, 2025

    Heavily armed gangs struck the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti on Monday, seizing control of a local prison as hundreds of people fled the area under gunfire. Local media reported that gang members released dozens of inmates in the large-scale attack targeting parts of Mirebalais, just 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of the capital, ...

  • New Frontlines and an Uncertain Future for Mine Clearance in Colombia

    March 26, 2025

    Nearly a decade after the landmark 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and a communist guerilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the prevalence of landmines remains a critical issue in the country. As mine clearance efforts turn toward active conflict zones in Colombia where humanitarian law is disregarded, buried and ...

  • Ecuador: Vehicle explosion outside Guayaquil Littoral Penitentiary leaves a prison guard dead

    March 13, 2025

    An explosion in the early hours of Thursday outside the Guayaquil Littoral Penitentiary, the most dangerous in Ecuador, left one guard dead and two injured and once again alarmed the inhabitants of the area, who have seen their routine altered in recent years due to several riots inside the prison. In daylight, media outlets that reported ...

  • Colombia: Violent turf war in Bogotá’s San Bernardo leaves three dead, nine injured

    March 13, 2025

    An explosion rocked Bogotá’s San Bernardo neighborhood on the night of Wednesday, March 12, leaving three dead and nine injured. Authorities confirmed the incident was caused by a grenade, which detonated near the Bicentenario station of TransMilenio, at the intersection of Carrera Décima and Calle 3. The Santa Fe locality is known for having a significant ...

  • Colombia: 17 hurt in explosion in Morales, as peace talks break down

    February 25, 2025

    An apparent bomb attack in Colombia’s restive southwest wounded 17 people on Monday including three children and two police officers, authorities said, amid growing concern for a fragile peace process. A device, probably a bomb attached to a motorcycle, exploded outside a police station in the town of Morales, Octavio Guzman, governor of the Cauca department, ...

  • Mexico: Jalisco Cartel using fake bodyguard job ads to recruit ex Colombian soldiers to produce landmines

    February 19, 2025

    The Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is actively recruiting Colombian soldiers in order to handle the installation and production of explosives, more concretely landmines, according to testimony from a former Colombian soldier. The former member of Colombia’s armed forces was allegedly recruited by the Jalisco cartel in 2023. Known as “El Pascual,” the former soldier spent ...