Southeast Asia
Philippines: Duterte to mobilize army in drug war
Days after calling off his murderous police anti-narco units in response to international criticism, Duterte announced that he will instead send in the army.
Tag: narco wars
Mexico
Trump threatens to invade Mexico: reports
Amid deteriorating relations between the US and Mexico, reports emerge that President Trump threatened military intervention in a phone call with his counterpart Peña Nieto.
Southeast Asia
Philippines: Duterte blinks in deadly drug war?
The Philippines' ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte pledged to dismantle his deadly anti-drug units after police kidnapped and killed a South Korean executive.
Mexico
Trump risking war with Mexico for useless wall?
Trump's threat to make Mexico pay for the wall with a 20% tariff on all goods coming in from across the border portends—at least—a trade war with the third biggest US trading partner.
Southern Cone
Bolivia protests Argentina’s immigration decree
Argentina's new restrictive immigration policy is drawing protests from neighboring Bolivia—and accusations that President Mauricio Macri is emulating Donald Trump.
The Caribbean
Haiti: ex-coup leader busted for coke trafficking
Guy Philippe, a former paramilitary boss and coup leader recently elected to Haiti’s senate, was arrested by the DEA days before he would have been sworn into office. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Map Library)
Southeast Asia
Philippines strongman threatens martial law
The Philippines' ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte now threatens to actually impose martial law across the country if the drug problem becomes "very virulent."
The Amazon
Brazil: 60 dead in narco-fueled prison massacre
A New Year's Day prison riot in Brazil's Amazon riverport city of Manaus left up to 60 dead—with many of the bodies decapitated, mutilated and burned.
Mexico
Mexico: protest caravan for missing students
A "Caravan for Memory and Hope" departed from Guerrero state toward Mexico City to demand justice in the case of the 43 "disappeared" college students.
Watching the Shadows
Obama’s final year: a CounterVortex scorecard
With a Trump despotism looming, CounterVortex offers its final assessment of Barack Obama's record in addressing the oppressive legacy of the Global War on Terrorism.
The Andes
Mass prisoner pardon in Bolivia
President Evo Morales on Christmas Eve pardoned and released 1,800 prisoners—part of his ongoing effort to curtail dangerous overcrowding in Bolivia's penal system.
Southeast Asia
Duterte makes good on threat to kill journalists?
The Philippines' ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte may be starting to follow through on his threats to kill journalists and human rights activists.