The Andes
Colombia to resume glyphosate spraying
Colombia's Defense Ministry announced that it will resume use of glyphosate to eradicate coca crops—less than a year after suspending the program on cancer concerns.
Tag: narco wars
Mexico
Mexico: probe into missing students blocked
A panel of experts released its final report on the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, charging that the Mexican government has hampered the investigation.
Afghanistan
US anti-opium effort in Afghanistan: total failure
Despite at least $7 billion in counter-narcotics spending, Afghan opium production hit 3,300 tons in 2015—exactly the same level it was in 2001 when the US invaded.
Iran
Global executions surge —yet again
Amnesty International's annual report on the death penalty again notes an alarming surge in the number of executions worldwide—now reaching the highest total since 1989.
Central America
Clinton calls for Central American ‘Plan Colombia’
Hillary Clinton is assailed for saying the 2009 Honduran coup “actually followed the law.” Overlooked in the same interview is her call for a Central American “Plan Colombia.”
The Andes
Panama Papers pummel Peru politicians
Four of Peru’s presidential candidates, including far-right front-runner Keiko Fujimori, have been implicated in the “Panama Papers” revelations.
Mexico
HRW: Mexico returning children to violence
Mexican immigration authorities are improperly returning children who might qualify for formal protection from violence in Central America, Human Rights Watch charges.
The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.
Southern Cone
Protests rock Brazil as Lula takes cabinet post
Brazil has seen its biggest protests since the end of the dictatorship as ex-president "Lula" da Silva is appointed to a cabinet post that gives him immunity in a corruption scandal.
Southeast Asia
Anti-drug vigilantes heat up Burma’s opium zone
With poppy harvest season approaching, tensions are high in Burma's Kachin state following clashes between opium-growing peasants and a citizen anti-drug movement.
The Andes
Colombia: scion snared for paramilitarism
Colombian police agents arrested Santiago Uribe, brother of ex-president Álvaro Uribe, for alleged involvement in the bloody "12 Apostles" paramilitary group.
Mexico
Pressure on Mexico to free ‘community police’ leader
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a ruling that Mexico's imprisonment of Guerrero "community police" leader Nestora Salgado is illegal.