gangs

Proposal by Brazilian politician sparks wave of terrorist attacks by prison gangs in Ceará

February 13, 2019

After taking office on January 1, newly-elected President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro is facing his first major security crisis as gangs in the northeastern state of Ceará continue to launch a series of terrorist attacks in protest of the penitentia

Favelas or War Zones?

November 6, 2017

In September 2017, Brazil’s military was deployed to manage the chaos between rival drug gangs in the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro. The violence escalated to the point where the airspace over the favela was shut down. Schools, businesses, and streets were on lockdown with residents hiding in their homes using social media to communicate the events outside. The 950 soldiers deployed to the community suspect the infamous ruling drug lord Antonio Bonfim Lopes aka Nem to be behind the violence from inside prison.

Violence in the Northern Triangle stands out in the 2017 Armed Conflict Survey

May 16, 2017

The combination of high levels of political violence with a relative low number of inter-state armed conflicts has been a secular trend of Latin American history. The 2017 Armed Conflict Survey of the London-based International Institute for International Studies (IIIS) confirms the continuity of that historical pattern –which also happens to confirm a global tendency.

The Violence and Systemic Problems of Latin American Prisons

April 26, 2016

At the end of November, a riot resulting in 17 fatalities broke out in a prison in Escuintla, Guatemala.1 The cause of the violence is unknown, but Guatemala’s Deputy Interior Minister Elmer Sosa has said that some of the inmates possessed guns and has stated that possible causes include a conflict between known gang members and other prisoners and a thwarted escape effort.2 Sadly, this violence is not an isolated incident but rather another example of effects

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