C
CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATES
9 April 2010
Special points of interest:
 Links Between South
American Narcotics
Trafficking Groups and
Terrorist Organizations
1
 Brasil_Death Squad
May Have Killed 300
People 1
 Mexico-Guatemala
clandestine Airstrips
Used for Trafficking
Drugs 1
 Hugo Chavez’s Dismal
Record on Democracy
and Human Rights 1
 President Calderon’s
War on Drug Gangs
Defines His Presi-
dency 1
ADDITIONAL READING
http://mexidata.info/
id2105.html
http://mexidata.info/
id768.html
http://mexidata.info/
id608.html
http://mexidata.info/
id1322.html
http://mexidata.info/
id1251.html
Jbrewer@cjiausa.org
Twitter: cjiausa
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jbrewer31
Washington, D.C. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
www.cjiausa.org 703.268.4453
VENEZUELA
Links between South
American narcotics-
trafficking groups and ter-
rorist organizations cen-
tered in the Middle East
have been indicated- drug
routes extending into
Europe from Africa. Drugs
originate in Colombia and
are flown to West Africa
from take-off points in
Venezuela.
________
BRASIL
RIO DE JANEIRO – The gov-
ernment of the northeastern
Brazilian state of Paraiba
continues to investigate a
death squad that may have
killed nearly 300 people over
the past decade.
The state government said
between 30 and 40 active and
retired police, ranging from
low-ranking officers to a colo-
GUATEMALA
According to military
sources, clandestine air-
strips used for trafficking
drugs are most commonly
constructed in the remote,
uninhabited areas near the
Mexico-Guatemala border.
there are at least 15 op-
erational airstrips in the
border region
A Global Threat Mitigation Firm
LATIN AMERICA BRIEFS
nel, as well as several correc- MEXICO
tions officers, belonged to the
group and were acting at the President Calderón's
service of drug traffickers. The war on drug gangs has
gang was identified after seven defined his presidency
months of investigations and is so far. Within months of
suspected of being behind a rise his 2006 inauguration,
he dispatched the army
in “mysterious homicides.” Pa-
to states where drug-
raiba’s public safety secretary,
Gustavo Ferraz Gominho, was related violence was on
quoted as saying in a statement the rise, calling powerful
drug cartels a threat to
that the group was acting “under
the orders” of jailed drug traffick- national security.
ers.
The army patrols areas
from Ciudad Juárez to
Mr. Calderón's home
state of Michoacán.
VENEZUELA
The conservative has
CARACAS- Hugo won praise in many
Chavez’s 11-year-old populist quarters, including
revolution in Venezuela has a Washington, for squarely
less than stellar record on taking on the drug
democracy and human rights. gangs. Mr. Calderón has
extradited dozens of traf-
According to a new 300-page fickers wanted in the
report released by the Inter- U.S.
American Commission on
Human Rights (IACHR), the Elite Navy troops killed
Venezuelan government has Arturo Beltrán Leyva,
undermined democracy one of Mexico's most
through the consolidation of powerful drug lords, in a
power under the executive
four-hour battle at a lux-
and through intimidation and ury condominium com-
punishment of political oppo- plex in the resort city of
nents, human rights defend- Cuernavaca recently.
ers, labor leaders and journal-
ists. Mexico's National Secu-
rity adviser, says the
In addition, the report says, government has devoted
50 percent of judges have no more resources to fight-
tenure and are easily dis- ing drugs and violence in
missed if they make decisions Ciudad Juárez than any
the government doesn’t ap- other place in Mexico.
prove of.