El Centro

Mexican officers investigating gruesome murders are ambushed leaving 12 killed and 14 wounded.

A few years ago Latin American specialists began warning the defense community at large that the Mexican cartels constituted an insurgency in the actual sense, though one that was strategically different from the ideologically-inspired ones with which we are all familiar.

SWJ El Centro Fellow John P. Sullivan's paper "From Drug Wars to Criminal Insurgency: Mexican Cartels, Criminal Enclaves and Criminal Insurgency in Mexico and Central America, and their Implications for Global Security" was just published as Vortex Working Paper No. 6 at the Scientific Vortex Foundation, Bogota.

Eduardo Guerrero, a consultant on security affairs at Lantia Consultores, addresses lessons in the war against organized crime in ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America.

BBC reports on OAS warning: "Drug Cartels Threaten Latin American Democracy".

SWJ opens a new site feature to focus on small wars in Latin America.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 12:  The Spreading Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico: States With U.S. State Department Travel Advisories.

Michael L. Burgoyne argues that U.S. COIN doctrine can be applied to problems in South America.  Sometimes, a more enemy-focused approach is needed, he finds.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #9: Decapitated Adult Male with Hands and Feet Removed: Found on Side of a Dirt Road Near Marana (Pima County) Arizona.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note # 8: Teen Tortured, Dismembered, Beheaded by Trafficking Gang in Bethany, Oklahoma.

Mexico’s Vietnam War? Soldier-to-Criminal Exchange Rates and Narco Battlefield Deaths in Context.

Mexican Cartel Operational Note No. 1: Mexican Military Operations Against Los Zetas Communications Networks.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 10: Fortified Town (Burgward) Strategy Implemented in Tamaulipas.

Bringing the State to the Slum: Confronting Organized Crime and Urban Violence in Latin America by Vanda Felbab-Brown, The Brookings Institution.

A primer to help move past COIN, CT, FID, SFA and start talking strategy to confront today's problems

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 9:  Why Does Napolitano Focus on Al Qaeda Lone Wolves and Ignore the Mexican Cartels?

Special Small Wars and Insurgencies Issue: Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico and the Americas: The Gangs and Cartels Wage War.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note # 7: Los Zetas Three Vehicle (SUV) Commando Engages in Offensive Action in Northwest Harris County, Texas: Ensuing Fire Fight with US Law Enforcement.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 8: 230,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Mexico and ‘Narco-Refugee’ Potentials for the United States.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note # 6: Cross Border Incursion with SWAT Teams Responding: 15 Cartel/Gang Gunmen Cross into US Near Escobares, Texas.