This article examines the threats and challenges of cybersecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean to include the protection of critical infrastructure in cyberspace and the implications for daily human interaction and survival. The article objective is to analyze politically and strategically critical infrastructures in Latin America and the Caribbean in light of generative AI, Meta Data Analytics and machine learning (ML). The report provides an analysis at a political and strategic level of the current technological environment characterized by the aforementioned accelerated exponential and convergent processes which have generated disruptive innovations. All this set of facts impacts humanity in general and critical infrastructures, a fundamental factor for life on the planet.
Dr. Paterson’s article shares the results of the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies threats survey conducted in late 2022. The survey generated almost 650 responses from Perry Center graduates who selected from 35 threats in the Americas. The results illuminate how leading Latin American and Caribbean scholars – particularly those who work in the security and defense field – see the conditions in the Americas and can help inform policy makers and scholars who follow events in the Americas.
The interference of external antagonistic groups can destabilize and weaken States, while their operational networks are strengthened. Several factors facilitate the interference of actors such as China, Russia and Iran in Latin America. Facing these risks, some countries in the region, security institutions, and national and international organizations are collaborating to fight this external antagonism. Karina Perez’s paper proposes the idea of combating these threats by inhibiting the influence of external actors, analyzing the key factors that have favored their influence in Latin America, and how their presence has been linked to various transnational threats.
Authors William Godnick and Iñaki Aguerreche assembled a thorough investigation and analysis on the occurrence of military interventions in the prison system in Latin America and the Caribbean. This insightful portrayal of the reality of prisons in many countries is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding this problem in the region.
This Occasional Paper is an english-language translation of Godnick’s and Aguerreche’s research which originally appeared in Fuerza pública en América Latina: Sus retos y buenas prácticas a la luz de la democracia y los derechos humanos (Public Forces in Latin America: Challenges and Good Practices in the Light of Democracy and Human Rights), published by the University of Guadalajara Press in 2022.
Perry Center Research Associate Chase Boone worked on the English translation.
