In combating international terrorism in Latin America the great challenge is, unquestionably, the strengthening of institutions within nations, without which public assets, including security, cannot be guaranteed. When public opinion is consulted within the region the tendency is to look at how societies view the threat of terrorism and its relationship, for example, with the image of the United States, its foreign policy in particular and its means of addressing terrorism. Nevertheless, one point not usually noticed is that public opinion is also a factor to bear in mind in the struggle against terrorism, because it can be a condition for, although it does not determine the responses of institutionally weak states and can also detract from their institutional growth. Based on the Argentine experience, in which public opinion did not recognize the threat of international terrorism and a shortage of institutions dealing with it, the present work attempts to alert readers to that importance and propose a model of possible scenarios for bringing together the variables of public opinion and political will.
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Like other countries in Latin America, Venezuela received the principles of the National Security Doctrine that developed during the Cold War period. This doctrine has profound repercussions on the definition of the country's national interests and its security profile. Consequently, concepts such as territoriality, sovereignty, the internal and/or external enemy and the development of the nation have guided the policies adopted by Venezuela's military and political actors in matters of security and defense over the last fifty years. However, the presidency of Hugo Chavez Frias since 1999, has implemented the Bolivarian Revolution, which includes a re-evaluation of the traditional conception of security. It is, therefore, imperative to study and analyze the components of the new geopolitical and geo-economic vision of his political project, which includes redefining strategic objectives to respond to ongoing and new national interests, establishing new civilian-military relations, the need to create a new National Armed Forces, the goal of putting aside old doctrines that are not indigenous to the country and adopting security reforms.
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An analysis and discussion of the struggles and demands of indigenous peoples for autonomy, in the countries of Latin America, must rise above predictions of disaster. It must avoid the chronic temptation to classify this influential trend as a potential threat to nationhood that must be addressed decisively by reducing or eliminating the demand. The present work discusses a potential future crisis between Chile and Argentina if the Mapuche demand for one people, one territory becomes established and develops forcefully on both sides of the Andes. What is known as the Mapuche Conflict could become a bi-national variable. It must be recalled that this area contains significant numbers of Mapuche communities on both sides of the Andean range. If it intensifies, the actors in the crisis, in addition to the Mapuche, will be two states with not a few disputes in their history since independence from Spain. We still have unresolved border issues and other significant, and recently expressed, misunderstandings and differences of a serious tone. In the event of a nationalistic-type Mapuche Conflict, these differences could lead to a crisis in border relations in which the two sides could find themselves in highly disparate positions regarding the "what," "how," and "when" to do and in benefit of whom to act, as occurred and continues to occur in many other matters, including indigenous issues, beginning with ILO Convention 169 that Argentina signed six years ago and Chile has refused to sign.
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Every state has faced, in various forms, the challenge of modernizing, transforming and/or creating intelligence systems aimed at meeting the needs of decision-making processes, with an evident change in terms of their function in the Cold War, which basically centered on identifying and neutralizing internal or external threats. Nevertheless, this process faces political, economic and especially conceptual obstacles in establishing the intelligence system most appropriate for each country. The present article sets forth the characteristics of these systems, which must be coherent with interests, objectives and existing resources under a criterion of democratic consolidation, in which intelligence is one medium operating under strict political and legal controls, but the results of which are aimed at being a fundamental component of the decision-making process of political leadership, either by the head of state and/or by the government.
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This article focuses on demonstrating the direct relationship between governability and security in Latin America, based on the role of democratic institutions. A description of the region's socio-political framework is the basis for an accurate definition of these concepts understood as desired consequences, while it also reveals the structural sources of the difficulties in order to successfully achieve these goals. The fundamental premise is that the value of institutions must be recovered, because it is only through creating the opportunity for collective action that social interactions take form beyond private intention. Institutions are the nexus between effective governability and formal security perceived as authentic, because they embody three elements that lead to the achievement of these results: social containment, representation and confidence.
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On March 1, 2004, Chilean president Ricardo Lagos informed the nation of the decision to send troops to Haiti as part of a multinational peace mission (MINUSTAH), under the mandate of the United Nations. This decision made Chile the first country in Latin America to join the United States, Canada and France in a stabilization force in the Caribbean after the fall of Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide and it is Chile's the largest deployment in its long history of support for peace missions. In Chile, this initiative generated intense political debate in international analysis and defense circles concerning the suitability of sending this deployment on a mission such as MINUSTAH. It is the purpose of this document to discuss the conditions that led Chile to take part in this mission and its context and to offer a documented assessment of an issue that is still new within the country and of the participation of Chilean forces in missions under Chapter VII.
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This work is limited to South America. Its purpose is to demonstrate that the proliferation of small arms widely promotes asymmetrical threats, also called new threats. It initially addresses the present world situation, which is considered to include the concepts of globalization and transnationalization, taking the events of September 11, 2001 as a fundamental milestone. It then analyzes the concept of threat as it affects international security; the need to extend the strict application of the concept of defense to that of national security; the meaning of protection, of asymmetry and related concepts; and the involvement of small arms, particularly illegal ones. It analyzes the interrelationship between asymmetrical threats on the basis of leading cases in this issue. Colombia and its "gray areas" is one case considered and the work goes on to address the relationship between these threats and small weapons. It includes an analysis of the concepts of arms, a combined look at the evolution of the international situation in small arms, their illegal trade and leading cases in the link between new threats and weapons in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia. The work closes with partial conclusions concerning the State's position with regard to small arms and asymmetrical threats and offers a general, broad conclusion on the issue, confirming the stated objective.
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The document presents a study of how many components of the process of change in the United States of America can influence or come to have an influence on operational compatibility between the Argentina Navy and the US Navy within the medium term, in accordance with the leadership guidelines, and believing that it could serve as a foundation for a series of discussion meetings on this issue. The "joint" setting is a vital component in the following analysis, as it is one of the conceptual bases of the aforementioned change.
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The process of legislative approval of the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism has provided an interesting opportunity for reflection on some aspects of the international legal framework for fighting terrorism. In this essay, the author reviews some of the principal requirements in the international struggle against terrorism beginning on September 11, 2001, in light of Costa Rica's criminal legislation. The author also analyzes specific topics that have also been the subject of debate in other countries and international forums, such as the lack of a universal definition of "terrorism."
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