The little press, analysis and debate regarding the 1970-1973 insurgency and counterinsurgency could be explained by the impact that this period would have on the linear and nuanced narratives that the "two sides" of the Dirty War have created throughout the period beginning in 1976. Paradoxically, one of the few, if not the only, consensuses among the protagonists of the Argentine drama is based on the silence or omission of the years studied in this essay. This is a subject that has and will have for many years to come a set of passions, ideological struggles and crossed and irreconcilable positions. It is not possible to vindicate or surreptitiously relativize the abyss of violence and cruelty into which our country fell almost four decades ago. This study will explore the events of the 1970s in Argentina in close collaboration with previous studies of criticism from both sides of the conflict between the government and insurgent groups.
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In the last two years, the violence and visibility of the conflict between the Paraguayan State and the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) has escalated significantly, due to the appearance of new weapons, tactics, and increasing involvement of foreign advisers on both sides as each has adapted to gain advantage over the other. Although the nature of the EPP has become somewhat clearer, many areas still need to be better understood in order for the Paraguayan state to effectively defeat this threat, which it can still do at relatively low cost if it adopts the right strategy and takes appropriate action. This article provides some of that understanding by identifying the events and breakthroughs which occurred in roughly two phases: government offensive (2010) and EPP adaptation (2011). The author concludes that groups such as the EPP are not merely police/justice problems, but state problems, and the most successful states are those that recognize this early and employ all the elements of national power to deal with the problem not only to reduce or eliminate the violence, but to prevent its regeneration.
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Latin America continues to be a breeding ground for violent groups, as exemplified by the rise of drug cartels in Mexico and narcoterrorist organizations such as the Colombian FARC and the Peruvian Shining Path. A question that has not yet been properly addressed, however, is whether there is the possibility that ideologically oriented violent groups, like the Paraguayan EPP or the Mexican EPR, will rise again. This article provides a general review of the security situation in the region, focusing on violent armed groups and discussing to what extent they may have a political ideology.
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This presentation was offered at the conference on "Illicit Trafficking Activities in the Western Hemisphere: Possible Strategies and Lessons Learned" held by the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on May 21, 2010.
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The spread of such transnational gangs as Mara Salvatrucha presents an ongoing threat to the security and stability of Central America. These gangs have proven remarkably adaptive, moving up the ladder of criminal enterprises since their inception in the late 1980s in Southern California. The model of the "three generations" of gangs has provided a clear picture of their past and given a glimpse into their future operations. This model combined with the increasing influence of the Mexican Cartels, the globalization of the Maras, and the new sophistication of Maras modus operandi demonstrate an even more dangerous threat to regional security: the possibility of increasingly sophisticated and cohesive Maras becoming more closely allied with the Mexican Cartels, or perhaps developing their own Cartel-like system in Central America.
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Military forces in Latin America are being called upon by governments and society to contribute to the fight against non-state armed actors such as criminal gangs, drug traffickers and terrorists. In order to accomplish this task, there is the possibility of actions within the framework of human rights and international humanitarian law. If the armed groups faced by governments meet certain objective characteristics and there is political will, the application of international humanitarian law is viable, as Colombia has demonstrated; the norm is legitimate and facilitates the neutralization and dismantling of the threat.
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The new guerrilla group known as the Paraguayan People's Army, or EPP, is unique as a Marxist insurgency against a Marxist-sympathetic populist government. Although still small they appear to be growing. The evidence indicates that EPP is a serious group that has been in development for more than twenty years. They have an ideology and a strategic plan that they are systematically carrying out. They are anything but amateurs. They have acquired training and assistance from the Colombian FARC, if not others. They have built up funds through bank robberies and kidnappings, and gradually they are expanding their operations. While sometimes referred to as a "foquista" movement, the comparison falls short. What distinguishes EPP is the significant support base they have systematically built up among the radical elements of the Paraguayan rural peasantry, particularly in the north of the country. So far the state has responded by sending contingents of policemen and soldiers to cordon off and search rural areas in San Pedro and Concepcion. These operations appear to have produced little result. This article discusses the EPP's history and dynamics.
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This presentation analyzes the subject of secession, establishing its characteristics and proposing, as a hypothesis, that these theoretical considerations could be taking shape in the Bolivian reality of today. The author makes a qualitative assessment of the country's most serious problems as a function of the aforementioned hypothesis. The presentation seeks to identify the underground forces undermining territorial cohesion in Latin America today, and emphasizes ethnoindigenism as an explanatory variable. The author utilizes historical examples of secessions in other parts of Latin America, and in Bolivia itself, with the idea of establishing similarities and differences with the case under study. The objective is to demonstrate that centrifugal dynamics have already taken shape, which are currently having repercussions on the stability and governability of this regional space and which, put into a comparative perspective with empirical evidence, could be irreversible in nature.
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