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.

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The governments of the Western Hemipshere ask more and more of the armed forces on a regular basis. In some instances they are sent overseas for peackeeping and stabilization missions. In Latin America, the armed forces are increasingly called upon to provide support to the police in very complex environmenbts, and in some jurisdictions take over public security altogether. With the exception of the military police units the use of force paradigm utilized by military forces is designed to defeat an adversary under the legal framework of international humanitarian law (IHL) otherwise known as the law of armed conflict (LOAC). Many of these new mission sets described above take place outside of war and thus outside of IHL/LOAC. This reality presents a series of challenges for armed forces as related to both accountability and the management of general military operations and conduct.
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This presentation by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of El Salvador was made on July 7, 2010 at the 6th Sub-Regional Conference for Mesoamerica, held July 20-23 in San Salvador and organized by the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS).
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This article seeks to analyze the frameworks and forms of cooperation between military and police forces in a contemporary world characterized by a growing militarization of the field of public security. The correlation between military and police has not only occurred in peace-building missions under the baton of multilateral organizations such as the UN and NATO, but also in the fight against organized crime, illegal trafficking, insurgency and terrorism that have intermingled, forcing governments to provide coordinated interagency responses, which has led to a blurring of the boundary between plain defense and pure citizen security. This proposal analyzes these two variants of police-military cooperation and coordination. Despite differences in ethos, culture, missions and firepower, the combined actions of both bodies have been essential to reestablish, first, the rule of law and institutional reconstruction and, second, to confront new threats to national security. However, little is known about combined military-police actions in Latin America against terrorism and drug trafficking. This project seeks to delve in detail into the latter aspect.
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