Greg Davis

The Perils of Militarizing Law Enforcement Latin America’s warning for U.S. democracy.

"Studies have found that at best, troop deployments in Latin America might temporarily suppress violence but do not address the structural drivers of crime, from poverty and inequality to generalized corruption" www.foreignaffairs.com/americas/per...

Reports coming out now saying the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), El Mencho, has been killed #breakingnews

"Jorge Piñón, a former oil executive who runs a team at the University of Texas at Austin tracking Cuba’s oil, said the team estimates that the country’s fuel reserves could be depleted by mid-March, triggering social unrest that could threaten the government."

A New U.S. Blockade Is Strangling Cuba

“Among us longtime Cuba watchers, we’ve always resisted people using the word blockade,” said Fulton Armstrong, the former lead Latin America analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, who has been studying Cuba since 1984. “But it is indeed a blockade.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/w...

Chilean President Boric slams US visa restrictions on government officials over "regional security" concerns. The Trump administration "threatens, makes unspecific accusations, and applies unilateral sanctions," Boric says, adding Chile is "deeply respectful of national and international law."

Striking map from latest issue of Americas Quarterly: americasquarterly.org/article/the-...

(PDF) Latin America. Between Governability Crises and the Impeachment Trap PDF | Impeachment has become more prevalent across Latin America in recent years. This chapter maps the evolution and use of impeachment as a... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Rese...

As Jeri falls, it is clear that Peru is ensconced in an "impeachment trap" from which it cannot escape: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

I wrote here about why the Peruvian legislature keeps doing this:
www.gisreportsonline.com/r/peru-presi...

José Jerí is now impeached.

Peru will go to its 8th President in 10 years (with the presidential election being mere weeks aways).

FAA closes airspace around El Paso, Texas, for 10 days, grounding all flights The agency says it will ground all flights to and from the airport for "special security reasons."

"The Federal Aviation Administration is closing the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days, grounding all flights to and from the airport." @apnews.com apnews.com/article/faa-...

Enjoyable book for anyone looking to read fiction that takes you from a 60’s revolutionary group in Venezuela to the 2002 coup attempt to Chavez’ last days through the eyes of multiple characters

“The number of .50-caliber rounds seized is small compared with that of other cartridges.But it’s the power of the .50-caliber ammunition, not its quantity, that has made it a game changer for the cartels, giving them the ability to overwhelm police and even the military” @icij.org

How Bad Bunny Gives Voice to Puerto Rico’s ‘Crisis Generation’

"Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as the superstar Bad Bunny, is a proud product of what Puerto Ricans call the 'crisis generation': those who grew up on the island in the 1990s and 2000s and have little memory of its better days." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/u...

"Keeping dollars 'under the mattress'—outside the formal economy—has long been a national ritual after wild swings in the peso, bank freezes and other capital controls destroyed Argentines’ trust in the banks over the course of decades."

Rubio Wants Democracy, Trump Wants Oil One month on, it’s clear which approach to Venezuela is winning.

"To the extent there’s any reason for Venezuelans to be optimistic, it’s because Venezuela policy is being implemented not by Trump, but by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Deny it though he will, Rubio’s approach is plainly different from the president’s."

The Real Reason for the Drop in Fentanyl Overdoses Drug deaths are finally falling—but the cause may be far outside of U.S. policy makers’ control.

More from @charlesflehman.bsky.social here: “The paper’s authors attribute the reversal not to any American or Canadian policy, but to a sudden fentanyl ‘drought,’ which they say may have its causes not in North America, but in China.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Fentanyl supplies and overdose deaths keep dropping The trends date to August, 2023, when declines in both began.

Good news: "provisional data from the Centers of Disease Control are from the 12-month period ending last August. Deaths dropped to an estimated 72,000 during that 12-month period, from an estimated 91,000 for the 12-month period ending August of 2024.” samquinones.substack.com/p/fentanyl-s...

What’s Next for the U.S. Military in Latin America? “All the evidence points to a permanent U.S. military presence,” one expert said.

"And the United States still has roughly 15,000 troops and a dozen warships in the Caribbean—including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. The U.S. has also reopened shuttered military bases in Puerto Rico" foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/29/u...

The 'Discombobulator': Does Trump's secret weapon really exist? Some experts have expressed skepticism about both Trump's description of the weapon and whether it even exists.

Gotta say that a "discombobulator" sounds a lot like a Looney Tunes weapon: "Trump said the professed new device was used during the elaborate operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro"
www.newsweek.com/the-discombo...

After Venezuela operation, Space Force activates SOUTHCOM element The formal ceremony this month follows Guardians’ involvement in the attack on Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

"On Jan. 21 Space Force Force Southern was formally activated [...] Under this new purview, it will coordinate space-related matters dealing with Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, where U.S. forces have been massed for months." taskandpurpose.com/news/space-f...

Even Nicolás Maduro’s Prosecutors Are Tied Up Reviewing Epstein Files

NYT also covered this: Even Nicolás Maduro’s Prosecutors Are Tied Up Reviewing Epstein Files www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/n...

New York’s Southern District Has Taken a Beating Under Trump. Can It Handle Maduro’s Case? “The SDNY has not exactly covered itself in glory lately,” says Elie Honig, who spent more than eight years as an assistant US Attorney in the office long considered the DOJ’s crown jewel. But prosecu...

"Still, the office has been roiled more than most by the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein mess; 125 out of its approximately 200 assistant US attorneys are currently assigned to review millions of pages of Epstein-related files. 'There are a ton of people on Epstein...'" www.vanityfair.com/news/story/s...

A More Pliant Chavista | Alma Guillermoprieto President Trump’s decision to support Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s new leader makes clear that oil, not democracy, is his main concern.

💯:"Who can even tell what Chavismo is at this point, other than some two million individuals linked by state jobs and self-interest. It is possible to read news sites and search the Internet for hours without understanding what happened on January 3."
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Opinion | Hope and Fear Mingle in Cuba With the Loss of Maduro, and Oil

Yoani Sánchez: "After 67 years of the same regime and a mass exodus of those most opposed to it, Cuba does not have a well-articulated opposition group on the island that would be capable, in the short term, of vying for power." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/o...

The U.S. Is Pressing Mexico to Allow U.S. Forces to Fight Cartels

"But fentanyl labs are notoriously difficult to find and destroy, U.S. officials say, and Washington is still developing tools to trace the drug as it is being produced. The labs emit less chemical traces than meth labs — which can be detected by drones..."

The U.S. Is Pressing Mexico to Allow U.S. Forces to Fight Cartels

"Instead of joint operations, Mexican officials offered counter proposals this month, including increased information sharing and for the United States to play a greater role inside command centers, according to a person familiar with the matter."

Exclusive: US gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding some proceeds in Qatar The details shared with Semafor mark an initial milestone in the administration’s plan following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro.

"Revenue from the oil sales is currently being held in bank accounts controlled by the US government, as indicated in Friday’s order, according to the administration official. The main account, according to a second senior administration official, is located in Qatar" www.semafor.com/article/01/1...

Latin America and the Pitfalls of American Intervention The early 20th century is replete with examples of U.S. involvement gone awry.

"One pattern that occupation officials failed to discern early enough is that, while locals sometimes accepted and even welcomed the fact of occupation by a foreign power, those same locals would almost invariably resent the manner of occupation once it settled in." thedispatch.com/article/lati...

Venezuelans inside the country are pretty pleased with the dramatic turn of events, according to exclusive polling for The Economist, even if their vision for its future differs from that of Donald Trump econ.st/4pC38B2

Yankee Go Home, Again Jorge G. Castañeda fears that the capture of Venezuela’s president augurs a new era of US intervention in Latin America.

"Lula, Petro, and AMLO proved unwilling or unable to convince Maduro to accept his defeat and go into exile, partly because Biden made no effort to support them, such as by threatening to quarantine Venezuelan oil exports." www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/vene...

The Shock Waves of Venezuela How Maduro’s capture could throw Latin America into tumult.

"It is uncertain, however, whether Trump’s intervention in Venezuela will become a testament to American power or expose its limits, and eventually contribute to its erosion." www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...