Recent Publications

The Approaching Implosion of Venezuela and Strategic Implications for the United States
July 10, 2015 — Dr. R. Evan EllisThe U.S. response to the ever deepening political and economic crisis in Venezuela, and the regime’s increasingly aggressive behavior toward its neighbors and the international community, is compelling evidence that the Barack Obama administration is sincere in respecting the sovereignty of nations of Latin America and the... MORE

The New Russian Engagement with Latin America: Strategic Position, Commerce, and Dreams of the Past
June 17, 2015 — Author: Dr R Evan Ellis View the Executive SummaryIn many ways, Russia’s expanded engagement in Latin America as a response to escalating tension over the Ukraine was a repetition of its answer to U.S. involvement in the 2008 conflict in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. In the latter conflict, the U.S. deployed naval forces to the Black Sea... MORE

Russian Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: Return to the “Strategic Game” in a Complex-Interdependent Post-Cold War World?
April 24, 2015 — Dr. R. Evan Ellis The views expressed here are his own. Dr. Ellis thanks his research assistants, Allen Church and Isaac Schlotterbeck, for their help with this article.In February 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Latin America to meet with leaders and defense officials in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Although the visit... MORE

Strategic Insights: From Ideology to Geopolitics: Russian Interests in Latin America
March 24, 2015 — Dr. José de Arimatéia da CruzThe implosion of the Soviet Union on the eve of December 25, 1991, has been heralded by pundits and Sovietologists as an unprecedented event in world history. No one expected the powerful Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to come to an end as uneventfully as it did. The implosion of the Soviet Union sent... MORE

Strategic Insights: The China-CELAC Summit: Opening a New Phase in China-Latin America-U.S. Relations?
January 27, 2015 — Dr. R. Evan EllisNote: This article was first published in The ManzellaReport.com available from www.manzellareport.com/index.php/world/945-the-china-celac-summit-opening-a-new-phase-in-china-latin-america-u-s-relations.Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began to open its economy in 1978, its relationship with Latin America and the... MORE

Strategic Insights: Brazil’s Election 2014: Continuity or Change for the “Sleeping Giant”?
January 13, 2015 — Dr. José de Arimatéia da CruzOn October 26, 2014, Brazilians went to the polls to elect a new president in one of the closest and most highly contested election in Brazil’s contemporary history since the military returned to their barracks in the early-1990s. The final results showed President Dilma Rousseff winning re-election with 51.6 percent in... MORE

Strategic Insights: The Strategic Relevance of Latin America for the United States
December 8, 2014 — Dr. R. Evan Ellis From October 12-14, 2014, the city of Arequipa, Peru, was host to this year’s largest unnoticed meeting of senior government officials from across the Western Hemisphere: the 11th annual Defense Ministerial Summit of the Americas. The meeting brought together Ministers of Defense and their equivalents from 34 nations from the... MORE

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Strategic Insights: The Dragon in the Tropics: China’s Military Expansion into the Western Hemisphere
September 30, 2014 — Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz A prosperous and stable China will not be a threat to any country. It will only be a positive force for world peace. Vice President Xi Jinping, 2012 Despite the fact that Latin America has been an area of U.S. influence since 1823... MORE

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Political and Socio-Economic Change: Revolutions and Their Implications for the U.S. Military
September 9, 2014 — Author: Dr John R Deni View the Executive SummaryDramatic political, economic, and social changes across both the Greater Middle East and Latin America over the last several years—in some instances revolutionary, in others evolutionary—have had profound implications for global security generally and U.S. security specifically. Policymakers in... MORE

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New Realities: Energy Security in the 2010s and Implications for the U.S. Military
December 30, 2013 — Dr. Robert J. Bunker, LTC John D. Colwell, JrRevolutionary changes among energy producers and dramatically altered patterns of energy consumption across the planet are having profound implications for American national security in general and the U.S. Army specifically. For example, the reduced saliency of Africa and the Middle East as energy... MORE

The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in West Africa
May 17, 2013 — Author: Mr David E Brown View the Executive SummaryInternational criminal networks mainly from Latin America and Africa—some with links to terrorism—are turning West Africa into a key global hub for the distribution, wholesaling, and production of illicit drugs. These groups represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already... MORE

Transnational Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Criminalized States in Latin America: An Emerging Tier-One National Security Priority
August 1, 2012 — Author: Mr Douglas Farah The emergence of new hybrid (state and nonstate) transnational criminal/terrorist franchises in Latin America operating under broad state protection now pose a tier-one security threat for the United States. Similar hybrid franchise models are developing in other parts of the world, which makes the understanding of these... MORE

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