Archive for the ‘FARC’ Category

Blogger call on tomorrow’s CSP conference

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

Earlier today I listened to a blogger call on tomorrow’s Center for Security Policy’s conference, Chavismo without Chavez

Frank Gaffney, Michael Braun, Former Assistant Administrator and Chief of Operations, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and Jon Perdue, Director of Latin American Programs at the Fund for American Studies, talked about tomorrow’s topics, particularly the collective threat Venezuela, Hezbollah, the FARC and Iran present to the Western Hemisphere and the US homeland.

I had the opportunity to ask Jon Perdue is it would be correct to assume that Timothy Tracy‘s detention in Venezuela (like Alan Gross‘ in Cuba) on espionage charges is orchestrated by Cuba. Perdue’s reply was yes, and both men are now political pawns of Cuba, which not only controls all of Venezuela’s intelligence services, but also the issuing of passports and ingress and egress into Venezuela.

My other question was to Michael Braun, are the direct flights from Iran to Venezuela still continuing after Hugo Chavez’s death? He replied yes.

After the CSP presentation, the call had Col. Alan West, who talked about tomorrow’s 9:30 AM-11:30 AM press conference by three families of Navy SEAL Team VI special forces servicemen,

The areas of inquiry at the press conference will include but not be limited to:

1. How President Obama and Vice President Biden, having disclosed on May 4, 2011, that Navy Seal Team Six carried out the successful raid on Bin Laden’s compound resulting in the master terrorist’s death, put a retaliatory target on the backs of the fallen heroes.
2. How and why high-level military officials sent these Navy SEAL Team VI heroes into battle without special operations aviation and proper air support.
3. How and why the military brass carries out too many ill-prepared missions to boost their standing with top-level military brass and the Commander-in-Chief in order that they can be promoted.
4. How the military restricts special operations servicemen and others from engaging in timely return fire when fired upon by the Taliban and other terrorist groups and interests, thus jeopardizing the servicemen’s lives.
5. How and why the denial of requested pre-assault fire may have contributed to the shoot down of the Navy SEAL Team VI helicopter and the death of these special operations servicemen.
6. How Afghani forces accompanying the Navy SEAL Team VI servicemen on the helicopter were not properly vetted and how they possibly disclosed classified information to the Taliban about the mission, resulting in the shoot down of the helicopter.
7. How military brass, while prohibiting any mention of a Judeo-Christian God, invited a Muslim cleric to the funeral for the fallen Navy SEAL Team VI heroes who disparaged in Arabic the memory of these servicemen by damning them as infidels to Allah. A video of the Muslim cleric’s “prayer” will be shown with a certified translation.

The press conference will be livestreamed. I’ll post a link on it tomorrow.

The remaining blogger call discussed True The Vote’s settlement agreement

“True the Vote can now begin reconstruction and review of the 18th Congressional District election race between Colonel Allen West and Patrick Murphy,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said. “We must stop this scandalous cycle of ignoring failures in our electoral process when the campaigns and cameras go home. Understanding how failures in administration can effect elections, as we saw in St. Lucie County, will help prevent them from occurring in the future. We cannot allow slipshod standards to become pandemic across our country’s election processes – citizens can and will stand up in defense of election integrity.”

If you can make it to the CSP conference tomorrow, here’s the information.

The rigged Venezuelan election Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, April 15th, 2013

In Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, at least according to the chavista-controlled board of election, won last night. Henrique Capriles Radonski demanded a recount, asserting that electoral fraud had taken place. Here’s his speech last night (in Spanish),

Watch live streaming video from venezuelasomostodos at livestream.com

In his speech, Capriles said he wants the Cuban military out of Venezuela’s government and institutions. As Mary O’Grady said, The Castro regime wasn’t going to allow an easy victory for the opposition candidate who has pledged to stop sending oil to Havana.

By now, ballot boxes are turning up,

Maduro’s acceptance speech was a double dose of crazy.

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s economy
Gaucho blues
A dollar shortage bites

Via The Argentine Post, a link I missed when it was first posted,
Argentina’s Plan for Iran

BRAZIL
Brazilian state of Acre in illegal immigration alert
The Brazilian state of Acre has declared a state of emergency after a surge of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bolivia and Peru.

CHILE
Chile poet Pablo Neruda’s remains to be tested in US
The family of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda has agreed to send his remains to a laboratory in the United States for toxicology tests.

COLOMBIA
FARC links with Al-Qaeda?

Evidence has emerged of a link between the FARC and Islamist terrorist groups in the North African Maghreb after two Colombian nationals were arrested in Algeria last month by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Spanish intelligence services.

Colombian authorities row over Farc jail terms
Colombia’s attorney-general has said members of the rebel group Farc could escape jail terms should a peace deal be struck.

Colombia’s emerald king
Death of a tsar

COSTA RICA
Via DP, National holiday turns violent as families blocked from president’s speech
Costa Ricans outraged that they weren’t allowed to attend the annual Juan Santamaría Day festivities in an Alajuela park.

CUBA
In Spanish: Jaime Bayly entrevista al bloguero cubano Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo,

Time to Occupy Beyonce and Jay-Z

US Treasury OFAC: Send Beyoncé and Jay-Z an Anniversary Present

Rosa Maria Payá denounces death threats against her and her family.
Rosa Maria Payá holds the Cuban government responsible for whatever may happen to her and her family.

ECUADOR
Quito’s new airport
A tight fit

HONDURAS
Smoke from nearby forest fires forces 4-hour closure of airport for Honduras’ capital

JAMAICA
Puerto Rican jury rejects death sentence in police killing

MEXICO

Mexico Is Picking Up the Peso
Reforms, Search for Risk Are Boosting the Currency; ‘a Cultish Characteristic’

Mexican Proposal to Allow Foreigners to Own Coastal Property

PERU
Rural development in Peru
The Andean connection
Diminishing distance, falling poverty

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico protects top US turtle nesting site long eyed by developers

Puerto Rico Agrees To Pay More Than $35 Million In Back Wages To Thousands Of Workers

SURINAME
Politics in Suriname
Guerrilla, rapper, gold miner…president?

URUGUAY
Uruguay president ‘sorry’ for Fernandez ‘old hag’ quip
The President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, has apologised for apparently referring to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as an “old hag”.

Luis Alberto Lacalle, abogado y presidente de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay de 1990 a 1995 envia un afectuoso saludo a la Fundacion HACER de Washington DC desde el 25 Aniversario de la Fundacion Libertad de Rosario

VENEZUELA
Maduro and Capriles: tale of two Venezuelan presidential candidates

Venezuela’s presidential election
Voting in St Hugo’s shadow
In his search for a popular mandate, Nicolás Maduro ascribes divine powers to his predecessor but offers few earthly policies

Venezuelan blogs for their complete coverage:
Caracas chronicles
Devil’s excrement
Venezuela Nr=ews and Views

The week’s posts and podcast,
Venezuela: Maduro wins

Venezuela: two election day live feeds

A word on elected Latin American dictators

Venezuela: How important is tomorrow’s election? UPDATED

If you are in Hialeah tonight: Rosa María Payá event

OLPL en el show de Bayly

G-r-o-s-s: Bolivarian “sanitary” towels

Venezuela: Capriles Campaign Chief killed

Venezuela: The meaning of April 14 UPDATED

Cuba this morning

Venezuela: Violent deaths per 100,000

Podcast:
Talking with Silvio Canto.

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, February 18th, 2013

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Pensions in Argentina
Now or never
The government drags its feet over compensating pensioners for inflation

BOLIVIA
Bolivia: Morales criticises Chile over sea and soldiers
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has renewed his calls for the release of three soldiers arrested in Chile.

BRAZIL
Brazil’s zombie politicians
Unstoppable?
Despite serial corruption allegations, the old guard just keeps coming back

CHILE
Chile’s Sebastian Pinera visits wildfire victims

COLOMBIA
Colombian Farc releases two hostage policemen
Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Farc, has released two hostages held captive since 25 January.

CUBA
Cuban dissident blogger prepares ‘victory’ tour abroad

ECUADOR
Why Ecuador Matters

Assange: Total cost to police Ecuadorian embassy hits £2.9 million

FASHION

JAMAICA
Jamaica agrees $750m IMF loan terms
Jamaica has agreed terms with the International Monetary Fund to receive a new $750m (£483m) loan.

MEXICO
Mexico’s new president
Tearing up the script
Three months after taking office, Enrique Peña Nieto is rewriting his reform agenda

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican food, beyond rice and beans

US POLITICS
“Cruz has taken the wear-their-scorn-as-a-badge-of-honor approach with his liberal critics.”

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in first post-surgery images

Devaluating the devaluation

The Gran Inquisitor by Miguel Angel Santos

The week’s posts,
Hugo Chavez reportedly back in Venezuela

Colombia: Good news on the Casona

Mexico develops cheap energy; USA not quite

Pope decided to resign after visiting Cuba and snubbing the Ladies in White

Podcast:
The US & violence in Central America

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, February 4th, 2013

ARGENTINA
Prepping The Next Conflict

Argentine-Iranian relations
A pact with the devil?

BAHAMAS
Gaming in the Bahamas
A bettor option
Churches and internet cafés face off in a referendum on gambling

BRAZIL
Brazil’s Tax-Cutting, High-Growth Socialists. Four years ago, Lula schooled Obama on free trade, doing away with tariffs particularly on biofuels, and job creation.

COLOMBIA
Kidnappings Imperil Talks With Rebels in Colombia

Deadly clashes before Farc talks
Fighting between Farc rebels and Colombia’s government leaves at least nine people dead, as the latest round of peace talks start in Cuba.

ECUADOR
Another Blowout in Eco Suit Against Chevron

A Fortune Mag/CNN Money article out this week reports the latest, overwhelming evidence of horrendous skullduggery in a long-running environmental case, supported by the highly corruptible Ecuadoran government, against the U.S.-based Chevron oil company. In a Manhattan federal district court, reports Fortune’s Roger Parloff, “Chevron filed the declaration of a former Ecuadorian judge, Alberto Guerra, who describes how he and a second former judge, Nicolás Zambrano, allegedly allowed the plaintiffs lawyers to ghostwrite their entire 188-page, $18.2 billion judgment against Chevron in exchange for a promise of $500,000 from the anticipated recovery.”

LATIN AMERICA
Latin American integration
Past and future
The region’s anachronistic new face

And yes, Angela Merkel did shake Raul Castro’s hand:

PERU
Relocation in the Andes: Perched in the Peruvian Andes is a new town built by a Chinese mining company to which 5,000 people will be relocated,

Peru’s roaring economy
Hold on tight
The biggest threats to Latin America’s economic star are overconfidence and complacency

PUERTO RICO
Jackson Lewis opens in Puerto Rico as gateway to Latin America
US employment firm Jackson Lewis is to open an office in Puerto Rico, marking its first base outside of mainland US.

VENEZUELA
As Chavez takes his time, Havana rules Venezuela

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, November 26th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Argentina’s debt default
The noose tightens

Argentina rejects US ruling over foreign debt repayment
Argentina will appeal against a US ruling ordering it to pay $1.3bn (£800m) to foreign creditors holding bonds that it defaulted on in 2001.

I was in Buenos Aires the day Kirchner died, and the graffiti read, “Evita and Nestor, together in heaven”; Make room, Evita: Argentine leader seeks to put late husband Nestor Kirchner on Peron pedestal. The only surprising thing is that it’s taken Cristina two years.

BRAZIL
Brazil busts corruption ring

CHILE
Chile Faces Hurdles to Sustain Robust Economic Growth

COLOMBIA
Land reform in Colombia
Peace, land and bread
The hard bargaining start

FARC rebels release 4 Chinese oil workers

Colombia Farc rebels optimistic about Cuba peace talks
Negotiators from Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Farc, say they are highly optimistic about peace talks currently under way in the Cuban capital, Havana.

From Colombian evangelicals to Jews in region with a hidden Jewish past

CUBA
As predictable as a soiled diaper on a newborn baby

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Dominican Republic’s Taxing Turn
Servicing its debt will take 44% of government revenue by 2015, despite steep new taxes.

A rum do
The new president faces a tax revolt

HAITI
Haitian ex-soldiers in hiding renew call for president to restore disbanded military

MEXICO
Lame-duck lameness: Mexico’s President Calderon seeks to change country’s name
Profile: Felipe Calderon
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent a bill to congress to change the official name of the country.

Chinese-Mexicans expelled during xenophobic period celebrate anniversary of repatriation

From darkness, dawn
After years of underachievement and rising violence, Mexico is at last beginning to realise its potential, says Tom Wainwright

1 of FBI’s 10 most wanted arrested in Mexico

NICARAGUA
Colombia awaits government´s San Andrés reaction (h/t Silvio Canto)

PANAMA
Angry Panama
The earthbound bite back
Why is Latin America’s fastest-growing country so furious?

PUERTO RICO
The 51st state?
America may not want what its Caribbean outpost now does

Ex-boxer Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho dies after shot

TURKS & CAICOS
The Turks and Caicos Islands
Paradise interrupted
A troubled Caribbean territory tries to turn over a new leaf

VENEZUELA
Breaking Bad? Venezuela National Guard finds buried stash of cash
Security forces in Venezuela have found $550,000 (£343,000) buried near the border with Colombia, interior ministry spokesman Jorge Galindo said.

The building up of a FARC/drug corridor in Venezuela

Accomplices Galore

The week’s posts:
Venezuelan immigration to the USA quadrupled over the past 15 years

Argentina: Now on general strike

Mexico: No Iran or Hezbollah here


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, September 17th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
More Havana than Havanna

Les Argentins ressortent les casseroles contre Cristina Kirchner

COLOMBIA
Colombia Gambles on Talks With the FARC
President Manuel Santos seeks an end to five decades of terrorist violence. The question is, at what price?
Meanwhile, FARC Rebels Step up Attacks on Colombia Energy Targets

Colombian Navy Seizes Ton of Cocaine

Pacific Rubiales’ capture of Colombian mass media continues

Bitter grounds
The woes of coffee farmers

CUBA
Suddenly, His Holiness seems to care about certain things he ignored in Castrolandia

Indecision time
Never rapid, Raúl Castro’s reforms seem to be stalling
. You don’t say!

MEXICO
Scathing Fast & Furious IG Report Imminent?

Mexico Nabs Gulf Cartel Boss
The Latest Coup by the Country’s Navy Is Likely to Intensify the Turf War With Rival Zeta Cartel
; Map: Drug crime in Mexico.

Middle-class Mexicans snap up more products ‘Made in USA’ (h/t Instapundit)

The Great Egg Crisis hits Mexico

PERU
Peru won’t negotiate with rebels like Colombia – Humala

Talisman in Peru (or not)

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican Woman Charged with Embezzling Funds

VENEZUELA
Bolivarian Mango Peel

Venezuela: Profligacy puts Chávez’s dream at risk

Tiempos de Dictadura: A great Venezuelan documentary

A Horrifying Video About Crime And Violence In Venezuela

The week’s posts:
EPA glorifies mass murderer Che on “Hispanic Heritage Month”

Mexico Extradites to USA San Jose Mosque Imam connected to Hezbollah

Venezuela Frees U.S. Ship And Crew


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, June 25th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Diminishing differences between Kirchner and military dictator that invaded Falklands in 1982
Cristina Kirchner may be more Machiavelli than Clausewitz, but, like Galtieri, she’s using the Falklands to distract from the increasing domestic problems that are festering under her tenure

COLOMBIA
Politics and crime in Colombia
Double agent

FARC Smuggle Explosives into Cities via Ecuador Border: Police

CUBA
WATCHDOGS: Solons worry Medicare billions going to Castro, Cuba

Medicare fraud worth billions may be steered to Cuba

“Subversive monstrosity”: 500 Cubans attend internet festival in Havana

The Cuba Fallacy

Hiding Cuba’s crimes behind gay rights lies

Cuban activist Bismark Mustelier sentenced to 2 years in prison

ECUADOR
WikiLeaks Finds Its True Home In Banana Republic Ecuador

Julian Assange Might Want to Think Twice About Seeking Asylum in Ecuador
The Ecuadorian government has treated media organizations harshly, though its president seemed to show sympathy for Wikileaks during a recent, collegial TV interview with Assange.

WikiLeaks’s Assange, Ecuador’s Correa, and the Politics of Anti-Americanism

Otto Reich: US Should Not Sign New Trade Agreements with Ecuador

FALKLAND ISLANDS
Self-determination in the South Atlantic

HONDURAS
Violence in Honduras
The eye of the storm
Timid steps to tame the world’s most violent country

JAMAICA
Organised crime in Jamaica
Dudus gets his due

MEXICO
OBAMA BOWS TO MEXICAN PRESIDENT

And how did it go at the G20?

Mexico election diary
#YoSoy132 at a crossroads

Mexico ready to vote, watchful for fraud

Will the PRI Retake Mexico?
Mexican progress may depend on who comes in second in July’s presidential election.

PARAGUAY
Paternity suits, cancer, and now, impeachment, for the bishop-turned-president: Paraguay Senate says impeachment trial of president will start on Friday (slideshow).

Paraguay’s president vows to fight impeachment

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo vowed on Thursday to stand and fight rather than resign after his opponents launched an impeachment drive over a land eviction in which 17 people died last week.

Is it a coup in Paraguay?

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico governor presses for bigger federal presence in Caribbean

Crews put boom around freighter grounded off Puerto Rico island, no signs of pollution

Puerto Rican Militant Accepts Plea Deal in Big 1983 U.S. Heist

URUGUAY
Uruguay marijuana sales to be controlled by state
Uruguay is planning a radical approach to the legalisation of marijuana by proposing the sale of the drug be controlled by the state.
Well, that’s one way to make sure the politicians get rich. (h/t GoV)

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s presidential election
Hugo’s last hurrah
In an election campaign like no other, Hugo Chávez must vanquish his own illness as well as an invigorated opposition

The week’s posts:
Whittle on Fast & Furious

Obama: Latinos in, utensils out!

Paraguay: Lugo impeached

Holder in contempt

Why executive privilege over Fast & Furious?

Assange wants asylum in Ecuador

Smart diplomacy: As global leaders gather in Mexico, Obama chews gum

The problem with Panama

At Hot Air: Paraguay: Lugo will be spending time with his families.


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, June 4th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
The Star: Argentina overtakes Venezuela as South America’s biggest default risk

Argentina’s economy
The blue dollar
Another step towards a siege economy

Argentine official denies devaluation planned

El joven Borges y Argentina
Por Edwin Williamson
Se ha querido ver en Borges a un escritor poco interesado en la política y ajeno a los problemas de su país. Sin embargo, como cuenta en este ensayo su biógrafo Edwin Williamson, el joven Borges estuvo atento a las grandes corrientes ideológicas de su tiempo y participó en las grandes disputas políticas, y singularmente históricas, de la Argentina del siglo XX

BOLIVIA
Obama Administration Fails Jewish-American Citizen Detained in Bolivia

Bolivian Drug Accuser Seeks Asylum in Brazil

The stakes are high. Bolivian drug trafficking has become a domestic issue for Brazil, which has become one of the world’s biggest consumers of cocaine amid a decadelong economic boom. Brazilian officials say much of the cocaine consumed in Brazil either originates or passes through Bolivia.

CARIBBEAN
Caribbean integration
Centrifugal force
Half a century of small islands with big egos

CHILE
Codelco v Anglo American
Ore war
A mineral battle in business-friendly Chile

Chilean power firm Colbun puts project on ice
One of the two firms planning to build the giant HidroAysen dam in Chilean Patagonia has frozen the project, citing lack of government backing.

COLOMBIA
FARC leader lives at Chavez’s brother’s house: Priest

In an interview with RCN Radio, priest and Venezuelan journalist, Father Jose Palmar, said FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko,” and two other members of the FARC secretariat frequently spend the night at the estate of Adam Chavez, brother of President Hugo Chavez and governor of the Venezuelan state of Barinas.

“Part of the FARC Secretariat live in Venezuela,” said Palmar who is a priest in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo and often crosses the border. “That I can assure you,” he added.

Palmar is an open critic of the Chavez government and swears that the 19th, 41st and 59th fronts of the FARC operate with impunity in the Venezuelan state of Zulia. It is from here, he claims, that they organize raids in Colombia, such as the attack by the 59th Front Monday which killed 12 Colombian soldiers in the department of La Guajira.

Colombian volcano spouts ash

CUBA
Mariela Castro hopes Cuban-U.S. relations can normalize in Obama second term

ECUADOR
Journalism in the Americas: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa asks citizens to boycott press

HONDURAS
Despite Deaths in Honduran Raid, U.S. to Press Ahead With New Antidrug Policy

Honduras sets up anti-corruption body
The Honduran government has set up an anti-corruption commission to target rogue officials in the judicial system and police force.

MEXICO
The Economist Debate: Mexican Elections.

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico bets on American tourists to repay debt

VENEZUELA
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: Hugo Chavez is wearing Fentanyl Patches and Diapers

Dan Rather says Chavez’s cancer is “at end stage”.

Aponte Aponte is singing like a bird: Fugitive Venezuela judge helps elite U.S. anti-drugs unit

USA Today: Venezuela’s PDVSA oil company is bloated, ‘falling apart’

One thousand car bodies deteriorate in Venezuelan-Iranian auto plant
The National Assembly is investigating whether the Venezuelan-Iranian auto plant Venirauto is causing “property damage” to the South American country

Venezuela bans private gun ownership
Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition.

The week’s posts:
Property rights are human rights

Smart diplomacy: Fast and Furious ‘poisoned’ Mexican public opinion of US – UPDATED

Brazil power: Spain out, China in.


Border security is national security

Monday, May 14th, 2012

DAVID MEIR-LEVI
Radical Islam In Latin America Threatens U.S.

Interview topic: threat posed by our failure to secure the southern border enabling terrorists especially from Iran to easily enter our country.

Ecuador: The new hub for international crime

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Must-read article at Deutsche Welle on the upcoming report by The Financial Action Task Force (FATF),
Ecuador emerges as hub for international crime
Ecuador is emerging as a focus for transnational criminal groups, according to US and European officials. Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers as well as Chinese and African human traffickers use it as a business hub.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body responsible for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, is expected at its meeting in February in Abu Dhabi to include Ecuador on its high-risk jurisdiction list at the request of G20 finance ministers.

Why?

Ecuador attracting transnational crime
FARC’s penetration of Ecuador’s government and judiciary, the country’s weak institutions and anti-money laundering laws and its nonexistent anti‐terror financing laws as well as its porous borders with its drugs producing neighbors have turned Ecuador into a place where transnational criminal organizations from Latin America, Russia, China, India and Africa can conduct business, according to a just-released report by the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC).

The report goes on to say that Ecuador is “increasingly attractive for Russian organized criminal groups, both for weapon sales to the FARC and to launder money” and that “Chinese triads, particularly those involved in smuggling human beings, have greatly increased their presence in Ecuador.” The Financial Action Task Force warned in 2007 that Ecuador had failed to comply with 48 of its 49 recommendations on money laundering and terrorist financing.
The officials say the lifting in 2008 of visa requirements for nationals of most countries and the adoption in 2000 of the US dollar as Ecuador’s national currency make it easy for Russian, Chinese, Indian and African criminal organizations to operate in Ecuador.
The dollarization of Ecuador’s economy, lax restrictions on the movement of large amounts of money and some of world’s strongest bank secrecy laws enable the laundering by Russian crime groups of proceeds of Mexican drug and Asian and African human traffickers. A recent study by Quito’s San Francisco University concluded that annually up to $1billion (0.7 billion euros) are laundered through Ecuador. US law enforcement officials say the figure could be substantially higher.
The lifting of visa requirements has allowed Chinese triads as well as Indian and African human traffickers to process people they are trafficking through Ecuador, the Washington institute’s report says. US diplomats say that virtually every non-Latin American immigrant caught since the lifting entering the United States from Central America and Mexico has transited through Ecuador. “They are mostly Africans or Central Asians, which raises security concerns,” one diplomat said.

DW also explains some of the shady financial dealings with Iran, and the corrupt judicial system.

If you are one of the many Americans considering retirement in Ecuador, I urge you to read this article.

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