Haiti is headed toward a catastrophic humanitarian and political crash. With an estimated 90 percent of the Port-au-Prince region under the chaotic control of gangs.
El Salvador today is emerging as a new version of the narco-state: a gang state, in which organized crime and authoritarian rule go hand-in-hand.
Trinidad and Tobago is, on paper, one of the Caribbean’s success stories. But the inter-related problems of gangs, corruption, and radical Islam plague the island nation.
The government of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén has launched a new, expansive (and expensive) anti-crime package targeting gang leaders, reforming prisons and establishing renewed police presence in select municipalities. Will it work?
In August 2015, El Salvador registered its bloodiest month since its 1980-1992 civil war. There were 907 murders, including 52 in a single day on August 27. The country is on track to end the year with over 6,000 murders in a population of just 6.4 million, making it the most violent country not at war in the world.
The approach chosen by Honduras to combat gangs and narcotics trafficking is not perfect. Yet despite its military character and the unrelated, but distracting, political crisis currently faced by the Hernández government, the Honduran approach to the nation’s overwhelming security challenges is creative, credible, and home-grown.
