Maduro’s Peace Defender Squads Are Anything But Peaceful
In March 2019, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro created a new wing of the Bolivarian Revolution political movement, the Peace Defender…
The Future of Venezuela’s Hybrid State
The evolution of a hybrid state in Venezuela, combining governance with criminality, has helped President Nicolás Maduro hold on to…
Rise and Fall of a Hybrid Guerrilla Group: The Bolivarian Liberation Forces
In June 2022, according to local press reports, a heavily armed unit from Venezuela’s General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence stormed…
Hybrid Governance and the Criminal Fiefdoms of Tren de Aragua
There are specific expectations for residents of San Vicente, a neighborhood in Venezuela’s central state of Aragua. Men are not…
How Criminal Groups Helped Fill Venezuela’s Post-Chávez Void
When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez succumbed to cancer in 2013, a perfect storm of crises was already looming on the…
Does US Policy Exacerbate Migrant Kidnappings on the US-Mexico Border?
It was just after dawn when Ricardo Montes* saw nearly a dozen armed men in two pickup trucks arrive at…
The Gauntlet: One Migrant’s Journey from Venezuela to the US-Mexico Border
More than two months of travel across eight countries. Regular run-ins with corrupt police and migration officials, organized crime groups,…
How US Policy Foments Organized Crime on US-Mexico Border
In 2019, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). What would become known as…
Citizen Prosperity: Wild Card Meets Status Quo
There are few better illustrations of the battle for control of the Guatemalan state than the candidacy of Carlos Pineda…
Cabal: Caciques and Compromises
Through a combination of luck, persistence, and dubious legal challenges lodged against other candidates, Edmond Mulet and his political party,…