It is downright Apocalyptic in Venezuela folks. Send your prayers and anything else you can. We also need to LEARN from this, as a Nation that thinks it is too big to fail, this could just as easily be the United State in no time. -SF CUMANÁ, Venezuela — With delivery trucks under constant attack,…
Category: Central/South America
Cartel Corner #86: Attack on El Chapo’s Hometown Points To A Cartel Turf War
Heavily armed men reportedly descended on the hometown of “El Chapo,” ransacking his mother’s home, killing several residents and displacing 150 families, a clear indication that the sun is setting on an era marked by the Mexican crime boss’s dominance. A gang of 150 attackers appeared early on June 11 in the small mountain town…
Cartel Corner #84: Peru is Shooting Down Suspected Drug Planes (Again)
On April 20, 2001, Peruvian security forces, with CIA help, shot down a small floatplane over the Amazon near the Brazilian border. American missionary Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter died in the attack. Having filed no flight plan, the aircraft’s pilot failed to respond over the radio. Authorities suspected the plane of transporting drugs,…
Surveillance State: The Olympics are Turning Rio into a Police State
The air is electric in Rio right now, and not just because of the surveillance cameras scattered all around the city Rio’s hundreds of surveillance cameras are easy to view on the 85 square meter display in the panopticon-style Center for Integrated Command and Control or the equally huge screen in the Operations Center…
Examining Terrorist Tactics: Brazilian Smuggling Ring Responsible for Helping Middle Eastern Illegals Cross Southern Border
A Brazilian-based smuggling network has been helping illegal immigrants from the Middle East cross the Southern border — and in one case, an Afghan man was found to be part of a terrorist plot in North America, the Washington Times reported Thursday evening. The network has helped smuggle at least a dozen Middle Eastern men…
Modern Crime: Security Firms are Big Source of Weapons for Rio Criminals
Over 30 percent of all weapons belonging to private security firms in Rio de Janeiro end up in the hands of criminals, authorities say, highlighting an important yet often overlooked source of firearms for criminal groups throughout Latin America. A Federal Police report accessed by Globo states that at least 17,662 firearms were diverted or…
Espionage Files: Operation CONDOR and Chile’s Bloody Past
If you have never read about the bloody past of Chile in the 70’s and the bloody reigns of Allende and Pinochet (whom the CIA helped install in a coup), you should definitely do some reading, if your google-fu is strong, you should have no trouble finding quality reading; You can start with this 2013…
Cartel Corner #81: Organized Crime and Narco-Terrorism in Peru Now on U.S. Radar
From May 8 through May 13, I had the opportunity to participate in the international Special Operations Forces exercise “Fuerzas Comando” in Lima, Peru. The event occurred at a pivotal moment, just after the first round of Peru’s presidential elections in early April. The exercise also occurred little more than a month after the terrorist…
Venezuela: A Prepper’s Nightmare Come to Life
Not much is being said in the state run media about the current events in Venezuela, but it would behoove the Armed Citizen/Prepper to pay attention to what is going on there; lots to learn. -SF Two years ago, Venezuela was a normal functioning nation, relatively speaking of course. It was by no means a…
Cartel Corner #80: Infiltrating the Dope Game
Anti-drug agents are usually extremely cautious about spilling the beans on their secret world, which lies somewhere between espionage, police work and battlefield. But here’s a rare inside look, offered by a veteran of the drug war. Mike Vigil, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s former chief of international operations, served more than three decades in the agency,…