Latin America Daily Security Brief

Cuba's energy minister confirmed Thursday that the island's fuel reserves — diesel and fuel oil — are completely exhausted. Blackouts are now running 22 hours per day in eastern provinces, with the national grid suffering a major collapse. Schools and universities have been forced to shut. The health system is in crisis. This is the worst energy situation the island has faced in decades, worse than the 1990s 'Special Period' by some measures.

Venezuelan fuel to Cuba stopped entirely in January after the U.S. seized Nicolás Maduro and took control of Venezuela's oil sector. The Trump administration subsequently imposed an effective blockade barring all foreign oil from reaching Cuba, threatening tariffs on any country that defied it. Mexico, another former supplier, also stopped shipments. Cuba has no remaining external energy lifeline.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Havana Thursday for direct security talks with Cuban officials — the highest-level U.S. visit in years. The CIA said the discussions covered intelligence cooperation, economic stability, and security issues, framing the meeting around the demand that Cuba 'can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries.' Cuban officials said the meeting demonstrated Cuba poses no threat to U.S. national security.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly called Cuba's system 'broken' and incapable of reform the same day as the Ratcliffe visit — a deliberate contradiction that signals Washington is running two tracks simultaneously: coercive pressure and back-channel negotiation. El País English reports both governments have been engaged in secret talks for weeks, with Havana seeking an end to the energy blockade and Washington demanding political liberalization and prisoner releases.

AP sources report the Trump administration is preparing to seek a criminal indictment of Raúl Castro. If that materializes, it would make any near-term diplomatic resolution vastly more complicated. Cuba is also considering a reported $100 million U.S. aid offer, though Cuban Communist Party officials are framing any engagement as 'confronting the current situation' rather than concession. The CIA's own post-meeting statement identified Cuba as a Cold War-era safe haven for U.S. adversaries — a designation Havana categorically rejected.

Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, former Secretary of Public Security for Sinaloa state, was arrested in Arizona on May 11 and transferred to the Southern District of New York by Friday — making him the first of the 10 indicted Mexican officials to actually face U.S. courts. He is accused of providing institutional protection to Los Chapitos (Iván and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar) and facilitating drug trafficking operations during one of Sinaloa's bloodiest internal conflict periods. El Financiero and Milenio both report he was transferred directly to a federal detention facility in New York.

The New York Times published a major investigative piece — based on interviews with four Sinaloa Cartel operatives — detailing how an 'invisible architecture' of government protection allowed the cartel to operate openly for years across multiple levels of Mexican government. The piece specifically documents collaboration between cartel figures, politicians, security forces, and military personnel in Sinaloa. It is the most detailed first-person account of cartel-state fusion published to date.

The U.S. State Department separately announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of two brothers identified as leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel's Baja California operations, which includes Tijuana. Sinaloa's cartel leadership structure is fragmenting rapidly following Los Chapitos' internal war and the ongoing U.S. legal pressure.

The NYT and Infobae both report that the U.S. is exploring application of anti-terrorism statutes against Mexican officials — a significant legal escalation that would bypass traditional narco-trafficking charges. This approach would complicate bilateral security cooperation and extradition negotiations, since Mexico's constitution prohibits extradition for offenses defined as political crimes under some interpretations.

Colima state continues to record the highest homicide rates in Mexico. A severed human head was found on the streets of Tijuana Friday night, reportedly left by CJNG. The Mexican Army destroyed more than 600 confiscated weapons in Michoacán this week as part of ongoing military operations — a sign of scale of seizures, though Michoacán remains deeply contested.

Thousands of artisanal miners affiliated with the Bolivian Workers' Center (COB) marched from El Alto into downtown La Paz on Thursday, May 14, setting off dynamite and clashing with security forces who responded with tear gas near the Government Palace. The protests were initially triggered by farmers opposing a land-mortgaging law, but mining unions escalated demands to include labor reforms, fuel access, and greater access to explosives — then pivoted to calls for President Rodrigo Paz to resign.

The Paz government struck a deal with COB-affiliated miners on Friday. But Reuters and AP report that other worker groups maintained blockades across La Paz, and the broader political crisis has not resolved. Bolivia's inflation has hit 14% annually, and a dollar shortage is making basic imports difficult.

Paz, a centrist, faces pressure from multiple directions: the left (mining unions, coca growers) and former MAS-aligned sectors who view him as a break from the socialist governance of the Evo Morales era. The political volatility comes as Bolivia is also adjusting to the DEA opening offices in La Paz following the March arrest and extradition of Uruguayan narco Sebastián Marset, who was captured in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

The EMC faction of FARC dissidents, led by alias Iván Mordisco, announced Friday a national ceasefire on 'offensive military operations' beginning at midnight May 20 and running through midnight June 10 — covering Colombia's presidential election first round on June 1. The announcement was published in a formal communiqué and confirmed by multiple Colombian outlets including El País Cali and Resumen Latinoamericano.

The ceasefire announcement does not bind the ELN or the Gulf Clan (AGC). InSight Crime's 'On the Radar' this week noted that President Petro's attempt to suspend arrest warrants for Gulf Clan leaders was rejected outright — a significant political setback for the 'Total Peace' framework. Colombian media report at least 30,000 armed combatants remain active across guerrilla, criminal, and hybrid organizations nationwide.

The Colombian military reported neutralizing six EMC dissident members and one additional armed group member in simultaneous operations in the country's southwestern region on Thursday. Four others were detained. Armed Forces commander General Hugo Alejandro López Barreto confirmed the operations via social media.

El Colombiano reported Friday that Colombia has reached its worst massacre rate in a decade — at least one per week. This figure covers killings by all armed actors. El Nuevo Siglo separately notes that violence and insecurity are spiking nationwide, cutting across regions previously stabilized under earlier peace frameworks.

Colombia extradited a senior Tren de Aragua leader to the United States this week, according to Semana. The individual faces terrorism charges in the U.S., where the Trump administration has also filed the first RICO charges against Tren de Aragua members, including conspiracy to commit murder, sex trafficking, and narco-trafficking.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez's government announced Wednesday that Venezuela has formally launched a 'comprehensive and orderly' restructuring of its sovereign and state oil company debt — a process that involves approximately $150 billion in obligations. CNBC reports Venezuela's finance ministry framed sanctions as the reason the country defaulted beginning in 2017, and is now positioning the restructuring as a 'return to solvency.'

The Trump administration lifted sanctions on Rodríguez's government in April, and Venezuela has begun shipping oil to the U.S. at market rates, with proceeds flowing through White House-controlled accounts. Chevron has also signed new production agreements with the Venezuelan government. The restructuring process will require creditor negotiations across sovereign bondholders and PDVSA debt holders — a complex multi-year process.

Venezuelan opposition, per El País English, remains skeptical of the institutional reforms being undertaken by Rodríguez's government and is waiting for U.S. support to push a credible electoral calendar. No date for elections has been set. The opposition fears that debt restructuring and oil deals could entrench Rodríguez's administration before any democratic process occurs.

Ecuador's military launched 'Operation Total Cleanup' in Puerto Bolívar, deploying more than 1,000 troops and 300 police officers in a 96-hour continuous operation covering 85 city blocks and more than 1,600 homes. Puerto Bolívar is a key Pacific port that has become a hub for criminal groups linked to Balkan mafias and Latin American cartels, according to DigitalShield. Murders, extortion of fishermen, and explosions have spiked in the area.

Ecuador's National Police separately seized 360 kilograms of cocaine valued at approximately $7 million that was destined for the United States. Ecuador's official drug seizure totals for 2025 were 227.1 metric tons — down 67 tons from the 2024 record of 294.6 tons, though authorities caution that does not indicate reduced trafficking volume, only reduced interdiction.

A separate El País English item flagged allegations that a Mexican agency may have been involved in the murder of a mid-level Sinaloa Cartel operative in Ecuador, deepening what the outlet calls a 'binational security crisis' between Ecuador and Mexico. No further details are confirmed, but this aligns with broader patterns of Mexican cartel presence in Ecuadorian port cities.

Costa Rica's new president Laura Fernández announced Friday that her government will pursue 'international actions' against Panama's ongoing commercial blockade on Costa Rican agricultural products — a dispute that dates to 2019. Fernández's foreign and trade ministries are escalating to international legal venues after bilateral dialogue stalled.

Panama rejected the characterization within hours. The Mulino administration's foreign ministry said the relationship with Costa Rica is based on 'respect and trust,' but defended the restrictions as legitimate sanitary measures, citing Costa Rican exporters' failure to respond to required technical questionnaires. Panama also noted its own producers face reciprocal Costa Rican restrictions.

A WTO arbitration panel ruled in Costa Rica's favor in 2024, but Panama appealed in January 2025, keeping the dispute in procedural limbo. Costa Rica's escalation now could push the matter toward a formal WTO compliance proceeding. The dispute involves strawberries, pineapples, and other agricultural products.

InSight Crime's 'On the Radar' this week highlighted that Brazil has launched a new multibillion-dollar strategy against organized crime. Details remain sparse in open-source reporting, but the strategy is understood to target criminal networks operating across state lines and into neighboring countries — particularly along the Paraguay and Bolivia borders, where drug and weapons flows are significant.

Brazil's anti-crime push comes as the country continues to grapple with the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho operating in major urban centers and border regions. No specific operational details from the last 24 hours are confirmed in current OSINT.

Argentina's Milei government formally created a new Federal Coordination Table for Prevention and Combat of Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Bioceanic Corridors — a security mechanism targeting drug and criminal flows through the transoceanic trade routes that cross Argentina. The announcement, made through the Ministry of National Security, reflects concern about cartel infiltration of major freight corridors.

Milei is also managing political headwinds: AP reports sagging poll numbers over economic performance, and protests have continued. However, Milei's reforms have stabilized the peso enough that Argentines are now crossing into Chile in significant numbers for shopping — a dynamic the BBC covered this week as Chile effectively becoming Argentina's discount retail destination, a sign of currency stabilization even as domestic purchasing power debates continue.

InSight Crime reported this week that Honduran authorities arrested a former mayor connected to a murder — a notable institutional accountability moment in a country where local officials have historically operated with impunity when linked to organized crime. No additional details on the specific case were available in open-source reporting within the 24-hour window.

InSight Crime published analysis this week on Spain's record cocaine bust, using it to map recent shifts in the cocaine supply chain. The piece notes that Spain has become the primary European entry point for Colombian cocaine, with transhipment networks increasingly using West African intermediaries and containerized freight. The analysis is relevant context for understanding where Colombian cocaine is flowing as U.S. interdiction pressures push trafficking routes east.