The Assault Weapons Ban and American Guns in Latin America

https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-20/carlos-perez-ricart-theres-never-been-a-better-time-for-the-us-arms-industry-than-right-now.html

This article does not affirm what many of us intuitively already know - the US arms industry is experiencing something of a golden age. From sales to the EU (for Ukraine), to client states across Asia and the Middle East, to Latin America - there's a lot of money being made. And as I'm often keen to note - a lot of this blood money flows into the coffers of Christians by means of investment, particularly in mutual funds and 401k portfolios.

But there's another aspect to the arms industry that also constitutes big business.

Uribe, Right-wing Paramilitaries, and Evangelical Media

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/14/ivan_cepeda_colombia_uribe_guilty_verdict

This is a topic that I've already touched on in the past, however this court case has simply confirmed not only what was already known but expanded upon the nature of the corruption and cover up.

The New Evangelical Ethos in the Age of Bolsonaro and Trump

https://rainforestjournalismfund.org/projects/army-jesus

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/rise-narco-militia-pentecostal-brazil-en/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/10/cpac-argentina-milei-maga-trump-musk

This is disturbing but not at all surprising. And given that within a decade Brazil will likely have the largest Evangelical population on the planet - it's a moment for sober reflection.

China, the Monroe Doctrine, and the American Empire: A Proxy Struggle in Ecuador

 https://thegrayzone.com/2024/08/29/secret-chats-decade-us-meddling-ecuador/

There's evidence of US meddling in the politics of Ecuador. Personally I did not find any of these revelations to be shocking. While the explicit evidence wasn't always there, these types of machinations are well known to those who have been paying attention. Wikileaks also played a role in bringing some of these things to light and by some reckonings, they're not all scandalous but are simply descriptive of how governments work with and relate to one another. It's often something other than what people think.

BP and Right-wing Paramilitaries in Colombia

https://declassifieduk.org/bps-financing-of-colombias-murderous-military/

The documents referenced here merely confirm what was already known – both governments and corporations were involved in the financing and arming of Right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia.

The Drug War: Corruption and Cover-up at the Highest Levels

*Updated 16 October 2024

https://www.reuters.com/legal/former-mexican-drug-czar-heads-trial-accused-aiding-el-chapo-2023-01-23/

https://theintercept.com/2023/01/18/genaro-garcia-luna-trial/

Ten days after winning the Mexican presidency in 2006, and encouraged by the Bush administration, Felipe Calderon launched the Mexican Drug War. Less than two decades later over 500,000 are dead and even these figures are misleading as they don't include all of the tangential deaths involved in connection to drugs – nor do mere numbers explain what the war has meant for the industry, its markets, and societies ranging from South America to the Canadian border.

Smoke and Mirrors: Drug Cartels and the State

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/12/mexico_military_drug_cartels_ayotzinapa_ministry

The GOP is screaming once again about the border. Biden visited El Paso on his way to a North American Summit meeting in Mexico City. The Right has been howling for months about his failure to visit the actual border. So then when he shows up they go on the attack.

'How dare he!'

'It was a mere photo-op!'

Undoubtedly this is the case. This is what politicians do. Here's the question. If Biden had showed up and took a list of demands made by the governors of Florida and Texas and agreed to meet all their demands, what would they say?

CPAC and the Right-Wing International

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/11/25/the-world-according-to-cpac/

This article caught my eye because of the growing sense of a Right-wing International. And it's one that certainly incorporates the Evangelical community but is not exclusive to them.

Guatemala: Evangelicals and Smugglers Together

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/27/journey-of-faith-the-guatemalan-pastors-helping-smuggle-people-into-the-us

This was a sad and unfortunate read. And what's even more disheartening is that the report should have been broken by Christian reporters but instead it takes a pro-Sodomite Anti-Christian publication like The Guardian to get the story out.

The Breaking of Honduras

https://www.france24.com/en/20190215-video-reporters-plus-honduras-drought-climate-refugees-migrants-caravan-usa

Honduras is suffering. It has become a textbook example of how globalisation is a form of imperialism in which the market subjugates the people, strapping them with massive debt for infrastructure projects they don't benefit from. From corrupt business deals to the NGO's and old stand by's like USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to the ways in which Wall Street can manipulate the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the imperial hydra is bleeding the nation dry.

Lopez-Obrador, PES and Mexican Evangelicals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Encounter_Party

http://www.mexelects.com/blogeng/mexelects/lopez-obrador-and-his-troubling-alliance-with-the-far-right-pes/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-election-amlo/mexico-presidential-race-roiled-as-leftist-front-runner-embraces-right-wing-party-idUSKBN1EA00L

http://evangelicalfocus.com/world/3634/Mexico_presidential_election_winner_will_work_in_coalition_with_evangelicals

Now that Lopez-Obrador has won, we're all waiting to see what will become of him. He's been one of the big players at the centre of Mexican politics for some time and like Nixon he's one of the few able to make a successful comeback.

Many people are excited and believe he represents real reform and will put a stop to the pervasive corruption that has taken over Mexico these past couple of decades. Many hope he will end the Drug War which has largely destroyed Mexican society.

And yet as many have pointed out, during the campaign he was long on talk and yet pretty short on the details. Additionally there are many indications pointing to a reality that he's not as 'Left-wing' as many seem to think he is.

The ACLU Report on Immigrant Prisons and Children

The ACLU has released a shocking report on immigrant detention centres and in particular the state of children kept in these facilities. The media is covering this story but given the nature of the accusations one would think this would be a major scandal.*

Many Christians will dismiss the story because it finds it origins in an ACLU project, in this case with the University of Chicago.

Peering into the Labyrinth: Frontline's Guns, Drugs and the CIA (1988)

I recently found this little gem, an old Frontline documentary from an era on PBS that's hard to imagine in our day. There's no way they would produce or condone a film like this anymore.

Plan Mexico, Condor B and a Series of Long Dirty Wars

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/22/the-u-s-is-fanning-the-flames-of-violence-in-mexico/

The author provides a well done and quite readable narrative regarding the drug war in Mexico which began in 2006. He provides many links, including not a few to diplomatic cables provided by Wikileaks.

Varieties of the Drug War: The Duterte Model and the USA

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-drugs-death-idUSKCN10B03D

Duterte wishes to implement a police state. Interestingly a War on Drugs is a vehicle he is employing to bring this about. Under the pretense of cleaning up society, he's actually subjugating it and expanding his power.

Israeli Arms: A US Proxy in Mexico

The Zapatistas of Chiapas rose up in rebellion in 1994 as a reaction to the passing of NAFTA as well as decades of unaddressed grievance. The uprising which continues to demand reform (not secession) continues to wear on after twenty plus years of low-level conflict.

Arms Dealers and the Business of War

Century Arms has a long history of being involved in covert and shady arms deals connected to the US intelligence community and their secret wars. Right-wing and corporate connected militias which in many cases are little more than CIA fronts also seem to be clients of choice. This is one of those many points where the lines between the corporate and intelligence complexes get a little blurry.

Another Tool in the Imperial Arsenal

https://theintercept.com/2015/09/09/u-s-special-forces-expand-training-allies-histories-abuse/

This is but an update or reiteration of an old and well known tale. Special Operations forces 'training' foreign police and military units are an almost mundane aspect of imperial expansion. This is but one means that empires employ to expand their power without having to micromanage colonial bureaucracies. It's rule by means of proxy.

The Wasting of Colombia: Profiting from the War on Drugs While Destroying Integrity and Civilization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js_2OkN1w8I

I was spending some time on the Drug War with my kids and made use of this video. I found it provided a good overview but it's really just the beginning. The War on Drugs has largely proved catastrophic for not just American society, but for many in Latin America as well. They've been plunged into violence, civil war and in some cases a reversion to feudalism under the sometimes celebrated drug lords and in other cases the aristocratic landowners.

Orban and Reagan: Drug Testing and Loyalty

Hungary's Viktor Orban has made the news a couple of times recently. The Budapest government has been increasingly moving toward the 'Right'... though no one on the American Right can seem to agree on what that term means.