Mara Salvatrucha gang members arrested by Honduran special police. (Photo: Reuters)

Several challenges will be posed to a transitional government once Castroism fades from existence (elements will certainly remain) and a semblance of democracy emerges. Organized crime will be one of them, particularly in the streets of Havana and other cities throughout the island, perpetrated by gangs.

The lessons learned (from strategy and tactics to combat) of the current gang and organized crime phenomena evolving in Central America and Mexico proves invaluable to a future transitional government in how to confront these internal security issues.

Dr. Max Manwaring (Professor of Military Strategy at the U.S. Army War College) has written an article titled: “Sovereignty Under Seige: Gangs and Other Criminal Organizations in Central America and Mexico” published in the Spanish edition of Air and Space Power Journal addressing the current security challenges posed by gangs and organized crime in the Americas.

He also wrote at the end of 2007: “A Contemporary Challenge to State Sovereignty: Gangs and Other Illicit Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) in Central America, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil“ published by the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College that is worth a read.

Manwaring points out in his excellent article, Sovereignty Under Seige:

Another kind of war within the context of a “clash of civilizations” is being waged in various parts of the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and everywhere else around the world today. Some of the main protagonists are those who have come to be designated as first-, second-, and third-generation street gangs, as well as the more traditional Trans-National Criminal Organizations (TCOs) such as Mafia families, Illegal Drug Traffickers, Warlords, Terrorists, Insurgents, etc. In this different (“new”) kind of war, TCOs are not sending conventional military units across national borders or building an industrial capability in an attempt to “filch some province” from some country. These non-state actors are more interested in commercial profit and controlling territory (turf) to allow maximum freedom of movement and action. In addition to drug smuggling, these criminal organizations are known to have expanded their activities—among others–to smuggling people, body parts, weapons, and cars; along with associated intimidation, murder, kidnapping, and robbery; money laundering; home and community invasion; and other lucrative societal destabilization activities. That freedom of action within countries and across national frontiers ensures commercial market share and revenues, as well as secure bases for market expansion. The corrosive effects of the associated criminal violence and gratuitous cruelty of that freedom of movement also generates a different kind of clash of civilizations. It is not a clash of Western and Eastern cultures. Rather, it is a clash of values. It is a clash of values between Liberal Democracy and criminal anarchy.

What makes all of this into a new type of war is that the national security and sovereignty of affected countries is being impinged every day, and TCO’s illicit commercial motives are, in fact, becoming an ominous political agenda. Rather than trying to depose a government in a major stroke (golpe or coup) or a prolonged revolutionary war, as some insurgents have done, gangs and other TCOs more subtly take control of turf one street or neighborhood at a time (coup d’ street), or one individual, business, or government office at a time. Thus, whether a gang or another TCO is specifically a criminal or insurgent type organization is irrelevant. The putative objective of all these illegal entities—the common denominator that directly links gangs, other TCOs, and insurgents– is to control people, territory, and government to ensure their own specific ends. That is a good definition of insurgency, a serious political agenda, and a clash of controlling values.

[H/T: SWJ]

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Last week, STRATFOR published an analysis on the reaction by Fidel Castro to the release of the hostages in Colombia and his criticism of the FARC.

STRATFOR opined: “Cuba serves as a significant transshipment point for drugs headed north from South America”. See Organized Crime in Cuba.

Summary

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro released a statement July 5 in which he praised the freedom of recently released captives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and called for the release of all remaining hostages. Castro’s comment illustrates that Cuba could be considering its neighbors’ opinions more than it did before.

Analysis

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro released a statement July 5 that applauded the freedom of recently released captives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and called for the release of all remaining hostages while criticizing the United States’ involvement and supporting the FARC’s further struggle against the Colombian government. The statement is a signal that Cuba is on board with some of the most common and basic elements of Latin American politics and will allow the island nation to approach potential partners and point to Cuba’s history of cooperation on a politically essential issue.

The rescue operation that freed 15 high-profile FARC hostages July 2 has been the top news story across Latin America since it broke, with everyone from the French to the Israelis claiming some kind of connection to the endeavor. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has even pushed to get former hostage and Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It is thus no surprise that Castro chose to take the opportunity to speak out on the issue. However, the tenor of his remarks and the vehemence with which he called for the release of all remaining hostages could signal that Cuba is adjusting its political stance with much more care for the opinions of its neighbors than it previously held.

Castro outlined some of Cuba’s history of supporting the FARC and carefully drew a distinction between the FARC’s leftist revolutionary stance and the violence that has characterized Colombia for decades, saying that it was drug traffickers, not the FARC, that unleashed violence in Colombia. Castro also carefully crafted a distinction between the Cuban revolution and communist ideals and the FARC, saying, “The Colombian Communist Party never contemplated the idea of conquering power through the armed struggle. The guerrilla was a resistance front and not the basic instrument to conquer revolutionary power, as it had been the case in Cuba.” However, Castro did not fully abandon support for what is left of the FARC’s leftist revolutionary roots, saying that while he “honestly and strongly criticized the objectively cruel methods of kidnapping and retaining prisoners under the conditions of the jungle,” he is not asking anyone to disarm.

Although Castro has spoken against FARC drug smuggling activities, it must be remembered that Cuba serves as a significant transshipment point for drugs headed north from South America, with significant help from the government. Just as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government has chosen to support the FARC with a safe haven, political championing and the facilitation of criminal activities, so too has Cuba participated in FARC activities. Both have now spoken against holding hostages and have urged the FARC to release the hostages without any hope of political gain — largely due to rising political pressure and the FARC’s growing weakness.

For Cuba, taking the side of the hostages is an important move as the country seeks to normalize its position with the world following the dissolution of the Cuban economy once it lost Soviet patronage. Cuba’s slow process of reform will require the government to abandon many of the old stances and friends that it once needed in order to promote the expansion of leftist values throughout Latin America.

Cuba has made strides toward careful liberalization policies in its approach to domestic issues, and recently managed to score a victory when the European Union decided to permanently lift the light sanctions it maintained since 2003. Shedding outright support of unpopular FARC activities could allow Cuba to engage other countries in the region more readily — it will most certainly help if Cuba ever needs help from Colombia.

However, it is domestic reform that will determine the future of Cuba’s relations with major potential investors and partners. This will entail basic human rights reforms, essentially forcing the Castros to cede power to the individual over the power of the Revolution. It will also mean allowing “imperialist” capital to infiltrate the Cuban economy in the form of much-needed investments and renovations. Without this kind of substantial support from major foreign powers — such as Brazil and the European Union — Cuba will never be able to make serious strides in rebuilding its shattered economy.
[Read more →]

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T.J. English is a crime writer who has written about Irish and Vietnamese organized crime now explores organized crime in Cuba with his new book Havana Nocturne, an investigative account of U.S. mobster infiltration of Havana in the years before the Revolution swept Fidel Castro into power.

The author was interviewed on National Public Radio and an excerpt of the first chapter appears on the web site.  Other reviews of the book are available here and here.

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