Drug War Stories of the Week

Created Friday 24 July 2026


1. Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’ expands in South America

  • Trump's new The Drug War coalition arrives to Colombia with the new right-wing president elect. Colombia welcoming of this new stage of inter-diction is more than counter-narcotics. Cartel violence is being used to legitimize a US-aligned security architecture spanning migration, intelligence and geopolitics—while weakening Latin America’s left.




  • The US military returns to Bolivia after Evo Morales "locked", with a nice little $20mn dollar bribe in the guise of security assistance.


The Department of state proclaims a better future for both countries. Unsurprisingly, I have a different opinion. Expect the drugs to flow even freer and the nation's indigenous communities to continue resisting the coming capitalist land grab.



2. The Department of State report: "Cuba is the biggest threat to Western civilisation"


  • If you want to read how the State has managed to turn a struggling island state that can barely keep the lights on into a force deadlier than the USSR, just click here.


Some types of propaganda never get old. Cometh freedom, cometh brothels, drugs, medical tourists and scraps for the rest.






3. In Veracruz, Mexico, US military cooperation continues as usual


  • Meanwhile, back in Mexico, my normal hunting ground, US Mexico military relations continue at a pace. Despite the diplomatic spats that we see on a daily basis in both nation's media, both military's are getting on fine. A reflection on the realities of Trump's drug interdiction policy that is moving away from the civilian policing model to a joint military one. Paley wrote a good article about this earlier in the year.




4. Meanwhile, back in the US, it is business and crime as usual at the border.


  • Under the neoliberal model, the US turned a blind eye to this type of thing. Good economic relations between the two nations always came first. Under Trump, where everything is politicised, this is now part of a strategy to undermine the Morena to the benefit of the Mexican right wing. It is also useful, as I note in the tweet, to distract the American public from the criminal Trump's regime is up to by pointing at the bad cartels corrupting US business.