Latin America and the Caribbean

Commentary

Assessing Mexico's Narco-Violence

Drug-related violence in Mexico has more than doubled over the past 18 months, with a sharp increase in crimes that can only be understood as atrocities. The executions, assassinations, and decapitations may all seem wanton and senseless. But this violence actually has a purpose, write Benjamin Bahney and Agnes Gereben Schaefer.

Report

Could Mexico Fail?

Suggests ways the U.S. could address concerns about the growing lawlessness in northern Mexico and its consequences for U.S. national security.

Research Brief

What Are U.S. Policy Options for Dealing with Security in Mexico?

A RAND study identified three U.S. policy options for dealing with Mexico's deteriorating security situation, assessing their impact in terms of four priority areas and likely Mexican responses.

Report

Estimating the size of the global drug market: A demand-side approach: Report 2

The report generates country-level consumption and retail expenditure estimates for cannabis, heroin, cocaine, and amphetamine-type substances.

Report

Economic Costs of Major Oil Supply Disruption Pose Risk to U.S. National Security

While on a net basis the United States imports nearly 60 percent of the oil it consumes, this reliance on imported oil is not by itself a major national security threat. The study finds that the economic costs of a major disruption in global oil supplies—including higher prices for American consumers—pose the greatest risk to the United States.

Report

U.S.-Mexico Strategic Partnership Needed to Help Mexico Improve Its Security Institutions

The United States should forge a strategic partnership with Mexico that emphasizes reform and long-term institution building as a way to battle the ongoing drug war and other security challenges that face Mexico.

Report

Justification and Options for Creating A U.S. Stability Police Force

Establishing security is the sine qua non of stability operations, since it is a prerequisite for reconstruction and development. Security requires a mix of military and police forces to deal with a range of threats from insurgents to criminal organizations. This research examines the creation of a high-end police force, which the authors call a Stability Police Force.

Commentary

Could Mexico Fail?

The lawlessness along the Mexican border has gone way beyond a local crime wave: there has been a dramatic increase in armed robberies, not by lone gunmen but by heavily armed gangs. Kidnappings and homicides are way up—and not just murders but beheadings.... It is starting to look like a terrorist campaign, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.

Report

Organized Crime Is Increasingly Active in Film Piracy; Three Cases Link Terrorists to Piracy Profits

Organized crime increasingly is involved in the piracy of feature films, with syndicates active along the entire supply chain from manufacture to street sales. While crime syndicates have added piracy to their criminal portfolios, the profits from film piracy also have been used on occasion to support the activities of terrorist groups.

Project

RAND Research in Latin America and Africa

RAND engages in significant research in the regions of Latin America and Africa. RAND Latin America work began during the Cold War era with in-depth analysis of U.S.-Cuban relations and has expanded to include issues related to health, education, economics, demographics, and political reform. RAND work covering sub-Saharan Africa encompasses many critical issues related to health, education, and political reform in the developing world.

Journal Article

Prime Numbers Doped: How Two Plants Wreak Havoc on the Countries That Produce and Consume Them--And Everyone in Between

Journal Article

Education Vouchers in Colombia

This chapter presents evidence on the impact of a voucher program implemented in 1991 in Colombia. Specifically, the analysis is centered on the mechanism by which the program increased learning outcomes.

Journal Article

Savage Struggle on the Border: Can Mexico Fail?

Discusses the possibilities and options for America if neighboring country Mexico should become a failed state.

News Release

Carlos Slim Helú Joins RAND Board Of Trustees

Mexican entrepreneur and philanthropist Carlos Slim Helú has been elected to the RAND Corporation Board of Trustees, and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci has been elected "trustee emeritus."

Journal Article

Conducta Del Enfermo Ante El Dolor Cronico: Illness Behavior in Chronic Pain

In patient decisions to seek care for chronic pain, the first option was to go to the popular sector, then a general physician, and then a specialist. Illness behaviour should be seen as a process combining the use of different health care sectors.

Journal Article

Iodine Deficiency and Its Association with Intelligence Quotient in Schoolchildren from Colima, Mexico

To determine the prevalence of iodine deficiency, its causes and its association with intelligence quotient (IQ) in Mexican schoolchildren.

Journal Article

Conflict and Power: The Teachers' Union and Education Quality in Mexico

Dissertation

Getting the Policies Right: The Prioritization and Sequencing of Policies in Post-Conflict Countries

Examines how to prioritize and sequence political, social, and economic policies in post-conflict countries to sustain peace and reduce the risk of violence reoccurring.

Report

Lessons Learned from Past Counterinsurgency (COIN) Operations

Six historic counterinsurgency operations are examined to determine which tactics, techniques, and procedures led to success and which led to failure, with the hope that U.S. counterinsurgency operations in the future can learn from past lessons.