. Global Affairs and Strategic Studies. School de Derecho

Covid's effects on American regional security

► Image of the world map produced by the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

REPORT SRA 2021

May 2021

PRESENTATION

Covid-19, an unexpected factor

MAY 2021-The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has had a major impact throughout the world, and especially in the Americas: three of the four countries with the highest death toll - the United States, Brazil and Mexico, with a total of more than one million deaths - are in the Western Hemisphere. Latin America has been the area most affected by the disease, in proportion to its population, and with the worst economic consequences. This status has meant, in terms of security, a special regional vulnerability to external powers and internal mafias.

If two years ago we launched this report of American Regional Security (ARS) stating that geopolitics had returned to the continent, due to the growing interest of China and Russia in the area of traditional American influence, now it can be said that these two extra-hemispheric powers have taken advantage of the health emergency to deploy a "diplomacy of vaccines" and consolidate their influence, while the United States prepares its own flow of financial aid neighborhood, about to conclude the inoculation of its population.

In this context, significant episodes occurred throughout 2020. China's food security demands have reinforced the presence of Chinese fishing fleets in the vicinity of the waters of several South American countries, which see their fishing grounds threatened by illegal fishing practices and alleged invasion of their exclusive economic zones. This has led to a certain collective security movement and increased dialogue with the U.S. Southern Command.

On the other hand, organized crime has also taken advantage of the pandemic status , relying on the distraction of the authorities in another subject of efforts. In the last year, Paraguay has emerged as a major hub for the exit of cocaine from the interior of the continent, while at the same time establishing itself as the main producer of marijuana in South America, at a time when this crop is emerging as a legal business opportunity in new countries. For their part, Guatemala and Honduras are consolidating their 'trials' in coca cultivation, taking a leap - hardly quantitative, but certainly qualitative - in the universe of drug trafficking. The positive news is that the peace process and the confinements of the pandemic have reduced homicides in Colombia to historic lows.

SUMMARY EXECUTIVE

Covid makes Latin America more vulnerable to external powers and internal mafias

MARITIME SAFETY

China's uncontrolled fishing alerts governments with major fishing grounds under threat

Paola Rosenberg

EXTRAHEMISPHERIC PRESENCE

Vaccine diplomacy: more 'Western' doses, but China and Russia consolidate penetration

Emili J. Blasco

EXTRAHEMISPHERIC PRESENCE

Iran takes gold from a Venezuela that no longer has oil to pay for the favours.

Maria Victoria Andarcia

REACTION OF THE UNITED STATES