“We’re making America more secure for sure,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “But we’re also making history today — as the first woman commander of SOUTHCOM passes the baton to the first African-American commander of SOUTHCOM.”

Supporters of former President Evo Morales stormed three Bolivian military bases and took soldiers hostage on Friday as the nation descends further into chaos. 

Despite reports of successes against gangs, the Kenya-led international security mission, which also includes three dozen Jamaican, Belizean and Bahamian security personnel, has struggled to stop the expansion of violence as armed gangs launch a new wave of coordinated attacks.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Resolute returned to its homeport of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday, bearing a sizable haul of contraband and five suspected smugglers.

Trudeau noted his government could have gone public with the allegations when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the G20 Summit in September 2023, but chose not to. He met with Modi and expressed concerns privately then.

More than a hundred organizations are asking the White House to shut down a migrant processing facility at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and stop detaining asylum seekers found at sea at the center.

Several new laws and decrees punish posting criticism of the government, communism or Cuban leaders online or in a media outlet. Starting Friday, all media outlets in the country must also seek formal government approval to continue working.

The massacre is one of the worst in Haiti’s Artibonite department, an agricultural region that has increasingly been terrorized by gang violence that is metastasizing from the capital.

A previous attempt by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to make the Guard a fully military organization was ruled unconstitutional. Now, with his party controlling majorities in both legislative chambers, the president was able to achieve his goal by amending the constitution.

The aircraft in question was initially detained in Argentina in June 2022, with Venezuelan and Iranian crew members suspected of being involved in espionage. Weeks later the U.S. government moved to take possession of it.

The plan, which will see Mexico elect thousands of judges and magistrates nationwide, was approved this month amid outcry from the opposition, business leaders and two of Mexico’s biggest trading partners — the U.S. and Canada.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has dismissed allegations from his country’s disgraced ex-security chief — jailed in the United States and facing a possible life sentence for corruption — that he has links to drug cartels.

Senior U.S. officials and migrant advocates say Mexico’s internal migrant bussing is a major factor in the stunning fall in apprehensions at the U.S. border, down 77 percent since December. But it’s unclear whether the results are sustainable. 

Benin’s soldiers would be the only native French-speakers enlisted in the campaign. But the Pentagon has turned to Benin to assist U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in West Africa, straining resources, and Benin has concerns about the intervention’s leadership structure.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada controlled, and may still control, a “veritable army” of cartel members, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro. “His release would guarantee his flight.”

Three U.S. Army members were injured in the 2021 car-bombing attack near the Colombia-Venezuela border. The FBI led the investigation of the case.

More than half of Mexico’s state legislatures voted in favor of a judicial overhaul that has already been approved by the nation’s congress, allowing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to sign the controversial bill into law.

Political columnists have identified Senator Miguel Angel Yunes Marquez as the most likely opposition senator to support the ruling party’s plan for a constitutional reform that would include the direct election of Supreme Court judges.

The Honduras-based institution claims its former president sought to downgrade the group’s credit rating after it became clear that he would not have a second term. Much of its capital comes from democratic countries outside the region, including Taiwan and the U.S. The bank has come under scrutiny for its loans to authoritarian countries.