Chatham House is an esteemed think tank where I engage in discussions on international issues, particularly on Venezuela. Today’s meeting covers U.S. policies and Trump’s view on Venezuelan narcotrafficking, which many believe lacks foundation. The session explores regional influences, Cuba’s potential role, and the broader implications for U.S.-Latin America relations.
I’ve read three of Che Guevara’s other books, the theory on guerrilla warfare and the diaries of his campaigning in the revolutions of Cuba and Bolivia. The Motorcycle Diaries precede these other critical works and document Che’s travels across Latin America as a young man, accompanied by his close Argentinian…
View More Review: The Motorcycle Diaries – by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
David Kilcullen has had a few books included on my shelf recently. As a military expert on Guerrilla Warfare, I was thrilled to find this new book on the Colombian Civil War which he coauthors with a group of specialists who went on extensive field research around Colombia, with a…
View More Review: A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence – by Dickie Davis, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills and David Spencer
Roberto Saviano is the Italian Salman Rushdie. After writing his exposé on the Neapolitan mafia that is the subject of this book, Gomorrah, Saviano had serious death threats from organised crime and had to go into hiding and lives under security protection to this day. He is only a young…
View More Review: Gommorah – Italy’s Other Mafia – by Roberto Saviano
This book is an academic study of two of the major opponents of Western governments today. It examines both Narcotraffickers and Cartels and also Terrorists, mainly Islamic terrorists. Not only does it cover the methods and practices of these two criminal enterprises in their working practices, the book also examines…
View More Review: From Pablo to Osama – Trafficking and Terrorist Networks, Government Bureaucracies, and Competitive Adaptation – by Michael Kenney
I am an ayahuasquero and regard myself as a shaman. This book is a study on Ayahuasca, the Amazonian ‘Vine of the Soul’ and one of the most ancient medicines known to man. The authors enthusiastically explore the history and tradition of this potent hallucinogenic plant brew, looking at traditions…
View More Review: When Plants Dream – Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism, And the Global Psychedelic Renaissance – by Daniel Pinchbeck and Sophia Rokhlin
Ingrid Betancourt was one of the most high profile political prisoners in the world during her captivity in the Colombian Jungle at the hands of the FARC-EP, Colombia’s left wing communist guerrillas. A brutal civil war has raged for the best part of 60 years in this Southern hemisphere country.…
View More Review: Even Silence has an End – My six years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle – by Ingrid Betancourt
Los narcocorridos son baladas que narran las hazañas de los bandidos en el narcotráfico, muy populares en México y América Latina. Un DJ británico ha producido un show dedicado a este género musical. El contenido incluye un tracklist destacado y enlaces a episodios anteriores y críticas sobre el tema.
View More Wez G – Narcocorridos – Volumen 2
This is my first venture into respected leftist author, Eric Hobsbawm’s work. The book was compiled after the author’s death in 2012 and is a collection of his writings on Latin America after he spent over forty years passionately exploring the continent. The essays have a deep focus on the…
View More Review: Viva La Revolución by Eric Hobsbawm
Author, Norman Parker served a 24 year jail sentence for murder. On his release, wanting to experience life to the fullest, he took advantage of his writing skills to become a journalist for lads mags and the Daily Express and set about tackling the niche market of visiting dangerous places…
View More Review: Dangerous People, Dangerous Places – by Norman ParkerMuch has been said about Pablo Escobar, who was the richest criminal in history and the head of the Medellin cartel in Colombia. This book is written from the heart and is an intimate portrait of the great man as remembered by one of his closest associates and a member…
View More Review: Escobar: The Inside Story of Pablo Escobar, the World’s Most Powerful Criminal. as Told by His Brother Roberto EscobarIf the Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel can be regarded as the Henry Fords of the Drugs business then the Cali cartel with its corporate business acumen can certainly be regarded as the McDonalds. This well-written, detailed biography tracks the rise and fall of the most successful drug cartel in history.…
View More Review: Drug Lords – The Rise and Fall of the Cali Cartel – by Ron Chepesiuk
When you see the title ‘The Cartel’ you might immediately imagine a book about Colombian or Mexican drug lords. Yet, this book covers a 30 year history of a homegrown cartel, based in Liverpool. Back in the 1970s a pioneering Fred the Rat grouped together his criminal comrades and they…
View More Review: The Cartel – The Inside Story of Britain’s Biggest Drugs Gang – by Graham Johnson
The author is exploring the impact of local culture on the artistic output of Narcoculture in the form of literature and art in two specific par excellence Narco cities in Latin America. We are introduced to the Culichis of Culiacán in Mexicos Sinaloa and they can be contrasted with the…
View More Review: Narrating Narcos: Culiacán and Medellín – by Gabriela Polit Dueñas
Dr. Joey Whitfield, a Research Fellow at Cardiff University, explores prison writing and the effects of the ‘War on Drugs’ in Latin America. His forthcoming book analyzes the blurred lines between political and criminal prisoners and discusses the impact of cultural productions like films and narco-novelas on societal perceptions of drug-related violence and policy.
View More The Cultural Politics of the ‘War on Drugs’ in Latin America: Prohibition and Beyond? – By Dr Joey Whitfield, Cardiff University, 22.11.17