World Savvy Monitor

Mexico shares with some of its Latin American neighbors a history of military and intelligence issues with the Unites States.  

• Mexico experienced a major war with the US in the mid-19th Century, and has been vulnerable to border skirmishing at times.

• Several Central American, Caribbean, and South American countries which flirted with Communism during the Cold War drew US ire.  From Cuba to Nicaragua to El Salvador to Panama, Communist sympathies brought US intervention and support for coups and/or militias in what was perceived as a critical theater of ideological and military geopolitics in the Western Hemisphere.  

Mexico has never gone to war with any Latin American country; in fact, peaceful relations between neighboring states have by and large been a characteristic of countries in Central and South America.  Compared to other regions of the world, this lack of overt military tension between countries is somewhat remarkable.

Security threats in Mexico and Latin America today generally come from non-state actors.  Prominent among these are drug cartels and other crime operations that exist in Mexico and throughout Central and South America, and are often linked to each other.  Other potential security threats are posed by international terrorist groups who are thought by some to enjoy easy access to South American cities and ports.

Next:  Mexico in the Context of Latin America:  Energy and the Environment