Americas Decoded

Opinion: The World Cup should dedicate Haiti's games to a Port-au-Prince boy who embraced soccer — the game, not the greed — as sanctuary from the gangs that killed him last month. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett says that modern soccer’s soul has collapsed, but Haiti’s appearance in the World Cup is a reminder that beneath the rubble of the sport ther...

Opinion: Prediction markets are betting President Trump will order military action in Cuba, but not regime change. They know his priority is to make countries more ripe for deportation – than democracy. Trump appears likely to order a U.S. military strike on Cuba but, as has happened in Venezuela, regime change and democracy doesn’t appear to be the focus. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded...

Opinion: To observe this month’s Haitian Flag Day, the members of Haiti's political and business elite who've sponsored violent gangs should reflect on the damage they've done - and hope it’s not irreparable. The fallout from a deadly spasm of armed violence in Jamaica in 2010 began a process of severing ties between that country’s gangs and its political and business elites. WLRN’s Americas Edito...

Opinion: In Venezuela and Cuba, President Trump risks repeating the miscalculation he's made in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz: thinking bold strikes automatically yield regime change. Iran’s response to the U.S. military strikes – the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, shutting down much of the world’s oil shipping with alarming ease – suggests Trump made a grand miscalculation. And, on the latest e...

Opinion: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is 80 and running for re-election, an egotistical move that may open the door to another reactionary Bolsonaro presidency — this time the son's. The main candidate Lula will face in Brazil’s presidential elections in October is right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro — the 44-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula and his party shou...

Opinion: President Trump's bid to intimidate the Supreme Court on birthright citizenship risks reminding the justices — and the world — of the Dominican Republic's own thuggish repeal 13 years ago. Trump became the first sitting president to attend a Supreme Court hearing. But WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett says his crusade to end birthright citizenship has echoes of the DR, which not only can...

Opinion: Venezuela's first World Baseball Classic title win, against the U.S. in Miami, packed political symbolism — but, more importantly, also a joyful reminder of the country's character. Venezuela’s historic win in Miami, as the U.S. follows its removal of Nicolás Maduro with an unashamed focus on the country’s oil reserves rather than its democracy, could be read as a ‘screw you’ to the Trump...

Opinion: Cuban regime change may take more time and effort than expected. So Cuba’s exile command should try being diplomats - not demagogues. A U.S. oil blockade is pinning Cuba’s dictatorship against the wall. But on the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett says he fears Miami’s exile leaders may continue a historical habit of alienating folks who could help the...

Opinion: President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio seem to have tuned out Venezuelan and Cuban exile leaders — as well as their own rhetoric about blocking China's influence in the Americas. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett says that for all the Trump administration’s rhetoric about blocking China’s influence in the Americas, in both Cuba and V...

Opinion: As the U.S. cuts off global oil to Cuba, the island's communist regime could get President Trump to back off by offering something he's showing special interest in: dictatorship instruction. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett suggests that with his failed attempts to take control of U.S. elections, lock up political foes and use federal law enfor...

Opinion: President Trump may be following a brazen and brutish version of the Monroe Doctrine on issues like Greenland — but the world shouldn't be shocked that Monroe still lingers in U.S. policy. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett explains that the idea President James Monroe first laid out two centuries ago – in reaction to Europe’s colonial actions in...

Opinion: President Trump's so-called "law enforcement" capture of Venezuela's dictator Nicolás Maduro will be regarded a failure if it doesn't mean democracy restoration — which may require more U.S. military force. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett warns that in Venezuela Trump may have removed the brutal dictator but he’s left the brutal dictatorship i...

Opinion: President Trump and his deportation crusade. Nicolas Maduro and his disastrous dictatorship. Haiti’s gang confederation and its evil violence. As another year of migrant crisis in the Americas draws to a close – who was the cruelest leader of all? On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett t looks at the leaders most responsible for migrant misery and re...

Opinion: President Trump's pardon of former Honduran president and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández follows a time-honored exile doctrine: that Latin American conservatives are never guilty. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett says Hernández is the mirror image of reviled Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro – but the key difference is: Madur...

Opinion: Haiti's remarkable qualification for the 2026 soccer World Cup won't rescue it from the country's gangs — but it reminds us that Haiti undoubtedly is worth saving from that monstrous evil. Qualifying for next summer’s World Cup – it’s first in over half a century – won’t rescue Haiti from the clutches of the gangs ruling and terrorizing a growing portion of the county. But on the latest e...

Opinion: Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister should be applauded for steering away from Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro — but questioned for steering into President Donald Trump's potential legal whirlpool. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett says PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar appears to have made the right choice in turning her back on Maduro and letting U.S. war...

Opinion: María Corina Machado deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for leading Venezuela’s nonviolent democracy movement — but what does it mean if that effort’s success relies on a U.S. military incursion? Machado’s win took place hours after President Donald Trump announced his Gaza peace deal – a combination that shows the power of the peaceful path. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s...

Opinion: The hysteria over Bad Bunny's Super Bowl gig that we’re hearing from English-only militants shows a disregard for America's historical reality — but so does a Spanish-only mindset that many immigrants here still embrace. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett argues that that the controversy over giving the coveted half-time show to an artist who sin...

Opinion: If President Trump can use his questionable new war doctrine to blow alleged Venezuelan narco-boats out of international waters, then Caribbean and Latin American nations could also put their military firepower to work. So, American gun traffickers and drug consumers, beware – you’re now missile targets, too. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett ar...

Opinion: The U.S. military strike on a suspected Venezuelan narco-boat raises a troubling question: is Trump looking to use drugs as his version of weapons of mass destruction? On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett worries that small victories like the recent military strike on an alleged Venezuelan boat could create bigger, Iraq-style temptations for Trump...

Opinion: President Donald Trump is threatening to unleash the U.S. military on drug cartels in Mexico and Venezuela — but sending troops to take down traffickers usually ends badly. On the latest episode of Americas Decoded, Tim Padgett looks at the longstanding U.S. urge to have the military fight Latin America’s drug cartels - and how Trump’s similar ‘shock and awe’ approach to D.C. is also misg...

OPINION: Donald Trump admires Argentine President Javier Milei — so why is Trump pushing tariffs and economic policies so divorced from the ‘Milei Miracle’? WLRN’s Americas editor Tim Padgett continues to grimace at Milei’s vulgar and reactionary demagoguery, but admits that “his economic orthodoxy crusade has brought welcome order to Argentina’s fiscal chaos” and shows Trump that populist bullies...