Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum commemorated her first 100 days in office with a massive rally in Mexico City, where she outlined her government’s plans for her six-year mandate. Co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss her leadership of Mexico in this crucial early period. Plus a conversation on the economic roadmap laid out by the government known as Plan México. Kurt and...

The New York Times has once again been caught red-handed engaging in deceptive reporting on Mexico.  Co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth break down the serious inconsistencies in the recently published story that claimed to show a “cartel fentanyl lab” and call out the authors’ dereliction of duty to fact check their story. Plus a look at Mexico's National Development Plan and the...

Watch Part II of our special year-end episode of Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast where co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth were joined by special guest Sasi Alejandre and review the biggest stories in Mexican politics that took place in Mexico in 2024.

Watch Part I of our special year-end episode of Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast where co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth were joined by special guest Sasi Alejandre and review the biggest stories in Mexican politics that took place in Mexico in 2024. Part II on 31-12-2024!

The “gig economy” has been a disruptive force, undermining the working class’ access to job security, benefits, and fair wages, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and financial instability. Now Claudia Sheinbaum’s government is stepping in and implementing a historic change to labor laws to grant labor protections and social security to hundreds of thousands of “gig” workers who will now be r...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the minimum wage in Mexico would once again see an above-inflation increase in 2025. Co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss the deliberate efforts by the AMLO and Sheinbaum governments to end decades of losses in purchasing power through their policy of promoting higher wages and explain what this tells us about Mexico’s post-...

In this special “Canada Edition” of the Soberanía podcast, co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth breakdown the central role played by Canadian mining companies in the Mexico-Canada bilateral relationship and explain why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trying to throw Mexico under the bus in the face of tariff negotiations with Donald Trump. Plus a discussion on the efforts by the Cl...

US President-Elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico, Canada, and China on his first day in office but Mexico’s government is unbowed. In this week’s episode, co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss President Sheinbaum’s reaction and the possible fallout from Trump’s proposal. Plus a conversation about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tru...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum makes her debut on the World stage at the G20 where she called on countries to use 1% of the money they spend on defense to instead fund a global reforestation program in the style of Mexico’s Sembrado Vida. Sheinbaum also reiterated Mexico’s call for a reform of the UN and its Security Council. In this week’s episode, co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt H...

What does Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections mean for the Mexico-US bilateral relationship? President Claudia Sheinbaum has her answer. In this week’s episode, co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth look at the implications of another Trump presidency for Mexico, as well as the groveling response by the Mexican opposition. Plus a discussion on lessons from Mexico as peop...

A repost of our special live episode on Nov. 5 to discuss the coup effort by the Mexican Supreme Court, which failed to overturn the Constitution, as well as a conversation on the US Election and its implications for Mexico. In this episode, co-hosts Jose Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth were joined by Sin Censura's J. Antonio Ruiz.

It’s fun watching Mexican oligarchs get their comeuppance. This week Soberanía podcast co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss the fall of Televisa Chairman Emilio Azcárraga Jean and the problems facing TV Azteca. We also break down the miscarriage of justice being attempted against an underage victim in Querétario by state Attorney General Víctor Antonio Jesús Hernández. Plus,...

One judge in Mexico thinks she can overrule 36 million voters, ordering the president to unpublish the recently approved judicial reform and threatening to jail President Claudia Sheinbaum if she does not listen! Of course she doesn’t have the power to do so but her threats speak to the undemocratic attitude of the opposition and their allies. Soberanía podcast co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and...

Tired of US Ambassador Ken Salazar running around Mexico like he owns the place, President Claudia Sheinbaum put a short leash on him, ordering the US diplomat to refrain from accessing her cabinet members directly and instead requesting meetings through the Foreign Affairs Secretariat, as it should be. Soberanía podcast co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth also discuss Antonio Garc...

In our last episode we wondered what would be President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first crisis, well we didn’t have to wait long. In her first week, the newly inaugurated Mexican president has had to face security challenges, the impact of hurricanes, and a coup plot by the Supreme Court of Justice. In the latest episode of the Soberanía podcast co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discus...

Mexico has a new president: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. In this latest episode, co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth go over her first speeches as president on Oct 1, first in the Congress and later in Mexico City’s Zócalo, where the president outlined her 100-point agenda to a roaring and enthusiastic crowd. Plus, the mañaneras (daily morning press conferences by the president) are he...

From storming the Senate Chamber to attacking elected officials out in public, supporters of the political right in Mexico are increasingly turning to extreme forms of protest. In this latest episode, co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth analyze this worrisome trend and compare the opposition’s disarray to Morena’s stability, having just organized the party’s congress that saw a new...

In the face of the defeat, Mexico’s political opposition is taking desperate measures. They have dragged out former neoliberal President Ernesto Zedillo (of the corrupt PRI) to speak out against the Judicial Reform. Co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss this and the opposition’s virtual collapse after yet another loss, as well as the symbolism of AMLO signing the decree offic...

Soberanía takes a deep dive into Morena’s Judicial Reform. Co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth start by providing an overview of what the constitutional reform actually intends to accomplish. We also talk about the unhinged response by some members of the opposition to the push to approve the reform; as well as a response to the Washington Post by two of Claudia Sheinbaum’s incomin...

Morena did it. Their presence in the Senate has risen to 85 after two defections from the moribund PRD. In this episode Soberanía co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth ask what Morena's Supermajority means for Mexico and the deepening of the Fourth Transformation? Plus a report back from our participation in the 1st Continental Gathering of Independent Communicators held in Mexic...

After repeatedly interfering in Mexico’s internal affairs, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told US Ambassador Ken Salazar to keep his nose out of the country’s business. In this episode Soberanía co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss Salazar’s inappropriate comments on the judicial reform that is being debated in Congress. Plus a look at Mexico’s fringe oppositi...

Is the United States backing the Mexican opposition via the NED and the US Embassy’s funding of the NGO “Mexicanos Contra la Corruption y la Impunidad”? A new report from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests the CIA cutout National Endowment for Democracy says Mexico is “major target country for infiltration” and US funding bothered President Andres Manuel López Obrador so much that he sen...

Mexico’s Morena-led government continues to push ahead to fulfill the mandate delivered by the voters, Soberanía co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss the country’s historic debt to Indigenous and afro-descendant peoples and the approval of a monumental (and long overdue) constitutional reform that would make Indigenous communities the subjects of rights under the constitutio...

Voters delivered a strong mandate to Claudia Sheinbaum who promised to build the “second floor” of the Fourth Transformation of Mexico, and deepen progressive changes. Morena and its allies in Congress are already quickly moving to deliver but the opposition wants to change the rules of the game after the final whistle. In this episode, Soberanía co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth...

One of the most notorious drug traffickers has been caught. In this episode, Soberanía co-hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth discuss who wins and who loses as a result and ask: what's behind the capture of El mayo Zambada? Plus a discussion about Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s effort to muzzle independent journalists. And in the second half of the show Kurt and José Luis discuss the re...