The LatinNews Podcast

On this week's LatinNews Podcast, we discuss the reach and main characteristics of the Tren de Aragua criminal group, from its beginnings in the Tocorón prison in Venezuela, to its spread through South America. We speak to Chris Dalby, director of the World of Crime media company and publishing and expert on organized crime, about the reasons for the Tren de Aragua's startling growth, ad...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we take a look at how Jamaica has turned its economy around to start enjoying strong growth, low unemployment, reductions in debt burdens and attracting investors.  Marla Dukharan, a renowned economist and advisor on the Caribbean provides us with an impartial analysis of Jamaica's success story. And, while we can celebrate these advances, there are looming...

Murder rates in Brazil have fallen under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but surveys show that people believe violence to have increased in the country. There is little trust in the police and judicial system, 64,2 million live in households with food insecurity, there have been more than 4 million cases of dengue in the first four months of 2024 alone, so how can Lula reduce the massive ineq...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we discuss the myriad of challenges facing a new government in Panama. Outgoing president Laurentino Cortizo is immensely unpopular and the victorious candidate in May's presidential elections will have to face up to growing public unrest due to corruption, the stuttering economy, climate change and its effects on the Panama Canal, mass migrations and the u...

Speculation about a potential early election call in Belize has been dismissed by Prime Minister John Briceño. Тhе Рrіmе Міnіѕtеr’ѕ соmmеntѕ fоllоw thе Реорlе’ѕ Unіtеd Раrtу’ѕ (РUР) rесеnt vісtоrу іn munісіраl еlесtіоnѕ, in which thеу ѕесurеd а ѕіgnіfісаnt mајоrіtу over the United Democratic Party (UDP). Тhе РUР’ѕ ѕtrоng ѕhоwіng hаd lеd ѕоmе оbѕеrvеrѕ tо bеlіеvе thаt thе раrtу mіght саріtаlіzе оn...

On The LatinNews Podcast we discuss the Environmental and Social History of Deforestation in the Amazon and the Latin American region. In a far-reaching episode, we take a look at the tenurial structure, technologies and political regimes in understanding rapid forest conversions, and the complex dynamics of forest resurgence now found throughout the tropical world.  Our guest, Professor Susanna H...

The combination of a weak state and strong criminal forces has led to a near-doubling of homicides each year in Ecuador since 2020 and the nation's murder rate for 2023 was around 40 per 100,000 people, making it the highest in Ecuador's history and therefore one of the most violent in Latin America.  In this episode of The LatinNews Podcast, we ask Ivan Briscoe, Program Director for Lat...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we ask Dr Jacqueline Jimenez Polanco, Associate Professor of Sociology at the Bronx Community College of the City University of New York, to what can we attribute the success of the anti-corruption and anti-impunity politics in the Dominican Republic?  With elections on the horizon for May 2024, will the victor continue in the same vein of combating official cor...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we speak to Martin Weinstein, Emeritus Professor of Political Science at William Paterson University in New Jersey and author of dozens of books on Uruguay, his opinions on the upcoming presidential elections in Uruguay in October 2024.  Uruguay is unlikely to lose its reputation as the "Switzerland of Latin America," however there are challenges ahead...

On this episode of The LatinNews Podcast, we ask Rosemary Joyce, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, how governable is Honduras considering the challenges facing the country and President Xiomara Castro?  In reality, Hondurans can point to the 2009 coup against President Zelaya (current President Xiomara Castro's husband) as a pivotal moment of s...

On the first LatinNews podcast episode for 2024, we welcome back Jon Farmer, Editor in Chief of Latin News to provide us with an in-depth look at Argentina's President Javier Milei, his election, his domestic policies, plans for the troubled economy, foreign policies and the relationship with the IMF.  Milei was voted in as an indictment of the political class in Argentina, but can he pull of...

On the final episode of The LatinNews Podcast for 2023, we ask Ronald Alfaro-Redondo, a researcher in Political Science at the University of Costa Rica and at the State of the Nation Program, how Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves can build on popular discontent with the country's long-established political elites?  Alfaro-Redondo leads us through a complex weave of issues facing President...

The illicit drug business continues to be profitable, violent and deeply embedded in the economies and political systems in Latin America and so, on the LatinNews podcast this week, we discuss the eight main headlines as explained in a new report written by Andrew Thompson, a journalist and political risk analyst covering the region.  Thompson describes new factors in the drugs trade, including th...

The post-war era of growth has been replaced by a much more uncertain, nationalistic and dangerous world and nowhere is this more evident when it comes to the current trend of repositioning in the global supply chain network which therefore directly affects Panama and the Panama Canal.  On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we ask Andrew Thomas PhD, Professor of International Business at the College...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we look at the regime of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and discuss his likely successor and how the country arrived at this aggravated stage of repression.  Dr Manuel Orozco, a Nicaraguan political scientist at the Inter American Dialogue, joins us to discuss how the regime has further dismantled democratic institutions and pursued a policy of systemic re...

Weaponizing social media with his own brand of populist authoritarianism, promoting cryptocurrency and imprisoning 70 thousand of his countrymen in order to pacify El Salvador's gang warfare, we ask, who is the real Nayib Bukele?  Manuel Melendez-Sanchez, a PhD candidate in political science at Harvard University, joins us on the LatinNews podcast to discuss, not only Bukele's security p...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we look at what could go wrong with the administration of Guyana's oil wealth and whether such a tremendous windfall will be used to transform the economic and political landscape in the country.  Incredibly, Guyana is set to quadruple its GDP by 2025, the same year as the next elections, so will the estimated 40 per cent of the population that lives in pov...

Debates on spiraling violence and the future of extractive industries dominate Ecuador's elections.    On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we ask Carmen Martínez Novo, Professor at the University of Florida's Center for Latin American Studies: where do Ecuador's presidential candidates stand on the issue of extractive industries and national security?  Bringing an expertise in indig...

One thing is winning a presidential election and another is actually governing. President Gustavo Petro's approval ratings continue to fall, his coalition no longer has a majority, there are local elections ahead in Colombia in October and things do not look good.  This week on The LatinNews Podcast, we ask Jenny Pearce, Research Professor at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre at the Lond...

On Episode 10 of The LatinNews Podcast, we ask Jo-Marie Burt, professor of political science and Latin American studies at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University about Guatemala's presidential elections.  Guatemalans will vote on 20 August in the second round of the presidential elections in which establishment candidate Sandra Torres is pitted against outsider B...

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we ask Renata Segura, Deputy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Crisis Group and Diego Da Rín, Haiti expert at International Crisis Group, what is going on in Haiti? The prolongation of a series of corrupt governments has created an untenable situation consisting of three crises, economic, security and humanitarian.  How can the cy...

On Episode 8 of The LatinNews Podcast we ask Ana Milagros Parra, political scientist and consultant based in Caracas, for her insights from on the ground in Venezuela where doubts abound about whether there will be primary elections in the short term in 2023 and how President Nicolás Maduro’s government is manipulating the political landscape to ensure total victory in 2024.  Tune in for this and...

On Episode 7 of The LatinNews Podcast, we ask Diego Von Vacano, Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University: "How can Bolivia industrialize its Lithium reserves?" Can Bolivia position itself as the world leader for lithium extraction with a coherent and transparent policy and where do China, Russia and the USA fit into this puzzle? President Luis Arce would like to boost d...

On Episode 6 of The LatinNews Podcast, Pamela K Starr, Professor of International Relations at USC, Los Angeles, joins us to discuss President Lopez Obrador's legacy in Mexico. We look at the defining features of his tenure, the increase in the role of the military, resource nationalism, political polarization, threats to journalists and an assault on autonomous institutions such as the elect...

Described as "hapless and stolid but hardworking" by Dr Emily Morris, President Diaz-Canel was re-elected to his post in April 2023 as life for ordinary Cubans remains increasingly difficult. On this episode of The LatinNews Podcast, Dr Morris discusses the political and economic effects of the nation's dual currency system and its end, if there are any possibilities of meaningful p...