WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean

EPISODE:  Ecuador’s Presidential Election heads to a Second Round in October GUEST:  Pilar Troya Pilar is an Ecuadorian feminist anthropologist. Her main areas of interest are social public policies, especially concerning gender equality and the feminist movement. She has served as an advisor to the Ministry of National Planning and as an advisor and Deputy Minister to the Ministry of Higher Educa...

EPISODE: Nicaragua, A History of US Intervention & Resistance GUEST:  Author, Activist and Labor Attorney, Daniel Kovalik BACKGROUND:   The latest book by labor and human rights attorney, Daniel Kovalik, Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance (2023, Clarity Press, 292 pages), is a worthy addition to the author’s collection of works on countries targeted by U.S. imperialism, s...

EPISODE: Sandinistas Speak. Nicaraguans Defend their Revolution This episode is bi-lingual with subtitles. PRODUCER and HOST: Ramiro Sebastian Funez Friday, June 30, WTF returned to Managua, Nicaragua to do follow-up study of Caribbean Coast government funded infrastructure projects and to celebrate the 44th Anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution on July 19. While on assignment, each week we wil...

EPISODE: Nicaragua against Empire - Part II Managua Against Empire , an inside look at Managua, Nicaragua, from a revolutionary socialist perspective. PRODUCER and HOST: Ramiro Sebastian Funez Friday, June 30, WTF returned to Managua, Nicaragua to do follow-up study of Caribbean Coast government funded infrastructure projects and to celebrate the 44th Annivesrary of the Sandinista Revolution on Ju...

EPISODE:  Mexico: Expanding Democracy and Defending Sovereignty GUEST:  José Luis Granados Ceja, journalist with Venezuelanalysis and The Mexico Solidarity Project BACKGROUND:   The international press is again bludgeoning Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, this time accusing him of attacking the country’s democratic institutions. It’s a baseless charge intended to undermine a governme...

EPISODE:  Alex Saab, Three Years as a Kidnapped Diplomat GUEST:  Fiorella Isabel of The Convo Couch BACKGROUND: The case is a terrifying example of the US’s continuing commitment to illegal, unilateral intervention and ‘regime change,’ where no country is truly safe, writes FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ (link to full article below) From his article: “June 12, 2023 was the third anniversary of the illegal ki...

EPISODE:  Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Resigns to Run for President GUEST:  Independent journalist Alina Duarte who joins us from Mexico City BACKGROUND: Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard, one of the leading contenders to be the country's next leader, said on Tuesday he will resign to focus on winning the presidential nomination of the ruling MORENA party for the...

EPISODE:  Isolationism Ends: Maduro Visits Brazil GUEST:   Ricardo Vaz , political analyst and editor at Venezuelanalysis.com BACKGROUND:  Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro traveled to Brazil as part of an official visit to meet with his counterpart Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva where the pair discussed regional and international cooperation, including the potential entry of Venezuela into the BRI...

EPISODE:  Ecuador’s President Dissolves National Assembly Triggering Early Elections GUEST:  Author and Journalist Joe Emersgerger. You can find his work published at CounterPunch, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), MintPressNews and more. Also, be sure to read his book Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela BACKGROUND: Ecuador's P...

EPISODE:   Whatever Happened to that Plane? U.S. Unilateral Sanctions and the Saga of Venezuela’s Emtrasur Cargo 747 GUEST:  Orlenys Ortiz, citizen journalist joining us from Venezuela TRANSLATION:  Carmelo Valasquez, Velasquez Translations, Buenos Aires, Argentina BACKGROUND: On May 3, 2023, the Argentinian press reported a US prosecutor requested the US Justice Department to order the definitive...

EPISODE: The Country is Not for Sale-Economic Development & Employment Zones (ZEDEs) versus National Sovereignty GUESTS:  Beth Geglia, anthropology PhD, and Melinda St. Louis, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch BACKGROUND: On May 3, Democratic U.S. lawmakers urged the U.S. Trade Representative and State Department to eliminate investor-state dispute settlement provisions from curr...

EPISODE:  Guatemalan Political Crisis-June 25 Elections Set as Critics Slam Disqualifications GUEST:  Frank with The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISQUA) BACKGROUND: Campaigning began in earnest last month for Guatemala’s general elections, with political messaging filling the streets, local broadcasts and social media. But less than three months before the June 25 vote, con...

EPISODE:  Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Visits Brazil GUEST:  Camila Escalante, Kawsachun News-Brazil BACKGROUND: Russia’s minister of foreign affairs, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Brasília on Monday for talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, in the latest of a series of bilateral encounters likely to ruffle the US. Lavrov arrived just as Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da...

EPISODE:  Burying 200 Years of The Monroe Doctrine GUEST:  Carlos Ron, Venezuela Vice Minister of Foreign Relations for North America BACKGROUND: The Monroe Doctrine, first articulated by U.S. President James Monroe on December 2, 1823, is a United States foreign policy position that opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of...

EPISODE:  Reject U.S. Imperialism! Make Our Americas a Zone of Peace GUESTS:   Ajamu Baraka, Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team Margaret Flowers, Co-Founder and Director of Popular Resistance & Host of the podcast Clearing the Fog BACKGROUND: On Tuesday, April 4, The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), along with key partner organizations, launched an effort to activate the popular movem...

EPISODE:  Argentina Celebrates 40 Years of Democracy and Human Rights GUEST:  Franco Metaza, Director-General for Foreign Affairs of the Argentina National Senate. BACKGROUND: Last week, Argentina celebrated 40 years of democracy and human rights by hosting the Third World Forum of Human Rights (March 20-24) scheduled in tandem with its National Day of Remembrance for Truth & Justice. The Foru...

EPISODE:  Mexico’s Fourth Transformation and Why the U.S. Wants to Stop It  We thank The Mexico Solidarity Project for participating in this episode as a special broadcast partner. GUEST:  Kurt Hackbarth, Writer, Journalist and Activist BACKGROUND: "Although the 4T has not fulfilled everyone’s expectations, it has, in four years, created a governing movement that is taking control of its energ...

EPISODE:  Colombia-Total Peace and the Fight to Free All Political Prisoners GUESTS:    Anthony Dest, Colombia Freedom Collective Ajamu Baraka, Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer & BAP Haiti/Americas Team BACKGROUND: In April 2021, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Colombia to demand change. They rejected decades of state violence and deepening inequality. Over the co...

EPISODE:  The Devastating Effects of Militarization on Puerto Rico and Her People. How One Activist is Promoting Health Justice for Vieques & Culebra.   GUEST:  Monisha Rios, Puerto Rican psychologist, social worker and disabled US veteran. Founder and director of Centro Solidario de Puerto Rico. NOTE: Full visual presentation can be viewed here: BACKGROUND: The U.S. has been overtly and cover...

EPISODE : Peru - More than Statistics In today’s episode, WTF host Teri Mattson shares some of the key findings of the Preliminary Report of the International Mission of Solidarity and Human Rights Delegation which arrived in Peru on February 7, 2023 and deployed its work in the country until the 13th of the same month. Teri was one of 19 human rights observers comprising the delegation. Episode p...

EPISODE:  National Strike, Day 40: A Conversation with Human Rights Activists in Peru NOTE: This is a follow-up conversation to our February 2 Episode with Peruvian activists Anahi Durand and Eliana Carlin. I have since visited Peru on a human rights observation delegation with Mision de Solidaridad Internacional y Derechos Humanos Interpretation provided by Jill Clark Gollub GUESTS: Clau O'Br...

EPISODE: “So They Can See Us” Peru’s National Protest Advances to Lima GUESTS: Anahi Durand is a sociologist, former Minister of Women & Vulnerable Populations for the Castillo Presidency and founder of Mujers por Una Nueva Constitución (Women for a New Constitution); and, Eliana Carlin is a Peruvian political scientist, lecturer and researcher. She is also Co-founder of Heroinas Peruanas and...

EPISODE:  CELAC 2023-Latin American Integration includes the Voices of the People GUEST:  Alejandro Rusconi, Secretary of International Relations for Evita Movement Spanish to English interpretation provided by Carmelo Velasquez of Velasquez Translations, Buenos Aires BACKGROUND: Founded in 2011,.CELAC, or the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, is a multilateral group of 33 countrie...

EPISODE:  Asylum for Sale: Profit and Protest in the Migration Industry GUEST:  Adrienne Pine, Author and Medical Anthropologist. For the past 17 years, she has worked in US federal asylum courts as a country conditions expert for Honduran asylum seekers in more than 100 asylum cases. BACKGROUND: On the heels of last week’s North America Trilateral Summit, from which not much changed within the mi...

EPISODE:  North America’s Trilateral Summit GUESTS:   Marco Castillo, Co-Executive Director of Global Exchange Jim Hodgson, Canadian Journalist BACKGROUND: The North American Leaders' Summit (NALS), sometimes called the Three Amigos Summit in the popular press , [1] [2] [3] is the trilateral summit between the prime minister of Canada , the president of Mexico , and the president of the United...