WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean

EPISODE:  219 Years of Haitian Independence, a history of the first revolution in The Americas GUESTS:  Pierre LaBossiere, Judith “Mirk” Mirkinson and Seth Donnelly of The Haiti Action Committee BACKGROUND: On January 1, 1804, Haiti became an independent republic, following the revolution which had begun 13 years earlier as a rebellion of enslaved people against slavery and French colonialism. Pre...

TODAY’S EPISODE: Saab Oral Argument Focuses on Legitimacy of Maduro Government  GUEST: Author, labor attorney and human rights activist Dan Kovalik of Council on Hemispheric Affairs BACKGROUND: On December 20, in the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida, Judge Robert N. Scola heard oral arguments on Alex Saab’s motion to dismiss the case against him. The factual issue for the Court to decide wa...

EPISODE: Deconstructing the Anatomy of "Forgetting" GUEST; Journalist, activist and educator Roberto Alvarenga Lovato Roberto Lovato is the author of Unforgetting (Harper Collins), a “groundbreaking” memoir the New York Times picked as an “Editor’s Choice.” Newsweek listed Lovato’s memoir as a “must read” 2020 book which the Los Angeles Times listed as one of its 20 Best Books of 2020. Unf...

TODAY’S EPISODE: Lawfare: Judicial & Legislative Coups in Argentina and Peru Joining me today is my friend and co-host Raul Burbano. Raul is the Program Director for Common Frontiers based in Toronto. Common Frontiers is a WTF broadcast partner GUESTS: Aníbal Ibarra and Daniela Ortiz. Anibal is the former Mayor of Buenos Aires and Federal Prosecutor. Anibal is currently a criminal defense lawy...

EPISODE: Decolonization, Multipolarity & the Demise of the Monroe Doctrine  GUEST: Frederick Mills, professor of philosophy at Bowie State University and Deputy Director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. He researches and writes on ethics, philosophy, U.S. --Latin America relations and has recently published a book, Enrique Dussel's Ethics of Liberation: An Introduction. BACKGROUND: D...

EPISODE: Save the Planet: Nicaragua & the Climate Crisis GUEST: Javier Gutierrez, Secretary of the Presidency of Nicaragua for Climate Change and Vice-Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. On the heels of COP27, we present an encore broadcast from August 2021 discussing climate change with guest Javier Gutierrez, Secretary of the Presidency of Nicaragua for Climate Change and Vice-Min...

EPISODE: Bolivia’s Right-Wing Orchestrates a Civil Strike GUESTS: Camila Escalante and Ollie Vargas of Kawsachun News and the podcast Latin America in Review BACKGROUND: In the last 21 days former coup leader and current governor of the Department of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, has been allowed “to carry out a coup d’état in the city of Santa Cruz,” in the words of Pedro Damián Dorado, vice...

EPISODE: Colombia & Venezuela, Brother Nations Reunite GUEST: Daniel Kovalik Dan is an American lawyer and Human Rights advocate who currently teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. From 1993 until 2019 he served as in-house counsel for the United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO. While with the USW, he worked on Alien Tort Claims Act cases against The Coca-Cola...

EPISODE: Brazil’s Lula da Silva: A Victory of an Immense Democratic Movement GUEST:  Michael Fox who is an independent journalist and the podcast host of Brazil on Fire a NACLA and Real News production BACKGROUND Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva was elected the next president of Brazil, in a stunning comeback following a tight run-off race on Sunday, October 30. His victory is one of an Immense Movemen...

TODAY'S EPISODE: The Impending U.S. Invasion of Haiti GUEST : Jemima Pierre of Black Alliance for Peace Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies and Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles Jemima Pierre is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research and teaching interests are located in the overlaps between African Studies and African Diaspora Stud...

Note: this episode is bilingual (Spanish and English). For full English translation, please view at: https://youtu.be/AvzCWjqiRQE Additional note: the first few minutes of this broadcast were disrupted by anti-government trolls. The disruption has been left in the recording so as to demonstrate some of the obstacles faced while reporting a non-US narrative from Venezuela. TODAY'S EPISODE: Alex...

Guests: Camila Escalante of Kawsachun News Craig Jardula of the ConvoCouch Both of our guests were on the ground in Brazil to observe the first round presidential elections held Sunday, October 2 Background: Brazil's presidential election is headed for a run-off vote, electoral authorities said on Sunday, October 2, after President Jair Bolsonaro's surprising strength in the first round sp...

In this episode, we are in conversation with three Colombians living in the North America diaspora about their impressions of Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s address to the United Nations on Tuesday, September 20 Guests: Raul Burbano, Executive Director Common Frontiers, Toronto Yhamir Chabur, Troika Kollectivo, Queens Samantha Wherry, CODEPINK Latin America Coordinator, Wash DC Background: On...

GUESTS: Patricio Zamorano, Co-Director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs which is also a WTF broadcast partner. Patricio is Chilean born and has been living in the US for 20 years. He voted at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC on Sunday. Alondra Carrillo Vidal, member of the Chilean Constitutional Convention and spokesperson for Coordinadora Feminista 8M BACKGROUND: On Sunday, September 4,...

Guest : Franco Metaza,Director-General for Foreign Affairs of the Argentina National Senate. Franco is a political activist of Argentina. He is involved in the Peronist - Kirchnerista movement of “La Campora”. He has a degree in Government and International Relations. He did his degree thesis on the Mercosur Parliament. He has held different positions related to international relations in the Gene...

Join us for a powerful female panel conversation on the importance of movement building. We will explore how four Latin American nations changed, or hope to change, their governments and the future of their people. This is a bilingual episode (principally English) This episode was inspired by a fantastic group of women throughout the Americas that I have had the privilege to work with regarding Co...

With guest Ronaldo Ortiz, National Coordinator for FRENADESO (El Frente Amplio por la Democracia, Panamá) This episode is bilingual. For English subtitles, please visit: https://youtu.be/s3MooQE9w_E Background: Earlier this week, The Panamanian government and protesters edged closer to an agreement to end a weeks-long cost-of-living revolt that has blocked roads, interrupted food supplies and dama...

Guest: Marco Castillo, Executive Director of Global Exchange and coordinator for Nuestra Red Background: On July 12 when Mexican president Lopez Obrador traveled to Washington DC his most exciting encounter for Mexicans (both in the U.S. and in Mexico) was not his meeting with President Biden, but his impromptu encounter with well wishers outside his hotel room at The Lombardy. A video of the enco...

Today’s Episode: Tell the White House: Cuba is not a Sponsor of Terror Guest: activist, author and co-founder of CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin .  Background In the last days of the outgoing Trump administration, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added Cuba back onto the list of state sponsors of terrorism, after it had been removed from the list in 2015 by the Obama-Biden administration. After a sign...

Episode : Ecuador-The Lasso Government Post-National Strike Which is a follow-up to our June 22 episode “Ecuador Erupts against Neoliberalism with guest Camila Escalante of Kawsachun News.   Guest : author and journalist Joe Emersberger.  You can find his work published at  FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and be sure to read his book Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media and Twe...

Today’s Episode: Argentina-BRICS, CELAC and the OAS Guest: Franco Metaza,Director-General for Foreign Affairs of the Argentina National Senate. Guest Bio: Franco Metaza is a political activist of Argentina. He is involved in the peronist-kirchnerista movement of “La Campora”.  He has a degree in Government and International Relations. He did his degree thesis on the Mercosur Parliament.  He has he...

Episode:  Ecuador Erupts against Neoliberalism Guest : Camila Escalante of Kawsachun News Background : Thousands of indigenous demonstrators marched through Ecuador's capital on Monday, June 20 urging President Guillermo Lasso to agree to demands for economic and social support, the latest in a series of protests that have injured dozens and disrupted the economy. Amid a surge in the cost of l...

Today’s Episode : Voices for an Inclusive Hemisphere  Guest : Fiorella Mayorca of The Convo Couch Background : The White House announced in January 2022 that the City of Los Angeles would serve as host of IX Summit of the Americas on June 6-10. As host, the United States selects the site of the summit and its attendees. The United States did not invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the summit a...

Todays’ episode: Colombia Presidential Elections move to a Second Round Guest Raul Burbano , Executive Director of Common Frontiers based in Toronto. Background: Two anti-establishment candidates, Gustavo Petro, a centrist and Rodolfo Hernández, a right-wing populist, captured the top two spots in Colombia’s presidential election on May 29 delivering a stunning blow to Colombia’s dominant conserva...

Todays’ episode: Elections Observers denied entry to Colombia Co-Host: CODEPINK Latin America policy expert Leonardo Flores . Guest: Nestor Cristancho of Canal 2 , Cali, Colombia On Sunday, May 29 Colombians will vote for President. The election comes at a difficult moment for the country. Polls show widespread dissatisfaction with the government of the current president, Ivan Duque and frustratio...