The LatinNews Podcast

China's engagement with Latin America is a complex and multifaceted relationship that is both broad and substantial. The PRC's use of commercial tools and instruments of State to create a global economic order that functions to its benefit has not gone unnoticed. So, this week on The LatinNews Podcast, we speak to Dr Evan Ellis, Latin American Research Professor at the US Army War

How did Mexico get here? While all eyes are on the growing civil war within the Sinaloa Cartel, between those loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who was arrested on July 25, and the Chapitos, accused of betraying him, in order to understand current events in Mexico's fluid drugs trade, it's necessary to step back and take all of the information in careful context. On The Latin

Bolivians go to the polls on 1 December 2024 in a referendum to decide on the removal of fuel subsidies and to define whether to admit continuous or discontinuous presidential re-election. As if this weren't enough, on the same date, there are also judicial elections and another challenge to be clarified in the referendum is the shortage of dollars in the country. Everything points

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we look at what is being done to resolve the long standing conflict between the Chilean government and the Mapuche indigenous people, inhabitants of parts of south-central Chile, who have suffered from a policy of "pacification" which resulted in a tragic history of exterminations and displacement. Tracing its roots back to the time of Chile's in

Venezuela will vote for a new president on 28 July in what will not be free and fair elections, that much is certain. But, which way will it go? On The LatinNews Podcast this week we explore some of the worst case scenarios facing Venezuela including the possibility of increased repression and massive voter fraud. Or, will Nicolas Maduro seek a negotiated exit for himself and his e

Colombia’s cluster of armed conflicts seem interminable on the surface but President Gustavo Petro, the country’s first leftwing premier and a former guerrilla himself, has made Total Peace (Paz Total) a cornerstone policy of his government in an attempt to pull the nation from continual asymmetrical conflicts scattered all about the territory. And while Petro’s approval rati

The Mexican electorate made history on 2 June by electing the country's first woman president in Claudia Sheinbaum, former Mexico City mayor, scientist, academic and protege of outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). Much has been reported about Sheinbaum's possible difficulty in distancing herself from AMLO's influence, but ironically, rather than giving her some

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 gro

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

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 combat