Americas 360

With Hurricanes Eta and Iota smashing into Central America only two weeks apart, countries in the region are dealing with widespread devastation. Special guests Gina Kawas Arita of Honduras, a Wilson Center-Vidanta Foundation Fellow, and Carlos Fernando Chamorro of Nicaragua's El Confidencial join our experts to discuss the scale of the destruction, its implications for migration and the spread of COVID-19, and the need for transparency and accountability in the delivery of economic aid.

Most leaders in the Americas, with the notable exceptions of the Mexican and Brazilian presidents, quickly recognized Joe Biden as the U.S. president-elect and began planning for major changes to U.S. policy in the region. In this episode of "Americas 360," our experts, and special guests Ernesto Londoño of The New York Times and Ana Paula Ordorica of Televisa, examine perceptions of the election across the Americas, with a special look at Brazil and Mexico.

In this episode, our experts review the consequential outcome of Bolivia's presidential election, discuss Chile's plebiscite on writing a new constitution, and check in on Justin Trudeau's shaky hold on the premiership and the new bedfellows keeping him in charge.

Research shows Hispanic Americans are more likely to identify as Hispanic or Latino rather than Latinx, a term introduced to be more inclusive and non-gender-specific. For Hispanic Heritage Month, we welcome special guest Mark Hugo López of the Pew Research Center to discuss the origins and rise of Latinx. Our experts step aside to welcome a group of young Latino professionals to discuss how the Latino community is responding to the term Latinx in the Americas and how this relates to identity.

The 2020 U.S. Election will be the first time that Latinos will be the largest non-white demographic in the electorate. In this episode, our experts and guest Sabrina Rodriguez, Trade Reporter at Politico, discuss Latino voters in the United States, the differences within this demographic and key policy priorities, and how political campaigns are working to earn the Latino vote, including the use of disinformation.

How serious a threat is disinformation and freedom of expression infringement to democracy in the Americas? In this episode, our experts and guest Nina Janckowicz, the Wilson Center's Disinformation Fellow, discuss the origins of disinformation, its pernicious role throughout the COVID-19 crisis and how to sustain and build institutions to mitigate its effects.

COVID-19 has upended school systems and worsened academic disparities throughout the hemisphere. Governments are scrambling to cobble together remote learning programs, including in regions where few students have laptops or tablets and many lack internet access. In this episode, our experts and guest Gabriel Sánchez Zinny, the former education minister for the Province of Buenos Aires, discuss back-to-school challenges for students who can't go back to school.

Even in normal times, countries in the Americas have struggled to contain corruption, including in the vulnerable public health sector. The coronavirus has amplified this challenge, given snowballing demands for medical equipment and services, and the urgent need to ramp up public spending to support sputtering economies. On today's episode, we ask our experts and guest Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of Transparency International, why corruption is exploding during COVID-19 and how governments should protect increasingly scarce public resources.

COVID-19 is challenging Latin America's fragile democracies in many ways, including the region's capacity to hold safe and fair elections. As the region struggles to contain the world's worst outbreak, several countries have postponed elections, while others have muddled through. To discuss how governments should approach elections during a pandemic, we speak to our experts and to Daniel Zovatto, the director for Latin America at International IDEA.

Last week, in the first foreign trip of his presidency, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump. To help make sense of the visit, our experts and a special guest, Mexico Institute Global Fellow and Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan, discuss the state of bilateral relations, the significance of the meeting for both leaders, and what was lost and gained from the visit.