Machete y Mate

After a few months off, Austin G is back to bring you a solo interview pod with previous guest and union organizer Luisa Martinez. Luisa was able to attend Venezuela's recent presidential election in person as an election observer on behalf of the Democratic Socialists of America International Committee (dsaic.org) and gives us her on the ground perspective of how the situation unfolded. Austin and Luisa go back and forth on some of the particulars of Venezuelan society, what it all means for socialists in the United States, as well as what brought us to this point and what we can look forward to in the future. You can find more of Luisa and her work on her twitter @LuisaKnuckles. If you support our mission in providing reliable English-language analysis on Latin American affairs consider showing your solidarity at Patreon.com/macheteymate.

LeRoy, T, and friend of the show Rev are back together to discuss one thing: the growing global solidarity movement for Palestine. Rev and LeRoy discuss what they've been a part of and what they've been seeing down in Australia while T brings a US perspective. We discuss the various players and dynamics involved day in and day out in this swelling solidarity movement: from 100s of Anti-Zionist Jewish comrades, to children leading chants at rallies, to Longshoremen walking off the job.

After an extended hiatus, LeRoy and T are joined by friend of the show Rev to discuss and breakdown the recent failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum and the ongoing Palestinian genocide. Both topics are inextricably linked through the history of settler-colonial violence. We navigate the background and fallout of the failed referendum and the already apparent implications, discussing the ineptitude of liberal democracy. We end with a discussion of Palestine specifically but settler-colonialism and imperialism generally: past, present, and future.

In our latest episode, we are excited to bring to all the Macheteymatistas out there an interview with close friend and comrade Luisa Martinez. Luisa is an organizer with the Democratic Socialists of America that is running for national leadership within the organization at their upcoming national convention. We start our conversation off with Luisa's own personal background early life growing up in South Florida. Luisa shares with us her background as an organizer and what brought her to the place she is today running for leadership in the largest socialist organization in the United States. She proceeds to give us a break down of DSA's most recent delegation to Brazil for the annual São Paulo forum meeting held this year in Brasília. This meeting was the first in which DSA was invited to observe and attend some of their workshops. Luisa also discusses with us the time she was able to spend in São Paulo with the Landless Workers' Movement and what lessons she believes can be brought back to the movement in the United States. We round out the conversation with a deeper dive on her campaign for DSA leadership and what exactly she believes she can help bring to DSA's National Political Committee. To support Luisa and her campaign, we encourage you all to check out more of Luisa and her work on her twitter @LuisaKnuckles as well as her campaign statement tinyurl.com/LuisaNPC. And lastly, if you support our mission in providing reliable English-language analysis on Latin American affairs consider showing your solidarity at Patreon.com/macheteymate where you'd also be gaining access to our Discord community, the After Dark Episodes, and Machete Minute, our triweekly news updates.

After an unplanned hiatus, the MyM boys are back with a current events episode. We start by breaking down the latest with disgraced Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso and his move to nuke the legislature, call new elections, and rule by decree in the meantime. We work our way towards discussing the latest disappointing news from Chile, more of Boric paving the way for the resurgence of the Pinochetistas. We finish off by breaking down the latest US Supreme Court ruling highlighting, underscoring, stressing Puerto Rico's colonial status through what some call the New Insular cases. If you support what we do and what more frequent and better content consider showing your solidarity at Patreon.com/macheteymate.

Sometimes we have nothing, sometimes we double up. In a second drop this week, Austin and LeRoy put a bow on the lead up to the Paraguayan election with a discussion of what's at stake and the ramifications of this unprecedented tight race. The final two stories are loosely a debrief of our conversation with Julian Garrido about Argentina and Ecuador. Regarding Argentina, we discuss why the Argentinean Left is in such disarray, what's next, and the character that is the odious rising star that is Javier Milei. Regarding Ecuador, we talk about Lasso's isolation andthe systemic issues and contradictions that exist for an effective Revolucion Ciudadana. If you support what we do and want to support the cause consider showing your solidarity at patreon.com/macheteymate.

In our latest episode, we are excited to bring to all the Macheteymatistas out there a fascinating discussion on South American politics with Quito-based political strategist Julián Garrido. We start off in Ecuador which has undergone serious political turmoil in the last couple months as embattled incumbent President Guillermo Lasso's impeachment continues to look imminent. Julián brings us his on the ground perspective in Quito as he discusses with us the root causes of the current crisis in Ecuador and the failure of the incumbent Lasso presidency as well as the previous Moreno presidency. He helps us break down what the future could look like in Ecuador whether that future includes Lasso being removed from office or if Ecuador is able to hold early elections which could be promising for the Correístas. We continue our discussion with Julián as we also pick his brain a bit on his own homeland of Argentina and what the general election in October could look like. We talk a bit about the rise of the far-right in Argentina through presidential candidate Javier Milei and what Julián views as Milei's chances for victory in October. We continue with a discussion on the future of the Argentine left amidst the continued advances from the right-wing. For more of Julián's insightful analysis, we encourage you all to check out more of Julián and his work on his twitter @JulianGarrido97. And lastly, if you support our mission in providing reliable English-language analysis on Latin American affairs consider showing your solidarity at Patreon.com/macheteymate where you'd also be gaining access to our Discord community, the After Dark Episodes, and Machete Minute, our triweekly news updates.

We're back this week with another Current Events episode and the whole team is together! This week we preview the impending and consequential elections in Paraguay and Guatemala. LeRoy leads the convo surrounding Paraguay, going through the candidates, the political history, current society and what's at stake for the landlocked country. Austin leads our convo around Guatemala, setting the historical scene of present day Guatemalan society and guiding us through the ramifications of this elections. If you support what we do consider showing your solidarity at patreon.com/macheteymate. You'll gain access to Machete Minute, our triweekly news updates, along with our After Dark episodes and our discord community.