Machete y Mate

A new current events episode and the whole gang is together! We start off by going through the trouble facing Ecuador President Guillermo and former Prez Lenin Moreno: bribery, potential impeachment, and narco connections to the Albanian mafia. We move on to breakdown AMLO's proposed reforms of Mexico's Elections Commission its prompting of the ratcheting up of Imperial rhetoric from the North. We finish off by honoring the memory of Hugo Chavez on the 10th anniversary of his death and analyzing his legacy and the space Venezuela occupies and should occupy in our political world. Leave us a rating and review and if you want to support what we do consider showing your solidarity at patreon.com/macheteymate. You'll gain access to our Discord community, our periodic After Dark episodes, and Machete Minute, our triweekly news updates. 

In our latest episode, we are excited to bring to all the Macheteymatistas out there an in-depth discussion on Venezuela with Venezuela Analysis' own José Luis Granados Ceja. Venezuela Analysis has long been the leader in English-language coverage of Venezuela and José Luis has been a big part of that, from writing a lot of their most recent international news reports to hosting the official Venezuela Analysis podcast. José Luis joins us in digesting the most recent developments from the ongoing negotiations between the Bolivarian government and the right-wing opposition. He helps us break down how the most recent impasse in negotiations can be traced back to the initial failure in the previous attempt at negotiations led by former Spanish President Zapatero and how this provides insight into what the overall strategy from the United States and their lackeys in the Venezuelan opposition may be. We continue our discussion with the current state of the unilateral coercive measures being imposed by the United States on Venezuela and how the Biden administration's approach to the Bolivarian nation compares to the approach of the Trump administration. We then conclude our discussion with an analysis regarding the recent improvement in relations between Colombia and Venezuela and what that could mean for the region moving forward. For more on these topics, be sure to check out the work of José Luis and his colleagues at venezuelanalysis.com. 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.

In our latest emergency interview, Austin and T attempt to conduct a full interview without our traditional podcast host Leroy as we sit down with Chilean economist and returning podcast Chile expert Diego Polanco to talk about the recent spread of forest fires that have engulfed South-Central Chile. Coming straight to us from Chile, Diego breaks down for us the levels to which climate change and the legacy of capitalism in Chile have served to exacerbate these wild fires and ultimately set the stage for this disaster through the subjugation of the Indigenous peoples of the region and the introduction of mono-crop culture to Chile. We continue our discussion with the current state of the forest fires and how both the Boric government and the local municipal governments have responded. Diego then proceeds to fill us in on just what has been going in Chilean politics since the failed constitution plebiscite last year and how both the left and the right in Chile have responded. We finish off with a brief discussion regarding the Gabriel Boric presidency in general and its continued turn to the right following the failed plebiscite. If you support what we do 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.

In light of the Jan 8 events in Brasilia and the ongoing fall out we sit down with Brazil based journalist Brian Mier of BrasilWire and TelesurEnglish to break it all down and make sense of it all. We discuss Lula's electoral victory, societal conditions that lead to the coup attempt, the coup attempt itself, and what a Lula presidency represents not only for Brazil but for the whole region and world. For a bit of extra background check out this week's Machete Minutes on our YouTube channel. If you support what we do consider showing your solidarity at patreon.com/macheteymate. You’ll be helping us out by allowing us to put out more and better content while also gaining access to our discord community and our more casual and personal After dark episodes. If not we still love you so show us some love with a good rating and review on whatever platform you spend time with us.

Hasta La Victoria

In light of the evolving situation in Peru, we sit down with Peruvian comrade Francesca Emanuele to discuss the fall of Pedro Castillo. With incredible nuance, she breaks down the actions of the recalcitrant Right Wing congress, Castillo's ineffectiveness and incompetence, how Peru got here, and what's next for her embattled homeland. If you support what we do consider showing your solidarity at patreon.com/macheteyemate.  

BUENAS MI GENTE! The full team is back with another current events episode. We begin by discussing the mandated prison release of Jorge Glas, the former VP of Ecuador who got swept up in the immensely consequential Odebrecht corruption scandal. We then move on to break down the recent RW fuckery in Bolivia, lead by Fascist Golpista Luis Fernando Camacho and his Civic Committee goon squad, against President Luis Arce and his attempt at organizing a National Census. We finish off by breaking down the rapidly increasing Anti-Black and Anti-Haitian sentiment in the Dominican Republic and what can only be described as pogroms against Haitians. If you support what we do consider showing your solidarity at Patreon.com/macheteymate, otherwise leave us a review and a good rating wherever you spend time with us.

On the eve of the momentous election in Brazil, we sit down with one of our favorite people, veteran of the show, and beloved Brazilian comrade, Fern. Fern takes us through what the Bozonaro presidency has meant for Brazil and what a second term would bring. He goes through and breaks down the candidate roster from Front-Runner Lula and his PT lead Left coalition down to candidates with no chance but who represent something important in this election. We go through not predictions but different scenarios we can foresee resulting from different outcomes. This is a great conversation that provides a very good and succinct overview of Brazilian society and what's at stake for its diverse population, human and otherwise. If you support what we do consider showing your solidarity at Patreon.com/macheteymate.