The Venezuelan dictatorship is preparing to hold an election on July 28th. Despite signs that the race will not be free or fair, the opposition is willing to participate. In this episode, we dive into the motives and tactics on both sides. What is Maduro looking for, and is there a real chance he could lose? What is going on behind the curtains with the opposition – why are they willing to participate, how divided is this, and who are the members likely to support? Our guest is Jose Vicente Carrasquero, a mathematician and political scientist who teaches at Miami Dade College.

Organized crime has in recent years begun to affect formerly calm countries like Chile and Ecuador, while remaining strong in places such as Mexico and Brazil. In this episode, an analysis of recent crime trends in the region. We’ll also assess how governments have been responding – some choose to disengage altogether, while others toughen their approach. Our guest is Jeremy McDermott, one of the founders of InSight Crime, a think tank and publication that produces in-depth reports and analysis on international crime in Latin America.

Less than three months away from Mexico's elections, many analysts see it as a given that Claudia Sheinbaum, the frontrunner, is likely to win. Sheinbaum’s biggest asset is the endorsement of the current president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, who seems to be transferring his popularity to her candidacy. But there are still a lot of questions about this race and about the candidates. Is there any chance that the opposition candidate Xochitl Gálvez could still pull this off? What defines these two candidates? How might Claudia Sheinbaum be different from López Obrador once she’s elected, in style, and in areas such as energy and security? How is Mexico’s next president likely to interact with the United States, especially given Donald Trump’s past and current rhetoric about Mexico? In this episode, political commentator Carlos Bravo Regidor takes the temperature of the political climate in Mexico. 

The goal of building ties between global south countries has driven foreign policy in Latin America and elsewhere in recent years. In this episode we dive into what that has amounted to. What have been the most successful examples of cooperation between Latin America and other global south countries? Which presidents have prioritized this, and what's their motivation? What are the challenges or barriers hindering effective cooperation between Latin America and other global south countries? And what does this agenda mean for countries of the global north? Our guest is Andrea Ordóñez, Senior Research Fellow at Southern Voice.

Political instability persists in Peru. This week, Prime Minister Alberto Otarola resigned and Congress is expected to decide if it will remove the members of the Junta Nacional de Justicia, a body that helps select the composition of the judiciary. This is just the latest in a crisis that has been running for years – Peru famously has had six presidents in seven years. Some Peruvians say their democracy is under threat. What’s the best framework to think about the kind of democratic backsliding we are witnessing there? What are the forces driving this? And what are the real risks of such instability’s for Peru’s economy? This week we take a broad look at these trends with Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Since he took office in January 2023 Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been extremely active on the global stage, traveling frequently and offering himself as a mediator on big issues like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. At times he has stirred controversy, as was the case with recent remarks on the war in Gaza. On today’s podcast, an analysis of Brazil’s foreign policy as the country prepares to host the G20 summit later this year. What are the country's goals, to what extent has it achieved them and what can we expect moving forward? Our guest is Fernanda Magnotta, a Senior Fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations and a professor and coordinator of the International Relations Program at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo.

LGBTQ+ rights have been a political battleground between social conservatives and progressives throughout Latin America. While some countries set the standards for greater freedoms at the beginning of the century, a backlash has recently been gaining ground in some portions of the Western Hemisphere. No doubt, the situation is complex. Today, in our podcast, we will give an overview of LGBTQ+ issues in the region, how they intersect with politics, and where they’re headed in years to come.

Javier Milei came into office in Argentina promising radical changes. Once there, Milei moved quickly and aggressively – through decrees and an “omnibus” bill sent to Congress he pushed changes to more than 300 laws. While the decrees are still valid, the omnibus bill failed to get approved. On today’s podcast we’ll try to take stock of where Argentina stands now. What is the future of Milei's proposed reforms? What is the status of his political support after a little more than 2 months in office? How is the opposition organizing? And where have these past couple of months left the Argentine economy? Our guest is political risk analyst Juan Cruz Díaz.

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, and polls show him with a chance of winning the election in November. With that in mind, in this episode we try to gauge what Trump 2.0 would entail for U.S. policy toward Latin America. Our guest is the former U.S. ambassador to the OAS (Organization of American States) under Trump, Carlos Trujillo. Trujillo continues to speak to the former president and is seen in Washington as an insightful voice on what might happen in Latin America should Trump be elected to another term.

Ecuador has become a critical front in the battle against criminal groups in Latin America. The country's 36-year-old president, Daniel Noboa, has tried to exert authority by arresting thousands of people, pushing for a 'war tax' and calling for a referendum on security matters. Can he succeed? And how is the political landscape likely to evolve in the coming months? Our guest today is Maria Teresa Escobar, a journalist based in Quito. Currently a freelancer, she is one of the founders of the Ecuadorean news website Primicias.