The BNamericas Podcast

Chileans have been exploding in protest, much like Ecuadorans shortly before them, and mirroring global protests seen in Hong Kong, Barcelona and Paris.  Brian Winter, policy VP at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, talks about the economic reasons driving the upheaval, while Dr. Noam Lupu, associate director of the Latin American Public Opinion Project, warns of other Latin American countries where social discontent is also ripe for unrest.

As global demand for legal cannabis for recreational consumption and medical applications grows, Colombia has the potential to become one of its main producers, thanks to its climate and lower-cost and skilled workforce. We talk to Mat Youkee, editor of the Colombia Cannabis Investor, about the opportunities in this market and how Canadian companies have gotten in on the ground floor.

Key industries such as electric power, oil and gas, and mining are starting to implement AI to improve efficiency and cut costs. Our tech analysts Pedro Ozores and Phil Anderson give us the main takeaways of the growing innovation trend in the region.

Voters seem on the verge of kicking Mauricio Macri out and returning to Cristina Fernández's brand of populist economic policy. Will the country stick with the IMF program? Is a new default in the cards?  We talk to Fitch Ratings and Deloitte to get a sense of what we might expect from a likely Alberto Fernández-Cristina Fernández government.

AMLO’s ‘Mexico first’ agenda could slow down the ambitious integration project it shares with Chile, Colombia and Peru. Plus, we preview the APEC CEO Summit Chile 2019.

Our sector experts review the planned capital expenditures in the region’s oil & gas, electric power, mining, infrastructure and ICT sectors. See where investments are headed.

IoT promises to connect every device you use, and there are already over 300 million of these connections in Latin America. But how do you keep networks safe when a printer or a vending machine becomes a backdoor for hackers? We talk to hacking, cybersecurity and IoT experts to find out.

Hundreds of copper industry players descended on Santiago in April for Cesco Week, one of the industry’s top annual events that looks at exploration and other key mining aspects. In this special episode we share four takeaways from the event, including whether copper prices will incentivize increased investments in the short term, as well as some exclusive interviews with experts.

The Lava Jato investigation that uncovered massive, cross-border kickbacks from construction giant Odebrecht could mark a before and after in the region’s long history of corruption in the public and private sector. We speak to Transparency International, the UN Global Compact’s Brazil Network, and our own on-the-ground experts in the region to discuss the growing anti-corruption movement.

 

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This is the second part of a two-part series. Listen to the first one here.

We speak to Dr. William Godnick, professor of Practice at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, part of the US Department of Defense's National Defense University; and Michael Cullen, senior partner and head of Andean region at consultancy Control Risks, about the relationship between corporations operating in the region and private security firms.

Our Intelligence Series Reports are out! Find them here.

Guyana: Latin America's emerging oil giant

How to navigate US$335bn of infrastructure opportunities in Latin America

Mining in Ecuador: Balancing risks and rewards

Edtech: The multi-billion dollar untapped opportunity in Latam

Is Ecuador on the right track?