Latin America in Focus

Across Latin America, the political right has been on the march. From El Salvador to Argentina, we’ve seen the pink tide recede as voters back right-wing leaders who are oftentimes allied with the MAGA movement in the United States.
Then there’s Mexico. The largest Spanish-speaking country in the world remains firmly in the hands of Morena, a left-wing party, and its popular president, Claudia Sheinbaum. That doesn’t mean the right-wing leaders haven’t tried to break ground. As we’ll hear, the ultra-Catholic Eduardo Verástegui, who brought CPAC to Mexico, made a failed bid to run as an independent in 2024. And the name of one man has been making the rounds as a potential opposition figure: libertarian business leader and media mogul Ricardo Salinas Pliego.
In this episode, we hear from Gema Kloppe-Santamaría, a historian and sociologist at the University College Cork and George Washington University, and Alex González Ormerod, director of the Mexico Political Economist and author of the book La derecha no existe (pero ahí está) on the state of the Mexican right today. In a conversation with host Carin Zissis, our guests explain why a 100-year-old religious conflict weighs on the Mexican right today, what’s behind the decline of the traditional conservative party—the PAN, and what it would take for the Mexican right to stage a comeback. 
Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus at www.as-coa.org/podcast and send us feedback at [email protected].
Find out more about right-wing movements in Mexico by reading articles by both of our guests and our host in Americas Quarterly.
Alex González Ormerod: https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/the-death-and-rebirth-of-the-mexican-right/
Gema Kloppe-Santamaría: https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/the-long-shadow-of-mexicos-war-over-catholicism/
Carin Zissis: https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/right-wing-populism-hasnt-thrived-in-mexico-why/
The music in the podcast was “Cascabel jarana de arco” performed by Alejandro Loredo for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join Americas Society. Becoming a member gives you preferential access to music performances, art exhibitions, book events, our magazine Americas Quarterly, and more.

Opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of Americas Society/Council of the Americas or its members.

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The Trump’s administration national security strategy was the talk of the foreign policy world late last year, not least of all because it renewed Washington’s focus on the Americas. But a few days later, China released its own policy paper focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean. But then the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro of January 3 upended the hemispheric chessboard.
Parsifal D’Sola Alvarado of the Andrés Bello Foundation for China and Latin America Research joined AS/COA Online’s Carin Zissis to talk about why this new era marks an end of what he calls “cheap ambiguity” for hemispheric countries figuring out how to juggle ties with the two great powers. He explains what we can glean from China’s reaction to U.S. moves in Venezuela; how countries such as Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico been adjusting their approach to Beijing; and why Latin America needs to get its own China strategy up and running.
Read D'Sola’s analysis on what the post-Maduro era means for Sino–Latin American ties: t.ly/l05Jh  
Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus at www.as-coa.org/podcast and send us feedback at [email protected]. Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.    
The music in the podcast was “Collector,” performed by Jorge Haro for Americas Society. https://youtu.be/R_2pw75RlcY?si=I60yHUNlUYddvEoe  Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join Americas Society. https://www.as-coa.org/membership Becoming a member gives you preferential access to music performances, art exhibitions, book events, our magazine Americas Quarterly, and more.

Opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of Americas Society/Council of the Americas or its members.

Follow us on social media:
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Organized crime continues to drive murder rates in Latin America and the Caribbean to levels well above global averages. Now in a context in which the United States has shown itself willing to flex its military muscle in the region in its battle against narcoterrorism, Latin American governments are under increasing pressure to appear tough on crime.
This episode zooms in on Brazil, from where security policy expert Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarapé Institute, speaks with AS/COA Online’s Luisa Leme about how two recent major police operations shed light on the increasing sophistication of criminal actors. Ahead of Brazil’s elections in October, Muggah discusses the growing appeal of hard-line policies across the region while putting forward alternative, evidence-based solutions for sustainable crime and violence prevention.
Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus at www.as-coa.org/podcast and send us feedback at [email protected]. Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.    
The music in the podcast was performed by 2vieira, a trumpet-acoustic bass duo formed by brothers Sidmar and Sidiel Vieira, for Americas Society. https://youtu.be/Hn2vsuRK-2c Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join Americas Society. https://www.as-coa.org/membership Becoming a member gives you preferential access to music performances, art exhibitions, book events, our magazine Americas Quarterly, and more.

Opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of Americas Society/Council of the Americas or its members.

Follow us on social media:
X: @ASCOA
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From the Donroe Doctrine to tariff turmoil a rightward electoral tilt, 2025 was a year of shifts for Latin America. Now, with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Peru gearing up for presidential votes in 2026, more change is on the way.To make sense of what's to come, this episode of Latin America in focus brings back four of our prior guests from across the region: Venezuelan journalist and political scientist Tony Frangie Mawad, Mexican international affairs expert Brenda Estefan, Brazilian journalist and political analyst Thomas Traumann, and Latino and hemispheric digital democracy expert Roberta Braga.Then, in conversation with host Carin Zissis, the OAS’ director of electoral monitoring, Gerardo de Icaza, draws on over a decade of experience overseeing missions in 27 countries to explain the evolving challenges on the ground for election observers, from being victims of increasing political polarization to finding practical ways to leverage artificial intelligence for stronger election processes—as well as what it all means for democracy in the region.
Monitor what’s in store for 2026 elections with our guide at: www.as-coa.org/2026Listen to past episodes with our guests:
Tony Frangie Mawad on Venezuelan elections: t.ly/DszOS
Brenda Estefan on Mexican foreign policy: t.ly/2Mfs5
Thomas Traumann on Brazilian votes: t.ly/jp64b
Roberta Braga on Nayib Bukele’s online reach: t.ly/vU0tE
Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus at www.as-coa.org/podcast and send us feedback at [email protected]. Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.The music in the podcast is “Me Gusta Soñar,” our show's theme from the C4 Trío of Venezuela. https://youtu.be/NZ123ysut9s?si=tr5Qu25ujhSTXGIC Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org and share your love for Latin American culture and politics by joining Americas Society. https://www.as-coa.org/memberships/engage-americas-society

Opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of Americas Society/Council of the Americas or its members.

Follow us on social media:
X: @ASCOA
Instagram: @ascoa
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Thirty-five years after the Washington Consensus, a group of the world’s leading economists have assembled a new book formulating an alternative road map for developing economies, The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century. One of the books co-editors, prominent Chilean economist Andrés Velasco, recently stopped by the New York headquarters of Americas Society/Council of the Americas to present core principles to guide refreshed and adaptable economic policies in Latin America and beyond.
In conversation with AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal, the former finance minister of Chile and current dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science emphasized the need for greater attention to delivering well-being for all and boosting state capacity to complement private-sector efforts. Given the diversity of today’s challenges—from climate change, to AI and the future of work, to trade fragmentation and political polarization—Velasco called for economists and policymakers to be more like medical doctors: assessing symptoms before handing out prescriptions.
The music in the podcast is “One Day at a Time” by Franco Pinna for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org and share your love for Latin America by joining Americas Society. Becoming a member gives you preferential access to music performances, art exhibitions, book events, our magazine Americas Quarterly, and more.
Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus at www.as-coa.org/podcast and send us feedback at [email protected]. Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of Americas Society/Council of the Americas or its members.

Follow us on social media:
X: @ASCOA
Instagram: @ascoa
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ascoaonline/
Bluesky: @ascoa.bsky.social
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASCOA/