Latin America in Focus

The Colombian electorate sent a clear message with the two candidates they sent to the June 21 presidential runoff: they are no longer interested in politics as usual. With far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist Senator Iván Cepeda concentrating 85 percent of the first-round vote, the country’s traditional center and center-right parties have receded to the background.

“[Colombia’s] political and ideological spectrum is now wider than it was before,” says Dr. Sandra Borda, a Bogotá-based professor at the Universidad de los Andes, adding that the country’s relatively new left-right divide has brought it closer to polarized political contexts more familiar to the rest of the region. 

In this episode of Latin America in Focus, the prominent political commentator talks to AS/COA’s Carin Zissis about the influence of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, ex-President Álvaro Uribe, and U.S. President Donald Trump on the current and future political discourse. And with voters focused on security and economic issues, Dr. Borda analyzes the choice between de la Espriella’s mano dura and Cepeda’s promises to carry on Petro’s leftist agenda.

This episode was produced by Executive Producer Luisa Leme and Associate Producer Khalea Robertson. Carin Zissis is your host. 
If you enjoyed this episode, write us a review and subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Send us feedback: latamfocus@as-coa.org

The music in the podcast is “Dame la Mano Juancho” performed by Shangó Dely for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join Americas Society.

 

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

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From Mexico’s Cuba ties to Washington's persistent tariff pledges, points of friction keep coming up between Mexico and the United States, reaching a crescendo last month when the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 10 Mexican officials, including a sitting governor from President Claudia Sheinbaum’s own party.

"U.S.-Mexican relations are probably in their worst moment that I can remember since the 1970s,” the former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge Castañeda tells AS/COA's Carin Zissis. “Never were there so many fronts open at the same time."

In this episode, Dr. Castañeda, a long-time Latin America expert and author of more than 15 books on foreign affairs, breaks down not only what's at stake for bilateral ties, but covers Mexico's relationship with Cuba and the U.S. policy approach to the island.

This episode was produced by Executive Producer Luisa Leme. Carin Zissis is your host.

If you enjoyed this episode, write us a review and subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Send us feedback: latamfocus@as-coa.org

The music in the podcast is “Candombe Jam 1,” by Carlos Quintana, performed for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join 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.

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After months of tensions, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Donald Trump emerged from a May meeting at the White House smiling for the cameras. The leaders, both facing critical elections, sought to project international strength during delicate domestic moments, as they tackled a bilateral trade and security agenda.

“We need to be very careful in interpreting the meeting,” Fernanda Magnotta of the Brazilian Center for International Relations told AS/COA Online’s Luisa Leme, “The differences in agendas and interests between the two governments are structural, and they are there, and they are going to be there.” In this episode, Magnotta breaks down how Washington’s interest in securing the South American country’s rare earths as an alternative to Chinese dependency could facilitate Brasília’s push to resolve trade disputes while avoiding FTO designations on criminal groups operating in Brazilian territory.

“The word that for me defines the meeting and the future of this relationship is sobriety,” said Magnotta, explaining the road forward for bilateral economic ties.

This episode was produced by Executive Producer Luisa Leme and Associate Producer Khalea Robertson. Carin Zissis is the host.

Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify,YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus and send us feedback at latamfocus@as-coa.org. 

For more of Dr. Magnotta’s analysis on this topic, check out her articles in Americas Quarterly on the Trump-Lula relationship https://americasquarterly.org/article/trump-and-lula-think-differently-will-they-find-common-ground/ and the U.S. interest in Brazil’s rare earths. https://americasquarterly.org/article/can-brazil-and-the-u-s-reach-a-deal-on-rare-earths/

The music in the podcast is “Galopada,” by Itiberê Zwarg, performed for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join 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.  

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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On May 1, a transatlantic trade deal covering 31 countries and a quarter of global GDP comes into effect. Some thought it would never materialize, but after 25 years of off-and-on negotiations, Mercosur and the European Union committed to one of the largest free-trade deals in the world. So why did the two trade blocs to sign on the dotted line? 

“ The reality is that today, given the approach that the United States is taking on trade policy, it really is nudging countries [...] to go ahead and take those risks. Because the risk of doing nothing is much higher than the risk of doing something," says trade expert Kellie Meiman Hock, a senior counselor at McLarty Associates and advisor to COA's Trade Advisory Group. In her return to the podcast, Meiman Hock explains how recent U.S. trade policy  spurred Mercosur and other countries across the hemisphere to diversify their commercial relationships.  

She also covers the wrinkles left for the South American and European trade blocs to iron out in the agreement, and other deals in the pipeline as countries search for stability in a trade landscape she describes to AS/COA Online’s Luisa Leme as “completely unexplored territory.” 

This episode was produced by Luisa Leme with support from Khalea Robertson. Carin Zissis is the host.

Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify,YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus and send us feedback at latamfocus@as-coa.org.

Listen to our previous episode with Kellie Meiman Hock on the impact of the Trump administration’s tariff policy on Latin America:
https://www.as-coa.org/articles/latam-focus-trade-and-tensions-latin-america-braces-trumps-tariffs

The music in the podcast is Paulo Moura's "Tarde de Chuva," performed by Cliff Korman Ensemble for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join 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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After a February military operation led to the death of Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera, Mexican authorities searched the cartel leader’s cabin and uncovered logs showing that low-level members of El Mencho’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel earned as little as $140 per week. Many people were surprised by how little the cartel lookouts and hitmen earn, given that their jobs can be, quite literally, deadly. Despite that, the number of people working for these crime groups could fill Estadio Azteca, the stadium where the World Cup kickoff will take place, about two times over.

In this week's episode, Complexity Science Hub’s Dr. Rafael Prieto-Curiel covers why stemming cartel recruitment is crucial for curbing violence in Mexico. The mathematician coauthored a groundbreaking study calculating that, with 175,000 members, cartels represent Mexico’s fifth-largest employer. Moreover, he estimates that they count as the country’s top recruiter, given that they have to repeatedly replenish their ranks following arrests, killings, and disappearances. “They are preventing their own collapse,” he tells AS/COA’s Carin Zissis.

This episode was produced by Khalea Robertson, Luisa Leme, and Camilo Salas. Carin Zissis is the host.

Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify,YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Access other episodes of Latin America in Focus and send us feedback at latamfocus@as-coa.org.

Read Dr. Prieto-Curiel's research in Science.

The music in the podcast is performed by Alejandro Escuer and Leandro Díaz Keller for Americas Society. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Find out about upcoming concerts at musicoftheamericas.org. Share your love for Latin America: Join 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:
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