Episodes

  • Ecuador's Presidential Election heads to a Second Round in October

    Ecuador's Presidential Election heads to a Second Round in October
    Aug 25 2023
    EPISODE: Ecuador’s Presidential Election heads to a Second Round in OctoberGUEST: Pilar TroyaPilar is an Ecuadorian feminist anthropologist. Her main areas of interest are social public policies, especially concerning gender equality and the feminist movement. She has served as an advisor to the Ministry of National Planning and as an advisor and Deputy Minister to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Ecuador. She is a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.BACKGROUND:Luisa González, of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana party, on Sunday took a lead in the first round of Ecuador’s presidential and legislative elections, which have been marred by political assassinations as the Andean nation struggles with a wave of violence that has brought homicide rates, under the Lasso administration, to record levels.Gonzalez is set to face the surprise second-place finisher Daniel Noboa in a run-off election in October, according to the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE), as neither candidate won more than 50% of the ballot.González has promised to enhance public spending and social programs and wants to address the security crisis by fixing the root causes of violence, such as poverty and inequality. A former tourism and labor minister in Correa’s government, González has also called for the judiciary to be reinforced to help with prosecutions, analysts say.Daniel Noboa is the son of banana businessman Álvaro Noboa – who himself has run for the presidency at least five times. The 35-year-old was a lawmaker before outgoing President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the legislature and called for early elections.FOLLOW OUR GUEST: TwitterADDITIONAL LINKS:Ecuador’s President Dissolves National Assembly Triggering Early ElectionsEcuador: The Lasso Government Post-National StrikeEcuador Erupts Against NeoliberalismTriContinental: Institute for Social ResearchOUR BROADCAST PARTNERS:WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with: Alliance for Global Justice, Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action, Task Force on the Americas, and Venezuelanalysis
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    50 mins
  • Nicaragua: A History of U.S. Intervention & Resistance

    Nicaragua: A History of U.S. Intervention & Resistance
    Jul 28 2023

    EPISODE:

    Nicaragua, A History of US Intervention & Resistance

    GUEST:  Author, Activist and Labor Attorney, Daniel Kovalik

    BACKGROUND:  

    The latest book by labor and human rights attorney, Daniel Kovalik, Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance (2023, Clarity Press, 292 pages), is a worthy addition to the author’s collection of works on countries targeted by U.S. imperialism, such as Venezuela, Russia, and Iran. While giving readers a thoughtful and much fuller picture than one can glean from the corporate media, this volume tells an engaging tale based on personal experience and extensive research.

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    ADDITIONAL LINKS:

    Nicaragua: A History of U.S. Intervention & Resistance

    Book Review: Nicaragua, A History of US Intervention & Resistance, by Daniel Kovalik

    OUR BROADCAST PARTNERS:

    WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action, Task Force on the Americas, and Venezuelanalysis 
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    49 mins
  • Sandinistas Speak, Nicaraguans Defend Their Revolution

    Sandinistas Speak, Nicaraguans Defend Their Revolution
    Jul 14 2023

    EPISODE:

    Sandinistas Speak. Nicaraguans Defend their Revolution

    This episode is bi-lingual with subtitles.

    PRODUCER and HOST: Ramiro Sebastian Funez

    Friday, June 30, WTF returned to Managua, Nicaragua to do follow-up study of Caribbean Coast government funded infrastructure projects and to celebrate the 44th Anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution on July 19. While on assignment, each week we will share with you segments of the documentary Nicaragua Against Empire. The film journals our March 2021 Sanctions Kill / Friends of the ATC, Nicaragua delegation

    In this episode, you hear directly from working-class Nicaraguans who support their socialist government. You also hear their thoughts about U.S. sanctions and regime change. These are perspectives rarely shared in mainstream media.

    WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action; Task Force on the Americas; and Venezuelanalysis.com 
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    31 mins
  • Nicaragua against Empire: Part II Managua against Empire

    Nicaragua against Empire: Part II Managua against Empire
    Jul 7 2023

    EPISODE: Nicaragua against Empire - Part II Managua Against Empire, an inside look at Managua, Nicaragua, from a revolutionary socialist perspective.

    PRODUCER and HOST: Ramiro Sebastian Funez

    Friday, June 30, WTF returned to Managua, Nicaragua to do follow-up study of Caribbean Coast government funded infrastructure projects and to celebrate the 44th Annivesrary of the Sandinista Revolution on July 19. While on assignment, each week we will share with you segments of the documentary Nicaragua Against Empire. The film journals our March 2021 Sanctions Kill / Friends of the ATC, Nicaragua delegation. From film producer and delegate Ramiro Sebastian Funez:

    "In March of 2021, I traveled to Nicaragua as part of a 13-member delegation. The trip was organized by the Sanctions Kill coalition and the Friends of the Rural Workers’ Association, known as the ATC.

    We traveled to Nicaragua to understand the effects of imperialist sanctions on ordinary Nicaraguans and how they're fighting back. We also witnessed the wide range of social advancements carried out by the Sandinista Revolution.

    For eleven days, we traveled across diverse parts of Nicaragua. We visited the urban sprawls of Managua, the rural countryside of Estelí, and the tropical Caribbean coastline of Bilwi.

    We met and spoke with locals and grassroots activists to see the reality of Nicaragua. What we saw was completely different from what we see on imperialist mainstream media."

    WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas.

    This week we are excited to welcome Venezuelanalysis.com into our broadcast partner family!
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    33 mins
  • Mexico: Expanding Democracy and Defending Sovereignty

    Mexico: Expanding Democracy and Defending Sovereignty
    Jun 30 2023

    EPISODE: Mexico: Expanding Democracy and Defending Sovereignty

    GUEST:  José Luis Granados Ceja, journalist with Venezuelanalysis and The Mexico Solidarity Project

    BACKGROUND:  

    The international press is again bludgeoning Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, this time accusing him of attacking the country’s democratic institutions. It’s a baseless charge intended to undermine a government that refuses total obedience to US hegemony.

    On February 23, an electoral reform bill received its final approval in the Mexican Senate en route to being signed into law

    The National Electoral Institute (INE) is widely recognized to be riddled with excess expenditure and a top-heavy bureaucracy. The new law simply mandates similar cost-saving measures to those that the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has applied to other governmental departments. It eliminates duplicate functions at the local and district level, and fuses certain higher-level job descriptions. It also reins in eye-catching top salaries.

    The law also facilitates voting rights for the disabled, those held in pretrial detention, and the millions of migrants living abroad. It provides tougher sanctions for the endemic practice of vote-buying and enshrines in law the inclusion of minorities and members of vulnerable groups on candidate lists

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    ADDITIONAL LINKS:

    No, AMLO Is Not Undermining Mexican Democracy

    Venezuelanalysis

    OUR BROADCAST PARTNERS:

    WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas.
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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Alex Saab: Three Years as a Kidnapped Diplomat

    Alex Saab: Three Years as a Kidnapped Diplomat
    Jun 23 2023
    EPISODE: Alex Saab, Three Years as a Kidnapped DiplomatGUEST:  Fiorella Isabel of The Convo CouchBACKGROUND:The case is a terrifying example of the US’s continuing commitment to illegal, unilateral intervention and ‘regime change,’ where no country is truly safe, writes FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ (link to full article below)From his article: “June 12, 2023 was the third anniversary of the illegal kidnapping and imprisonment by the US of Alex Saab.Because the brutality and cruelty of the US blockade was wreaking havoc on the economy and millions of the most vulnerable in Venezuela were being deliberately denied their human rights to the most basic necessities of daily life, President Nicolas Maduro tasked Saab with traveling around the world procuring food, medicines and fuel for his country.Breaking every treaty, protocol, law and norm of international diplomacy, the US plotted to have Saab arrested while in transit to Iran to fulfill his diplomatic mission, by pressing the Cape Verde government to illegally arrest him on June 12 2020.”The plane Saab was traveling on was denied refueling in Morocco and Senegal thus being forced to land in Cape Verde. In his book, Never Give An Inch (2023), Donald Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo admits as much: “No other nation has the global reach to interrupt an Iran-Venezuela plot in real time and convince a small island nation to hold a wanted man.”FOLLOW OUR GUESTFacebook InstagramTwitterADDITIONAL LINKS:Alex Saab, hostage of the hybrid war against VenezuelaWTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean: Alex Saab, Sanctions & the Extra-Judicial Reach of the U.S. (September 16, 2021)WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean: Film Screening + Discussion, Alex Saab A Kidnapped Diplomat (October 20, 2022)WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean: Saab Oral Argument Focuses on Legitimacy of Maduro Government (December 31, 2022)Free Alex Saab CampaignOUR BROADCAST PARTNERS:WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas.
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    43 mins
  • Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Resigns to Run for President

    Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Resigns to Run for President
    Jun 9 2023

    EPISODE: Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Resigns to Run for President

    GUEST: Independent journalist Alina Duarte who joins us from Mexico City

    BACKGROUND:

    Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard, one of the leading contenders to be the country's next leader, said on Tuesday he will resign to focus on winning the presidential nomination of the ruling MORENA party for the 2024 election.

    Ebrard, a former mayor of Mexico City, wants to succeed President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as the standard-bearer of the left of center National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), which now dominates national politics.

    FOLLOW OUR GUEST:

    Alina Duarte

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    En Re Podcast

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    ADDITIONAL LINKS:

    Una jugada maestra, Lopez Obrador resuelve la sucesión

    Mexico’s Fourth Transformation and Why the U.S. Wants to Stop It

    VI Cumbre de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC), Desde Palacio Nacional (Septiembre 2021)

    238 Aniversario del Natalicio de Simón Bolívar, desde el Castillo de Chapultepec (Julio 2021) 

    OUR BROADCAST PARTNERS:

    WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance broadcast in partnership with Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team, CODEPINK, Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas.
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    55 mins
  • Isolationisam Ends; Maduro Visits Brazil

    Isolationisam Ends; Maduro Visits Brazil
    Jun 2 2023
    EPISODE: Isolationism Ends: Maduro Visits BrazilGUEST: Ricardo Vaz, political analyst and editor at Venezuelanalysis.comBACKGROUND:  Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro traveled to Brazil as part of an official visit to meet with his counterpart Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva where the pair discussed regional and international cooperation, including the potential entry of Venezuela into the BRICS bloc.The high-level meeting comes as part of joint efforts to strengthen their bilateral ties following the restoration of diplomatic and economic relations after years of tension under Lula’s predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who embraced Washington regime change plots against Maduro, backing the so-called “interim” government of opposition figure Juan Guaidó.Monday’s bilateral meeting also focused on reactivating trade between the two countries, which fell precipitously after Bolsonaro’s recognition of Guaidó, severely impacting populations on both sides of the border. The pair also discussed efforts to advance regional integration.FOLLOW OUR GUEST:Ricardo Vaz:  FacebookVenezuelanalysis:FacebookTwitterADDITIONAL LINKS:Venezuela's Maduro Floats BRICS Entry in "Historic" Bilateral Meeting with Lula in BrazilToward a new UNASUR: Pathways for the Reactivation of South America IntegrationOUR BROADCAST PARTNERS:WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean is a Popular Resistance (Stop the Machine! Create a New World) broadcast in partnership with:  Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team; CODEPINK: Women For Peace; Common Frontiers; Council on Hemispheric Affairs; Friends of Latin America; IRTF - The InterReligious Task Force on Central America; Massachusetts Peace Action; and Task Force on the Americas
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    54 mins