The Americas Quarterly Podcast

Епизоде

• 
  Brazil's Scandal-Plagued Election 17.09.2026 32мин

  Only a few weeks ago, there was a near consensus in Brazil that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the favorite to win this October’s election over his main challenger, conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Today, most polls show the race is tied, and Flávio Bolsonaro seems to have the momentum. With the first round of voting on October 4 and a second round very likely on October 25, it’s been a unique—and to outsiders, somewhat confusing—campaign in Brazil. In recent months, the ...
• 
  How Latin Americans Feel About the U.S., Democracy, Their Economies and More 10.09.2026 29мин

  We’re all used to hearing pessimistic headlines about the state of democracy in Latin America and beyond. But the latest edition of the AmericasBarometer survey suggests the mood may be shifting. Support for democracy across the Americas rose between 2023 and 2026, the first broad upturn in the region’s commitment to democracy in a generation. The survey, from Vanderbilt University’s Center for Global Democracy and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Not...
• 
  Colombia: An Early Test for the New Government 27.08.2026 33мин

  On August 7th, Abelardo de la Espriella was inaugurated as Colombia's new president after winning an incredibly tight election. Three days later, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the western part of the country, leaving damages close to $10 billion and devastating hundreds of municipalities across 15 departments. It was an extraordinary early test for a president still in his first week in office. De la Espriella came to power promising Milei-style fiscal cuts, a hardline security plan, and ...
• 
  Venezuela's Transition Talks 13.08.2026 33мин

  Venezuela's regime and parts of the political opposition are holding a new round of talks that analysts and citizens hope could lead to a democratic transition. The dialogue brings together Dinorah Figuera, representing the opposition-aligned 2015 National Assembly, and Jorge Rodríguez, brother of acting president Delcy Rodríguez and current head of the legislature. It comes more than seven months after the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd, and at a moment when Washington h...
• 
  Keiko Fujimori Takes Power. Can She Keep It? 30.07.2026 32мин

  On July 28th, Keiko Fujimori took office as Peru’s ninth president in ten years. Most of her predecessors’ terms ended in impeachment, resignation, or prison. She won a June runoff by close to 50,000 votes, less than a full percentage point ahead of leftist Roberto Sánchez, and her inauguration ceremony captured the challenge ahead: Opposition lawmakers walked out of Congress rather than hear her inaugural address. Fujimori campaigned on stability, security, and economic reform, a messa...
• 
  Latin America Joins the Space Race 16.07.2026 33мин

  The $75 billion IPO for Elon Musk's SpaceX is just the latest sign of explosive growth in the global space industry, which is forecast to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. Latin America, it turns out, has more to offer this boom than most people realize. Countries along the equator such as Ecuador, Brazil and Peru are among the most efficient and cost-effective places on Earth to launch satellites into orbit. In the Southern Cone, countries are already sought-after locations for ground observatori...
• 
  A New Criminal Landscape in Latin America 02.07.2026 33мин

  Security has become the defining issue in Latin American politics. In Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella won the presidency on a hardline security platform and a promise to scrap Petro's total peace plan. In Ecuador, Daniel Noboa won re-election on the back of a military crackdown against criminal gangs. And in Washington, the Trump administration launched the Shield of the Americas: A coalition of like-minded governments committed to a military-led approach to fighting organized crime. Meanw...
• 
  Cuba: Four Possible Scenarios 18.06.2026 34мин

  Over the past few months, the Trump administration has steadily ramped up pressure on Cuba: indicting senior Cuban officials including former president Raúl Castro, and sanctioning the state oil company and military-linked entities that control much of Cuba's economy. Taken together, Washington's measures, combined with the Cuban government's own decades of economic mismanagement, have pushed the island near a breaking point, with crumbling infrastructure, dire fuel shortages, and chronic nat...
• 
  Trump Wades into Brazil’s Campaign (Again) 03.06.2026 33мин

  Nearly a year after slapping Brazil with a 50% tariff in what looked like a bid to help the Bolsonaro family, the U.S.-Brazil relationship has had several ups and downs: Trump dropped most of the tariffs and, about a month ago, he welcomed President Lula to the White House for what looked like a friendly visit. But now, it looks like ties between the hemisphere's two biggest democracies are on the rocks once again. Within days of a visit by Flávio Bolsonaro to the State Department, the Trump ...
• 
  The Mexico-U.S. Relationship’s Most Delicate Phase 21.05.2026 30мин

  Ever since Donald Trump took office, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has tried to strike a careful balance: Working with Washington on security matters while maintaining sovereignty and domestic support. She sent 10,000 troops to the northern border, largely abandoned her predecessor's "hugs not bullets" strategy, and held one of the highest approval ratings in the region. But lately, that balance has become more challenging. In late April, the U.S. Justice Department indicted a sitting ...
• 
  Colombia’s High-Stakes Election 07.05.2026 34мин

  Colombia goes to the polls on May 31 amid some of the worst violence the country has seen in two decades. FARC dissidents have carried out dozens of attacks in recent weeks, prompting an appeal for peace from Pope Leo XIV. In a way, the campaign has been shadowed since last year by the assassination of senator Miguel Uribe Turbay. And yet, paradoxically, President Gustavo Petro's approval rating has risen 10 points this year. Now three candidates are vying to succeed him: Iván Cepeda, Petro's...
• 
  The Gray Tide: What a Rapidly Aging Latin America Means 30.04.2026 32мин

  As recently as the 1960s, the average woman in Latin America had six children. Today that number is 1.8. In Chile, it has fallen to 1.1, lower than Japan. Combined with rising life expectancy, the result is a region aging faster than any other in the world. If current trends hold, national populations could decline by a third in Chile and Uruguay, a quarter in Brazil, and a fifth in Argentina by 2100. The consequences are already visible: pension crises and census counts that have come in mil...
• 
  Peru Election: The End of Stability? 23.04.2026 32мин

  For years, Peru has defied gravity. The country has had eight presidents in ten years—a virtual power vacuum at the top of government—and yet the economy kept growing, the currency held strong, and the mining sector kept producing. That decoupling of politics and economics has kept Peru relatively stable and has prompted many in the private sector to argue that politics doesn’t really matter. But a first-round election marred by widespread logistical failures, fraud allegations, and a razor-t...
• 
  Javier Milei’s Ups and Downs 09.04.2026 34мин

  Until recently, things seemed to be going well for Argentina's President Javier Milei. In October, his party won the midterm elections in a contest many polls predicted would swing the other way. Since then, he passed an important labor reform, poverty fell to its lowest level since 2018, and the economy is expected to grow around 4 percent this year. Yet suddenly, a few warning signs began to flash. One poll showed a substantial drop in Milei's popularity. Another, by Poliarquía, recorded th...
• 
  Understanding Delcy Rodríguez 26.03.2026 34мин

  Nearly three months after the fall of Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez is still standing as interim president of Venezuela. The broad feeling, at least for now, is that Rodríguez and the chavista regime are not going anywhere. Since she took office on January 5th, Rodríguez has signed an amnesty law, reformed the hydrocarbon law, and restored diplomatic relations with the U.S. for the first time since 2019. Yet she has done this while keeping most of the chavista regime entrenched in power. Di...
• 
  Brazil, Colombia and a Regional Case for Optimism 12.03.2026 30мин

  After seven years covering Latin America for the Financial Times, and a previous post in the 1990s, Michael Stott is leaving the region as an optimist. His argument: that Latin America's strengths have been systematically underappreciated, and that in an increasingly dangerous and unstable world, what the region has going for it is about to matter more than it has in the past. In this episode, we take stock of the unique moment across the hemisphere: the tightening race between Luiz Inácio Lu...
• 
  Cuba on the Brink 26.02.2026 33мин

  For 67 years, many people have been waiting for change in Cuba — and for 67 years, the communist regime has endured. It survived the fall of the Soviet Union, the death of Fidel Castro, economic sanctions, and political pressure from 13 different U.S. presidents. But the Trump Administration, fresh off its military operation in Venezuela, is now applying unprecedented economic pressure on the island, effectively cutting off its oil supply, and pushing basic services to the point of collapse. ...
• 
  Rodrigo Paz’s Overhaul of Bolivia 12.02.2026 34мин

  When Rodrigo Paz was inaugurated in early November 2025, he vowed to implement “capitalism for all.” He inherited an economy in rough shape after 20 years of rule by the MAS party: Inflation was above 20%, foreign currency reserves were nearly exhausted, and fuel lines stretched for blocks. In many ways, Bolivia was also isolated in its relationships abroad, aligned more with Russia and Venezuela than with its South American neighbors or the United States. Now, almost 100 days into his new go...
• 
  A Defining Moment for Latin America 29.01.2026 32мин

  Latin America has been at the center of the world’s attention in 2026—and not only because of Venezuela. This week, we take a step back to understand the current moment and its implications for the region’s long-term outlook, from the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, to the future of USMCA, and upcoming elections in Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. What do recent events mean for Latin America’s political and economic future? Our guest is Michael Reid, journalist, author and former Latin Ameri...
• 
  A Realistic Look at Venezuelan Oil 15.01.2026 28мин

  The fate of Venezuela hinges on the country’s once-proud energy sector. Since Maduro’s capture two weeks ago, questions about how the industry could be recovered have become critically important: What’s the real state of the Venezuelan oil industry today? Under what conditions might U.S. companies be able to deliver on the $100 billion in investment that President Trump says is needed? Can the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez deliver those conditions? Today on the podcast, we take a real...