WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean

Welcome to WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean, a PopularResistance broadcast featuring hot news out of the region with host Teri Mattson. Each weekly episode features a country and/or issue related to the affects of U.S. foreign, economic and/or military influence and intervention in the hemisphere of The Americas. Our guests include academics, policy-makers, journalists as well as activists recognized for their groundwork within local communities and movements.

WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean broadcasts Thursdays at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on multiple live platforms including: CODEPINK YouTube Live, TheConvoCouch and Facebook Live via PopularResistance.org You can also find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Telegram and RadIndieMedia.com

WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean broadcasts in partnership with 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. Learn more about how to become a WTF Broadcast Partner here.

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Contact:
Teri Mattson – terimattson2017@gmail.com

Mexico: Expanding Democracy And Defending Sovereignty

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.

Alex Saab, Three Years As A Kidnapped Diplomat

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.

Mexico’s Secretary Of Foreign Affairs Resigns To Run For President

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.

Isolationism Ends: Maduro Visits Brazil

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.

Ecuador’s President Dissolves National Assembly Triggering Early Elections

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree on May 17 bringing forward legislative and presidential elections and heading off an attempt by opposition politicians to impeach him.

Opposition politicians wanted to impeach Lasso over accusations he disregarded warnings of embezzlement related to a contract at state-owned oil transportation company Flopec, charges the president denies.

A majority of lawmakers had backed a resolution accusing Lasso of allowing the corrupt contract to continue after taking office in 2021, although a congressional oversight committee, which heard testimony from opposition lawmakers, officials, and Lasso’s lawyer, said in its report it did not recommend impeachment.

Whatever Happened To That Plane?

On May 3, 2023, the Argentinian press reported a US prosecutor requested the US Justice Department to order the definitive execution of the seizure order of Emtrasur’s Boeing 747-300. The plane arrived in Argentina in June 2022 in what was supposedly a routine cargo flight. Nonetheless, the airplane, its cargo and its crew raised the alarms across Argentina, and it was seized by local authorities. Shortly after, US authorities got involved claiming the sale of the aircraft by the Iranian state carrier Mahan Air to Venezuela’s Conviasa was a clear violation of the US Export Control Laws. Almost a year has passed; the crew has been released, but the plane remains grounded in Buenos Aires.

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