Explore every episode of the podcast 35 West

China’s economic strategy has evolved significantly over the past decade. Where once the PRC served as “the world’s factory,” today Chinese companies are increasingly looking to internationalize their operations. Latin America has been emblematic of these changes, in particular Chinese investment flows into regional electric vehicle manufacturing have raised eyebrows among economic security analysts. In this episode, Ryan C. Berg sits down with Christine Murray, Mexico and Central America correspondent for the Financial Times. Together they assess current trends in China-Mexico economic relations and how these might evolve under the new administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum. They also examine key countries in Central America like Panama and Guatemala, which will play a critical role in China's economic future in the region.

Throughout the Western Hemisphere ports play a critical role in fostering economic growth, and serving as gateways through which the region engages a world that is eager for it to play a greater role in global value chains. At the same time, the region’s ports have made headlines for their role in the burgeoning trans-oceanic trade in illicit narcotics, gold, timber, and wildlife, while port cities consistently rank as some of the most violent locales in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this episode, Christopher Hernandez-Roy sits down with Douglas Farah, President of IBI Consultants. Together, they discuss the growing relevance of ports for criminal organizations to move illicit goods across oceans and national borders, as well as best practices for addressing these challenges. They also delve into China's growing role into the Western Hemisphere's port infrastructure and the potential vulnerabilities this may pose for the region. 

Looking across the hemisphere today, crime and insecurity appears on the march, with transnational criminal groups ascendant from Mexico to the Caribbean and southern cone. In light of this, it is important to reflect upon the history of U.S.-LAC security cooperation, where we have seen two major, multi-year security initiatives launched and concluded in the past 25 years, Plan Colombia, and the Mérida Initiative.   In this episode, Ryan C. Berg sits down with Dr. Paul Angelo, Director of the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at National Defense University. Together, they discuss his new book From Peril to Partnership: US Security Assistance and the Bid to Stabilize Colombia and Mexico. They trace the divergent origins and outcomes of both Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative, as well as the current security challenges facing the hemisphere. 

In this episode, Moises speaks with Mark Schneider (CSIS) about Venezuela's crumbling water system, which is having tremendous health impacts on the population. They hear from Venezuelans who have experienced water shortages and discuss what would be needed to restore the water system in a Day After scenario. Mr. Schneider is a senior adviser with the Americas Program and the Human Rights Initiative at CSIS. Voices of Venezuela is a ten-episode miniseries produced by The Future of Venezuela Initiative (FVI) in partnership with the Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS. Voices of Venezuela is a unique narrative-based podcast that weaves together stories recorded on the ground with commentary from CSIS experts, who will offer their insights from a broader policy perspective. Note: As the Covid-19 pandemic changes rapidly, the quality of this series may vary over the next couple of months. We are still in production remotely so you won't miss out on any new episodes of Voices of Venezuela.

In this episode, Moises is joined by Gerver Torres to discuss key aspects of Venezuela's economic crisis, including hyperinflation, dollarization, and the Maduro regime's recent push for privatization. They listen to first-hand accounts from Venezuelans on the ground and discuss what the international community can do to rebuild Venezuela's economy in a Day After scenario. Mr. Torres is a senior associate of the America's Program at CSIS and an economist working with the Gallup Organization as a research adviser. Voices of Venezuela is a ten-episode miniseries produced by The Future of Venezuela Initiative (FVI) in partnership with the Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS. Voices of Venezuela is a unique narrative-based podcast that weaves together stories recorded on the ground with commentary from CSIS experts, who will offer their insights from a broader policy perspective. Note: As the Covid-19 pandemic changes rapidly, the quality of this series may vary over the next couple of months. We are still in production remotely so you won't miss out on any new episodes of Voices of Venezuela.

In this episode, Moises speaks with Katherine Bliss, senior fellow with the Global Health Policy Center at CSIS, to discuss Venezuela's decaying health system, which is now facing the added factor of Covid-19. They listen to testimonies from Venezuelan migrants and discuss what can be done to rebuild the country's failing health system and address malnutrition.  Voices of Venezuela is a ten-episode miniseries produced by The Future of Venezuela Initiative (FVI) in partnership with the Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS. Voices of Venezuela is a unique narrative-based podcast that weaves together stories recorded on the ground with commentary from CSIS experts, who will offer their insights from a broader policy perspective. Note: As the Covid-19 pandemic changes rapidly, the quality of this series may vary over the next couple of months. We are still in production remotely so you won't miss out on any new episodes of Voices of Venezuela.

By the end of 2020, an estimated 6 million Venezuelans will have been forced to flee, making it the largest migrant crisis in the world.  In the second episode of Voices of Venezuela, Moises speaks with Erol Yayboke, Deputy Director of CSIS’s Project on Prosperity and Development, to dissect the push factors for Venezuelan migration, testimonies from Venezuelans on the journey outside Venezuela, and what the country’s mass displacement means more broadly for the Hemisphere.  Voices of Venezuela is a ten-episode miniseries produced by The Future of Venezuela Initiative (FVI) in partnership with the Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS. Voices of Venezuela is a unique narrative-based podcast that weaves together stories recorded on the ground with commentary from CSIS experts, who will offer their insights from a broader policy perspective.

In this first episode of the Voices of Venezuela miniseries, we will discuss the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. We will introduce a few voices of Venezuelan citizens who are affected by the crisis on a day-to-day basis, and share with listeners what to expect in the coming weeks from this podcast. Voices of Venezuela is a ten-episode miniseries produced by The Future of Venezuela Initiative (FVI) in partnership with the Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS. Voices of Venezuela is a unique narrative-based podcast that weaves together stories recorded on the ground with commentary from CSIS experts, who will offer their insights from a broader policy perspective.

Illegal mining of the vast mineral resources in Venezuela, specifically gold, has devastated the southern part of the country. In this episode of 35 West, CSIS Future of Venezuela Initiative Director Moises Rendon speaks to Cristina Burelli, Advisor & International Liaison at SOS Orinoco, about the impact of illegal mining on the environment, human rights, and security in the region.

Youth violence in Latin America and the Caribbean is a big problem, but how well do we understand it? Richard Miles talks to Dr. Patricia Campie, an expert who was commissioned by USAID to find out which violence prevention interventions in the region worked, and which didn’t. She found that parenting and after school programs worked well, but other interventions had very mixed results. You can read about many other findings in the full report, What Works to Prevent Lethal Youth Violence in the LAC Region: A Global Review of the Research.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, former Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S., sits down with CSIS Senior Associate Richard Miles to talk about the fundamentals of the U.S.-Mexico relationship. Have the two countries grown closer or further apart over the last two generations? What has been the effect of increased trade, investment, security cooperation, cultural ties, and migration? Does it matter who sits in the White House and Los Pinos? Listen to the thoughts of one of Mexico’s top experts on the U.S. and his predictions for the next few years.  

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales resigned following the OAS Electoral Observation Mission denouncement of the October presidential elections as fraudulent, and massive street-wide protests. As a result and according to the Bolivian Constitution, an interim government led by Senator Jeanine Áñez took over with the objective to host free and fair elections in the spring of 2020. Electoral and political challenges remain as the country has only a few months to prepare for these elections. During this episode, CSIS experts Margarita Seminario and Moises Rendon discuss the road ahead for Bolivia with former Bolivian President Jorge ‘Tuto’ Quiroga and Bolivian Ambassador to the OAS Jaime Aparicio.

According to the UN, the number of Venezuelan refugees in Colombia will reach 6.5 million in 2020. While Colombia has shown patience in trying to mitigate the issues of its global neighbor, it is also facing an important and delicate time internally. CSIS's Moises Rendon invites former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker to discuss Colombia's priorities for peace integration efforts, its relationship with the U.S., as well as how the Venezuelan crisis is directly impacting Colombia's security and improvement.

Semiconductors form the building blocks of modern digital life. Chips govern everything from missile guidance systems to the headlights in your car, and the fight for the cutting edge of this technology appears to be entering a new phase. The United States, in partnership with allies like Japan and the Netherlands, has sought to cut off China’s access to advanced chip designs and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In response, China has announced a raft of export controls on minerals needed to produce modern chips, leveraging its dominance in the supply chain for mining and refining key minerals. In this episode, Ryan C. Berg sits down with Dr. Chris Miller, Associate Professor with the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology. Together, they analyze the challenges and choke points in the semiconductor supply chain, including the need to identify and certify alternative suppliers, as well as the role that countries in the Western Hemisphere can play in breaking China's monopoly over the raw material inputs for semiconductors. They also unpack the challenges to getting more mining, refining, and processing online, and how the United States can better partner with allies to shore up this sector of the supply chain.

For one week last June, dozens of reporters in the USA Today network coordinated stories on migrants attempting to cross the U.S. southern border in the article "One deadly week reveals where the immigration crisis begins - and where it ends." Daniel Gonzalez, a long-time immigration reporter for The Arizona Republic, tells what they found, and recounts some of his interviews in Guatemala and Mexico’s southern border. Most Central American families, he found, are fleeing economic misery rather than persecution. They are also lured in part by U.S. asylum law, a trend that saw a massive increase in apprehensions in 2019, especially in May and June.

Argentines go to the polls on October 27th, and the results may spell the end of Mauricio Macri’s presidency. What went wrong? Michael Matera, Argentine expert and Director of the Americas Program at CSIS, explains how inflation never went away and growth never returned. He also makes predictions on the polices of a likely Alberto Fernández - Cristina Fernández de Kirchner government, and whether the two can even govern together.

The Trump Administration has dramatically reduced the annual number of refugees that the U.S. will accept. Erol Yayboke of CSIS’s Project for Prosperity and Development tells us what being a “refugee” means in international law, and details the ebb and flow of post-World War II U.S. refugee policy. He also explains the effects the policy will have on Mexico and Central America, the largest sources of those seeking to enter the U.S. based on claims of violence and persecution.

National elections take place in Canada on October 2, and Justin Trudeau could be out of a job. Will the election turn on foreign policy? Canada expert Christopher Sands of Johns Hopkins University is back to explain why this might be the case, how Canada is tied to the U.S., like it or not, and how Canada views itself in the world.

Brazil is a world leader in crime, particularly violent crime. Part of the dynamic is the prison system, which serves as an incubator for even more violence. David Van Patten, Chief Operating Officer of Prison Fellowship International, explains the PFI model and why the overwhelmed Brazilian government has entrusted Prison Fellowship Brazil with the rehabilitation of about 4,000 prisoners convicted of violent crimes. The PF-run prisons, which operate in 117 countries (including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay), cost less and show lower recidivism rates.

The “future of work” looks quite different for developing countries. Robotics and artificial intelligence mean less to countries that still don’t have decent Internet access. Senior Fellow Romina Bandura, co-author of a CSIS study on the subject, explains how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is impacting countries like Brazil and Argentina, and some of the policies that governments need to consider. Pulling in the private sector, she says, is a major part of the solution.

Brazil has vast oil reserves, but can the Bolsonaro government get the energy to market? Returning guest Lisa Viscidi of the Inter-American Dialogue says reforms are already in place that will enable oil production “to take off.” The real obstacles are the financial stability of Petrobras, the shaky state oil conglomerate, and the monopoly that the state has on most aspects of energy production, delivery, and even retail sales. Lisa also comments on market worries about Mexican president López Obrador’s commitment to existing energy contracts, and the huge effect of sanctions on Venezuelan oil production.

Latin America has had a love-hate relationship with foreign investment. China is the latest suitor to test the region’s readiness to join the global economy. Stephen Kaplan, professor of international affairs and political science at George Washington University, dissects China’s role in the region, as well as the prospects for Venezuela to eventually rebuild its economy.

The number of Central Americans fleeing their countries for the U.S. has skyrocketed in the last few months. On the latest episode of 35 West, Rick Jones of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has some answers. With close to 30 years of experience in the region, Rick also details how CRS has helped build alternative futures for young people mired in poverty and violence.

Justin Trudeau is in trouble for meddling in a criminal investigation and dumping his attorney general. Mr. Canada, a.k.a. Chris Sands of Johns Hopkins University, is back to explain the details and how they could affect Canadian politics sooner rather than later.

Haiti’s years-long political and security crisis entered a new phase last week when Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Haiti’s acting head of state since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, announced his resignation. Now, Haiti faces a period of profound uncertainty, with a serious power vacuum in government, ascendant criminal groups within striking distance of the halls of state power, and increasingly narrow prospects for a long-awaited international aid mission. In this episode, Christopher Hernandez-Roy sits down with Georges Fauriol, Senior Associate with the CSIS Americas Program and fellow with the Caribbean Policy Consortium. Together, they unpack the implications of Henry's resignation, the recent surge in gang activity, as well as what the future may hold as Haiti continues to struggle to come to terms with citizen security. They also discuss the reactions of Haitian civil society, and the lack of substantial action on the part of the international community.

As global forced migration increases rapidly, Mexico has transitioned from just an exporter of people north to a transit and a recipient country all in one. While significant challenges remain, Mexico has an opportunity for regional leadership on migration. Erol Yayboke, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow at the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development, and CSIS Americas’ Moises Rendon discuss their recent research trip to Mexico City and Tapachula. They focus on how Mexico’s government and society are responding to the growing migration flows from Central America and other countries to Mexico.

Ambassador Jay Anania, born two blocks from the State Department, was drawn to the U.S. Foreign Service partly by the examples of his NSA dad and CIA mom. His 30-year career started in Tijuana and ended in Paramaribo, with stops along the way in Amman, Havana, Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Hong Kong, and Baghdad. He and host Richard Miles discuss changes on the U.S. southern border as well as the effectiveness of the Organization of American States, where Jay served as the senior management official from 2015-2017.

Juan Guaidó, the 35-year old legitimate head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, is facing off against Nicolas Maduro, who clings to his illegitimate power. Venezuela experts Moises Rendon of CSIS and Eric Farnsworth of the Council of the Americas are back to describe the role of the United States, the international community, and the Cubans. Guaidó himself, according to Moises, has a promising political future and may be the rarest of creatures in the Bolivarian Republic; someone who can unite factions against the government. If he can convince the military that it won’t be unfairly prosecuted by a successor government, we may be in the final throes of the Maduro regime.

Images of migrants charging the U.S. border obscure a larger trend. Many Mexican and Central American migrants are returning home, whether they want to or not. Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, returns to talk about who is coming and who is going. What are the governments of Mexico and the Northern Triangle doing to handle this reverse influx and what does it mean for U.S. immigration policy? Finally, will Americans support an immigration deal anytime soon?

Texas is greatly affected by tariffs, trade, and travel across the U.S. southern border. Matthew Rooney, director of the Economic Growth Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas, gives us the view from the Lone Star State. He also explains border infrastructure, supply chains, and the long-term economic effects of trade barriers on North America. He and Richard also trade predictions on the art of an immigration deal before the 2020 elections.

Democrats now run the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Does it matter for Latin America? According to former Bush official José Cardenas, apart from Trump’s Wall there is remarkable bipartisan consensus on what needs to be done in hotspots like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and even Central America. On migration and border security, Cardenas argues against a “Fortress America” mentality if we want to preserve a dynamic economy. Finally, he predicts the eventual assimilation of Latin American voters into both major parties.

Arguably no state is more politically important than Florida, which has become an electoral microcosm for the whole country. But Hispanic voting patterns in the Sunshine State - and the definition of Hispanic - is very different. Ana Quintana, an expert at the Heritage Foundation, explains the results of the 2018 midterms on statewide races. She and Richard also discuss the importance of the immigration issue to Mexican voters, and the effect it will have on both parties for the 2020 campaign and beyond.

Mexico’s government has surrendered its monopoly on the use of force, while large Mexican companies exert one in the marketplace. So argues Francisco González of SAIS in this week’s episode of 35 West. Along the way, Francisco covers 50 years of Mexican politics, Mexicans’ support for democracy, and the prospects for reducing violence and the flow of drugs to the U.S. Finally, he predicts stability in the US-Mexican political relationship, at least until the Mexican midterm elections in 2020.

January 10, the date a new presidential period begins, represents an unprecedented opportunity for the international community to help halt Venezuela’s collapse. Despite the refusal of nearly 50 countries to recognize the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential elections, Nicolas Maduro plans to be sworn in. The implications of so many nations not recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president after January 10 have yet to be determined. CSIS Senior Advisor Mark Schneider and Venezuela expert Antonio de La Cruz join CSIS’ Moises Rendon to discuss the political, diplomatic and legal implications moving forward.

New leaders in Mexico and Brazil may mean big changes to their respective energy sectors. Energy expert Lisa Viscidi of the Inter-American Dialogue says a Mexican delay on offshore bidding could have a major impact, but that Brazil is likely to maintain the status quo. Finally, Venezuela may eventually run dry, given the massive investment required to reverse declining oil output.   

Citizens from LAC countries have also played a more direct role in the conflict as foreign fighters for both sides. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv publish exact data on the number or nationality of LAC fighters who join their ranks, but estimates range from several hundred to more than a thousand fighters total spread across each front.  On February 23, Christopher Hernandez-Roy, sat down with Elizabeth M.F. Grasmeder, Adjunct Professor of National Security Policy with Duke University, and Andrei Serbin Pont, Executive Director of CRIES-LAC, for a conversation on X (formerly Twitter) about the role of foreign fights from LAC on both sides in Ukraine. Together, they unpacked the motivations of fighters for joining both Ukraine and Russia, why Moscow and Kyiv have turned to recruiting foreign fighters, and the broader implications of war in Ukraine for Latin American countries. 

Cryptocurrency use is increasing amongst everyday Venezuelans. The Maduro regime has been tightening controls on the economy and continues to reject humanitarian aid. However, independent cryptocurrencies (as opposed to regime-controlled petro) are enabling censorship-resistant peer-to-peer digital cash transactions. Alejandro Machado, Founder of Open Money Initiative, joins CSIS’ Moises Rendon.

Current international pressure on the Venezuelan regime has not been enough to help restore the country’s democracy – at least, not yet. Venezuela is enduring the worst humanitarian crisis in the region, which is having an overwhelming impact on neighboring countries, including unprecedented waves of migrants and refugees. Fernando Cutz, a former National Security Council advisor at the White House, joins Moises Rendon for a discussion on what options are left for helping Venezuela.

Caravans from Central America. They were big news for a while, now not so much. But they are sure to return to the front pages. Manuel Orozco, Director of Migration at the Inter-American Dialogue, joins Richard for a discussion on what is causing Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans to leave their countries. He argues that bad governance, not just gang violence, is a big contributor. Do U.S. policymakers have any good options?

Gone are hopes for a swift congressional ratification of USMCA with the House returning to the Democrats in January. Is Canada worried, and if so, why? Christopher Sands of Johns Hopkins University is back to help us empathize with our northern neighbors, as well as the changes in the post World War II global order.

The Axis of Evil is out, the Troika of Tyranny is in. Are Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba the prisms through which U.S. policy in Latin America can be seen? Pedro Burelli, a former director of Venezuela’s state oil company, Moises Rendon of CSIS, and host Richard Miles talk dictators, despots, sanctions, and regional stability.

Over 1,300 miles remain for a caravan of 7,000 Honduran migrants headed to the U.S. by foot. How many will peel off in Mexico, and what happens if and when they reach the U.S. border in several months? Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, explains what’s going on, what Mexico and the U.S. can do, and why it is likely to happen again.

Has incoming Mexican president López Obrador cracked the Trump code? So far, his non-confrontational stance with the U.S. has analysts predicting a more tranquil bilateral relationship than expected. Mexico expert Pamela Starr from the University of Southern California returns to assess AMLO’s priorities, Cabinet picks, and possible friction points with the U.S. Richard vows to go NAFTA-free after this episode.

Voters in Brazil joined the trend of upending expectations by giving Jair Bolsonaro 46% in the first round of the presidential elections. Is this jolt part of the global antiestablishment movement, or is it uniquely Brazilian? Gabrielle Trebat, a former Treasury Department official and a Brazil expert at McLarty Associates, provides details on the political landscape and insights on Bolsonero’s potential policies, including his almost complete lack of knowledge of the U.S.

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) talks about his recent trip to Guatemala and Mexico, and discusses U.S. efforts to help fight corruption, strengthen borders, and to go after narcotics traffickers. The real hope, he believes, is in  strengthening the regional economies through trade and development, a trend that also delivers economic benefits to states like Louisiana.  

Once South America’s richest country has now collapsed. About 2.5 million Venezuelans have fled their country in the last few years, putting unprecedented pressure on overwhelmed neighbors like Colombia and Brazil. Francisco Santos, Colombian Ambassador to the U.S., and David Smolansky, Chair of an Organization of American States Working Group, give their take. 

On Sunday, February 4, Salvadorans headed to the polls to cast their votes in what virtually all analysts predicted would yield a landslide victory for incumbent President Nayib Bukele. However, official confirmation of Bukele’s victory was interrupted as the president declared the opposition was “pulverized” before the final transmission of the votes had been completed and announced by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. While this appears to have been resolved in Bukele’s favor, with the tribunal officially announcing Bukele’s victory with some 83 percent of the vote, this incident is but the latest in a steady march of democratic backsliding in El Salvador, one where Bukele has shown contempt for any effort to check his executive authority. In this special episode, Ryan C. Berg sits down with Noah Bullock, Executive Director of Cristosal, a leading human rights organization which has been closely tracking the infringements upon civil and political rights under the Bukele administration. Together, they unpack the consequences of El Salvador's presidential elections, what to expect under a second Bukele term, and how the United States should respond.

Has everything gone wrong since Trump came along? Regardless of whether Canada stays, walks or sprints away from a NAFTA deal, the experience has forced Canada to look at its entire relationship with the U.S. Christopher Sands of SAIS is back to talk about the effects on trade, travel, defense, Canadian nationalism, and his consumption of Molson. 

How will the enhanced “rule of origin” content requirements affect the North American automotive industry, especially in Mexico? Dr. Luz Maria de la Mora, a former Mexican trade negotiator, explains what Mexico got and what it gave up on autos, dispute resolution, and other proposed changes to NAFTA. Finally, what does this do to Mexico’s relationship with Canada?

Venezuela is currently experiencing 44 million percent (not a typo) annual inflation. Apart from forcing everyone to do more math, what is the Maduro regime doing about it? Unfortunately, nothing that matters, according to Professor Ricardo Hausmann from Harvard’s JFK School of Government. Moises Rendon of CSIS joins us to describe the human cost, including Venezuelans fleeing their country, starvation, and misery. Both predict that nothing will improve without a new government, but even then, it will take at least a decade to put Venezuela back together.