NACLA Radio

On Jan. 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil's capital in a failed attempt to spark a military coup. In scenes that drew instant comparison to the events of Jan. 6th, 2021 in the US, Bolsonaro supporters smashed windows, destroyed artwork, and even climbed on the roofs of government buildings before being rounded up and arrested en masse by security forces. In this update to Brazil on Fire, Michael Fox examines the significance of the failed coup in scattering pro-Bolsonaro forces and uniting the country behind Lula, who has already embarked on an aggressive agenda to undo his predecessor's legacy. While Lula may be triumphant for now, the battle for Brazil's future is far from settled. As Bolsonaro licks his wounds in exile in Florida, the question remains as to how he might scheme with his US-based allies in the future. Historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez returns to the show to delve deeper into the links between Brazil and the US's evangelical right and neofascist movements.Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.Follow NACLA at nacla.org and sign up for our weekly updates at nacla.org/newsletterFollow The Real News at therealnews.com

Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the Brazilian presidency on October 30th. He defeated far-right president Jair Bolsonaro by just over 2 million votes. Tens of thousands of Lula supporters descended on Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue for huge celebrations. Brazil on Fire host Michael Fox was there and he takes us to the streets. But Bolsonaro supporters were also mobilizing. They shut down highways and called for the military to intervene. In this second update to Brazil on Fire, we look at Lula’s victory, Bolsonaro’s disinformation campaign that is keeping Bolsonaro’s supporters in the streets, Bolsonaro’s ties to Donald Trump’s former White House strategist Steve Bannon, and how Bannon is trying to spread a fake news fraud narrative to bolster Bolsonaro and divide Brazil, like the United States after Trump’s 2020 defeat. We hear from UFSC International Relations professor Camila Feix Vidal about the shared tactics of the international far-right and University of Virginia Media Studies professor David Nemer about Bolsonaro's unprecedented use of fake news and disinformation in the election.This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes, we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon. Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.Edited by Heather Gies.Sound design by Gustavo Türck.Theme music by Monte Perdido.

The first round of Brazil’s elections has come and gone. As expected, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the big winner, with 48 percent. But he fell short of winning outright. Current president Jair Bolsonaro exceeded expectations and came in just a handful of points behind the former president. And it’s going to mean weeks of intense campaigning as Bolsonaro has now become a real contender for the second-round election at the end of the month.In this first update to Brazil on Fire, we look at what it all means and how things stand ahead of the runoff election on October 30. In particular, we analyze the media spin in the wake of the first-round vote in an in-depth interview with Brian Mier, editor of the English-language news site BrasilWire.This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon. Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.Get weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletter  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLA  Support our work! nacla.org/donate  Looking for more in-depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribeFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/

The Amazon is a place that both Brazil’s former military regime and President Jair Bolsonaro have eyed with dreams of development, looking to take advantage of bountiful resources.It’s a place where Bolsonaro’s deconstruction of state institutions is wreaking havoc. Where illegal and armed actors are pushing into formerly protected areas and plundering the land to make a quick profit. Where Indigenous people are constantly under threat, whether staring down the barrel of a gun, fires, or Covid-19. Where their territories and their way of life are under attack—the invaders slowly eating away at the forests that have given them life for generations.And where Bolsonaro has been empowering those behind the devastation.There is no other place in Brazil that better symbolizes the destruction that Bolsonaro has wrought on the country. The Amazon is under attack. The fires are just the most visible sign.And that is where we go, in this sixth episode.This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon. Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.Edited by Heather Gies Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarseTheme music by Monte Perdido https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletter  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLA  Support our work! nacla.org/donate  Looking for more in-depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribeFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/

Brazil’s military dictatorship was a dark time in the country’s history. Hundreds were killed. Thousands jailed and tortured. And it is an era that President Jair Bolsonaro remembers with nostalgia. It's the place where he got his start and something he has long championed as being worthy of returning to.As president, Bolsonaro has called for the closure of Congress and the Supreme Court, marched with supporters to demand military intervention, and appointed more military officials to his government than any leader since the end of the dictatorship.In this episode, we dive headfirst into Brazil’s military regime that ran the country from 1964 through to 1985. We’ll look at the country’s failure to reckon with the past and Bolsonaro’s steps to push Brazil back in that direction. This is Brazil on Fire. A podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.  Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox. This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.Edited by Heather Gies Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarseTheme music by Monte Perdidohttps://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletter Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLA Support our work! nacla.org/donate Looking for more in-depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribeFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/

Brazil has a long and complicated history with fascism, going back to the early 20th century. Far-right and white supremacist groups have been emboldened by President Jair Bolsonaro—with some members of his own cabinet openly sporting Nazi tattoos. They’ve unleashed online attacks, pushed fake news and misinformation in favor of Bolsonaro, and threatened Brazil’s Supreme Court and its justices. But the country’s top court is pushing back. In this episode, we look at Brazil’s troubled past of reactionary fascist forces, and how Bolsonaro’s rise unleashed them anew.This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon. Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarseTheme music by Monte Perdido. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletterFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLASupport our work! nacla.org/donateLooking for more in depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribeFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/

Jair Bolsonaro could not have won the presidency without the support of one very important group: Evangelical Christians. There is, perhaps, no other group that Bolsonaro has so vocally courted, or that has been so loyal to the president. And they remain key for Bolsonaro’s hopes of recapturing the presidency this year.  In this episode, we visit those spreading the gospel for Bolsonaro. And look at how Bolsonaro and his allies are pushing a religious war of good versus evil, with dangerous repercussions. This is Brazil on Fire. A podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it.Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarseSign up for NACLA's newsletter: nacla.org/newsletterFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/Theme music by Monte Perdido. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waPortions of this episode were previously aired in a series on nationalism and religion that Michael Fox produced for PRI’s The World. https://theworld.org/categories/sacred-nationGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletterFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLASupport our work! nacla.org/donateLooking for more in depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribe

The election of President Jair Bolsonaro was never a foregone conclusion. For most of that electoral season, someone else was ahead in the polls. But he was jailed on supposed corruption charges by a biased judge, six months out from the election, and blocked from running.In this episode, we look at the fight to free former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from prison, the corruption investigation that jailed him, the role of the United States, and what it all means ahead of the 2022 election, as Lula again leads in the polls.This is Brazil on Fire. A podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon. Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarseSign up for NACLA's newsletter: nacla.org/newsletterFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/Theme music by Monte Perdido. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletterFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLASupport our work! nacla.org/donateLooking for more in depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribe

As candidate Jair Bolsonaro neared the presidency in 2018, violence rippled across Brazil, mostly perpetrated by Bolsonaro supporters. Hundreds of threats and attacks, including several killings, were reported in the weeks and months leading up to the election. ​​Bolsonaro's hateful rhetoric and fake news machine spurred on the violence, painting the election as a battle for the soul of the country. With key issues like family values and security, Bolsonaro tapped into a growing culture war aimed not at winning a democratic debate, but eliminating opponents.This episode looks at Bolsonaro’s most ardent supporters, and how a culture war born from the United States inspired a wave of political violence that forced people to flee Brazil in fear for their lives. This is Brazil on Fire. A podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under president Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon. Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.Sound design by Gustavo Türck https://twitter.com/coletivocatarseSign up for NACLA's newsletter: nacla.org/newsletterFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/Theme music by Monte Perdido. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletterFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLASupport our work! nacla.org/donateLooking for more in depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribe

Jair Bolsonaro's presidency has been a disaster for Brazil. Over 650,000 dead from Covid-19. Amazon deforestation. Rising fascism. Budget cuts. Fake news. Threats to democracy. In this introduction to Brazil on Fire, host journalist Michael Fox sets the scene for the podcast by looking back on the last four years and why understanding Bolsonaro's rise is important now, ahead of Brazil's presidential election on October 2.This is Brazil on Fire. A new podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under Bolsonaro. Over the coming six episodes we’ll look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it.Featuring host Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.Produced in partnership by The Real News Network and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA).Sign up for NACLA's newsletter: nacla.org/newsletterFollow The Real News: https://therealnews.com/Theme music by Monte Perdido. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5waGet weekly updates from NACLA: nacla.org/newsletterFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NACLASupport our work! nacla.org/donateLooking for more in depth analysis on Latin America? Subscribe to the quarterly NACLA Report: nacla.org/subscribe

First episodes coming this September!Jair Bolsonaro's rise was unimaginable just a few years before his election as president of Brazil. With an impending showdown between the incumbent Bolsonaro and popular left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, many suspect Bolsonaro may resort to a January 6-style coup to retain power. In this special limited podcast series from Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox, we’ll dive into the story of Bolsonaro's rise, the return of Brazilian fascism, and the unseen hand of the United States in Brazil's turbulent recent history. Produced in partnership by The Real News and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA).The Real News Network: https://therealnews.comNACLA: https://nacla.org

Mas de 15 años después de la publicación de Periodistas y magnates, el libro de Guillermo Mastrini y Marín Becerra que ofreció un análisis de la concentración mediática en Sudamérica y México, en un campo mediático atravesado por la creciente digitalización, nos preguntamos: ¿Qué tanto ha cambiado la concentración mediática en América Latina? En este conversatorio, Gustavo Fuchs habla con cuatro investigadores de los medios de comunicación en la región: Guillermo Mastrini y Martín Becerra, ambos profesores en la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes y la Universidad de Buenos Aires, con Isabel Ramos de FLASCO en Ecuador y con Andrea Cristancho Cuesta, profesora en la Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA) en El Salvador. Gustavo Fuchs, el presentador de este episodio, es estudiante de doctorado en la Universidad de Texas–Austin. Su trabajo se centra en la la propiedad de los medios de comunicación, comunicación política, los medios de comunicación religiosos y los derechos humanos. Una versión editada de este conversatorio fue publicado en inglés en el número del NACLA Report titulado "Dispatches from the Field: Covering and Uncovering Latin America's Media Struggles." _______________________________________Read the interview in English.More than 15 years after the publication of Periodistas y magnates, a landmark study mapping media ownership in South America and Mexico spearheaded by Guillermo Mastrini y Martín Becerra, and amid increasing digitization of the media landscape, is Latin America’s media landscape becoming even more concentrated? In this conversation, Gustavo Fuchs speaks with four experts on media in the region: Martín Becerra and Guillermo Mastrini, both professors at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and Universidad de Buenos Aires, Isabel Ramos of FLACSO Ecuador, and Andrea Cristancho Cuesta, professor at the Central American University José Simeón Cañas (UCA) in El Salvador.Gustavo Fuchs, the host of this issue, is a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on media ownership, political communication, religious media, and human rights.An edited version of this interview was published in English in the Winter 2021 issue of the NACLA Report, "Dispatches from the Field: Covering and Uncovering Latin America's Media Struggles." 

Helen talks to guest editor and contributor Bret Gustafson about Caribbean energy structures, and how US administrations from Reagan to now have pushed fossil fuel dependency in the Caribbean as a “national security” concern.

Helen takes a deep dive with Jonathan Devore, author of the latest NACLA Report’s feature essay on the early days of the Brazilian Odebrecht Company in rural Bahia. Rural residents’ memories and perspective on Odebrecht add new dimensions to the Petrobras scandal, which is now reverberating throughout the region— How does bringing in often overlooked voices change the way we tell histories of political scandals?

Andrea Bolivar did most of her dissertation research in Chicago, spending time with and learning from the trans Latina women whose experiences in the sex industry have emerged from a confluence of transphobia, racism, and criminalization.

NACLA Report contributor Moira Birss talks with Helen about how private companies and governments in Latin America have criminalized environmental human rights defenders, and how a confluence of violence, harassment, smear campaigns, and policing tactics threatens to silence environmental justice movements throughout the Americas.

Helen speaks with NACLA Report contributor Marisol LeBrón, whose article for the latest issue of the Report traces the Puerto Rican state’s policing and surveillance programs from the 1950s to now. They discuss the internal complexities at play in Puerto Rican politics beyond the colonial dynamic between the U.S. government and Puerto Rico, and Marisol explains how policing tactics were used to undermine the Puerto Rican Nationalist party leading up to a crucial vote over ratifying Commonwealth status for the territory. Helen and Marisol also discuss how Puerto Rico fits into a larger institutional discourse about “best practices” for policing, surveillance, and responding to crises throughout Latin America and in the mainland U.S., where urban police forces have carried out similar tactics to those the FBI and the PRPD previously “tested” in Puerto Rico.

49.2.3: DREAMs Beyond DACA by NACLARadio

49.2.2: Mike Bustamante on Cuba by NACLARadio