Shows
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoNo News in Latin America? Or Just Too Few Journalists Covering It?News coverage as we knew it is shrinking, the latest drastic job cuts at the Washington Post just the latest whittling away of a service vital to the health of democracy. And this when smaller, lighter and more affordable technology should be taking us to more and more remote places than ever before. Joe and Daniel discuss the impact of these cuts on coverage of Latin America - a region they've spent decades reporting from, correcting bosses who thought Uruguay was in Central America and Lima was the capital of Bolivia.
2026-02-0831 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoChile Swings Back to the Right: Kast a Blast from the PastJose Antonio Kast is the president elect of Chile and takes over in March. He's already told foreigners they'd better be gone before he builts a moat - yes, a moat! - on along their border with Bolivia. Will it be guarded by dragons? He's the latest in a string of Trump disciples to be elected across Latin America...libertarian, anti-foreigner, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-trade union, anti-indigenous, anti-pretty much everything except big business, mining, foreign investors, flags and uniforms. His dad was a German nazi. His brother served in the government of dictator, Augusto Pinochet. He takes...
2026-01-1930 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoMaduro Must Go if Trump Says So...Several days later, it's still hard to believe it really happened - a US military raid on Caracas to arrest the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Celia Flores. And Donald Trump got away with it - for now. OK, so he broke international law, has been condemned both at home and abroad and doesn't appear to know what to do next. But the response has been weak to non-existent. Angry words, for sure. What else can Latin American leaders do, apart from increase their personal guard, as threatened Colombian...
2026-01-0630 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoLatin American Food - a Second HelpingPickled cow's tongue, sponge cake with tuna: just two of Argentina's Christmas delicacies. Joe and Daniel are not fans. But there's plenty of alternatives to delight the palate in Argentina and the rest of Latin America. Is Argentine ice-cream the best in the world? Is Peruvian food the best in the world? Is Mexican food too spicy? And where might you find the best sushi anywhere? Sao Paulo - obviously! Buen provecho! Bom proveito!
2025-12-2332 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoPardons, Impunity and ImprisonmentDonald Trump has just pardoned the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who a US court had sentenced to forty-five years in jail for drug smuggling and money laundering. He got away with it. So did previous Latin American despots, Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, and Augusto Pinochet of Chile. Argentine dictators thought they had too - walked the streets for nearly twenty years after commiting their heinous crimes. But justice finally caught up with them. And what about Peru?! Nearly every president who served there in the past forty years has ended up behind bars. Joe and Daniel...
2025-12-1528 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoThe US Influence in Latin America - Burgers and BulletsUS military forces are gathering near Venezuela, threatening President Nicolas Maduro and blowing boats out of the water crewed by people who may, or may not, be drug traffickers. Meanwhile, President Trump offered the Argentine president, Javier Milei, a $40billion lifeline if he did well in midterm elections - which he did. Washington is asserting itself in Latin America - its backyard. But then it has done, on and off, since 1823 when it published the Monroe Doctrine which stated that the US could do what it wanted in the region. Who's going to stop them?
2025-11-0328 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoBolivian Elections: New Broom or Back to Business as Usual?Moderate right-winger, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, will be the new president of Bolivia after elections last Sunday. He's the son of a former president and he beat another former president, a more extreme right-winger, Tuto Quiroga, in the second and conclusive round of voting. His victory marks the end to almost twenty years in office by the left of centre Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party, led for much of that time by Bolivia's first indigenous leader, Evo Morales. Morales is currently holed up in the coca leaf Chapare region avoiding arrest on charges of statutory rape...
2025-10-2429 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoWild Cats, Wetlands and Waffling Politicians - Save Our Planet!Joe has been to Brazil's Pantanal wetlands where he frolicked with jaguars. There's no-where better in the world than Brazil to enjoy nature - and to witness humans destroying it in the name of profit. Which is why the UN's annual COP climate change conference, this year number 30, will be worth watching since it's being held in the northern Brazilian city of Belem. Joe reported on the first one - in Rio in 1992. Daniel has covered subsequent ones in Cancun, Durban and Doha. Overblown, environment-damaging talking shops or our best and last chance to save the planet? You decide...
2025-10-1629 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoLatin America on a PlateJoe and Daniel have eaten their way around Latin America - munching meat in Argentina, chomping in churrascarias in Brazil and tucking away tortillas in Mexico. They've done fine dining in Lima, street food in Bolivia and found gastronomic greatness in the most unexpected places. Tuck in for a culinary tour of Latin America.
2025-09-2832 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoCoups and Coup Attempts in Latin America - Brazil's Just the Latest and Probably Not the LastThe former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for planning a coup. He was trying to prevent his left-wing rival, Lula, who'd defeated him in elections a few weeks earlier, from taking office. Thousands ransacked government buildings in Brasilia but Bolsonaro and his backers aborted the coup attempt because it became apparent it didn't have the support of the military - at least not enough of them. Coups and coup attempts are nothing new in Latin America. Bolivia alone has had 190, the most recent only last year. ...
2025-09-1431 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoCorruption at the Heart of Argentinian GovernmentCorruption is nothing new in Latin American politics - taking bribes, dipping into state funds, misusing government facilities and more. But rarely is a country's most vulnerable held in such open contempt - in Argentina's case, those suffering from disabilities. President Milei's sister and closest aide has been accused of skimming 3% from funds meant for the disabled. And when the president was informed, he fired the whistleblower. But that's not all. Medicines meant to relieve pain have been found to be contaminated and have killed nearly 100 patients at hospitals around Argentina. The government blamed the opposition, the hospitals tried...
2025-08-3031 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoWeird Presidents and Their Sexual ProclivatiesLatin America has had more than its fair share of eccentric dictators and democratically elected but dictatorial presidents: Pinochet, Stroessner, the Duvaliers, Batista and Trujillo to name just a few. Brutal, certainly. Often corrupted by power. Many demonstrating increasingly weird and sometimes disturbing behaviour the longer they're in power. No-where is that more apparent than in their sex lives. Joe and Daniel present Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Abdala 'El Loco' Bucaram in Ecuador (pictured, with moustache) and Javier Milei in Argentina as exhibits a, b and c.
2025-08-1227 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoStanding Up to Bullies - Brazil vs TrumpPresident Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on many Brazilian goods because he doesn't like what he calls a political witch-hunt against his one-time ally, the right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro. He's being tried for alleged involvement in a coup attempt on 8 January 2023, similar to the one that took place in Washington DC a year earlier. Brazil is standing up to what it calls bullying by its northern neighbour. Joe and Daniel discuss what the 's going on...
2025-08-0226 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoArgentina - a Country Increasingly DividedArgentina has always been a country divided - between Peronists and those who hate the Peronists, between Buenos Aires and the provinces, between Boca Juniors and River Plate fans, but especially between rich and poor. Now, with the hard-line, libertarian economic policies of President Javier Milei beginning to bite, that divide is starker than ever. Joe and Daniel discuss how the two Argentinas they've known over the years are growing ever further apart.
2025-07-2832 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoThe AMIA Bomb Attack - more than three decades of pain, corruption and ineptitudeIt's been 31 years since the bomb attack on the AMIA, the Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires, that killed 85 people and injured more than 300. Yet after all this time, we're still no closer to knowing who was responsible. It's been a case bogged down in corruption, ineptitude, accusations and counter-accusations. Joe Goldman was one of the first on the scene and has investigated the attack in more depth than most. He shares some of his findings here.
2025-07-1729 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoCFK - Criminal or Martyr?The former president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is serving a six-year sentence for fraud and has been banned from holding public office for life. Many however, believe she's the victim of a political witchhunt, that the current president, Javier Milei, simply wants the most powerful opposition figure in the country out of the way. Has he succeeded or is he creating a martyr? Joe and Daniel have strong views on the matter.
2025-06-2632 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoThe Dangers of JournalismBeing a journalist these days is dangerous. More than 120 were killed last year, many of them in Gaza. But we've become targets like never before and there are risks everywhere. Joe and Daniel have had their share of incidents over the years - in Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela and closer to home, just a few weeks ago in Argentina.
2025-06-0328 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoFootball Mad and Mad About MaradonaWorld Cup holders and home to two of the greatest football players the world has ever seen, what makes Argentina so crazy about the game? A game they will never remind you was introduced to them by the British. New club champions will be named this Sunday, either the once mighty Huracan or the brown-shirted guys with a squid as their mascot, Platense. Seems like a good time for Daniel and Joe to talk futebol.
2025-05-2830 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoThe Life and Death of Pepe Mujica: Uruguay's FinestRebel fighter, philosophical prisoner, bold, thoughtful and progressive president of his tiny country, Jose 'Pepe' Mujica has died just a week short of his 90th birthday. He made the news. He was the news. Joe and Daniel remember what he was like to interview, why everyone loves Uruguay and Pepe's three-legged dog, Manuela.
2025-05-2332 min
Dateline Latin America: Teargas and TangoTrump and Milei: Buddies from the Same MouldThey're both unlikely presidents of their respective countries - Donald Trump of the USA and Argentina's Javier Milei. Which is not all they have in common. Weird hair, misogyny and homophobia top a long list. Daniel and Joe ponder how and why it happened and admit, coz it's not a journalist's place to speculate, that they've no idea what the future might hold - only that it doesn't look pretty.
2025-05-2341 min