{"podcast":{"title":"Latin America in Focus","slug":"latin-america-in-focus-50000","podcast_index_feed_id":50000,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/_DUdLkxj","website_url":"https://www.as-coa.org/podcast","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/0f4ff6c8-4785-4f1f-b924-d27657704f2d/e33b7fb1-d25f-48bd-9353-27d67b7cd942/3000x3000/latinamericainfocus3000x3000.jpg?aid=rss_feed","author":"AS/COA Online","episode_count":242,"summary":"Latin America in Focus is the leading English-language podcast on Latin American politics, economics, and policy. What does AI's tectonic change mean for Latin America? Are youth losing faith in democracy? Can the region power up its lithium and critical minerals prospects? Will security or foreign policy influence elections? Latin America in Focus (or LatAmFocus) takes on topics like these, giving context to the big issues affecting the Americas today. Twice a month, Americas Society / Council of the Americas Online team brings you in-depth interviews with top experts, journalists, artists, and entrepreneurs on the ground in and from countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and more. Go in depth on the latest trends in Latin American politics, regional trade and economics, foreign policy, and culture in this podcast series by Americas Society/Council of the Americas.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-17T14:22:56.144877+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000"},"episode":{"title":"Can Rodrigo Paz Unearth Bolivia’s Lithium Potential?","slug":"can-rodrigo-paz-unearth-bolivia-s-lithium-potential","published_at":"2025-11-13T05:29:06+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000/can-rodrigo-paz-unearth-bolivia-s-lithium-potential","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000","url":"https://www.as-coa.org/articles/latam-focus-can-rodrigo-paz-unearth-bolivias-lithium-potential","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.simplecast.com/audio/5a178289-28ad-46e7-8146-1f8fbe6c0550/episodes/8216ea80-01ad-4525-ac6d-b011e43eb45b/audio/12c4abdc-9d48-4b1f-ba58-6089781ec56a/default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=_DUdLkxj","summary":"For decades, Bolivia’s abundant reserves of lithium, thought to be the largest in the world, have been touted as the country’s ticket to economic prosperity. But time and again, the sector has run into political hurdles, social resistance, technical issues, and a lack of investment. As newly inaugurated President Rodrigo Paz enters office under a promise of “Capitalism for all,” what will it take to get Bolivia’s lithium sector off—and out from under—the ground? In this episode, political scientist Dr. Diego von Vacano of Texas A&M University, unpacks Bolivia’s decades-long struggle to advance its lithium industry, how it compares with Chile and Argentina—the other two points of the “lithium triangle,” and prospects for Paz to attract the foreign investment needed to develop critical technological infrastructure while attending to social and environmental concerns.","meta_description":"For decades, Bolivia’s abundant reserves of lithium, thought to be the largest in the world, have been touted as the country’s ticket to economic prosperi…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1615,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/latin-america-in-focus-50000/episodes/can-rodrigo-paz-unearth-bolivia-s-lithium-potential/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000/can-rodrigo-paz-unearth-bolivia-s-lithium-potential.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}