{"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":"Latin America in the Spotlight in 2026","slug":"latin-america-in-the-spotlight-in-2026","published_at":"2025-12-18T07:36:16+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000/latin-america-in-the-spotlight-in-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/latin-america-in-focus-50000","url":"https://www.as-coa.org/podcast","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.simplecast.com/audio/5a178289-28ad-46e7-8146-1f8fbe6c0550/episodes/a9d2e3ba-021d-492c-bc25-ad6b794cee26/audio/92f7af69-4e66-4e15-ade9-4f44e6d19f71/default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=_DUdLkxj","summary":"From the Donroe Doctrine to tariff turmoil a rightward electoral tilt, 2025 was a year of shifts for Latin America. Now, with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Peru gearing up for presidential votes in 2026, more change is on the way. To make sense of what's to come, this episode of Latin America in focus brings back four of our prior guests from across the region: Venezuelan journalist and political scientist Tony Frangie Mawad, Mexican international affairs expert Brenda Estefan, Brazilian journalist and political analyst Thomas Traumann, and Latino and hemispheric digital democracy expert Roberta Braga. Then, in conversation with host Carin Zissis, the OAS’ director of electoral monitoring, Gerardo de Icaza, draws on over a decade of experience overseeing missions in 27 countries to explain the evolving challenges on the ground for election observers, from being victims of increasing political polarization to finding practical ways to leverage artificial intelligence for stronger election processes—as well as what it all means for democracy in the region.","meta_description":"From the Donroe Doctrine to tariff turmoil a rightward electoral tilt, 2025 was a year of shifts for Latin America. Now, with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1933,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/latin-america-in-focus-50000/episodes/latin-america-in-the-spotlight-in-2026/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/latin-america-in-the-spotlight-in-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}