Wola Podcast

From a traditional drug policy perspective, fentanyl would appear to be an intractable problem. It also threatens a rift in the U.S.-Mexico relationship. WOLA's John Walsh and Stephanie Brewer point to better ways to respond to this challenge.

WOLA staff report from Honduras after a visit to the border with Nicaragua, where we witnessed a historic migration flow. As government and service providers struggle to manage this result of a series of policy failures, it's not clear what lies ahead.

A conversation about the political and humanitarian moment in Venezuela, efforts to resolve the country's crisis, and the U.S. role, with Geoff Ramsey, who recently departed WOLA's Venezuela Program and is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Guatemala's deteriorating democracy is approaching June elections with disqualified candidates, imprisoned or exiled judicial workers and journalists, and a U.S. policy that's hard to pin down. Analysis from WOLA Central America Program Director Ana María Méndez and Council on Foreign Relations Latin America Fellow Will Freeman.

December 2022 in Peru has seen a president's failed attempt to dissolve Congress and subsequent jailing, and now large-scale protests met with a military crackdown. Senior Fellow Jo-Marie Burt explains what's at stake in a deeply divided nation.

WOLA staff spent a mid-November week visiting several points along the U.S.-Mexico border. We spoke to many migrants stranded in Mexico, in shelters and in rustic camps, unable to seek protection in the United States. What will happen if and when Title 42 ends?

Mexico has been increasing its armed forces' role in public security for many years, but the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has just taken it to historic new lengths. WOLA's Mexico Program director, Stephanie Brewer, explains.

WOLA's director for the Andes, Gimena Sánchez, was in Colombia during the historic June 19 election that sent Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez to the presidency and vice-presidency. We discuss this victory's significance and the big challenges ahead.

Adam, Stephanie Brewer, Maureen Meyer, and Lesly Tejada discuss regional migration and the Summit of the Americas, which took place Los Angeles earlier in June. The four analyze the political implications of the Summit and their recent travel to the border areas. 

Recent violence in the northeastern region of Arauca shows the complicated, fragmented nature of Colombia's armed conflict—or "conflicts," as security analyst Kyle Johnson calls it in this clear, nuanced explanation of security challenges in early 2022.

More than 120,000 migrants have applied for protection in Mexico in 2021. We discuss Mexico’s difficult transition to being a country of refuge with Gretchen Kuhner of IMUMI, Daniel Berlin of Asylum Access Mexico, and Maureen Meyer and Stephanie Brewer of WOLA.

Colombia's government and largest guerrilla group signed a historic peace accord on November 24, 2016. Five years later, is it being implemented? Not enough. WOLA Director for the Andes Gimena Sánchez walks us through what is going well and what is not.

Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss have produced a new documentary, "Missing in Brooks County," about thousands of migrants dying in ranchland surrounding a south Texas Border Patrol checkpoint. They are joined by Texas State U. anthropologist Kate Spradley.

As of September 1, WOLA has new president. Carolina Jiménez has an impressive biography—and here, we talk about her work, how civil society has evolved throughout Latin America, the threat of authoritarianism, opportunities in US policy, and her next steps.

In this conversation, Adam and Stephanie discuss how Mexico's disappearance crisis grew to today's tragic scale, what has worked and has not worked for investigations into disappearances in the country, and some of the major findings of the WOLA's campaign on the issue. Please visit the campaign's website to see the in-depth findings and learn what you can do to support victims and family members of the disappeared in Mexico.

Geoff Thale, WOLA’s president, has retired after 40 years as an advocate for human rights in Latin America. When Geoff’s career began, the idea of citizens working full-time to change foreign policy was unheard of. Geoff reflects on how much has changed.

Last month's protests in Cuba captured international attention for the large groups that took to the street to express frustration with the island's current conditions. This week's podcast discusses the protests triggers, the island's ongoing humanitarian disaster, and what, if anything, the Biden administration can do to help the Cuban people.

Lisa Haugaard, director of the Latin America Working Group, is just back from accompanying a human rights delegation to Cali, Colombia, an epicenter of April-June protests. She conveys what witnesses told her about police brutality and new civic energy.

For those closely following Haiti, the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the chaos and political uncertainty following it have been years in the making, in a country tragically familiar with political and humanitarian crises.

Former WOLA Director Joy Olson just carried out dozens of interviews along the Texas-Mexico border. She came back saddened by expelled migrants' suffering, perplexed by the Biden administration's halting measures, and calling for bold policy changes.