Latin America in Focus Podcast
About Latin America in Focus
Go in depth on the latest trends in Latin American politics, economics, and culture. Twice a month, the AS/COA 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, Colombia, Chile.
Notable guests include:
- Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter-American Development Bank
- Julio Frenk, Chancellor of UCLA and former Secretary of Health of Mexico
- Amb. Thomas Shannon, former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil
- Felipe Chapman, Minister of Economy and Finance of Panama
- Amb. Sarah-Ann Lynch, Senior Advisor at Dinámica Americas and former Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to U.S. Southern Command
- Kenneth Smith Ramos, Partner at Agon and Mexico’s former chief USMCA negotiator
- Otaviano Canuto, Senior Fellow at Policy Center for the New South and former Vice President of the World Bank
- Sebastian Mejia, Co-Founder and President of Rappi
- Paula Escobar Chavarría, Founder and Executive Director of the Women and Media Chair at Universidad Diego Portales, host and panelist at CNN Chile
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The series is heard by listeners in 50 countries around the globe. Join our audience! If you already know us, share your favorite episode and write a review. If you’ve just discovered us, welcome to Latin America in Focus and subscribe via your preferred platform, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, SoundCloud, or Stitcher.
Carin Zissis, Host
Carin is the editor-in-chief of AS/COA Online, the website of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. An award-winning journalist, her writing and commentary have been featured in The Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Univision, World Politics Review, and other outlets.
Based in Mexico City from 2013 to 2021, she covered the 2018 Mexican elections and subsequent presidential transition. She was a 2024–25 International Competition Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Prior to joining AS/COA, she served as a staff writer at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Luisa Leme, Executive Producer, Interim Host
As senior producer, Luisa oversees video and live broadcasts for AS/COA. A journalist with an MA in International Affairs, she has experience in traditional news outlets, international organizations, documentary features, mega-events, and cultural institutions in nine countries. Her work has appeared on TV Globo, Radio France Internationale, Rádio CBN, Americas Quarterly, AP, newspapers Folha de S. Paulo and O Globo, and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
Before joining AS/COA, Luisa worked in the UN News and Media division.
Chase Harrison, Reporter
Chase is AS/COA Online's editorial manager and holds an MPhil from the University of Oxford, where his research focused on political parties in Mexico and Central America and where he managed content and served as podcast editor for the OxPol academic blog.
Khalea Robertson, Associate Producer
Khalea is an editorial associate at AS/COA Online. She has worked as a journalist and researcher, and has previous experience in international relations and development. During her MA program in Global Journalism with Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, her research and reporting focused on migration from and within the Americas.
NetLab’s Marie Santini and University of Palermo’s Agustina Del Campo cover the X shutdown and the regional panorama of social media regulation.
In episode 200, Pew’s Mark Hugo Lopez, AQ’s Brian Winter, and AS/COA’s Carin Zissis talk electoral shifts in Mexico, the U.S., and across Latin America.
Caracas-based journalist Tony Frangie Mawad and ProBox Executive Director Mariví Marin Vázquez explore what’s at stake in the July 28 election.
WMO’s Rodney Martinez and Acción Andina’s Florent Kaiser explain Latin American countries task ahead to address the region’s water scarcity woes.
IPADE’s Brenda Estefan, IMCO’s Oscar Ocampo, and FTI’s Isaac Morales look at what a Sheinbaum sexenio means for foreign affairs, energy, and cybersecurity.
Top political consultants Dough Sosnik and Russ Schriefer tell AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth why migration at the U.S. Southern border may define the 2024 vote.
With Luis Abinader’s likely reelection on May 19, Temple University’s Rosario Espinal explains why the Dominican Republic bucks regional political trends.
Dr. Mariângela Simão assesses the region’s preparedness in the face of a major dengue outbreak in Argentina, Brazil, and other countries.
As an unpredictable May 5 election nears, INDESA’s Felipe Chapman tells AS/COA’s Randy Melzi the next government faces a series of “fixable” problems.
Washington’s top diplomat for the Americas talks with AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth on U.S. regional priorities, including positions on Haiti and Venezuela.