Dateline Latin America: Teargas and Tango

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WHO: Joe Goldman, from The Bronx, New York (ABC, UPI), and Daniel Schweimler (BBC, Al Jazeera), from Hackney, London WHAT: Two journalists with more experience covering Latin America for some of the biggest media organisations in the world than you could shake a dozen maracas at WHEN: Every week WHERE: kitchen table in Buenos Aires WHY: Coz we’ve got tales to tell from decades of covering floods and fires, interviewing presidents and favela dwellers and being tear-gassed by riot police in the capitals and far-flung corners of Latin America HOW: with a recorder and bottle of Malbec

  1. Jul 18

    Argentina's World Cup Madness - Again!

    We speak on the eve of Argentina perhaps lifting their fourth World Cup. Just the old colonial master, Spain, standing in their way in Sunday's final. It's no exageration to say the country has been gripped by World Cup fever. Schools and businesses shut down when the national team plays and the streets are thronged with celebrating fans. Daniel, still reeling from England's defeat to the old enemy in the semi-final, and Joe, supporting the country he's lived in for more than 40 years, discuss Messi the Magician and just why Argentines are so passionate about football.

    Argentina's World Cup Madness - Again!

  2. Jun 13

    The Glory and the Grift: Argentina and its World Cups

    Argentina has won the World Cup three times: in 1978 when hosting it under a brutal military government amidst some dubious dealings to reach the final, 1986 in Mexico with the help of Maradona and God and last time out in Qatar guided by Leo Messi. They've also lost a couple of finals and always go into every tournament among the firm favourites supported by some of the most passionate fans in the world. Joe and Daniel look back at previous victories, at Argentina's chances this time out and at the source of all that passion. And, talking of passion, just a few words to get us going on the death of Argentine rock legend, Indio Solari.

    The Glory and the Grift: Argentina and its World Cups

  3. May 17

    Rats! From Hantavirus to Hondurasgate

    There are two viruses threatening Latin America and beyond. The first is Hantavirus (Andean strain) which it's thought was picked up by European tourists who boarded a Dutch cruise ship in April in the far southern Argentinian city of Ushuaia. It is usually spread from rodent to human. The fear now is that humans are passing it to one another. The World Heath Organisation is dealing with it since, like the coronavirus, it is a potentially global issue. Only Argentina, which has experience and knows more about this particular strain than any other nation, has, like the US, ducked out of the WHO, wants nothing to do with it. The Argentine president, Javier Milei, is instead reportedly dabbling in Hondurasgate - a plot involving right-wing leaders from around the world to undermine the three major remaining progressive, democratically elected governments in Latin America - Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. It's on tape. The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, talking about the involvement in this new plot of Trump and Milei, as well as - get this! - the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Don't forget that Trump released JOH, as he's known, from a 45-year prison sentence in the US which he was serving for drug-related issues. Why? Maybe Hondurasgate is payback? It wouldn't be the first time the US and its allies have meddled in Latin American affairs. There was Iran Contragate? The Bay of Pigs, countless US invasions of Haiti and US support of every military military dictator from Augusto Pinochet to Alfredo Stroessner? Joe and Daniel discuss to what extent these connections were rodent to human, human to rodent, rodent to rodent or human to human with the rats simply observing.

    Rats! From Hantavirus to Hondurasgate

  4. May 3

    Insecure Presidential Security

    The attack last week on Donald Trump was merely the latest in a series of assassination attempts against American presidents. Joe and Daniel have covered a fair few presidential events in their time - from Bush to Obama and Chavez to Castro - and been subject to the security measures that accompany them. They compare Trump's security with that on the events they've covered. And whether, as we mark World Press Freedom Day, security is used as an excuse to keep prying journalists at bay.

    Insecure Presidential Security

  5. Apr 20

    Exposed! The Emperors' New Clothes

    The people of Hungary have had enough of the malicious, regressive, oppresive policies of their president of sixteen years, Viktor Orban. He was one of the first of the world's anti-women, anti-abortion, anti-migrant, anti-LGBTQ+, anti pretty much anything deemed to be progressive leaders of recent times. In his wake followed Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Javier Milei, Jose Antonio Kast and more - leaders who undermined their countries' electoral and judicial systems to remain in power and, through foul means and fair, ensure that they and their mates keep raking in the cash. Joe and Daniel discuss what implications the Orban defeat may have on like-minded leaders in Latin America and how and why these pelotudos keep getting away with it.

    Exposed! The Emperors' New Clothes

  6. Apr 3

    The Battle for Human Rights in Argentina: Truth, Justice and Memory

    The military was in office in Argentina between 1976 and 1983, kidnapping, torturing and killing an estimated 30,000 of its own people. Thousands more fled into exile. Argentina is still a country coming to terms with this dark history: to find out what happened, who was responsible, where the bodies are buried. The survivors and the families of the victims want truth and justice. They also want to ensure that such horror is never again allowed to thrive - Nunca Mas! Never Again! It's a sentiment that rings even more strongly with a government in office that questions the extent of the horror and even tries to justify it. Joe and Daniel have, over the years, interviewed survivors, witnesses and torturers, visited the detention centres and attended the trials. They marched on 24 March - the day fifty years on from when the military took office and here discuss what that date means to them.

    The Battle for Human Rights in Argentina: Truth, Justice and Memory

  7. Mar 14

    Latin America and the New World Order

    The Monroe Doctrine implemented in 1823 by the then president of the United States, James Monroe, was designed to tell the European colonial powers to get out of their backyard. Make no mistake - Latin America was Uncle Sam's. Now dubbed the Donroe Doctrine after the current US president, their military operation in Venezuela in January was just the latest in a series of incursions in countries deemed to have strayed too far from US influence - Guatemala, Haiti, Chile, Grenada and Panama among them. Cuba next? Once the US has finished in Iran? Joe and Daniel discuss Washington's meddling in Latin America while the drones cause destruction on the other side of the world.

    Latin America and the New World Order

  8. Feb 24

    The Man Formerly Known as Prince and Our Part in His Downfall

    How the mighty have fallen! And can we dare hope that other arrogant, entitled and corrupt world leaders might follow in their wake? Daniel and Joe give their informed views on the latest fallout from the Epstein scandal based on their tenuous journalistic connections with the disgraced former royals: Daniel, while on his first newspaper back in 1986, covered the wedding of the ex-prince to Sarah Ferguson. While Joe reported on the death of Ferguson's mother, Susan, in Argentina in 1998 where she'd married into the elite polo-playing crowd. As they used to say the last time a major player in the British royal family was arrested (in 1646) - Off With His Head!

    The Man Formerly Known as Prince and Our Part in His Downfall
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WHO: Joe Goldman, from The Bronx, New York (ABC, UPI), and Daniel Schweimler (BBC, Al Jazeera), from Hackney, London WHAT: Two journalists with more experience covering Latin America for some of the biggest media organisations in the world than you could shake a dozen maracas at WHEN: Every week WHERE: kitchen table in Buenos Aires WHY: Coz we’ve got tales to tell from decades of covering floods and fires, interviewing presidents and favela dwellers and being tear-gassed by riot police in the capitals and far-flung corners of Latin America HOW: with a recorder and bottle of Malbec

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