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In 1912, the United States invaded Nicaragua and began what would become the longest U.S. occupation in Latin American history. The occupation would birth both a dictatorship and one of Latin America’s most important revolutionary heroes: Augusto Sandino.
Sandino would wage a six-year-long guerrilla insurgency to rid Nicaragua of the U.S. Marines. And he would win. The United States finally pulled out in 1933, the year before Sandino was assassinated by the forces of the man who would take power and rule for decades.
In this episode, host Michael Fox takes us on the trail of Augusto Sandino. We visit his hometown and then speak with University of Pittsburgh historian Michel Gobat about Sandino’s life, the U.S. occupation, and how it set the scene for everything that would come decades later, including the 1979 Sandinista Revolution.
Under the Shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present. 
In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened — a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument, or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives, and left deep marks on the world.
Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.
This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.
Guests:
Michel Gobat
Edited by Heather Gies.
Sound design by Gustavo Türck.
Theme music by Monte Perdido and Michael Fox 
Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Follow and support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow at https://www.patreon.com/mfox
For background, see Michel Gobat’s book Confronting the American Dream: Nicaragua under U.S. Imperial Rule (2005, Duke University Press)
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William Walker was a journalist, lawyer, and physician from Nashville, Tennessee, who in 1855 invaded Nicaragua with a few dozen troops and conquered the country.

At the time, he was one of thousands of private U.S. citizens who had their sights set on taking over foreign nations, all in the name of Manifest Destiny.

In this episode, host Michael Fox retraces the footsteps of William Walker as he recounts one of the most twisted stories of U.S. imperialism in Central America—a story that still has lasting repercussions for Latin America, the United States, and across the world.

Under the Shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present.

In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened—a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument, or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives, and left deep marks on the world.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Guests:
Michel Gobat
David Díaz

Many thanks to Victor Acuña

Edited by Heather Gies.
Sound design by Gustavo Türck.
Theme music by Monte Perdido and Michael Fox
Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Follow and support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow at www.patreon.com/mfox. You can also see pictures and listen to full clips of Michael Fox’s music for this episode.

For background, see Michel Gobat’s book Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in Central America(2018, Harvard University Press)
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A New York court has found former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández guilty of drug trafficking and weapons possession. It’s a huge verdict that will likely see the former president imprisoned for life.
In the last episode of Under The Shadow, host Michael Fox looked deeply at Hernández’s time as president from 2014 to 2022, which many came to call a narco-dictatorship. He won office in a fraudulent election, consolidated unprecedented power, pushed a neoliberal sell-off, and carried out widespread human rights abuses.

In this Update 3, Fox looks at the New York trial that convicted him. What went down, what it meant, and what it means going forward for Honduras. And most important, what was missing — namely the role of the United States and Canada in propping up the Hernández regime.

For this update, we speak with Karen Spring, the co-coordinator of the Honduras Solidarity Network and host of the Honduras Now podcast. She was in the New York courtroom throughout Hernandez’s trial.

Under the Shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, to tell the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present. 

In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened — a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives, and left deep marks on the world.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox. Recorded in San Salvador, El Salvador.
This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.
Guests: Karen Spring
Theme music by Monte Perdido. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Follow and support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow at https://www.patreon.com/mfox
Read NACLA: nacla.org
Support NACLA: nacla.org/donate
Follow NACLA on X: https://twitter.com/NACLA

In June 2009, Honduras faced a devastating coup that shattered the country’s fragile democracy and sunk the country into violence, repression, and a decade-long narco-dictatorship.

But the people fought back.

In this continuation of Episode 7, host Michael Fox looks at the fallout of the 2009 coup in Honduras, walking from 2009 into the present. He takes us to Tegucigalpa to dive into the fraudulent U.S.-backed elections that ushered in a narco-dictatorship, as well as the resistance movement that, after years of struggle, ultimately did what it set out to do: remove the coup regime and return democracy to Honduras.

This is Part 2 of a two-part episode looking at the 2009 coup in Honduras and the aftermath.

Under the Shadow is a new investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present.

In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened—a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument, or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives, and left deep marks on the world.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Guests:
Bertha Oliva, COFADEH
Grahame Russell, Rights Action
Adrienne Pine
Felix Molina
Jesse Freeston
Karen Spring
Alex Main, CEPR
Karla Lara

Edited by Heather Gies.
Sound design by Gustavo Türck.
Theme music by Monte Perdido. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Follow and support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow at https://www.patreon.com/mfox

Click here to watch Jesse Freeston’s documentary, Resistencia, about the campesino struggle in the Aguan Valley. 

Karen Spring covered the New York trial of Honduran former president Juan Orlando Hernández. Visit Honduras Now for updates, or follow @springkj and @HondurasNow on Twitter.
Read NACLA: nacla.org
Support NACLA: nacla.org/donate
Follow NACLA on X: https://twitter.com/NACLA

In June 2009, a devastating coup shattered Honduras’s fragile democracy and sunk the country into violence, repression, and a decade-long narco-dictatorship.

But the people fought back.

In this episode, host Michael Fox dives into the tremendous resistance to the 2009 coup. He looks at the government of ousted president Manuel Zelaya, the Latin America Pink Tide movement of the 2000s, and the push back against Zelaya from Honduran elites and the United States.

This is Part 1 of a two-part episode looking at the 2009 coup in Honduras and the aftermath.

Under the Shadow is a new investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present.

In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened—a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument, or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives, and left deep marks on the world.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Guests:
Bertha Oliva, COFADEH
Grahame Russell, Rights Action
Adrienne Pine
Felix Molina
Jesse Freeston
Karen Spring
Alex Main, CEPR

Edited by Heather Gies.
Sound design by Gustavo Türck.
Theme music by Monte Perdido. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Follow and support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow at https://www.patreon.com/mfox

Watch Jesse Freeston’s documentary, Resistencia, about the campesino struggle in the Aguan Valley. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/resistenciacp

Karen Spring is currently covering the New York trial of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. Visit Honduras Now for updates, or follow @springkj and @HondurasNow on Twitter.
Read NACLA: nacla.org
Support NACLA: nacla.org/donate
Follow NACLA on X: https://twitter.com/NACLA

In the 1980s, Honduras was ground zero for U.S. operations in Central America. It was a base of operations for the U.S.-trained, funded, and backed Contras, in their war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. And it was a staging ground for U.S. military involvement and CIA missions in the region.
Within the country, that meant using the same strategy seen throughout the rest of the region: state repression, disappearances, torture, and the overwhelming presence of the United States.
In this episode, host Michael Fox visits Honduran family members of the disappeared and the walls of the largest U.S. military base in Central America.
Under the Shadow is a new investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present. 
In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened—a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument, or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives, and left deep marks on the world.
Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.
This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.
Guests:
Bertha Oliva, COFADEH
Adrienne Pine
Karla Lara
Grahame Russell, Rights Action 
Edited by Heather Gies.
 Sound design by Gustavo Türck.
Voice Actors: Andalusia K. Soloff
Theme music by Monte Perdido. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Follow and support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow at https://www.patreon.com/mfox
Read NACLA: nacla.org
Support NACLA: nacla.org/donate
Follow NACLA on X: https://twitter.com/NACLA