Talking About Latin America

This is really just me sitting in a room talking into a microphone every two weeks or so. The subject is Latin America, the region I've worked on for more than 20 years: its challenges—especially security and human rights challenges—and the United States' complicated relationship with it. This podcast accompanies my personal blog, and doesn't reflect the views of my employer, whose much better podcast is at https://www.wola.org/format/podcast/.

You Actually *Can* Protect People from Crime Without Destroying Democracy 12/17/2025

You Actually *Can* Protect People from Crime Without Destroying Democracy This is a variation of a talk that I give a few times per year. (It’s usually shorter.) I haven’t written it up as a publication yet. The gist: it’s perfectly possible to protect people from crime without locking up 3 percent of a country’s male population, blowing up civilian boats on the high seas, and dismantling democracy. Long experience in Latin America shows that short-term fixes, especially anything that conflates organized crime groups with insurgents or “terrorists,” are a dead end. Most people who study crime and governance agree, in broad terms, on the long-term vision for protecting people. There’s no substitute for a functioning security sector with a strong justice system and a high probability that anyone who colludes with organized crime will face accountability. That vision includes extensive oversight, transparency, and a laser focus on suffocating organized crime by severing its corrupt ties to government and other power centers. But that's a long-term solution. People feeling besieged by crime don’t have the patience for that. So what can leaders and societies do to make people feel safer in the short term? The answer isn’t as simplistic as “declare a state of emergency and lock up anyone who looks suspicious.” Instead, a rights-respecting, democracy-preserving short-term security strategy has many fragments and moving parts. Here is a survey of what it takes. There’s no other choice. Constructive comments and suggestions, especially on the “short term” conundrum, are very welcome. Thanks for listening. /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/39435225

U.S.-Mexico Border Update: December 12, 2025 12/12/2025

U.S.-Mexico Border Update: December 12, 2025 I'm trying something new here: a full-length video version of this week's U.S.-Mexico . This week's WOLA Border Update covers developments in the military's growing role at the U.S.-Mexico border, reports of deteriorating and inhuman conditions at ICE detention facilities, and updates from Mexico. /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/39389730

Why is there less migration at the U.S.-Mexico border? 11/24/2025

Why is there less migration at the U.S.-Mexico border? This is audio accompanying [a video presentation]() that walks through what the data tells us is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, why so few people are migrating amid Trump's crackdown, and whether numbers are likely to stay low. "Keeping people from migrating by withdrawing rights and instilling terror" is not a policy success, just because "numbers are down." After running through the latest data, this presentation looks at the dangers—including dangers to U.S. democracy— of what is happening now, and the outlines of a far better, rights-respecting, sustainable approach. /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/39144940

Cartels on the Terrorist List? 03/26/2023

Cartels on the Terrorist List? Some in Washington are proposing putting Mexican criminal groups on the US government's terrorist list, or even using the US military against them on Mexican soil. Neither proposal gets at the problem of impunity for state collusion with organized crime. /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/26342850

4. U.S.-Colombia Relations "in a Challenged Place" 07/11/2017

4. U.S.-Colombia Relations "in a Challenged Place" Relations between the United States and close ally Colombia have hit their roughest patch in years. It is being aggravated by disagreement over the FARC peace accord and how to deal with coca eradication. A better-briefed Secretary of State could deal with this more effectively, but that doesn't seem to be Rex Tillerson's style. /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/5527860

3. The Border Wall and the Budget 04/25/2017

3. The Border Wall and the Budget April 25, 2017: The Trump White House came dangerously close to shutting down the U.S. government over funding for its proposed wall along the border with Mexico. Here I explain the budget process, what we know of the administration’s wall-building plans, and why it’s a bad idea. . /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/5298658

2. "The Thing" 04/07/2017

2. "The Thing" April 6, 2017: Did you know that the U.S. government now has 107 programs that it can use to aid foreign militaries and police forces? Neither did I, before we started working on what turned out to be a huge report, or project, or "thing," that's now nearly complete. The new resource I discuss here doesn't have a name yet, but you can check it out in draft form at . (In mid-April this will move to defenseoversight.wola.org.) I also discuss the Security Assistance Monitor program, which I highly recommend you visit at . /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/5244913

1: Worrying About Peace Implementation in Colombia 03/24/2017

1: Worrying About Peace Implementation in Colombia March 24, 2017: In this inaugural episode, I voice some gnawing concerns about whether, and how, Colombia is going to implement its peace accords. This may be a recurring theme. I refer to a few documents here: The UN monitoring mission's . The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report on 2016 ( | ). about the transitional justice bill. Colombia's . The "" tag on my blog. /episode/index/show/adamisacson/id/5200440

Talking About Latin America

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