Latin America

“Times are Changing”: What Does This Mean for the People of Cuba?

First came President Obama and then the Rolling Stones, the message is clear, Cuba is open for business – but what does this mean for the country and the people? A year since the US and Cuba restored diplomatic relations we will discuss what has changed.

Insight with Ioan Grillo – Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America

While the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, seems to have captured the attention of Hollywood – meeting with actor Sean Penn before his recent recapture – there is a brutal reality to the war on drugs that we don’t see in the Hollywood interpretation. Ioan Grillo, author of the critically acclaimed El Narco who has covered Latin America since 2001, will be joining us to share what he has discovered – a disturbing new understanding of a war that has spiralled out of control and urgently needs to be confronted.

Insight with Sandra Rodríguez Nieto: Life and Death in Juárez

We are pleased to welcome Sandra Rodríguez Nieto to the Frontline Club in conversation with Ed Vulliamy, writer for the Guardian and Observer. They will be discussing the poverty, deep levels of corruption, incapacitated government institutions and US meddling that have combined to create an explosion of violence in Juárez.

Insight with Jineth Bedoya Lima: Journalism, Kidnap and Colombia’s Peace Process

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Despite the constant threat, Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima continues to work tirelessly to investigate armed conflict, drug trafficking, organised crime and issues around women and violence. We are honoured to welcome her to the Frontline Club, she will be talking to Ed Vulliamy, a writer for The Guardian and Observer, about her prolific career as a journalist in Colombia, the work she does on conflict-related sexual violence and the ongoing peace process.

Insight with Anabel Hernández: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers

Anabel Hernández is one of Mexico’s leading investigative journalists. It was the kidnap and murder of her father and the subsequent refusal by the police to investigate unless her family paid a bribe that led her to journalism. She will be joining us in conversation with Ed Vulliamy, a writer for The Guardian and Observer, and author of Amexica: War Along the Borderline, to talk about the work she does recording and investigating the shocking brutality of narco violence and the complexity of the cartels, their rivalries and their links to government and business.

Chavez’s legacy

Provoking adoration and revulsion in equal measure, Hugo Chavez is a leader like no other. In his new book, Comandante, acclaimed journalist Rory Carroll sheds light on the inside story of Chavez’s life and his political court in Caracas. He will join the New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson and others to ask, after more than 13 years in power, what Chavez’s legacy will be.

In the Picture – Narco Estado: Drug violence in Mexico with Teun Voeten

After three years focusing on the drug related violence destabilising Mexico, photographer and anthropologist Teun Voeten has just released his latest photobook Narco Estado. Voeten photographed the drug violence capital, Ciudad Juarez, as well as other hot spots such as Culiacan and Michoacan. He will present his images and speak about the collaborative and anthropological approach he adopted for the book, using introductory essays by El Paso based anthropologist Howard Campbell as well as Culiacan based writer Javier Valdez Cardenas.

Insight with Lydia Cacho: Slavery Inc.

The international sex trade criss-crosses the globe using a sinister network, in a ground-breaking new work of investigative reporting internationally renowned Mexican journalist and campaigner Lydia Cacho follows the trail of the traffickers and their victims from Mexico to Turkey, Thailand to Iraq, Georgia to the UK.

Lydia Cacho will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with executive director of Article 19, Dr Agnès Callamard to talk about her expansive investigation into this world and the work she does reporting on domestic violence, child prostitution, organised crime and political corruption, whilst teaching workshops on how to help victims of trafficking.

Mexico’s drugs war and the challenges facing its new President

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon initiated a large scale crackdown on drug cartels in 2006 funded by millions of dollars in US military aid, the death toll in the country is believed to have reached 50,000 or more. Join us to discuss the different forces at play in this long and bloody war and if the efforts of the US and Mexican governments to break up and destroy the drug cartels can succeed.

Media Talk: Viva la Revolucion: Cuba at 50

View in iTunes Nearly one year on since Raul Castro officially took power from his brother, Fidel, and with a new US president about to take office, the change that has inevitably been creeping up on Cuba looks set to continue into 2009. Amid celebrations of the Cuban Revolution’s 50th anniversary, we remember its achievements […]

Insight: Lula of Brazil – with Richard Bourne

Richard Bourne’s Lula of Brazil is an objective study of one man set against the contemporary history of a major emerging power. From climate change to inequality, Lula and his country are grappling with the greatest challenges facing the modern world.

Media Talk: Is This the End for FARC?

Will the release of Ingrid Bettancourt – arguably the world’s most famous hostage, and FARC’s main bargaining chip – along with 14 other hostages – mean the end of FARC and the beginning of serious peace negotiations with the Colombian government?

In what is perhaps the mortal blow in a series of declining fortunes for the 44 year old insurgency movement – the release of the hostages has left the already weakened FARC with no negotiating power and has vindicated President Uribe in his hard line policy against the movement.

Media Talk: RCTV off the air: What’s the full story?

The Venezuelan government’s decision not to renew the broadcasting licence of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) is changing the face of Venezuelan media.