El Taller: Cuba, Iran and the Wounded Empire with Hilary Goodfriend
In the second part of this El Taller conversation, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth continue their wide-ranging discussion with Hilary Goodfriend, a postdoctoral researcher at UNAM and specialist in Central American politics.
The conversation turns to the geopolitical fallout from the U.S. war in Iran and what it could mean for Latin America. With Lindsey Graham publicly declaring “Cuba is next” and U.S. military action already underway in Ecuador, the hosts and Goodfriend consider whether a bloodied empire will retreat or lash out at smaller powers, a pattern with deep roots in Central American history.
They also examine the economic vulnerabilities of the region, from remittance-dependent economies like El Salvador to Mexico’s complex position in USMCA negotiations. The discussion traces how decades of U.S.-funded NGO-ization depoliticized social movements, leaving a vacuum that far-right figures like Bukele have exploited—and what lessons progressive governments in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil might draw from Central America’s recent history.
Throughout, the conversation returns to a central tension facing left governments today: the pressure to moderate in the face of destabilization versus the need to mobilize and deliver for the base that brought them to power.
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Sighting of Wood Storks Recorded for the First Time at Mexico’s Lake Texcoco
Habitat restoration is bringing birds back to the lake where Mexico’s government once planned a new international airport, a project canceled in 2018.
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Nadia Beller, Ex-Partner of Cerimedo, Leaves Bolivia Bound for Mexico. She Is Granted Safe Conduct
Mexico granted her asylum after she reported police harassment, months after surviving a shooting allegedly ordered by the Argentine consultant.
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The American Dream Is Not Dead
An editorial on why the American Dream endures: the poverty and violence driving migration persist while U.S. and Mexican policies fail migrants.
