In this episode of The Killing Drugs, Vanda Felbab-Brown discusses the emerging smuggling and retail of illicit fentanyl in South America with guests Daniel Mejía of Universidad de los Andes and Sara García of InSight Crime. They explore the sources and networks behind this threat, as well as the factors that mitigate or could amplify it. They also…

In September 2024, Mexico’s legislature quickly approved a series of constitutional reforms at the behest of outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The revisions, among other things, fundamentally change the nature of the country’s judiciary and fundamentally and permanently change the role of the armed forces in public security. Under the…

In this episode, host Vanda Felbab-Brown speaks with Dr. Alex Stevens, criminology professor at the University of Sheffield, about the emerging threat of synthetic opioids in Europe, particularly fentanyl and nitazenes. Stevens argues that the greater availability of treatment access and harm reduction programs in Europe than in the United States c…

In this episode of The Killing Drugs, Vanda Felbab-Brown talks with Fred Dews about the role of Mexican criminal groups in the U.S. opioid crisis and U.S-Mexico anti-crime cooperation. She explains how, in addition to dominating fentanyl and methamphetamine production and supply to the United States, the Sinaloa cartel and cartel Jalisco Nueva Gene…

In this episode, the podcast roles are reversed as show host Vanda Felbab-Brown is interviewed by Fred Dews, show producer and multimedia project manager at Brookings, about her research on the evolution of illicit networks and supply chains in China that fuel the U.S. fentanyl and opioid crises. They also discuss the evolution and complexities U.S…

In this episode, host Vanda Felbab-Brown speaks with Philomena Kebec, economic development coordinator for the Bad River tribe, about the particularly devastating impact of the fentanyl epidemic on American Indian and Alaska Native communities. In the United States, Native communities experience the highest drug overdose mortality rates among racia…

This podcast episode features Kendra McSweeney and Fritz Pinnow, part of a team investigating a new trend: the emergence of coca cultivation in Central America. McSweeney, a professor of geography at Ohio State University, has research human-environment interactions, cultural and political ecology, conservation and development, resilience, demograp…

Host Vanda Felbab-Brown interviews Stanford professor Keith Humphreys about drug decriminalization in San Francisco, Oregon, and British Columbia. They discuss the origins and motivations for the dramatic policy change in 2020; the design of the policies, including the similarities with and differences from the decriminalization policies in Portuga…

Host Vanda Felbab-Brown talks with RAND researchers Beau Kilmer and Roland Neil about U.S. domestic law enforcement responses to the fentanyl crisis. Kilmer and Neil highlight a decline in drug arrests, particularly for cannabis, in the United States, but note a surge in fentanyl-related seizures. They also discuss various alternatives to incarcera…

In this episode, host Vanda Felbab-Brown discusses the benefits and limitations of harm reduction approaches with experts Regina LaBelle and David Holtgrave, who discuss a wide scope of harm reduction measures, including naloxone provision, overdose prevention centers, and the importance and efficacy of client-centered and community-centered approa…

Host Vanda Felbab-Brown speaks with Dr. Nicole Gastala and Dr. Harold Pollack about the challenges in reducing opioid use disorder in the U.S. They discuss the effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment and explore barriers like stigma, socioeconomic disparities, rural access issues, and insufficient insurance coverage. The conversation emphasi…

In the show’s second episode, host Vanda Felbab-Brown talks with Dr. Peter Reuter and Dr. Greg Midgette, criminology professors at the University of Maryland, about the current state of the U.S. drug market, discussing changes to U.S. consumption patterns from cocaine to various opioids. The episode also explores the dramatic rise in lethality in t…

In the show’s first episode, host Vanda Felbab-Brown speaks with Dr. Jonathan Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, about the unique challenges that synthetic drugs, and particularly synthetic opioids, pose for policy. After laying out the history of drug use in the United States and the origins of the fentanyl epidemic, they discuss…

WOLA’s President Carolina Jimenez Sandoval is joined by Laura Cristina Dib, WOLA’s director for Venezuela to discuss the state of Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro’s self proclaimed and highly contested July 28 electoral victory. This is a continuation of WOLA’s July 30 podcast, “The Scrutiny Should Be Public to All Citizens:” the aftermath of Venezue…

Over 100,000 Americans are dying of drug overdoses annually. On The Killing Drugs: Synthetic Opioids around the World, host Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, interviews leading experts on the devastating synthetic opioid crisis to find policies that can save lives in the United States and around the…

On July 28, 2024, Venezuela held a long-awaited presidential election. More than 25 years after Hugo Chávez was first elected, his successor, Nicolas Maduro, ran for a third term. The opposition coalesced around a candidate; despite many obstacles, the opposition had a big enthusiasm advantage, and turnout on July 28th was very high. In the end, th…

On March 14-22, 2024, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) held its 67th annual session in Vienna, Austria. The session saw a landmark vote that may have important repercussions for drug policy, in Latin America and elsewhere. The commission approved a U.S.-led resolution encouraging countries to implement “harm reduction” measures to respond …

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele just won re-election by a broad margin as a massive security crackdown has reduced gangs’ role in everyday life. But the increasingly authoritarian “Bukele model” has a big long-term downside, Douglas Farah explains. --- It has been almost a month since Nayib Bukele was reelected as President of El Salvador by a…

A January outbreak of criminal violence in Ecuador made headlines worldwide. Now, a new government is cracking down in ways that recall other countries' "mano dura" policies, and the U.S. government stands ready to help. Is this the right way forward? While this isn’t the first time Ecuador’s government has declared a state of exception, the promin…

After relentless attempts to block his inauguration and a nine-hour delay, Bernardo Arévalo, who ran for Guatemala’s presidency on an anti-corruption platform, was sworn into office minutes after midnight on January 14. In this highly educational episode, WOLA Director for Central America Ana María Méndez Dardón is joined by WOLA Senior Fellow Jo-M…

As congressional negotiations place asylum and other legal protection pathways at risk, and as we approach a 2024 election year with migration becoming a higher priority for voters in the United States, we found it important to discuss the current moment's complexities. WOLA’s vice president for Programs, Maureen Meyer, former director for WOLA’s M…

A conversation with WOLA's President, Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, about the year ahead. She discusses current challenges in the Americas within four areas that are orienting WOLA's current work: democracy, migration, climate, and gender and racial justice.

Maria Belén Garrido, a research lecturer at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, and Jeffrey Pugh, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, lead the Regional Institute for the Study and Practice of Strategic Nonviolent Action in the Americas. The institute provides training, capacity building, and networking oppor…

A new report from WOLA dives deeply into the growing power and roles of Mexico’s military, and what that means for human rights, democracy, and U.S.-Mexico relations. WOLA’s Mexico Program published Militarized Transformation: Human Rights and Democratic Controls in a Context of Increasing Militarization in Mexico on September 6. The report voices …

Venezuela is to hold presidential elections sometime in 2024. Whether they will be at least somewhat free and fair, moving the country away from authoritarianism and toward democracy, is unlikely but far from impossible. It is a goal that must guide the international community and Venezuelan civil society. That is one of the central messages of Lau…

Gretchen Kuhner directs the Mexico City-based Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI). She explains the challenges and complexities—and occasional advocacy successes—of the current moment of record migration and changing policies, viewed from Mexico.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Joining WOLA with partners in three countries, the Central America Monitor has tracked governance indicators during a very difficult nine years. WOLA's Elizabeth Kennedy and Lisette Vásquez of the Myrna Mack Foundation explain this important work.

From a traditional drug policy perspective, fentanyl would appear to be an intractable problem. It also threatens a rift in the U.S.-Mexico relationship. WOLA's John Walsh and Stephanie Brewer point to better ways to respond to this challenge.द्वारा Adam Isacson

WOLA staff report from Honduras after a visit to the border with Nicaragua, where we witnessed a historic migration flow. As government and service providers struggle to manage this result of a series of policy failures, it's not clear what lies ahead.द्वारा Adam Isacson

A conversation about the political and humanitarian moment in Venezuela, efforts to resolve the country's crisis, and the U.S. role, with Geoff Ramsey, who recently departed WOLA's Venezuela Program and is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Guatemala's deteriorating democracy is approaching June elections with disqualified candidates, imprisoned or exiled judicial workers and journalists, and a U.S. policy that's hard to pin down. Analysis from WOLA Central America Program Director Ana María Méndez and Council on Foreign Relations Latin America Fellow Will Freeman.…

December 2022 in Peru has seen a president's failed attempt to dissolve Congress and subsequent jailing, and now large-scale protests met with a military crackdown. Senior Fellow Jo-Marie Burt explains what's at stake in a deeply divided nation.द्वारा Adam Isacson

WOLA staff spent a mid-November week visiting several points along the U.S.-Mexico border. We spoke to many migrants stranded in Mexico, in shelters and in rustic camps, unable to seek protection in the United States. What will happen if and when Title 42 ends?द्वारा Adam Isacson

Mexico has been increasing its armed forces' role in public security for many years, but the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has just taken it to historic new lengths. WOLA's Mexico Program director, Stephanie Brewer, explains.द्वारा Adam Isacson

WOLA's director for the Andes, Gimena Sánchez, was in Colombia during the historic June 19 election that sent Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez to the presidency and vice-presidency. We discuss this victory's significance and the big challenges ahead.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Adam, Stephanie Brewer, Maureen Meyer, and Lesly Tejada discuss regional migration and the Summit of the Americas, which took place Los Angeles earlier in June. The four analyze the political implications of the Summit and their recent travel to the border areas.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Recent violence in the northeastern region of Arauca shows the complicated, fragmented nature of Colombia's armed conflict—or "conflicts," as security analyst Kyle Johnson calls it in this clear, nuanced explanation of security challenges in early 2022.द्वारा Adam Isacson

More than 120,000 migrants have applied for protection in Mexico in 2021. We discuss Mexico’s difficult transition to being a country of refuge with Gretchen Kuhner of IMUMI, Daniel Berlin of Asylum Access Mexico, and Maureen Meyer and Stephanie Brewer of WOLA.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Colombia's government and largest guerrilla group signed a historic peace accord on November 24, 2016. Five years later, is it being implemented? Not enough. WOLA Director for the Andes Gimena Sánchez walks us through what is going well and what is not.

Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss have produced a new documentary, "Missing in Brooks County," about thousands of migrants dying in ranchland surrounding a south Texas Border Patrol checkpoint. They are joined by Texas State U. anthropologist Kate Spradley.द्वारा Adam Isacson

As of September 1, WOLA has new president. Carolina Jiménez has an impressive biography—and here, we talk about her work, how civil society has evolved throughout Latin America, the threat of authoritarianism, opportunities in US policy, and her next steps.द्वारा Adam Isacson

In this conversation, Adam and Stephanie discuss how Mexico's disappearance crisis grew to today's tragic scale, what has worked and has not worked for investigations into disappearances in the country, and some of the major findings of the WOLA's campaign on the issue. Please visit the campaign's website to see the in-depth findings and learn what…

Geoff Thale, WOLA’s president, has retired after 40 years as an advocate for human rights in Latin America. When Geoff’s career began, the idea of citizens working full-time to change foreign policy was unheard of. Geoff reflects on how much has changed.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Last month's protests in Cuba captured international attention for the large groups that took to the street to express frustration with the island's current conditions. This week's podcast discusses the protests triggers, the island's ongoing humanitarian disaster, and what, if anything, the Biden administration can do to help the Cuban people.…

Lisa Haugaard, director of the Latin America Working Group, is just back from accompanying a human rights delegation to Cali, Colombia, an epicenter of April-June protests. She conveys what witnesses told her about police brutality and new civic energy.द्वारा Adam Isacson

For those closely following Haiti, the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the chaos and political uncertainty following it have been years in the making, in a country tragically familiar with political and humanitarian crises.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Former WOLA Director Joy Olson just carried out dozens of interviews along the Texas-Mexico border. She came back saddened by expelled migrants' suffering, perplexed by the Biden administration's halting measures, and calling for bold policy changes.द्वारा Adam Isacson

The condition of Nicaragua's democracy has steadily deteriorated over the course of President Daniel Ortega's regime. Recently, in anticipation of the country's coming elections, President Ortega and his wife/Vice President Rosario Murillo have arrested more than a dozen of their significant political opponents under a new law that labels them as "…

Peruvians vote on June 6 in a runoff between two presidential candidates who represent populist extremes, and who reflect growing divisions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. WOLA Senior Fellow Jo-Marie Burt explains the tense pre-election moment.द्वारा Adam Isacson

Brazil is the second largest country in the hemisphere but its many complex issues rarely make news in the U.S. This week, Camila Asano, Director of Programs at the Brazilian human rights NGO Conectas joins Adam and Moses to paint a picture of attacks on human rights and democracy there.द्वारा Adam Isacson