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Chileans have been exploding in protest, much like Ecuadorans shortly before them, and mirroring global protests seen in Hong Kong, Barcelona and Paris.  Brian Winter, policy VP at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, talks about the economic reasons driving the upheaval, while Dr. Noam Lupu, associate director of the Latin American Public Opinion Project, warns of other Latin American countries where social discontent is also ripe for unrest.

As global demand for legal cannabis for recreational consumption and medical applications grows, Colombia has the potential to become one of its main producers, thanks to its climate and lower-cost and skilled workforce. We talk to Mat Youkee, editor of the Colombia Cannabis Investor, about the opportunities in this market and how Canadian companies have gotten in on the ground floor.

Key industries such as electric power, oil and gas, and mining are starting to implement AI to improve efficiency and cut costs. Our tech analysts Pedro Ozores and Phil Anderson give us the main takeaways of the growing innovation trend in the region.

Voters seem on the verge of kicking Mauricio Macri out and returning to Cristina Fernández's brand of populist economic policy. Will the country stick with the IMF program? Is a new default in the cards?  We talk to Fitch Ratings and Deloitte to get a sense of what we might expect from a likely Alberto Fernández-Cristina Fernández government.

AMLO’s ‘Mexico first’ agenda could slow down the ambitious integration project it shares with Chile, Colombia and Peru. Plus, we preview the APEC CEO Summit Chile 2019.

Our sector experts review the planned capital expenditures in the region’s oil & gas, electric power, mining, infrastructure and ICT sectors. See where investments are headed.

IoT promises to connect every device you use, and there are already over 300 million of these connections in Latin America. But how do you keep networks safe when a printer or a vending machine becomes a backdoor for hackers? We talk to hacking, cybersecurity and IoT experts to find out.

Hundreds of copper industry players descended on Santiago in April for Cesco Week, one of the industry’s top annual events that looks at exploration and other key mining aspects. In this special episode we share four takeaways from the event, including whether copper prices will incentivize increased investments in the short term, as well as some exclusive interviews with experts.

The Lava Jato investigation that uncovered massive, cross-border kickbacks from construction giant Odebrecht could mark a before and after in the region’s long history of corruption in the public and private sector. We speak to Transparency International, the UN Global Compact’s Brazil Network, and our own on-the-ground experts in the region to discuss the growing anti-corruption movement.   To stay updated on the latest news of the region, subscribe to our weekly newsletter here: https://on.bnamericas.com/newsletter/

This is the second part of a two-part series. Listen to the first one here. We speak to Dr. William Godnick, professor of Practice at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, part of the US Department of Defense's National Defense University; and Michael Cullen, senior partner and head of Andean region at consultancy Control Risks, about the relationship between corporations operating in the region and private security firms. Our Intelligence Series Reports are out! Find them here. Guyana: Latin America's emerging oil giant How to navigate US$335bn of infrastructure opportunities in Latin America Mining in Ecuador: Balancing risks and rewards Edtech: The multi-billion dollar untapped opportunity in Latam Is Ecuador on the right track?  

In this month's podcast we talk about the region's crime epidemic with the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's Latin American section, Antonio Mazzitelli, and Katherine Aguirre, a researcher at Brazil-based regional think tank Igarapé Institute. Next month we will continue talking to experts on security issues in the region.   

In our last episode of the year we take a look at the economic and political risks that will hang over Latin America in 2019, as well as the markets that will outperform the rest of the region. Listen to our experts talk about the issues that will drive the conversation, and get the economic lowdown from Fitch Ratings’ top analysts for the Americas. Featuring interviews with: Shelly Shetty Carlos Morales And from the BNamericas team: Alex Emery Allan Brown James Young Out Outlook 2019 Reports are out now! Choose your industry: Electric Power | Mining & Metals | Infrastructure | ICT | Banking | Oil & Gas

As Chris Lenton bids farewell to our podcast, we discuss how president-elect Jair Bolsonaro is starting to sound a lot like Brazil’s answer to Donald Trump. Meanwhile, our new hosts Laura Superneau and Sebastian Pérez-Ferreiro explain how Argentina’s market-friendly President Mauricio Macri is making an anti-business decision in order to stay on the good side of the IMF. Featuring interviews with: Ignacio Celorrio: a distinguished Argentinian mining lawyer with over 20 years of experience, who is also vice-president of the Australian-Argentine Industry and Commercial Chamber, Chair of Administrative Law at the Universidad del Museo Social Argentino, and long-time Board Member of CAEM (Cámara Argentina de Empresarios Mineros – Argentine Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs) Emily Hersh: managing partner at  DCDB Group, an international consultancy provider, based in Buenos Aires; Emily is also co-host of the ‘Global Lithium Podcast’ and Rogerio Jelmayer, the BNamericas São Paolo correspondent. Our Outlook Reports will be published in just a few weeks. If you want to know more about them, you can reach out to Cristina at cristina.montecinos@bnamericas.com Know more about our Political Risk Reports here

This month our podcast looks at Venezuela. It has two parts. First, we hear the personal stories of our Venezuelan colleagues at BNamericas in Santiago who had to leave their homeland behind. In the second part, Chris speaks to Luis Giusti, the last head of state oil company PDVSA before Hugo Chávez assumed power and the firm began its long and disastrous decline. Featuring interviews with: Luis Giusti, former CEO of PDVSA And from the BNamericas team: Alejandra Morales Cristina Montecinos José Cárdenas Mariolga Guyón Be sure to also read our Political Risk report by host Chris Lenton. 

This month, we look at Brazil. What a fascinating, bizarre election season it has been. Now with just weeks until the October 7 vote, everything is still up in the air. This podcast goes into a few things: the election, but also, what’s next? What is going to happen in Brazil, and what needs to happen? Featuring the always brilliant Brian Winter, of Americas Quarterly, and Shelly Shetty, the head of sovereign ratings for Latin America at Fitch. -- Join us in the upcoming webinar "Improving asset reliability and reducing maintenance costs for Mining & Metal companies" by Osisoft on October 16th at 10 am. Register here: https://on.bnamericas.com/webinar-improving-asset-reliability/  

This podcast looks at the Colombia that Iván Duque is inheriting and looks ahead to what’s in store over the next four years. Will Duque manage to be the “extreme centrist” he has promised he will be? How will he handle the economy? Corruption scandals? What is the "orange economy"? How will his government strengthen peace in the country while addressing the disaster in Venezuela and the threat posed by rising coca production and criminal gangs? The podcast features interviews with:  Ricardo Ávila: Editor-in-Chief of the Colombian business daily Portafolio and the Assistant Editor-in-Chief of El Tiempo, the most widely-read daily in Colombia. Diego Molano: Colombia's Minister of Information and Communication Technologies from 2010-2015, and currently an international consultant on digital transformation of companies and governments. While minister from 2010 to 2015, Molano created the country’s ICT plan “Vive Digital”, a program aimed at reducing poverty and creating jobs through the use of technology.   To know more about the advertising options in our upcoming Outlook Report visit https://on.bnamericas.com/outlook2019/ 

This podcast looks at the Chile of today, including its prospects for growth, external and internal perils, the political landscape, Chile’s Me Too movement, immigration, how the country is managing the risk posed by natural disasters, and much more.    The podcast features interviews with:                  Andrés Velasco, former finance minister in Chile and the current head of political party Ciudadanos. Maria Luisa Puig, Senior Analyst at Eurasia Group. Nicolás Birrell, Executive Director of NGO Desafío Levantemos Chile.   We also do a sweep through the region, as always.     Know more about our political risk offerings: http://bit.ly/PoliticalRisk2  Listen to previous episodes here: http://bit.ly/TheBNamericasPodcast

What kind of leader will Andrés Manuel López Obrador be? Will he be another Hugo Chávez? A Lula? Or something else entirely? What will happen to the energy reform? To the new airport? Will he offer amnesty to drug lords? Right now there is a lot of noise, confusion and worry, but at this stage only one thing is certain: he is surging in the polls and is the heavy favorite to win the election in Mexico. Together with Chris Lenton and the BNamericas team, featuring an interview with Mexico expert Duncan Wood, we look at the main points to understand the mercurial leader. We also look at the Duque win in Colombia, the cyberattack in Chile, Marina Silva in Brazil, and more.   Know more about our political risk offerings: http://bit.ly/PoliticalRisk2  Listen to previous episodes here: http://bit.ly/TheBNamericasPodcast