The spread of the avocado is a story of greed, ambition, corruption, water shortages, cartel battles and, in a number of towns and villages, a fierce fightback. By Alexander Sammon. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/longreadpod">theguardian.com/longreadpod</a>
Dec 2023
Best of 2023: No coach, no agent, no ego: the incredible story of the ‘Lionel Messi of cliff diving’
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. From March: Gary Hunt is an enigma. He trains with the intensity ... Show More
44m 40s
Dec 2023
Best of 2023: The strange survival of Guinness World Records
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. From June: For more than half a century, one organisation has bee ... Show More
44m 15s
Sep 2025
Burmese Warlords, Gangsters & A Scam Utopia
Buried on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, Shwe Kokko is a shimmering city of skyscrapers, casinos and fresh-laid highways. But peek a little closer and you’ll see why it has become one of the world’s criminal capitals — from razor-wire fences to keep in thousands of enslaved ... Show More
1h 10m
Jun 2024
El Salvador's War on MS-13: Nayib Bukele Goes Hard
Since 2019, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has smashed the country’s two main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, throwing almost 80,000 people into megaprisons and implementing a harsh but effective “state of exception,” aka martial law. Murder rates have plummeted and, for the first ... Show More
56m 47s
Sep 2024
Part One: The Ballad of Ivan and Anna
We meet Ivan and Anna, who fall for each other at a club and later marry. Ivan dreams of adventure but confronts the reality of life in the military, and Anna worries that Ivan’s talents are wasted in the army.Ivan gets a corrupt new commander, “Pig,” who brings conflict and a de ... Show More
42m 5s
May 2025
The Zapatista Uprising | 135
On January 1, 1994, masked indigenous rebels burst from the rainforest in Chiapas, Mexico to launch an uprising that was years in the making. The Zapatista Army declared war on the Mexican Government demanding basics rights for the diverse Mayan communities who lived in extreme p ... Show More
37m 50s