Will Grant, the BBC’s Mexico, Central America and Cuba correspondent, was recently on the ground at Jalisco’s Rancho Izaguirre, dubbed ‘Mexico’s Auschwitz’, and CECOT, Nayib Bukele’s megaprison in El Salvador. Will spoke to Sean about what he saw in both places, how politics and organized crime is coverging, what new Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum can ... Show More
Oct 7
The OG Mexican Narco: Pablo Acosta
Pablo Acosta ruled Mexico's drug trade from a dusty border town, turning Ojinaga into a narco-empire that funneled billions in cocaine, weed and heroin into America during the 1980s. Known as the Fox of Ojinaga, he was a ruthless trafficker who taught the narco-world that it was ... Show More
1h 9m
Sep 30
Cambodia’s Untouchable Gangster-in-Chief
Hun To, the nephew of Cambodia’s former PM, is also the ruler of a criminal empire stretching from illegal logging and Triad-run casinos, to corrupt Chinese investment and — ALLEGEDLY — people and heroin trafficking.Sean met Nathan Southern and Lindsey Kennedy at a Saigon studio ... Show More
1h 11m
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
Aug 25
José Cuervo Rebuilds a Tequila Empire
August 28, 1920. In the town of Tequila, fireworks burst overhead as people celebrate Mexico’s independence. Then… gunshots. Malachías Cuervo, heir to the famous tequila dynasty, has just reignited a bitter feud with his family’s rivals, the Sauzas. For decades, his brother José ... Show More
37m 6s
Jun 2024
Laura Gómez, "Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism" (The New Press, 2020)
Latinos have long influenced everything from electoral politics to popular culture, yet many people instinctively regard them as recent immigrants rather than a longstanding racial group. In Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism (The New Press, 2020), Laura Gómez, a l ... Show More
1h 3m
Aug 30
Case 327: Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano
*** Content warnings: Gun violence ***Early on the morning of Sunday, May 10 2009, corporate attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano left home to take a bike ride around his neighbourhood in Guatemala City. Within minutes, he’d been shot dead.Rodrigo’s friends and family were left ree ... Show More
1h 31m
Aug 26
77. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: The Medellin Cartel vs Colombia (Ep 4)
By the autumn of 1989, the hunt for Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel was intensifying. With the US military and intelligence agencies now directly involved, a new, more aggressive phase of the War on Drugs had begun. Join Gordon and David as they explore how Escobar, facing ... Show More
50m 52s
Aug 19
¿Cómo, Cuándo y Qué Se Come en México? - How, When, and What People Eat in Mexico?
We break down the daily meals in Mexico, from breakfast on the go with tamales and atole, to the all-important comida shared with family, and even the light late-night dinners that might surprise foreigners. Along the way, we share cultural curiosities, like why some Mexicans avo ... Show More
29m 44s