A Whole New World: China-CELAC Summit Builds New Bridges with Latin America and the Caribbean

It’s bizarro world! In today’s episode, we kick off by discussing the recent summit between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), attended by President Xi Jinping and several Latin American heads of state of varying degrees of progressivism. With the threat of Trumpism and tariffs hanging in the air, the summit acquired both greater impetus and urgency. In section two: when does a big-tent political party become too big? Kurt and José Luis discuss this question in the context of the recent incorporation into MORENA of two former PRI members with checkered pasts: Adrián Ruvalcaba as head of Mexico City’s metro and Enrique Benítez in Durango ahead of elections there. Then…it’s back! The State Department liberates budgeted funding for the CIA cutout NED, known in Mexico for funding “civil-society” oppo organizations such as Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI). Finally, in a bizarro losers and haters, a rare thoughtful, analytical piece in the English-language press from Kate Aronoff at New Republic explores Mexico’s industrial policy.