Danna Urdaneta is a Venezuelan feminist writer, journalist, and poet whose work centers on the Colombian armed conflict, political violence, and grassroots movements for peace rooted in social justice. She has documented violence, displacement, and territorial control across border regions, and participated in peace dialogue tables during former Colombian president Gustavo Petro's Total Peace initiative (2022-2026). Her journalism appears in Venezuelan and Colombian alternative media outlets challenging mainstream narratives by centering the voices and experiences of affected communities—particularly women, indigenous peoples, and the rural poor. She insists on understanding armed actors, state violence, and peace processes by offering historical depth and political context.

This episode explores why Petro's peace negotiations with the ELN collapsed and Colombian conflict dynamics and Venezuela's role in them. Urdaneta pushes back against superficial characterizations of armed groups as purely criminal while documenting real abuses and human rights violations, and argues that durable peace requires addressing structural inequality, recognizing border populations' territorial legitimacy, and centering the voices of displaced communities and social movements. Urdaneta peace depends on Venezuela and Colombia recognizing their mutual need for each other, moving beyond mediation toward genuine solidarity, and building political solutions grounded in feminist methodology and popular participation rather than elite negotiation.

To donate and support relief efforts for earthquake victims, please visit:

• Caritas Venezuela: caritasvenezuela.org/donaciones
• Cruz Roja Colombiana: cruzrojacolombiana.org
• Cruz Roja Venezolana: cruzroja.ve
• Fundación PLAN: plan.org.co/quiero-ayudar/terremoto-en-colombia
• Fe y Alegría: feyalegria.org/venezuela
• UNICEF Colombia: unicef.org.co/terremoto-colombia

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Juan Escalante is a Venezuelan-American immigrant-rights advocate, digital strategist, and former DACA recipient. In this episode, Escalante traces his journey from growing up undocumented in the United States to becoming a leading voice in national debates on immigration, democracy, and diasporic civic engagement. Drawing on both lived experience and years of organizing, he explains what Temporary Protected Status (TPS) actually means in practice—how it provides protection from deportation and work authorization, but also how its “temporary” nature traps families in prolonged legal and emotional uncertainty.

The conversation examines TPS for Venezuelans within a broader political and geopolitical context. Escalante unpacks how Venezuelan migrants organized to win TPS designation under the Biden administration, how solidarity has emerged across Haitian, Central American, and other TPS-holding communities, and how internal divisions within the Venezuelan diaspora can weaken collective advocacy. He offers a critical reading of U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela, warning against narratives that suggest the country is suddenly “safe” following recent political developments, and argues that deporting Venezuelans under these assumptions is both premature and dangerous.

News Brief by Reetchel Presume

Photo credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Latam@GW presenta esta serie de foros dedicados a analizar las implicaciones regionales de la reciente intervención de los EE. UU. en Venezuela. ¿Qué nos dice este episodio sobre el estado de la democracia, la diplomacia regional, el multilateralismo y el futuro de América Latina?

La intervención en Venezuela se lleva a cabo en medio de un contexto regional marcado por múltiples crisis simultáneas: la migración masiva de millones de venezolanos, la expansión del crimen organizado transnacional, el debilitamiento de las instituciones democráticas, el auge del autoritarismo, y la creciente desconfianza ciudadana en los sistemas políticos tradicionales.

Durante el último año, se ha visto una política exterior estadounidense mucho más activa e intervencionista en la región, con episodios que incluyen su involucramiento directo en dinámicas electorales, presiones diplomáticas intensas y disputas estratégicas. Todo esto ha reabierto debates profundos sobre soberanía, legalidad internacional, legitimidad política y gobernanza regional.

Al mismo tiempo, las instituciones multilaterales y los mecanismos de diplomacia regional parecen haber sido insuficientes para contener la escalada de tensiones, prevenir rupturas democráticas y ofrecer soluciones efectivas a los problemas estructurales de la región.

A su vez, los populismos han logrado canalizar el malestar social ofreciendo respuestas rápidas, contundentes y, para muchos, percibidas como eficaces, mientras que los sistemas democráticos institucionales son percibidos como lentos, débiles o desconectados de las urgencias ciudadanas.

Este foro sirve para reflexionar críticamente sobre cómo hemos llegado hasta aquí, qué ha fallado en la respuesta institucional regional y qué herramientas —si es que existen— pueden desarrollarse para enfrentar estos retos, promoviendo la soberanía, la justicia y los derechos humanos en toda América Latina.

Este primer panel cuenta con la participación de:

• Marisela Betancourt - Politóloga venezolana egresada de la Universidad de Los Andes y maestrante del Centro de Estudios de América Latina. Fue fundadora de Radio Sur y ha trabajado en el diseño de políticas públicas para diversas instituciones venezolanas. Es parte de la ONG 100% Estrógeno, organización en defensa de los derechos de las mujeres, y escribe para Caracas Chronicles y Revista Panamá. Edita el newsletter 25 años de chavismo: entre la transición y la metamorfosis.
• Alexandro Álvarez Alarcón - Abogado chileno y experto en derecho internacional de derechos humanos. Ha sido miembro de grupos de expertos de la ONU y de mecanismos de la OEA para Nicaragua. Recientemente se desempeñó como Agregado de Derechos Humanos de la Misión de Chile ante la OEA, y actualmente es Jefe de la División de Protección y Subsecretario adjunto de Derechos Humanos en el Gobierno de Chile.
• Dora María Téllez - Historiadora, política y activista de derechos sociales nicaragüense. Durante el gobierno revolucionario de Nicaragua, se desempeñó como diputada, vicepresidenta del Consejo de Estado, y Ministra de Salud. En 2021 fue encarcelada por denunciar violaciones de derechos humanos y posteriormente desterrada a los Estados Unidos en 2023. Es autora de múltiples libros y publicaciones académicas sobre historia de Nicaragua, movimientos sociales y democracia. Ha sido investigadora y profesora en las universidades de Princeton, Tulane y Harvard.

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Atenea Jiménez Lemón is a Venezuelan sociologist and founder of the communal network Red Nacional de Comuneras y Comuneros and of the Universidad Campesina de Venezuela Argimiro Gabaldón, the world's first communal university. A long-time grassroots organizer and political analyst, she is a member of the Alianza por la Soberanía y la Democracia (Alliance for Sovereignty and Democracy, ASD) and is known for her sustained engagement with popular power, communal organization, and the defense of social and political rights. Her work and activism have challenged the authoritarian turn of the Maduro government and its dependence on external powers, emphasizing the need to rebuild democracy from below through autonomous, territorially rooted movements.

In this episode, Jiménez Lemón analyzes Venezuela’s current political rupture following the January 3, 2026 U.S. military intervention and the capture of Nicolás Maduro, arguing that the operation reveals internal fractures within the regime while inaugurating a new phase of external control that further undermines national and popular sovereignty. She reflects on the limits of the traditional opposition, the social legitimacy—and contradictions—of figures like María Corina Machado, and the severe risks facing social movements amid repression, fear, and mass migration. She calls to repoliticize Venezuelan society through human rights advocacy, the release of political prisoners, and the reconstruction of grassroots organization as the only credible path toward a democratic, sovereign, and socially just future.

English Interpretation by Reetchel Presume

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Our guest is Gabriel Hetland, sociologist and associate professor of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino/Latina Studies at the University at Albany SUNY. He is the author of Democracy on the Ground: Local Politics in Latin America’s Left Turn.

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Our guest is Raylí Luján, Venezuelan journalist and columnist for La Vida de Nos, and the recipient of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2018 South American Journalism Award. Photo credit: EFE - Ronald Pena R

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Our guest is Dr. Orçun Selçuk, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Luther College and the author of the new book The Authoritarian Divide: Populism, Propaganda, and Polarization, a comparative analysis centered on how populist leaders in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Turkey leverage propaganda and emotional appeals to deepen societal divides, and the strategies opposition movements employ to counter these.

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com

Our guest is Dr. Nadia Mosquera Muriel, Assistant Professor of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she specializes in Afro-Latin American social movements, particularly in Venezuela and Colombia. Her upcoming book is Building Blackness: Culture and Resistance in the Afterlives of the Plantation in Venezuela.

Photo credit: Nadia Mosquera Muriel. March commemorating the abolition of slavery (Caracas, Venezuela, March 24, 2015)

Send us Fan Mail

Contact Veneco Podcast

• Follow us on X at @venecopodcast
• Follow Juan on X at @juanandresmisle
• Music by Amasonic Vibes & Simón Díaz
• Email us at info@venecopodcast.com
• For more information visit http://venecopodcast.com