Episode Details

On today's podcast

Peru

Peru has a new interim president, Jose Maria Balcazar, 83 years old, affiliated with the leftist Peru Libre Party, the party of ousted President Pedro Castillo, and with controversial background issues that cast doubt on his integrity amid the country's chronic institutional crisis.

Balcazar, after taking office by designation of Congress without a popular vote, is the eighth Peruvian president in the last 10 years. 

He will govern for only five months until July, when the newly elected president assumes office following the presidential elections scheduled for April.

He faces urgent challenges such as a stagnant economy with inflation and rising insecurity.

Cuba / Rusia

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez was received by President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin amid Cuba's severe energy and fuel crisis caused by the U.S. oil embargo.

Putin reaffirmed Russia's unwavering support for Cuba and described the new U.S. restrictions and sanctions as unacceptable.

For his part, Rodriguez, after the meeting, deeply thanked Putin and the Russian government for their firm and continued solidarity in the face of the blockade and energy squeeze, highlighted the strategic importance of bilateral relations and reiterated that Cuba will not change its political course under pressure.

Argentina

And in a scenario of economic suffocation and massive layoffs, Argentina, under the far-right pro-United States Milei, is experiencing this Thursday what is expected to be a day of total paralysis in the fourth general strike called by the CGT, the General Confederation of Workers, against Milei's Labor Reform Bill, which seeks to make employment more precarious.