Podcast: Under the Shadow

February 27, 2024 Announcements

In each episode, host Michael Fox takes us to a location where something historic happened — a landmark of revolutionary struggle or foreign intervention. Today, it might look like a random street corner, a church, a mall, a monument or a museum. But every place he takes us was once the site of history-making events that shook countries, impacted lives and left deep marks on the world.

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Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

Episode 1 – The Beginning: Monroe and Migration

In this episode, we look back on the history of the Monroe Doctrine and the devastating impact on the region. The list of U.S. invasions, occupations, coups and sanctions is endless. Hundreds. From Mexico to Panama. The Caribbean. Colombia to the tip of Chile and Argentina. No country in Latin America has remained free from the shadow hanging over them. The shadow of the United States. The shadow of the Monroe Doctrine.

Episode 2 – Guatemala: United Fruit

Host Michael Fox looks at the outsized role of the U.S. banana corporation, United Fruit, in Central America. You literally can’t talk about the history of Central America in the 20th Century without mentioning it. Fox goes in search of the legacy of the company today. He travels to the Guatemalan town of Tiquisate, which was built by the company. We dig into the past and the 1954 CIA coup, which overthrew the democratically elected president in the name of U.S. corporate interests.

Episode 3 – Guatemala: The Disappeared

Host Michael Fox visits a memorial for the disappeared on the outskirts of the Guatemalan town of San Juan Comalapa. He walks back in time to the 1980s, into the country’s genocide of Indigenous peoples, uncovering the overwhelming support from the United States and then President Ronald Reagan in the name of fighting the so-called “communist threat.”

Episode 4 – El Salvador: The Innocent Victims

Host Michael Fox heads to San Salvador, where he visits a memorial for the innocent victims and looks at the legacy of El Salvador’s armed conflict today.

Episode 5 – El Salvador: Rebel Radio

Michael Fox visits the Museum of Word and Image, the home of the archives of Radio Venceremos. He hears from former members of the radio about the revolutionary project and the U.S. and Salvadoran military attempts to shut it down.

Episode 6 – USS Honduras

Michael Fox visits Honduran family members of the disappeared and the walls of the largest U.S. military base in Central America, uncovering the role of Honduras as a lynchpin in Cold War-era repression across the region.

Episode 7, Part I – 2009 Honduras: La Resistencia

Michael Fox dives into the tremendous resistance to the 2009 coup. He looks at the government of ousted president Manuel Zelaya and the push back he faced from Honduran elites and the United States.

Two hundred years ago, on December 2, 1823, then-president James Monroe delivered his State of the Union address to Congress. In his address, he laid out what would become both one of the most consequential and devastating ideas for Latin America—the Monroe Doctrine.

We look back on the history of the Monroe Doctrine and the devastating impact on the region. The list of U.S. invasions, occupations, coups and sanctions is endless. Hundreds. From Mexico to Panama. The Caribbean. Colombia to the tip of Chile and Argentina. No country in Latin America has remained free from the shadow hanging over them. The shadow of the United States. The shadow of the Monroe Doctrine.

In the second half of the episode, we meet migrants walking North toward the United States on the edge of Central America. A very real manifestation, right now, of the never-ending impact of U.S. intervention in Latin America.

Under the Shadow is a new investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, to tell the story of the past, by visiting momentous places in the present.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Edited by Heather Gies.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck: twitter.com/coletivocatarse

Theme music by Monte Perdido: open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Watch the clip from Democracy Now! looking at the 200th Anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSO-t49t198

Support journalist Michael Fox or Under the Shadow: www.patreon.com/mfox