Dr. Rodrigo Acuña is a Spanish teacher, an expert on Latin American politics and film maker. In 2013, after having been awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) by the Federal Government of Australia, he completed a PhD on Venezuelan foreign policy at Macquarie University. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Politics and International Relations and Spanish/Latin American Studies from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, as well as a Diploma in Education from that same institution.

Writing on Latin American politics for close to 20 years, Rodrigo has published in the ABC, NACLA, Crickey, New Matilda, The Diplomat (among others) and academic journals like the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research (JILAR), Latin American Perspectives, Macquarie Law Journal and Global Discourse. From 2020-2024 he was the host of the podcast Indestructible at Alborada: Latin America Uncovered in the UK.

Rodrigo has been interviewed on TeleSUR, The Australian, ABC Radio, SBS Radio (Spanish), and Al Jazeera (London) while in 2024, together with journalist Nicolas Ford, he independently released his first documentary titled: ‘Venezuela: The Cost of Challenging an Empire.’ He has delivered papers and guest lectures on Latin American politics at Australian National University, Sydney University, Cervantes Institute (Sydney), La Trobe University, Macquarie University, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, New South Wales Parliament Theatre, University of Hong Kong and UNSW.

He is currently working on a second film titled: ‘Chile 73: Australia, the subimperial connection.’ You can follow Rodrigo’s work across several social media platforms or support his work on Patreon where he publishes a monthly newsletter on Latin America.

Emails: rodrigo.indepj@gmail.com rodrigo.indepj@protonmail.com