11 September 2025
Dear Patrons,
A few months ago, I delivered a lengthy talk in Sydney on the life of Major Ernesto Che Guevarra. While I am hoping this talk will be aired later this year on a local radio program, for now, if you are interested in my thoughts on Guevarra’s life, you can click on the following link. As I argued in New Matilda nearly 20 years ago — and continue to maintain — while I disagree with parts of Guevara’s vision (e.g. his defence of a one-party state), his influence on Latin American politics hardly ended with his execution in a Bolivian jungle in 1967. Even today, Colombia hosts a guerrilla movement inspired by his ideas.
A longer historical perspective is also needed to understand the turmoil now emanating from Washington under Trump’s second administration. As I recently noted in a public talk organised by the Blue Mountains Union Council in Katoomba, the bellicose jingoism used by Trump is reminiscent of the days of gunboat diplomacy used by president Roosevelt to intimidate Colombia in order to acquire the Panama Canal Zone. Now, with Panama leaving China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) due to U.S. pressure earlier this year, the White House has turned its attention to Venezuela as it recently dispatched one submarine and eight warships to the Caribbean in a supposed effort to fight the drug trade coming out of that South American country. In early August, the Trump administration offered a US$50 million reward for information that will lead to the arrest of Venezuela’s head of state Nicolás Maduro.
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