Gema Kloppe-Santamaría, a sociologist and historian of Latin America, studies the long and painful arc of extralegal violence in the region — from vigilante justice to the dirty wars and the drug wars. And, she says, the United States should play a role in solving the regional problems it has helped create.

Populist regimes are gaining ground across the world, and perhaps nowhere have the consequences been more dramatic than in Brazil. Under the chaotic leadership of president Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil has become a major hot spot in the coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, Will and Siva talk to historian Federico Finchelstein about the rise of populism in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America. For someone who grew up during Argentina’s Dirty War, these current populists trends echo fascist regimes of the past.