This week on CounterSpin: The arrest of storied Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman raises questions: How can a person sought vigorously by law enforcement from at least two countries be unearthed by…Sean Penn? And if the reason the arrest is so significant is its impact on the war on drugs—what, really, is that impact? Laura Carlsen is the director of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy, in Mexico City. She’ll join us to talk about that.
Also on the show: It’s Barack Obama’s “legacy time,” say elite media, and one of the questions is whether he can fulfill what’s described as a personal “quest” to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. What if reporters approached the military prison as a problem for detainees and for the rule of law, rather than as an item on Obama’s “to do” list? We’ll hear from Omar Shakir, fellow at the Bertha Justice Institute at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
And our usual look back at the week’s press, including Nikki Haley’s twisted history, Fox‘s PowerBall boosterism and the end of Al Jazeera America.
SOURCE LINKS:
- Americas Program, Center for International Policy
- Bertha Justice Institute, Center for Constitutional Rights
Great to hear Laura Carlsen detail the smoke screen function of the staged US-Mexican “El Chapo” capture. She and the Americas Program are delivering clarity over the popular struggles in Mexico and Latin America generally, and it’s a perfect fit for my favorite media program, Counterspin!