WBAI's Wake Up Call Notes - Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Greetings folks,

I am now fully installed, back in New York City after a six-month absence. How do I know this? Because I finally got to go on the air once again at WBAI Radio, my home away from home for the past 20 years. I tell you, despite missing all the people in Colombia tremendously since leaving, it felt good to go back on the radio this morning...it was as if I had blown off half a year of therapy sessions!

In any event, we had a productive show this morning, with a major focus on Latin America. Particularly in the 7:00-8:00am block, we covered the upcoming Bolivian referendum on the new Constitution taking place this Sunday, and followed this with a panel discussion on the future of Latin America policy under the new Obama Administration.

On Bolivia, our guests were Wake Up Call Producer Karah Woodward, an independent journalist and blogger who is currently in Bolivia (Blogging at Digital Warrior Media);
Katheryn Ledebur, long-time activist and journalist working with the Cocahbamba-based Andean Information Network; and Forrest Hylton, historian and journalist, author of Evil Hour in Colombia, as well as a newer book with Sinclair Thompson on Bolivia.

The round-table discussion on Latin America policy featured Forrest, who stayed on the line with us; Adam Isaacson, Senior Fellow and Latin America specialist at the Center for International Policy; Gerardo Renique, Historian at the City University of NY; and Christy Thornton, Director of NACLA’s Report on the Americas (see previous post).

To listen to the segment, go to the WBAI Archive on their website.