Summary: This week Latin Pulse comes remotely from the annual Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Congress in Washington, D.C. One of the key topics at the conference was reaction to the news of a truce between the MS-13 street gang, one of the most violent gangs in the world, and its primary competitor, the gang known as Barrio 18. The program delves into the key role of the Catholic Church in brokering the truce and how both Catholicism and evangelical Christianity have played a role in countering gangs in Central America. The program also looks at how politics and diplomacy regarding Honduras and the 2009 coup continue to resonate throughout the hemisphere. The program includes in-depth interviews with: Bob Brenneman of St. Michael's College of Vermont; and Jorge Heine of Wilfrid Laurier University of Canada. Executive Producer: Rick Rockwell Associate Producer: Curt Devine Writer: Zach Cohen. (To download or stream this podcast, click here.) (The program is 30 minutes in length and the file size is 28 MB.) podcast news Latin America United States gang truce drug cartels Central America El Salvador Honduras gangs MS-13 violence Catholics coup diplomacy Barrio 18 Drug War Barack Obama Porfirio Lobo John Kerry Fernando Lugo Evangelicals drugs Guatemala Paraguay OAS Mercosur Joe Biden Roberto Micheletti Bishop Romulo Emiliani U.S. State Department Organization of American States Barrio 18 Gang religion Mara Salvatrucha 13 justice
