Will Freeman

My latest for the NYT: "You Can Kill a Democracy Without a Dictator." On what's happening in Peru and in large parts of Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. Read here: nytimes.com/2025/10/24/opi…

“For years, Marset moved fluidly across Bolivia, Colombia, Uruguay, and Brazil.” occrp.org/en/news/bolivi…

Qué hacen este domingo por la tarde? Junto a @ninomatute @samuel_pz, y un familiar de Colom Argueta vamos a hablar de su legado y los problemas que persisten en ciudad de Guatemala y la política del país. Ocupemos los espacios públicos para discutir la realidad nacional!

@mattyglesias @StefanFSchubert Actually crime has been rising and narco-corruption scandals at high levels like never before. But they elected a conservative populist who yells at the traditional politicians and people like that.

@StefanFSchubert What's happening in Costa Rica?

The English-speaking world is falling in rankings of life satisfaction (The Economist)

Mi librería favorita de Bogotá es la librería Merlín: una casa antigua repleta de libros usados dónde encuentras ediciones antiguas y bellísimas.

DON'T MISS this morning's New Lines Institute's Mafiacracies Project launch, starting at 10:00 AM EST today. We'll be featuring expert insights about the operational priorities, tactics, and survival strategies of cartels and criminal syndicates around the world, with a focus on networks in #LatinAmerica and #Russia-sponsored syndicates. newlinesinstitute.org/event/mafiacra…

🗓️ [#Reminder] It's TOMORROW - Join us for the launch of the #Mafiacracies Project, a deep dive into relationships between criminal networks and state/non-state governance. 🔹 Panel 1 (10:00 AM EST) hosted by @rlipschitz01: Organized crime & governance in Latin America 🎙️ Featuring: @artoriastech, James Bosworth, @GCorreaCabrera, and @WillGFreeman. 🔹 Panel 2 (12:00 PM EST) hosted by @Robert_Kremzner: Russian gray zone criminality in Europe & beyond 🎙️ Featuring: @kloosha, Dr. Elena Davlikanova, and Julian Lanchès. 🗒️ Register here: bit.ly/4bwxHTN

The first panel, hosted by @rlipschitz01, will focus on cartel networks in #LatinAmerica and their interaction with regional geopolitics, necessitating new demands for U.S. policy. The panel will spotlight key experts Stefano Ritondale (@artoriastech), James Bosworth, @GCorreaCabrera, and @WillGFreeman. newlinesinstitute.org/event/mafiacra…

This is 100% completely unsustainable as a society. Nearly 50% of all consumer spending now comes from the top 10% of earners. The bottom 80%? Their share keeps falling. This is why the economy can look strong in the data while millions of people feel like they're falling behind.

It's insane to think the U.S. spent $500mn on assisting the Mexican justice system under Plan Mérida. And the FGR still doesn't secure the house where El Mencho was killed. What's worse: Trump isn't pressuring to change any of this, just capture & extradite more 'bad guys.'

Delighted to receive this review in the Financial Times. Lula! How Brazil made him — and he remade Brazil ft.com/content/9f7bc9… via @ft

@mayukh_panja What are you talking about. I'm literally talking about how it's unethical to do cocaine not work at a bank.

Yes. I am completely untroubled by all of it. I couldn’t care less that Deutsche Bank supposedly funded wars or whatever. I slept perfectly well. It didn’t bother me even a teeny tiny bit that I worked for Deutsche Bank. Here’s why: I, unlike you leftists retards, don’t believe in performative guilt. It achieves exactly nothing and I am an outcome driven person. Also it makes zero sense, that me, an immigrant should suffer the consequences for the actions of men who are far more powerful and wealthy than all of my brethren put together. What is this odd entitlement you have ? You want other people to give up their livelihood because your sense of right and wrong didn’t develop after high school? I don’t live in your fairytale world where people are jobless, living off welfare so that they can protest against capitalism or whatever and then go have beer in the Sun, paid for by the people who actually work.

Vzla is the land of illusions. MAGAs think Vzla is fixed. Trump thinks he is running Vzla. Cuban Americans think Rubio is calling the shots. The left thinks it’s oil companies. It turns out it’s this man whose views prevailed: a “dear friend” of Chávez. wsj.com/world/americas…

@ebazaileimil That, or they'll claim legalization would magically end violence. As if these groups haven't had fifty years to become violent, state-embedded businesses inserted in so many different parts of the economy.

I highlight Will’s post because more than a few times, I’ve heard people with elite educations claim (much to my dismay as a Latin America specialist) the consumption of narcotics carries no ethical consequences. In fact, the data sharply contradicts those claims.

Whatever the debate is about narcotics policy, there really can be no debate that drug trafficking has real human costs and that Western demand for drugs like cocaine usually directly leads to the deaths of people in the developing world/Global South/periphery

@mayukh_panja Completely untroubled by financing the murder of 30,000 Ecuadoreans since 2020 - the year European demand really started forcing Ecuador to become a highway for cocaine. Almost half the death toll of Gaza.

Berlin is an odd place. When I was working for Deutsche Bank, I found out soon that this is not cool and people don't like it. You are supposed to act a little guilty about working for a big bad investment bank and enabling the evil capitalists. However, if you have a story about how you snorted cocaine in the UBahn that is supposed to ballsy or whatever. You might think I am joking but that is the vibe of Berlin. I have been asked point blank if I felt uncomfortable about working at DB. In case you are curious about how I really feel, obviously no. Investment bankers add way more value to society than drug addicts. It is funny that this is even a matter of debate.

Hice un mapa de América (a mano, claro) porque me hacia falta en la colección

Bogotá, Colombia | 🇨🇴

Very excited to be moderating a panel for the upcoming launch of the @NewlinesInst Mafiacracies Project. This panel on organized crime in Latin America will feature expert speakers including @All_Source_News, @GCorreaCabrera, @WillGFreeman, and @bloggingsbyboz. Register for the virtual event here: eventbrite.com/e/new-lines-in…

This ABC report deserves to be read slowly. A Venezuelan family entered legally, followed every requirement, and still lost everything a functioning enforcement system could take from them. Strength is not measured by how completely we can break a family that trusted the process. It is measured by whether we can secure the border while still leaving room for basic fairness. The republic has always been big enough to enforce its laws without treating families as collateral damage. Whatever is happening in Las Cruces right now is not strength. It is bureaucratic cruelty with paperwork attached. The better republic is still within reach. But we have to demand it out loud.

Cartón que no pasó el último filtro para ser publicado en conocido diario francés la semana pasada:

George Steiner on where the best writing in the world is being done now.