Álvaro Céspedes

I am a journalist, producer, and teacher specializing in narrative and audio storytelling. For more than a decade, I’ve worked at the intersection of research on politics, culture, and the environment, and the ways these issues connect to music, identity, and territory. In doing so, I aim to reveal the tensions between power, inequality, and memory in Latin America.

I have produced and edited narrative journalism in both Spanish and English for outlets such as El Hilo, iHeart’s My Cultura Podcast Network, Spotify, Gatopardo, among many others. I also founded and currently direct Delirios Crónicos, a documentary audio project for Ibero 90.9, where we tell stories about community resilience, climate change, culture, and social justice. The first episode of this journalistic project was recognized with the SONAR Award for Best Audio Narration in 2024.

I hold a master’s degree in Journalism and Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, where I developed a comparative perspective that bridges academic research with journalistic practice. I currently teach Contemporary Latin American History at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

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Journalistic podcast

Sacred Scandal: The many secrets of Marcial Maciel

Exile Content Studio

Exile Content Studio

The Many Secrets of Marcial Maciel is a gripping investigative podcast uncovering the shocking life and crimes of Marcial Maciel, the founder and former leader of the Legion of Christ. Praised as a holy figure, Marcial Maciel lived a life of abuse, manipulation, and deception. Hosted by Elena Sada, a survivor and former high-ranking member of the organization, this series explores Maciel's rise to power, his extensive abuse, and his eventual downfall.

09
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11
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2025
Writer
Producer
Sacred Scandal: The many secrets of Marcial Maciel
Journalistic podcast

Un bosque bajo el agua

Delirios Crónicos

Delirios Crónicos

El Bosque, a small community on the coast of Tabasco, no longer exists. The cause: climate change. In this story, we follow Lupe Cobos, a resident who refuses to leave her land, while the rest of her neighbors have been relocated to a nearby community. The residents of El Bosque are the first to be officially recognized as climate-displaced people in Mexico, but they know they won’t be the last.

03
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09
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2025
Writer
Producer
Host
Un bosque bajo el agua
Journalistic podcast

Juntos llegamos más lejos

Delirios Crónicos

Delirios Crónicos

According to its residents, Iztapalapa is the most dangerous borough in Mexico City. But within it lies Acapatzingo, a community that’s doing things differently. There, people feel safe—creating a striking contrast with the rest of the borough.

10
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20
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2024
Writer
Producer
Host
Juntos llegamos más lejos
Journalistic podcast

Sacred Scandal: Nation of Saints

Exile Content Studio

Exile Content Studio

In 1980, one man held together a fragile peace in the tiny nation of El Salvador: Archbishop Oscar Romero. When he is brutally and publicly assassinated on the pulpit, his murder starts a war that would leave 75,000 dead, and a million more displaced around the globe. Sacred Scandal season 3, Nation of Saints, follows host Jasmine Romero as she uncovers the holy war that followed the Archbishop's death, and led to an unsolved murder in her own family.

05
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16
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2024
Producer
Sacred Scandal: Nation of Saints
Journalistic podcast

La noche que Acapulco murió

Delirios Crónicos

Delirios Crónicos

La madrugada del 25 de octubre de 2023, el puerto de Acapulco fue devastado por el huracán Otis. Ulises Villanueva, un marinero encargado de cuidar una embarcación privada de lujo, fue sorprendido por los vientos y quedó náufrago durante horas, a la deriva de la tormento. Este episodio ganó el premio SONAR 2024 a mejor narración sonora.

04
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21
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2024
Writer
Producer
Host
La noche que Acapulco murió
Journalistic podcast

Transportista: ¿Quién mató al Capitán Coral?

Exile Content Studio

Exile Content Studio

Beto Coral is the son of the war on drugs in Colombia. Beto shares the story of the much-anticipated peace that would follow Pablo Escobar’s death all those years ago...the story of how peace never truly arrived for his family, given that his father, el Capitán Humberto Coral (member of the Search Block that killed Escobar), was murdered a few months after the final operation against the drug trafficker in Medellin. Transportista: Who Killed Captain Coral? is hosted by Exile producer Alvaro Cespedes and is available in both English and Spanish.

07
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01
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2021
Writer
Producer
Host
Transportista: ¿Quién mató al Capitán Coral?
Journalistic podcast

Las madres del desierto

El Hilo

El Hilo

En México, donde desaparecen 19 personas al día, un grupo de madres de desaparecidos se plantó esta semana frente a las oficinas del Alto Comisionado de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas para denunciar la inacción del Estado mexicano. Esta semana vamos a Sonora, donde una madre empezó a transmitir por Facebook sus salidas al desierto para buscar a sus hijos, y empujó a muchas otras a perder el miedo y unirse a ella para tratar de obtener las respuestas que nunca les han dado las autoridades.

02
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10
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2021
Writer
Producer
Host
Las madres del desierto
Journalistic podcast

En tu pedido va mi vida

El Hilo

El Hilo

Con la pandemia, los repartidores que trabajan para aplicaciones como Uber Eats, Rappi o Glovo se han vuelto más esenciales que nunca. La precariedad de sus condiciones de trabajo, en vez de aislarlos, ha sido el origen de un movimiento laboral internacional e inédito.

07
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31
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2020
Writer
Producer
Host
En tu pedido va mi vida
Commercial podcast

¿Qué tranza mi Bubble?

Hybe Latin America

Hybe Latin America

Un podcast en el que tu nuevo actor favorito, Alex Lago, conocido como el Bubble Gómez del VGLY Crew, se sienta a conversar con todo aquel que esté haciendo magia dentro y fuera de la serie de HBO, VGLY. Conoce los detalles más íntimos, cagados y representativos de artistas, actores, diseñadores y creadores que le dieron vida y le inyectan flow al universo de VGLY. ¡Acompaña la temporada 2 de esta serie con nuestro podcast! Alex Lago, el actor detrás de Bubble Gómez, es uno de los personajes más queridos del VGLY crew. En la ficción, Bubble es un chilango callejero, astuto y con labia, criado en la selva de concreto que es la CDMX. Pero en la vida real, Alex no se queda atrás: carismático, sin pelos en la lengua y con ese don para hacer que cualquiera se suelte en la entrevista.

10
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20
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2025
Producer
Writer
¿Qué tranza mi Bubble?
Commercial podcast

Todo en el verso

Hybe Latin America

Hybe Latin America

El podcast donde el K-pop y la comunidad latina se encuentran. Conducido por Sissi y Valeria, exploramos las últimas noticias, analizamos Weverse y compartimos historias que acercan a lxs fans con la industria. Si K-pop es tu pasión, aquí tienes tu espacio. ¡Bienvenidxs a TODO EN EL VERSO!

10
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17
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2025
Writer
Todo en el verso
Journalistic podcast

The Unlikely Hero of El Bosque

Sea Change - New Orleans Public Radio

Sea Change - New Orleans Public Radio

El Bosque, Mexico, a tiny fishing village on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, is quickly vanishing into the sea. In this episode, we journey to El Bosque to meet the town’s most unlikely hero—one person determined to fight for a future as her neighbors flee the encroaching waves.

07
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17
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2025
Writer
Producer
Host
The Unlikely Hero of El Bosque
Journalistic podcast

El Flow: Second Season

Exile Content Studio

Exile Content Studio

El Flow tells the story of reggaeton, its most emblematic artists, and the secrets of how the genre’s top hits were made. It’s a story of migration, expression, evolution, sexuality, rebellion, and repression. Since its beginning, the genre has had one constant; movement. From Panama to Puerto Rico, from Boston to Medellin, from Mexico to Brazil. There has always been someone willing to raise their hand and take the lead. As a result, reggaeton evolved as a merger of Pan-American musical influences, which in turn helped explode its appeal. Now, It’s time to look back at how we got here.

02
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12
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2024
Writer
Producer
El Flow: Second Season
Journalistic podcast

El Flow: First Season

Exile Content Studio

Exile Content Studio

El Flow tells the story of reggaeton, its most emblematic artists, and the secrets of how the genre’s top hits were made. It’s a story of migration, expression, evolution, sexuality, rebellion, and repression. Since its beginning, the genre has had one constant; movement. From Panama to Puerto Rico, from Boston to Medellin, from Mexico to Brazil. There has always been someone willing to raise their hand and take the lead. As a result, reggaeton evolved as a merger of Pan-American musical influences, which in turn helped explode its appeal. Now, It’s time to look back at how we got here.

10
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11
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2021
Producer
El Flow: First Season
Written journalism

Paloma Contreras Lomas: entre sombreros, sindicatos y fantasmas

Nexos

Nexos

Con sus esculturas, dibujos, instalaciones y películas que mezclan el humor absurdista con la crítica política mordaz, Paloma Contreras Lomas se ha revelado como una de las artistas jóvenes más emocionantes de México. Álvaro Céspedes visita su estudio y la galería donde expone para retratarla de perfil.

09
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23
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2021
Writer
Paloma Contreras Lomas: entre sombreros, sindicatos y fantasmas
Written journalism

So Close Yet So Far: How a Group of Deportees Is Building Rapport in Mexico City

Portal

Portal

A group of deportees from the United States come together through the craft of screen printing as they search for ways to return to a land that was never truly theirs.

08
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20
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2019
Writer
So Close Yet So Far: How a Group of Deportees Is Building Rapport in Mexico City
Written journalism

A 30-Year Quest for Justice in Peru

NACLA

NACLA

In 1989, a military commander raped a schoolteacher in Oxapampa the same night her husband was killed by a military brigade. Since then, like many other women in Peru, Raquel Martin is still looking for just reparations, 30 years later.

03
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19
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2019
Writer
A 30-Year Quest for Justice in Peru
Written journalism

Varados: refugiados cubanos en la frontera (primera parte)

Letras Libres

Letras Libres

El repentino final a una política migratoria que operaba desde la Guerra Fría en Estados Unidos ha cambiado la vida de miles de exiliados cubanos.

07
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18
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2017
Writer
Varados: refugiados cubanos en la frontera (primera parte)
Written journalism

Viajé al corazón de la paranoia norteamericana: un rally de Donald Trump

VICE

VICE

«Trump cambia de estrategia para contrarrestar su caída en las encuestas», era el encabezado de la nota que leí este lunes en el periódico The Dallas Morning News. Éste era un breve recuento sobre la manera en que Donald Trump, en el marco de un giro en su campaña después de caer en las encuestas ante Hillary Clinton, ha pasado de la errática y exagerada improvisación en sus discursos, a leerlos en un prompter durante sus actos de campaña.

08
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26
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2016
Writer
Viajé al corazón de la paranoia norteamericana: un rally de Donald Trump