Latino USA

In The Thick hosts Maria Hinojosa and Paola Ramos are joined by LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, and Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation to discuss voter suppression in Black and Latino communities. They break down the legal, social and political methods being used by the far-right and reveal how these misunderstood voting blocs could decide the outcome of the 2024 election.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

The 2024 presidential election has seen a rise in Spanish-language misinformation and in the content creators making a living by pushing out false content. For months, Futuro Investigates in collaboration with Latino USA, tracked how lies and conspiracies about the election and the candidates that originated in English soon found their way to Spanish-speaking audiences, amid the expanded monetization of tech platforms and the rise of technologies like AI. We meet face to face with social media influencers pushing out misinformation in Spanish, and with the experts combating it.

This story is part of our ongoing election coverage “The Latino Factor: How We Vote.”

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

This week Latino USA shares an episode of The In Thick podcast.

Maria is joined by co-host Paola Ramos, author of “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America,” to examine the growing support for extremism in America and why Latinos can be especially susceptible to far-right ideologies.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

This week, Latino USA shares the conclusion of Futuro Investigates podcast series USA v. García Luna. The day finally arrived. Genaro García Luna, one of Mexico’s former most powerful government officials, has been sentenced to serve more than 38 years in prison by a court in New York. In the last episode of our series, Maria Hinojosa and Peniley Ramírez tell us what happened inside the courthouse and also reveal to us that this isn’t the end of the judicial problems for García Luna in the United States, as he faces other cases in the country.

Ever since he can remember, music has been part of Paquito D’Rivera’s life. The 76-year old jazz pioneer has played on stages across the world and is still winning awards across genres. In 2023, he received Latin Grammys for Best Latin Jazz Album and Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Paquito talks about the places music has taken him, the people he’s met along the way, and the ways he’s improvising his way into the next chapter of his life.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Argentinian composer and guitarist Jacinta Clusellas didn’t expect that she would end up writing musicals when she moved to the United States to study music. Jacinta is part of the all-female creative team behind “Azul,” a bilingual musical in which the characters sing both in English and Spanish.

In this episode of Latino USA, Jacinta tells us about the creative process and the inspiration behind this musical, and her personal connection to it.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

In the U.S., Columbus Day is a federal holiday in honor of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus—and it’s a day of Italian-American celebration. But not everyone is on board with celebrating Columbus. His colonization led to the bloodshed of Indigenous people and while he did arrive to the Americas, he never set foot in North America. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing movement to officially replace the holiday with a day of recognition for Indigenous people. Latino USA explores the movement to change the holiday, and pays a visit to one of the latest states to make Indigenous Peoples’ Day official: Maine.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

This episode originally aired in 2019.

Being a new parent comes with a series of challenges—one being the decision whether or not to teach your child a second language. Latino USA explores the world of bilingual parenting through the story of two Dominican-American siblings growing up in the South, one who was drawn to Spanish and the other who never wanted to speak it. Both of the siblings are now parents and faced with the question: to teach your kids Spanish or not to teach your kids Spanish?

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

This episode originally aired in 2018.

After Elián’s rescue he was released to relatives in Miami. Just a day later the Cuban government sent a note: the boy’s father and Fidel Castro wanted Elián back. Tensions between the two countries had long been high, and relations were about to be tested to the extreme as the Thanksgiving miracle became an international custody battle. Just over a week after his rescue, on Dec. 6, 1999, Elián turned six years old. That same day Fidel Castro sent an ultimatum to the U.S. to return the boy to his father within 72 hours.

“Chess Piece: The Elián González Story” is a new podcast from Futuro Studios and iHeartMedia’s My Cultura Podcast Network, hosted by investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez. 

More episodes available now on the Chess Piece feed, wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks to These Archival Sources:

Miami Dade College's Wolfson Archives

Original Material Appeared In:

Miami Dade College's Wolfson Archives, Vanderbilt Archives: ABC, CBS News Report, CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America," RTVE Telediario, AP Archive, CBS Early Show, Universal Newsreel / Courtesy National Archives, Accessed via C-SPAN, BBC Panorama, NPR and Action News.

It was Thanksgiving of 1999 when two Florida fishermen rescued a little boy from the sea. His name was Elián González—a Cuban 5-year-old who had survived a journey across the ocean. His mother and others drowned.

His survival made global headlines, and soon Elián would be put in the middle of a dramatic battle for his custody between members of his family and two nations: Cuba and the United States.

“Chess Piece: The Elián González Story” is a new podcast from Futuro Studios and iHeartMedia’s My Cultura Podcast Network, hosted by investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez. 

More episodes available now on the Chess Piece feed, wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks to These Archival Sources:

Miami Dade College's Wolfson Archives

Original Material Appeared In:

AP Archive, Belly of The Beast Cuba, CBS Early Show, CBS Evening News, CNN, CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America," C-SPAN, Cubavisión, Good Morning America, ITN Archive, Univision, and 7 News At 5pm.

In 1945, 20-year-old Anthony Acevedo was held in captivity with other American soldiers inside a Nazi concentration camp called Berga. There, the soldiers were used as slave laborers, building tunnels for underground fuel factories. It was during this time that the Mexican-American medic kept a secret diary and documented the horrors he witnessed inside the camp.

Acevedo held on to his war diary until 2010, when he donated it to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. That same year, he registered as a Holocaust survivor with the museum—the first and only Mexican-American to do so.

This episode originally aired in May 2018.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Rubén Blades is a singer, songwriter, actor, lawyer, and politician, born in Panama and a New Yorker since 1974. After four decades in the public eye, 17 Grammy Awards, and some of the best-selling records in salsa history, his unique storytelling across music styles has kept him relevant to this day. He’s worked with a wide range of musicians including Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Sting, Michael Jackson, and Calle 13. He has also kept a presence back home - he ran for president in Panama in 1994 and was appointed as minister of tourism in 2004. Latino USA sits down with the author of the song Pedro Navaja to discuss highlights of his monumental career.

This story originally aired in October of 2018.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

A few weeks from the November 2024, Maria Hinojosa brings together three super-star Latino journalists for a roundtable; John Quiñones, Maria Elena Salinas, and Paola Ramos. All four of these legends combined, have over 100 years of journalistic experience– they have seen it all. Amongst each other, they get frank and talk about the state of journalism, partisan politics, and which 2024 Presidential candidate will capture the Latino Vote.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Ernesto Londoño is a national correspondent with The New York Times, where he covers the U.S. midwest. He’s also the author of a new book named “Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics.”

In this episode of Latino USA, Ernesto talks about his healing —and journalistic— journey with psychedelics and discusses the hopes and concerns the therapeutic use and industry of these substances generate.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Latino USA brings you the launch of In The Thick’s new popup season—to help you break down this unprecedented political moment and what it means for our communities and our futures. 

In this episode Maria Hinojosa is joined by her fellow co-hosts political scientist Dr. Christina Greer, journalist Paola Ramos and actress Judy Reyes. Together they help you decode this week’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

You can subscribe to In The Thick on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In recent years, rising grocery prices have shocked many of us, changing how we discuss inflation. For economists, inflation measures how quickly prices increase over a set period, but for most consumers, it’s a matter of affordability. 

We all have prices we track, like milk, pizza, and tacos. For our host Maria Hinojosa, a good taco tops that list. In San Diego, one of the U.S. cities hit hardest by inflation, she spoke with local taqueros and families about the rising cost of goods, and its implications for the upcoming election.

Editorial note: Interviews were recorded in late April and May. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Irene Vallejo never imagined she would become a global literary sensation. In 2019, the Spanish author and academic published an essay about a somewhat obscure topic: the ancient history of books. After a short literary career, she thought it would be the last book she published. Instead, “Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World” has become an international bestseller since then. It was translated into 38 languages, connecting Irene with millions of readers across the world.

In this episode, Irene opens up about the difficult circumstances in which she wrote this book, the ways she managed to make ancient history come to life, and the unwelcome consequences of global success for a female author.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.  

In Part 2 of The Moving Border, we visit Tapachula, Mexico in search of a young man whose life is in danger and we find a new frontier where refugees trying to make it to the U.S. are increasingly stuck thanks to an international effort to make Mexico a destination state for asylum. 

The Moving Border series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, with additional support provided by the Ford Foundation.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Making Movies is a band based out of Kansas City, Missouri that mixes Afro-Latino rhythms and psychedelic rock’n'roll. The group members have roots in Panama and Mexico. It’s composed by two sets of brothers, lead singer and guitarist Enrique Chi and bassist Diego, and Juan-Carlos and Andres Chaurand on percussion and drums.

In this edition of our series “How I Made It," Latino USA sits down with Enrique and Juan-Carlos to discuss, "Locura Colectiva," one of the band’s most ambitious tracks. They discuss how the track came to be and why they felt the album at one point was cursed.

This episode originally aired in 2019.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

In this 2-part investigation, The Moving Border from Latino USA delves into the increasing pressure put on refugees seeking safety in the United States via its southern border. It reveals the surprising support the Trump administration has received to create an impenetrable policy wall that pushes asylum seekers south, away from the U.S. 

In episode one, The North, we visit Juarez and tell the story of a mother and daughter who are mired in a web of changing policy and subjected to ongoing violence. And we find evidence of how Mexican authorities are working hand-in-hand with the U.S. at the border.

The Moving Border series was produced by Julieta Martinelli, Fernanda Camarena, and Maria Hinojosa, and edited by Marlon Bishop. The Executive Producer is Diane Sylvester. It was made possible by a partnership with the Pulitzer Center, with additional support provided by the Ford Foundation.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

It was only a few years ago that Erik Rodriguez was attending medical school in his native Cuba, following his family of careerists’ footsteps. But then, when he heard James Brown’s "I feel good," he realized that he was meant for a different path. 

In this segment of “How I Made It,” Erik takes us through his transformation into Afro-Cuban artist Cimafunk—a Billboard’s “Top 10 Latin Artists to Watch”—and explains how someone who had never studied music before found the confidence to listen to himself and be listened to by others.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Gun violence is a top voting issue for Latinos and Latinas this election cycle. So to explore how Latines are thinking about the topic, we traveled to Texas. The Lone Star State has more registered guns than any other state in the country, and it’s also home to some of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history — many of them directly targeting Latinos and Latinas.

On this episode of Latino USA, producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. travels to El Paso, Texas to speak with Latinx activists and gun owners about gun reform and safety ahead of the November presidential election. Maria Hinojosa returns to Uvalde, Texas to catch up with a survivor of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary and see how the community has been mobilizing around gun reform.

This story is part of our ongoing political coverage “The Latino Factor: How We Vote."

You can read more about the episode here. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

The Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Draco Rosa just released a new album, "Monte Sagrado," after several years without sharing a new collection of work, and after battling cancer. Born Robert Edward Rosa Suárez in New York, Rosa is a Grammy-winning artist, and a member of the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is behind hits including “Livin’ la Vida Loca.”

Draco Rosa talks about his career, his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hurricane María, and the creation of "Monte Sagrado."

This episode originally aired in 2018.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

After Texas passed a six-week abortion ban and Roe v. Wade was overturned, many abortion clinics had to close in the Lone Star state. Some providers considered opening clinics in eastern New Mexico, so that they could keep providing services to women from Texas and other states where abortion is banned. But some neighbors in eastern New Mexico were not so welcoming to this idea. 

In this episode of our continuing series “The Latino Factor: How We Vote,” we travel to eastern New Mexico to meet Latinas and Latinos who have mobilized politically for and against abortion in the region. We also learn about how the anti-abortion movement is trying to revive an obscure law from the 19th Century, the Comstock Act, to stop clinics from opening by passing local ordinances.  

You can read more about the episode here. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

This week Latino USA shares an episode from the podcast "Imperfect Paradise: Return to Mexico," from LAist. 

In 2011, Daniel Zamora took a road trip that shattered the course of his life. Lulled to sleep by the drive, he awoke to find that his boyfriend had taken a detour, curious to look at the border wall, and that they were surrounded by Border Patrol. 

Imperfect Paradise: Return to Mexico tells the story of Daniel Zamora who remade his life after being deported from the U.S. to Mexico. Daniel’s friend and series reporter Lorena Ríos explores Daniel’s journey, from the time he spent as a young teenager without his parents in Río Blanco, to his coming-of-age in Los Angeles and Iowa, to his current life in Ciudad Juárez as a retornado, or returnee. 

Through an intimate conversation, the series interrogates narratives around deportation as failure, the porous reality of people with lives on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and the alternate lives immigrants leave behind and construct anew. 

You can listen to the podcast here. 

The Mortgage Wall is a special episode by Futuro Investigates in collaboration with Latino USA. As housing has become one of the top five concerns for Latino voters for the first time ever this election cycle, we dive into the disparities that make it harder for Latinos and Latinas to overcome mortgage lending barriers and achieve homeownership.

You can read more about the episode here. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Daymé Arocena is a Cuban singer, songwriter and composer who left the island looking for artistic freedom. Arocena has been described as one of the most explosive and dynamic voices today. In her latest album "Alkemi" she bridges her knowledge of jazz, Afro-Cuban percussion, and even a little 90s R&B. These last few years have been a time of intense transformation for Arocena, so on this episode of Latino USA, the 32-year-old tells us how her upbringing has helped her create music that doesn’t fit easily into a box.

Read more about the episode here.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Vicente Montalvo's grandparents grew up and fell in love in Palo Verde, one of the neighborhoods that make up a community known as Chavez Ravine. In the early 1950s, the city decided that Chavez Ravine was the perfect site to build public housing. So the residents were forced to sell their homes under the city's use of eminent domain. But the election of a new mayor, would end up canceling those plans, and instead the land would become what many know today as Dodger Stadium.

This segment was originally aired in 2017.

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Alaska is a Mexican-born singer from Spain with one of the most definitive LGBTQ Spanish anthems: "¿A quién le importa?" by the duo Alaska y Dinarama. In the late '70s, Alaska was one of the key figures of La Movida Madrileña, the era post-dictatorship in Spain. In this episode, the singer discusses her music career, how she went from being María Olvido Gara Jova to Alaska, and the message behind one of her most enduring hits.

This segment originally aired in 2018.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

As Vice President Kamala Harris ascends as the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate this November, we revisit Maria Hinojosa’s sit-down 2023 conversation with the vice president.

We also hear from our Latino USA listeners about how they feel about VP Harris and what they expect from her should she become the next president of the United States.

You can read more about the episode here. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Roberto Deniz is a Venezuelan investigative journalist whose work has uncovered widespread corruption in Nicolás Maduro’s government.

With the elections in Venezuela approaching on July 28th, Roberto sat down with co-executive producer Peniley Ramírez to discuss his work uncovering a big corruption scandal, the role the United States played in it, and the political landscape in Venezuela leading up to this crucial vote.

Read more about the episode here. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Many of us grew up flipping to the horoscope section in magazines or waited for that weekly hit with celebrity astrologer Walter Mercado—or maybe you have a full-blown astrology practice and plan your days according to the way the stars and planets are aligned. Whatever your feelings on astrology are, it is by no means new, and it’s experiencing a renaissance—especially among Latinos and Latinas. 

Today on Latino USA, we sit down with Isa Nakazawa, the host of Futuro Studios new show, Stars and Stars with Isa. Isa shows us how we are in charge of our own lives and destinies and how we can use astrology to enhance and understand ourselves more than ever in this changing world. She also prepared a surprise for our host Maria Hinojosa—a short reading of her birth chart.

Read more about the episode here. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Anthropologist Ruth Behar is a groundbreaking scholar who also delights in salsa dancing.

Born in Cuba to a Jewish family, Ruth draws from her heritage as an anthropologist and writer. Her latest middle grade novel, “Across So Many Seas,” was released in early 2024.

In this episode, we spend the afternoon with Ruth and producer Elisa Baena before salsa class. They discuss Ruth’s writing process, how Ruth’s personal history inspired “Across So Many Seas,” and why the creative experiences of writing and dancing are connected.

You can read more about the episode here. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Today, Latino USA shares episode 2 of the "My Divo" podcast.

Get in, we’re going clubbing in Juárez! It’s going to be glitzy, it’s going to be gritty. This is the nighttime scene that birthed Juan Gabriel. But like many cities, Juárez holds secrets. Maria uncovers a haunting secret about Juan Gabriel and, along the way, confronts a dark piece of the past in her own family. 

"My Divo" is an Apple Original podcast produced by Futuro Studios.

Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.

This week, Latino USA shares an episode of the "My Divo" podcast.

For host Maria Garcia, Mexican megastar Juan Gabriel has always held a singular allure. He was a prolific composer and one of the world’s greatest showmen. There was a lightness and a bigness to him—a big queer exuberance. And now, as the first openly gay woman in her family line, Maria looks to Juan Gabriel as a key to reconcile her queerness with her Mexican heritage.

"My Divo" is an Apple Original podcast produced by Futuro Studios.

Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.

In part two of our two-part special, we continue our investigation into the death of a man in a U.S. immigration detention center in 2015. José de Jesús turned himself into Border Patrol saying somebody was after him. Three days later, he died by suicide after stuffing a sock down his throat. In part two of this story, surveillance video reveals clues about what happened inside his cell, and an internal investigation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement answers many of our questions about what happened to José in the days leading up to his death.

This story originally aired in 2016.

Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta tells us how her experience of migration led to her love of Afro-Colombian music, how a beauty pageant and its underlying anti-blackness inspired her new album, and how she came to collaborate with the legendary Afro-Colombian ensemble, Sexteto Tabalá, in her track "Pelo Cucú.”

This episode originally aired in 2020.

A man dies in a U.S. immigration detention center, under unusual circumstances. He is found unresponsive in his cell, with a sock stuffed down his throat. His death is ruled a suicide, but little information is put out about what happened, and the family wants answers. In this first part of a special two-part series, Latino USA investigates why José de Jesús died in the custody of the U.S. government, and what his death tells us about conditions—especially mental health services—inside the immigration detention system.

This story originally aired in July of 2016.

When Angela Guzman started her internship at Apple back in 2008 she had no idea her first project would have such an impact on how we communicate. Guzman co-designed the first set of Apple Emojis and our keyboards haven't been the same since.

This episode originally aired in 2019. 

This election year, a question roams in many voters' minds: Is there an “invasion” on our southern border? The answer from plenty of the people who live and work there is no. To understand what is really going on at the border, we travel to Sasabe, a tiny community in a remote area of the Arizona border with Mexico, to find out how human-smuggling battles within the Sinaloa cartel turned it into a ghost town. We also visit a pop-up camp set up on the U.S. side of the border fence. There, volunteers help thousands of asylum seekers from all over the world who turn themselves into the Border Patrol every day. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

The Tiarras have been playing together since they were just little girls, but they’ve been sisters forever.

The band is arguably best known for writing and performing catchy tunes that dive into themes of Latina empowerment, self-love and they’re not afraid to get political.

On this episode of Latino USA, these hermanas tell us more about the role sisterhood plays in their creative process and why they hope their art and journey inspires future generations of Latinos and Latinas.

This episode originally aired in 2022. 

For Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ileana Cabra — known by her stage name, iLe — music has always been a way to reflect and comment on the world around her.

iLe began her musical career singing with her brothers in their renowned rap group Calle 13. But in 2016, iLe decided to go solo. She would go on to release three studio albums, using those platforms to explore many musical genres with deep roots in Latin America and the Caribbean: from boleros and salsa, to pop and reggaeton. As a songwriter, iLe puts her lyricism at the forefront, delving into themes of patriarchy and colonialism in her music.

In this episode iLe walks us through the evolution of her music as a form of protest, and how she is daring herself to show a more personal side in her most recent album, “Nacarile.”

This episode originally aired in 2023

Will watching all of Pedro Almodovar's movies in one month make you more or less neurotic? Hard-hitting journalists Antonia Cereijido and Fernanda Echávarri decided to find out. Along the way they glean life lessons about moms, absurdity, and friendship. They even get guidance from the iconic Spanish director himself.

This episode originally aired in 2017.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Shea Serrano’s prolific writing career started unexpectedly when his wife, pregnant with twins, had to stop working. With not many options that could fit his full-time job as middle school teacher, Shea started hunting for writing gigs that eventually lead to him becoming a New York Times bestselling author, a showrunner, and a movie writer.

In this episode, we talk to the San Antonio-born and raised author whose work spans from the movie “Miguel Wants to Fight,” to the Netflix series “Neon” and “Primo.” The latter got a stunning 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. 

In this episode of Latino USA, we hear from three Latino voices around the country on what informs their solidarity with Palestinians as the war on Gaza continues. From Pro-Palestinian organizers to Jewish Latinos to Latino evangelicals, they help us understand how different Latino communities are responding to this moment, and how this political activism will impact the presidential election in November.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Luna Luna is a rising four-member band from different walks of life. They’re known for mixing nostalgic sounds of the past and fusing them with elements of funk and dream-like pop.

In this episode of Latino USA, we learn more about the people behind Luna Luna and hear how they say the universe and destiny has brought them together to live out their wildest dreams.

This episode originally aired in 2022.

In November 2021, Robert Santos became the first Latino to be confirmed as the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Santos is no stranger to the federal agency. Before his nomination and confirmation, Santos had warned that former President Donald Trump’s interference of the census count would result in one of the most flawed census counts in U.S. history. Census counts are important because they help determine congressional representation and how billions of federal dollars are distributed.

In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Santos shares the census’ complicated history, his efforts to rebuild trust among communities, his love for his hometown of San Antonio and more.

This episode originally aired in 2022.

This week Latino USA shares an episode from the podcast "So Far From Care," produced by Marfa Public Radio. 

Living in a small town in West Texas can feel magical. And part of that magic is how isolated we are: hours and hours down a desert highway from everything else. But when it comes to accessing reproductive healthcare, that remoteness can also be terrifying.

In the Big Bend, the idea of “choice” was complicated long before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Out here, you can’t legally get an abortion — but as recently as last year, depending on the day of the week, you also couldn’t have a baby in a delivery room.

So Far From Care is a podcast about those contradictions. It’s about how people decide when, how, or if to become parents — close to the border and far from the hospital, where you have a literal village to help you raise a child but daycare can be impossible to find.

These are stories about isolation that’s not just physical — all the challenges we deal with in silence. But also, about how a place without options can become the site of community and care.

You can subscribe to the podcast here. 

On June 2nd 2024, Mexico will elect a woman as its president for the first time in the country’s history. But a paradox prevails: while women rise to the highest positions of government in Mexico, the nation is still marked by a violent culture against women with 10 femicides every day.

Latino USA travels to Mexico ahead of the historic election to document women protesting the pervasive violence in the country and interview both presidential frontrunners —Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez— something only few U.S. media outlets have achieved. 

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

When she was nine years old, Xiomara Torres fled the civil war in her home country of El Salvador and came to the U.S. As a child, she adjusted to her new life in East Los Angeles before she was removed from her family and put into foster care—where she spent six years of her life moving from home to home. Now, she's the subject of a local play in Oregon titled, "Judge Torres." In this edition of “How I Made It,” Judge Torres shares how she overcame the hurdles of the foster system and made her way to the Oregon Circuit Court.

This episode originally aired in 2019.

Last year, a 65-year-old grandfather was attacked and fell onto the New York City subway tracks—which eventually led to his death. He was punched from behind by a young man with schizophrenia who shouted that he was the devil. This isn't the first time this has happened, a similar situation played out 19 years earlier. So why does the cycle continue? Latino USA examines how and why someone with serious mental illness falls through the cracks of the nation's mental health system.

This episode originally aired in 2019.

Lucía Díaz Genao’s son, Luis Guillermo, disappeared in 2013 in Veracruz, Mexico, as drug-related violence increased across the country. Amid the inaction of local authorities, Lucía started to look for Luis Guillermo herself, becoming one of today’s fiercest activists in Mexico searching for disappeared people.

In this episode, Lucía shares how she managed to get over her depression to form Colectivo Solecito, a group of hundreds of other mothers with missing children who have joined forces to bring justice to their cases.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Journalist Andrea Elliott won her first Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for Feature Writing. 15 years later, she won her second Pulitzer for her book “Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City” under the General Nonfiction category.

“Invisible Child” follows the life of a young Black girl named Dasani Coates, whom Andrea followed and reported on for more than eight years, exploring the intergenerational impact of poverty and race in one of the richest cities in the world.

In this episode of Latino USA, Andrea Elliott speaks with Maria Hinojosa about her Pulitzer Prize-winning work, what it means to be a journalist of conscience and how Andrea’s bi-cultural upbringing as a Chilean-American helped her to better report on people living on the margins of power.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. 

Trans activist, actress and author, Cecilia Gentili, knows the power of stories. Whether she is working at her company Trans Equity Consulting, writing an op-ed for the New York Times, or portraying a character on television—Cecilia believes that sharing her story is a way to advocate for the change she hopes to see. On this episode of Latino USA, Cecilia shares about her new memoir, “Faltas,” which is written as a series of letters to people in her hometown in Argentina. Cecilia talks about how joy and grief intertwine through the narrative, and how sharing her childhood stories is her revolutionary cry to support trans youth.

This episode originally aired in 2023.

Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade embraces contrasts in her music. Look no further than her latest album, “De Todas las Flores,” where Natalia found herself both processing death and celebrating life.

Prior to this, Natalia released a number of critically acclaimed albums that drew from Latin American musical history. Her journey led her to Carnegie Hall in New York City, where she premiered her latest music in a special live performance late 2022.

Just days before this show, Natalia sat down with Latino USA to talk about her new album, her career, and the value of slowing down to tend to one’s inner garden.

This episode originally aired in 2023.

As part of “The Latino Factor: How We Vote,” our 2024 election year series, we bring you a look at how disinformation affects Latino communities. We talk with Tamoa Calzadilla, editor-in-chief of Factchequeado, an initiative that combats disinformation specifically in Spanish-speaking communities in the United States.

In this episode, Tamoa shares insights into the special skills journalists need to serve Latino and Spanish-speaking communities, and offers step-by-step advice on how to combat disinformation.

Melissa Barrera has been consistently making a name for herself in recent years. The Mexican actress is probably most recognizable in the U.S. for her horror roles, namely in the legacy franchise “Scream.”

But in her more than a decade-long career that has taken her from Monterrey to Hollywood, she’s done it all—telenovelas, musicals, drama, romance and even comedy.

In this episode of Latino USA, Melissa talks about her journey into acting, the importance of using her platform, and how she views her diverse and growing career during what she calls an age of self-reflection.

This week, Latino USA brings you an episode of The Burden podcast.

In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname.

Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers (who all say they are innocent!) turned jailhouse-lawyers. In prison they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away. They set out to turn the tables on Scarcella while still in prison. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they would succeed.

Thirty years later, more than 20 people Scarcella helped put away have walked free. In the media he’s the “disgraced detective,” the rogue cop who hoodwinked an entire system. 

For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast ... where justice is done (and undone).

You can subscribe to the podcast here. 

This is a special episode by Futuro Investigates, in collaboration with The Center For Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations. 

In the absence of federal or state data showing how many disaster restoration workers get sick every year because of their labor, we document for the first time how prolonged exposure to dangerous toxins affects the health of workers who clean and rebuild American cities after natural disasters. 

When Mireya Ramos found herself subject to scrutiny and machismo as the only woman mariachi singer in the male-dominated mariachi circles, she decided to do something about it. So she founded Flor De Toloache in 2008, the first all-female mariachi in New York City. The Latin Grammy winning group's new album, 'Indestructible' features beautiful harmonies and creative fusions that go beyond traditional mariachi. Today, we hear from core members of the group who describe how they came to be and how the sisterhood they have formed, made them.

This episode originally aired in October of 2019.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones rose to instant recognition when she published the 1619 Project in 2019. Since then she’s received countless praise, awards and recognition, but the project also engulfed her into a media firestorm with many on the far-right going after her and her work, with some states even banning the teaching of the 1619 Project.

In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Nikole Hannah-Jones reflects on how she’s pushed ahead despite controversy, talks about trying to fit in at predominately white institutions and the importance of intersectionality. We also take a trip to her 1619 Freedom School in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.

This story originally aired in 2023.

For the past decade, Armando Perez has worked as a wildland firefighter with the Eldorado, California, Hotshot crew — an elite group that works in the hottest portions of wildfires. For Armando that has meant weeks away from his family, dealing with some of the worst fires in U.S. history. Still, there’s nothing else he would rather be doing.

In this episode of Latino USA, Armando recreates what a typical day is like for him and his crew to understand why, along with thousands of other wildland firefighters, they continue to risk their lives under increasingly difficult and record-breaking fires.

This episode originally aired in September of 2022. 

What and who do you include in a national Latino museum?

That’s a question that many have been asking since late 2020, when Congress green-lit the creation of The National Museum of the American Latino. It’s a new addition to the Smithsonian Institution’s roster of national museums, many of which intend to preserve the history and culture of the United States.

The fight to create The National Museum of the American Latino spans across decades. The idea was sparked by a damning 1994 report, commissioned by the Smithsonian itself, which concluded that the institution had a pattern of systematically excluding Latinos and Latinas from its programming and its staff. One of its top recommendations? To create a museum highlighting Latinos and Latinas in this country.

Now, in 2022, the museum is making moves. Even though there’s no building to house it yet, the National Museum of the American Latino has appointed a board, hired an inaugural director, and has even debuted its first show in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. In the midst of all this, many are beginning to wonder what the vision of this museum will be, and how it plans to capture the wide diversity of Latino history and culture in the United States.

This episode originally aired in September 2022.

Mimy Succar arrived with her family in Miami over three decades ago, she had three kids and a dream. A talented singer and performer from a young age, she was born in Peru to a Japanese family and maintained the traditions of her grandparents. Together with her husband Antonio, they had a band who played throughout Lima. But in the late 80s, they didn’t see a future for their family and moved to Miami with their children, Claudia, Tony and Kenji. The children began showing interest in the band at a young age, and Tony won Producer of the Year in 2019 at the Latin Grammys. Their collaboration, Mimy and Tony, was nominated for a Grammy in 2024. The critically acclaimed album includes collaborations with heavy hitters like La India, Orquesta de la Luz, and Jose Alberto “El Canario.”

In this episode of Latino USA, Mimy and Tony show us how, with the right timing and your family, nothing can get in the way.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, creating a cascade of harmful abortion bans and restrictions. But from Colorado to Florida, Latinas are fighting back for their bodily autonomy and a chance to reframe abortion as a human rights issue.

In this episode, we speak with three Latinas on the front lines of reproductive justice: Lourdes Rivera, President of Pregnancy Justice, Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, Executive Director at the Florida Access Network, and América Ramírez, Program Manager at the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. Together, they help us understand the increasing criminalization of pregnant people—especially women of color— and how all of these restrictions are impacting how we vote.

Sandy Fleurimond, a first generation Haitian-American student at Temple University in Philadelphia, was looking forward to her senior year of college. She dreamed of studying abroad and graduating in a field full of friends and family. But being a college student in 2020, meant that many of these long-awaited milestones didn't go according to plan. In collaboration with Philly Audio Diaries, Sandy shares her story of loss and growth after the pandemic flipped her senior year of college upside down.

This episode originally aired in September of 2021.

In a new migration reality, women and children are requesting asylum in Mexico at higher rates than men. But even as more women are crossing borders in long and dangerous journeys, many hoping to ultimately reach the United States, we rarely hear about their stories and what it’s like to migrate undocumented when you’re a woman. For women, their body takes a central role when they’re in transit, regardless of their age. Some are forced to disguise their gender for protection, others end up using it for survival, and many are victimized because of it. Many are also mothers and carry their children with them.

In this episode of Latino USA, we travel to Mexico’s southern border and meet several migrant women in different stages of their journey north – from a teenage Honduran traveling alone to a Cuban woman who was sexually abused and a Guatemalan single mother who survived domestic violence.

This story originally aired in September of 2021.

On today’s episode of Latino USA, we meet some of the Latinos and Latinas involved with the recent and historic mission to Mars. The Perseverance rover traveled almost 300 million miles to Mars and landed on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021, in hopes of finding traces of previous life on the planet.

This episode originally aired in May of 2021.

It was an anti-immigrant initiative in his home state of California that pushed Alex Padilla into politics, now he is making history as the first Latino to represent California in the U.S. Senate. In an extended interview with Padilla, Maria Hinojosa asks the senator about Prop 187, the controversial 1994 ballot measure that politicized Padilla, and many other Latinos of his generation. They also discuss the senator’s career-long focus on voting rights, and the threats they face today.

This episode originally aired in May of 2021.

In her work, Argentine author Samanta Schweblin explores the feeling of eeriness that accompanied her childhood. Samanta was born in Buenos Aires in 1978, just after the start of a violent dictatorship. But, while violence surrounded her growing up, there was also art: her grandfather was a famous artist who began to train her as a writer when she was six years old. Together they took trips, stole books, rode the train without tickets and went to plays and museums—all in the name of artistic training. It worked. Samanta’s work has been translated into 25 languages and long-listed for the International Booker Prize.

In this episode, Samanta shares the origins of her fascination with the blurry lines between our perceptions of what’s normal and what’s strange.

When you enter the Caribbean Social Club, or Toñita’s, it feels like you could be in your grandmother’s living room. And that’s exactly what its owner, Maria Antonia Cay —better known as Toñita— was aiming for when she opened the club in the 1970s as a gathering place for the local baseball team. 50 years later, Toñita’s is still standing in Los Sures, the south side of Williamsburg—the most gentrified neighborhood in New York City. Yet over the years, Toñita has faced ever greater challenges to keep her club open. In this episode of Latino USA, we follow Toñita through her latest hurdle, a court battle, and we learn about how the Puerto Rican community in Los Sures has kept culture alive.

This week, Latino USA shares an episode of The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island podcast.

When Annette Vega was in elementary school, she found out the man she called “dad” wasn’t her biological father. But all she knew was that her mom had had a teenage romance with a guy named Angel Garcia. Annette has searched for Angel for more than 30 years, a search that is finally coming to the end.

“The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island" is a new series from Radio Diaries that tells the stories of seven people buried on Hart Island through a range of circumstances. Hart Island, an uninhabited strip of land off the Bronx is America's largest public cemetery, sometimes known as a "potter's field." Since 1869, more than a million people have been buried on Hart Island, including early AIDS patients, unidentified and unclaimed New Yorkers, immigrants, incarcerated people, artists, and about ten percent of New Yorkers who died of COVID-19.

You can hear the entire series on the Radio Diaries podcast here.

The 96th Oscars ceremony is a new opportunity for Latinos and Latin Americans in the moviemaking business to be recognized for excellence in cinema. America Ferrera has earned her first Oscar nomination and Colman Domingo has become the first Afro-Latino nominated for best actor.

And yet, representation of Latinos on the big screen has remained stagnant.

But there are several Latinos and Latin Americans nominated who you may not have heard anything about yet. We spoke to Andes survivor Roberto Canessa and actor Matias Recalt from “The Society of the Snow;” director Maite Alberdi from “The Eternal Memory;” and producer Phil Lord from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

Editorial note: This interview was recorded in early February.

Myriam Gurba is a writer and artist from California. Her most recent work is a collection of essays named “Creep: Accusations and Confessions.” In her book “Creep,” Myriam examines individual creeps, as well as how creeps exist in the larger systems and environments that protect them.

In this episode of Latino USA, we hear author Myriam Gurba read from “Creep: Accusations and Confessions” and talk about why it’s important to unmask the creeps.

Javier Zamora is a writer who believes he has a particular responsibility: to understand and also change the world through words. He comes from a tradition of poets in El Salvador who used poetry to denounce injustices, the “Generación Comprometida,” and his personal experience of migrating as a child alone to the United States has shaped his worldview. In his work, Javier has shared some of the most intimate and difficult moments of his own history, first in the award-winning poetry collection “Unaccompanied” and then in the New York Times best-selling memoir “Solito.”

In this intimate conversation, Javier shares what it was like to return to those painful episodes in his writing, the complicated relationship he has with El Salvador, and what he hopes the role of poets and writers could be in these turbulent times.

Buscabulla is a Puerto Rican indie duo formed by wife and husband Raquel Berrios and Luis Alfredo del Valle. Around 2018, Buscabulla was one of the most beloved Latinx bands in New York City. Raquel and Luis had just released their second EP and confirmed a performance in that year’s Coachella music festival. Around this time of success, Raquel and Luis decided to move back to Puerto Rico. It was a significant life change, but one they were certain they wanted to make... as artists, and as new parents. In this segment of our "How I Made It" series, Raquel and Luis join us from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and they tell us about their debut album "Regresa."

This episode originally aired in October 2020.

In 2018, a young Guatemalan man named Reynaldo Castro Tum was ordered deported even though no one in the U.S. government knew where he was, or how to find him. Now, his unusual journey through the United States' immigration system has sucked another man back into a legal quagmire he thought that he'd escaped. This episode follows both of their stories and the fateful moment they collided.

This episode originally aired in October 2020.

Las Cafeteras is a band out of East LA that met while doing community organizing. They began playing at the Eastside Cafe, where they discovered Son Jarocho, traditional Afro-Mexican music from Veracruz. They quickly began to adapt the music to their realities fusing it with hip hop, rock, ska, and spoken word. They are known for their politically charged lyrics, speaking out against injustices within the immigrant community and their experiences as Chicanos in East LA. On today’s How I Made It, we sat down with members of the group to discuss how they got started, and their work to tell and preserve brown stories.

This episode originally aired in November 2020.

On March 14th, 2020, Martha Escudero and her two daughters became the first family to occupy one of over a hundred vacant homes in El Sereno, Los Angeles. Some people call them squatters, but they call themselves the Reclaimers.

The Reclaimers are occupying houses that belong to the California Department of Transportation, who planned to demolish them to build a freeway through this largely Latinx and immigrant neighborhood.
This is the story of one of these houses, and its residents, past and present, who have fought to make it their home.

This episode originally aired in November 2020.

If you’ve ever been to an Aida Rodriguez comedy show you’ve probably heard Aida crack jokes about her family, her upbringing, race, politics, everyday life and Latinos. She recently published a memoir called “Legitimate Kid: A Memoir.”

In this episode of Latino USA, we hear Aida Rodriguez talk about, and read from her memoir and we get a front row seat to one of her recent comedy shows in New York City.

The Department of Health and Human Services oversees several agencies: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement are just a few of them. But since its founding in 1953, HHS had never been led by a Latino, until now.

Maria Hinojosa sits down with the first Latino to lead the department, Xavier Becerra. They discuss mental health, Latino representation in the Biden-Harris White House, immigration, and more.

Editorial note: This interview was recorded in early December.

Sandra Cisneros doesn't need an introduction. Her coming-of-age novel, "The House on Mango Street," has sold over six million copies and has turned the Chicago native into a household name. Earlier this year, the Mexican-American author joined Maria Hinojosa for a live conversation at the Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. The conversation was part of WBEZ's Podcast Passport series, in partnership with Vocalo Radio. In this live and intimate conversation, Sandra Cisneros reflects on her past, present and the legacy she hopes to leave behind.

This episode originally aired in June of 2019.

Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration policy have been front and center in public conversation. However, a humanitarian crisis at the border is nothing new. Jeh Johnson was the Secretary of Homeland Security during President Obama’s second term, from late 2013 to 2017. He ran the agency during a tense period—when tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children and families were arriving at the border to claim asylum. Latino USA’s Maria Hinojosa sits down with Jeh Johnson for a candid, and at times tense, conversation about the legacy of immigration policies implemented while he was in office.

This episode originally aired in June of 2019.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Pepón Osorio never thought that decorating the wedding cakes his mother made would spark his passion for art and his signature big installations full of tiny objects, sounds and memories. In 2023, the New Museum in New York City hosted Osorio’s most comprehensive exhibition to date. In this episode of Latino USA, we tour the exhibition with Pepón, and we learn about how he found a home in the Bronx, switched careers from social worker to full-time artist, and developed a passion for collecting objects.

Eugenio Derbez is a Mexican actor, writer, director and producer who got his start at the forefront of many comedy series in his home country. After decades of making families laugh across Latin America, Eugenio reinvented himself in Hollywood. In recent years he played the role of a music teacher in the movie “CODA,” which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture in 2022. In 2023, Eugenio returned to Mexico to star in “Radical,” his first leading dramatic role. In this episode of Latino USA, Eugenio talks about “Radical,” the challenges and joys of reinventing himself in a new country, and working to change the narrative about Latinos in Hollywood.

This week Latino USA shares an episode of the Monumental podcast, from PRX.

For generations, Christopher Columbus has been glorified in monument after monument across the United States. And while Columbus statues have recently started coming down, including in cities like Columbus, Ohio, the largest one in the world is standing tall —very, very tall… in a U.S. territory— the beach town of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. In this episode, reporter and journalism professor Gisele Regatão travels to Puerto Rico and beyond to uncover the roots of Columbus’ glorification in U.S. history and why he came to be represented in so many public statues—even though he never actually set foot on the U.S. mainland. And she visits a community artist in Woodside, Queens, who is confronting the myth of Columbus by creating new monuments that celebrate immigrant stories.

You can subscribe to Monumental here.

A special episode remembering Latino USA founder and pioneer public radio journalist Maria Emilia Martin, who passed away on December 2nd, 2023.

After a career in public media of almost 50 years, Maria left a mark as a journalist, educator, and tireless advocate for Latinos, Latinas, and Indigenous voices in journalism in the United States and Latin America.

In this hour, we hear from journalists who knew and were mentored by Maria Martin and we present some of the extraordinary and award-winning reporting she did throughout her career.

Latino USA host Maria Hinojosa sits down with actor and entrepreneur Danny Trejo. Trejo has starred in over 300 films, often playing villains and tough guys of all sorts. He now runs Trejo's Tacos, Trejo's Cantina, and Trejo's Donuts in Los Angeles. He shares how he went from regular stints in prison to being one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces.

This story originally aired in April of 2019.

It's a common sight in Puerto Rico—men in bright yellow T-shirts going door-to-door- selling cakes. They're residents at Hogar CREA, Puerto Rico's biggest drug treatment program. Since CREA’s founding 1968, they've grown to a sprawling network of about 150 centers in Puerto Rico, the U.S. mainland, and elsewhere in Latin America. But since the 1990s, the organization has been under fire for its methods. Latino USA takes a look at how this rehab empire built by a former heroin addict continues to be funded by millions of tax dollars, despite dozens of reported cases of physical and sexual abuse.

This episode originally aired in December of 2018.

By day, Héctor Rodríguez III is a school teacher; by night, he’s creating the world of “El Peso Hero”, a comic book superhero based on the border that is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

In this episode of our "How I Made It" series, Héctor talks about growing up loving superheroes, but not feeling represented by them. Something he’d eventually deal with by building his own comic world centered on the border.

This episode originally aired in July of 2021.

We continue our investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). While looking into what happened the night Joseph Chacón died, reporter Deepa Fernandes finds out that another baby, Draco Ford, had passed away in the same foster home two months earlier. Why weren’t the foster children, including Joseph, immediately removed after Draco died? We also delve into the difficult decisions social workers have to make and the systemic problems of the foster care system in the U.S. as a whole.

This episode originally aired in July of 2021.

Chilean-American singer-songwriter Francisca Valenzuela has always forged her own path in music. Born and raised in California, Francisca began her career after moving to Chile with her family. Even when major labels and venues wouldn’t open their doors for her, Francisca recorded and performed on her own terms until she became one of Chile’s biggest stars. Francisca went on to release four studio albums, start her own music label, and create Ruidosa, a Latinx feminist collective for women and non-binary voices in music.

In this episode of our "How I Made It" series, Francisca Valenzuela revisits her early days as a young woman building a music career in Latin America, and takes us down the road that led to her latest album, La Fortaleza.

This episode originally aired in July of 2021.

After a domestic violence incident, Leah Garcia called the police looking for safety for her and her two children. But her calls triggered the involvement of LA’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the largest child welfare agency in the country. Leah’s 5-month-old baby, Joseph, the son she had with her abusive partner, was placed with a foster care family. What happened after became a mother’s worst nightmare: the same system that was supposed to keep her child safe proved to be the biggest threat to his well-being.

This episode originally aired in July of 2021.

This week Latino USA shares an episode of the podcast, Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes, from LAist Studios.

Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes tells the story of the biggest political scandal in recent Los Angeles history. A secret recording leaked online in 2022 exposed then-LA City Council President Nury Martinez making racist and derogatory remarks. A year after the scandal, host Antonia Cereijido challenges Nury on her racist comments and the deeper systemic issues of race and politics in an exclusive interview. From LAist Studios, Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes, available wherever you get your podcasts.

You can subscribe to Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes here.

Latino USA continues to mark its 30th anniversary and look back at its reporting throughout the last three decades.

On today’s show we look at immigration, then and now.

Maria Hinojosa is joined by Camilo Montoya-Galvez, immigration and politics reporter for CBS; Natalia Aristizabal, Deputy Director of Make the Road New York; and Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. Together, they discuss immigration policies from the last 30 years.

The Gun Machine is a new podcast from WBUR in partnership with The Trace, exploring the 250-year history of one of the most tragic and confounding forms of addiction in America: guns. Listen to all eight episodes wherever you get your podcasts.

You can subscribe to The Gun Machine here.

Today on Latino USA, we want to pay tribute to María Emilia Martin, public radio pioneer, and our founder, by replaying the first special episode marking our show’s 30 years on the air. The episode, first aired in May 2023, is an oral history of Latino USA and features a conversation between Martin and our current co-executive producer Maria Hinojosa, whom Martin chose to be the host of Latino USA back in 1993. “María knew that by launching Latino USA, she would be impacting history in this country forever. What we could never have imagined was that just months after our first sitdown interview, to go over 30 years of Latino USA, I would be having to say goodbye to her on the air,” said Hinojosa. Martin passed away peacefully on Dec. 2 in Austin, Texas, surrounded by her family. We are forever grateful to her for her vision and look forward to continuing to honor her legacy week after week at Latino USA.

As part of our 30th anniversary celebrations, we bring you a taste of a very special evening with the Colombian band Monsieur Periné—hosted at the Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR. Catalina García and Santiago Prieto play songs from their latest award-winning album, “Bolero Apocalíptico”, and chat with Latino USA’s senior producer Marta Martinez about how they mix classic and modern influences, their love for their Colombian roots and how they found inspiration in the pandemic.

After months of working closely with the archivists and librarians of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas in Austin, the Latino USA team wanted to dig deeper into the history and treasures in the library. The Benson has been around for more than a hundred years, and it’s one of the most important institutions in the world collecting the history and stories of Latin America and U.S Latinas and Latinos. But, that history comes with some baggage.

In this episode of Latino USA, we look at some of the objects that connect the Benson to the past, and we explore its complicated history, along with possibilities for how the library can move into the future.

This week Latino USA brings you an episode of the United Stateless Podcast.

United Stateless Podcast documents the stories of "returnees", people who immigrated to the US, largely as children, and have since returned to their home country. In the first season, we focus on Mexico. It's a story of life, love, Spanglish, culture shock, missing bagels, and figuring out where home really is.

In this episode, what, exactly, is Mexico? And what's it like to actually grow up there? And why is Alexandra so interested in all of this?

Subscribe to the United Stateless Podcast here.

On Thanksgiving Day, hundreds of people gather on Alcatraz Island, the famous former prison and one of the largest tourist attractions in San Francisco, for a sunrise ceremony to honor Indigenous culture and history. Fifty years ago, an intertribal group of students and activists took over the island for over 16 months in an act of political resistance. Richard Oakes, a young Mohawk from New York, was one of the leaders in this movement dubbed the "Red Power Movement." Latino USA tells the story of Richard Oakes' life, from his first involvement in activism to his untimely death at the age of 30.

This episode originally aired in November 2018.

At the turn of the 20th century, revolution was starting to brew in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. A group of Mexican revolutionaries had fled to the United States and were working to overthrow a dictator in their home country. They were called Los Magonistas, and both the U.S. and Mexican governments put all of their efforts to spy on them and suppress their revolution.

In this episode, historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells the story of this cross-border insurgency that has been left out of most U.S. history books and shares how it continues to shape border enforcement as we know it today.

Latino USA continues to celebrate 30 years of being on the air, as well as bringing you important conversations as part of our ongoing political coverage.

For this episode, Maria Hinojosa sits down with legendary labor leader and civil rights activist, Dolores Huerta. They speak about politics, the current state of organizing, sex and passion, and much more.

Editorial note: This interview was recorded in September of 2023 before the current crisis in Gaza began.

What will the music of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sound like 100 years from now? That’s the premise at the heart of Futuro Conjunto, a multimedia sci-fi project by artists Charlie Vela and Jonathan Leal. Futuro Conjunto is an expansive work of speculative fiction, but it also revolves around urgent issues of our present, such as climate change, technology, war, and class disparity. The multimedia project also draws from the Rio Grande Valley’s history and musical traditions, and Vela and Leal collaborated with more than 30 local artists to make this project happen. Futuro Conjunto is, first and foremost, a musical album. But it’s complemented by animated clips, an interactive website, and a detailed history that imagines the events that came to pass between today and several generations into the future.

In this “How I Made It” segment, Vela and Leal explain the inspiration behind Futuro Conjunto and break down how they captured the sounds of the Rio Grande Valley’s future.

This episode originally aired in February of 2021.

Gustavo Dudamel is one of the most famous and acclaimed conductors in the world. He’s been the Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, when he was just 27 years old. El maestro is the best-known graduate of El Sistema, Venezuela’s national youth music education program. In the years since, Dudamel made a name for himself conducting world-famous orchestras, running his own arts charity — The Gustavo Dudamel Foundation — and founding the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles.

Even amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Dudamel has been living up to his personal passion of finding creative ways to play and expand access to music, all while stressing the importance of staying in touch with his Venezuelan roots. In this episode of Latino USA, Dudamel talks about staying indoors, calling family home, and his belief that music will inspire a stronger future for all.

This episode originally aired in February of 2021.

This week Latino USA brings you an episode of the podcast, Classy with Jonathan Menjivar.

In this episode, we can’t talk about class without talking about race. Through eye-opening conversations with two people of color in the fashion industry, Jonathan realizes some hard truths about the ways he’s adapted in order to blend in. And he reveals how one small, but bold act is helping him to reclaim his cultural identity.

You can subscribe to Classy with Jonathan Menjivar here.

Maria Hinojosa and Latino USA producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. join Vice President Kamala Harris aboard Air Force Two as the vice president makes her way to Miami, Florida, as part of her “Fight For Our Freedoms” college tour.

Later, Maria sits down with Vice President Harris for a one-on-one interview where they discuss young Latino voters’ participation, reproductive rights, immigration, and more.

Editorial note: This interview was recorded in September of 2023 before the current crisis in Gaza began.

When Gabby Rivera wrote her coming-of-age novel “Juliet Takes a Breath” in 2016, she didn't know that it would get her attention from an unusual place: Marvel Comics. They asked her to write for America Chavez, their first queer Latina superhero. Gabby said yes. But as she was writing for their superhero, she found herself swept up in #comicsgate, an online harassment campaign against the comic book industry’s efforts to include more women, people of color, and LGBTQ characters. In this "Portrait Of," Maria talks to Gabby about her beginnings as a writer, her difficult experience with #comicsgate, and about returning to comic book writing.

This episode originally aired in June of 2019.

Los Angeles, you might be surprised to learn, sits on top of the largest urban oil field in the country and has been the site of oil extraction for almost 150 years. Today, nearly 5,000 oil wells remain active in Los Angeles County alone, many operating in communities of color, often very close to homes, schools, and hospitals.

Latino USA visits a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, the epicenter of an anti-oil-drilling movement that is gaining momentum. We meet Nalleli Cobo, the 18-year-old who’s working to shut down the oil industry, one well at a time.

This episode originally aired in June of 2019.

Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos is a Chicanx artist and musician who has been playing under the name Y La Bamba for nearly 20 years. As the child of immigrant parents, Luz Elena struggled to feel seen in the music industry, but as they’ve continued making music, they have grown into their identity as an artist.

Last year, Luz Elena moved back to Mexico City to explore where they come from. That search also led to the publication of their seventh studio album — “Lucha” — and to Y La Bamba playing their first show ever in Mexico City.

In this episode, Luz Elena shares why playing that show was so important to them and reflects on their path toward becoming more themselves.

In this episode of Latino USA, historian Mireya Loza and her uncle and former bracero Juan Loza meet at his home in Chicago to reflect on the legacy of the long-running and controversial labor Bracero Program and its impact on their family.

When Austin's cumbia-funk institution Grupo Fantasma went to record their seventh album at a studio in Tornillo, Texas, they had no idea that right next door was a tent city for detained immigrant youth operated by ICE. When they found out, they decided they had to do something. So they teamed up with fellow legends Ozomatli and Locos Por Juana to create a sinister funk tune with a message about the walls that divide us. On this edition of How I Made It, members of Grupo Fantasma break down the creative process behind their new song "The Wall."

In 2018, just months after Hurricane Maria, an eccentric group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts arrived in Puerto Rico. They came with big plans for the island—to help rebuild after the hurricane, and in the process create a high-tech cryptocurrency paradise in the Caribbean.

They also came to take advantage of Puerto Rico’s favorable tax laws. But not everyone in Puerto Rico was on board with their vision to change everything on the island. Latino USA follows the often-bizarre story of these Bitcoin pirates of the Caribbean, from crypto boom to crypto bust.

Omar Apollo, a rising star in the indie R&B scene, began making music on his own by teaching himself chords from YouTube videos and honing his sound in an attic in a small town in Indiana. His first breakthrough came on Spotify in 2017, with the song “Ugotme.” Four years later, Omar has amassed more than 100 million streams on the platform and has toured internationally. In this “How I Made It” segment, Omar Apollo takes us back to the days of making music on borrowed equipment, and shares how he explored everything from funk music to corridos to make his debut album, “Apolonio.”

This episode originally aired in February of 2021.

In 2022, the Bering Sea snow crab season was canceled for the first time in history. Essentially 10 billion snow crabs went missing. The cause? Warming waters due to climate change.

In this episode, Latino USA producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. travels to Kodiak, Alaska to see how a fishing community is trying to stay afloat as climate change disrupts their industry—and lives.

This week Latino USA brings you an episode of the Caliber 60 podcast.

Avocado consumption has exploded in the U.S. over the past decade. But what’s rarely seen is the rotten underbelly of this industry, controlled by armed groups in Mexico who use smuggled weapons from the U.S. to keep control over this lucrative business. Meet Linda, who lives in Ixtaro, a small avocado producer town. She experienced unimaginable horrors while under the siege of narcos.

You can subscribe to Caliber 60 here.

One in four women in the United States have a family member in prison—and those carrying the resulting financial and emotional burden are disproportionately women of color. Mary Estrada is one of them. She’s been taking care of her husband Robert for 40 years, as he’s been in and out of prison throughout his adult life. Most Sundays, Mary wakes up at 3 a.m. and drives 135 miles each way from Pomona, California to San Diego to meet her incarcerated husband. In this episode of Latino USA, we accompany Mary on one of her Sunday visits, and we learn about the true costs of supporting a loved one in prison.

“Too proper for the Black kids, too Black for the Mexicans," sings Grammy award-winning artist Miguel Pimentel. Miguel is the son of an African-American mother and a Mexican-born father. He's known for his eclectic sound, shaped by his home: Los Angeles. This year, he’ll release a deluxe version of his album, 'War & Leisure,' which will include songs in Spanish. It was inspired by a trip to Zamora, where he met his family in Mexico for the first time. Maria Hinojosa talks to the singer-songwriter about his life-changing trip and how his multicultural upbringing influenced his unique sound.

This episode originally aired in July 2018.

The call for the abolition of all student debt has never been louder– but how did we get to a place where this demand is possible? Latino USA dives into the history of the student loan system in the U.S., as well as the stories of Black and Latinx organizers who have been at the forefront of the movement for student debt cancellation. We look at how their efforts have shifted the conversation and ask why abolishing student debt is an issue of racial and economic justice.

This episode originally aired in July 2022.

Five years ago, Latino USA producer Antonia Cereijido was only an intern and still in college when she did what a lot of people do when they're not sure what their life will look like after graduation: she cried in the bathroom. After wiping her eyes and returning to her desk, she tried to comfort herself by calculating how many other Latinos had cried at the same time she had. This led her to ask herself: do Latinos cry more than other people, on average? Thus began her strange and lachrymose journey into the world of crying.

This episode originally aired on Feb 9, 2018.

Latino USA continues to mark its 30th anniversary and look back on its reporting throughout the decades. One topic the show has heavily reported on is Latinos serving in the military and today we take a new look at that subject.

In this episode, producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. travels to Laredo, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border. He brings us the story of Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2021 during the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

Reynaldo meets with those closest to David to help tell the story of who David was, as well as explore how the military has historically —and continues— to seek Latinos and Latinas to fill its ranks.

Brothers Isaac and Esteban Hernández have performed on some of the most prestigious stages in the world. But their journey to the top rank of their industry had a unique start. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Isaac and Esteban's first ballet teacher was their father, Héctor, and their first ballet studio was their home’s backyard. Last year, they became the first siblings to achieve the rank of principal dancer for the San Francisco Ballet.

Gioconda Belli is an award-winning Nicaraguan author. She has published novels, essays, poetry collections, and a memoir called “The country under my skin,” which recounts her time as a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front—fighting to free her country from a dictatorship. Now, 40 years after the Sandinista victory, Gioconda finds herself living in exile and unable to return to Nicaragua. She was recently stripped of her citizenship by the person who once was her comrade: President Daniel Ortega.

In this episode of Latino USA, Gioconda talks about her long history of standing up to dictators, what she finds revolutionary in writing, and what hopes she still has for the future of Nicaragua.

The September 11th attacks left nearly 3,000 dead, many more injured and an entire nation traumatized. The 24-hour news cycle that followed focused endlessly on the identity of the terrorists: non-citizens who had been able to exploit “vulnerabilities” in the system. The United States government responded with harsh policy changes in the name of national security, including the Patriot Act, but it also focused the weight of policymaking on curbing immigration, funding astronomical budgets to further tighten borders, and toughening enforcement against non-citizens — including Muslims, Latinos, and others with zero ties to terrorism.

In this episode, we explore major changes and events over the past 20 years that forever changed the U.S. immigration system through the lens of this one catastrophic day.

This episode originally aired in September 2021.

In this episode of Latino USA we partner up with Documented, a nonprofit news site that covers immigrants in New York City, to get a behind-the-scenes look at the experience of trying to navigate the immigration courts as an asylum-seeker under the Trump Administration. We follow the story of Wendy and Elvis, Guatemalan newlyweds who flee violent extortion threats only to find themselves in a maddening and punishing U.S. court system that is now the norm for immigrants seeking safety.

This episode originally aired in March 2020.

In the late 90's, Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero embarked on a one-way trip to Dublin, Ireland. While they were originally heavy metal musicians back home in Mexico, they traded their electric guitars for acoustic ones and became street performers in Ireland to sustain themselves. Eventually, they started getting more recognition. In 2006, they put out their first album, which debuted at number one on the Irish Albums Chart. Their latest album "Mettavolution" has earned them their first Grammy. In this “How I Made It,” Rodrigo and Gabriela take us back to the origins of their band and tell us what keeps them going after more than 20 years.

This episode originally aired in 2019.

The stereotype goes that Latinos only listen to salsa or reggaeton. But one of the biggest genres of music across Latin America is actually heavy metal, with bands like Iron Maiden selling out stadiums across the region when they tour there. On today's Breakdown, we ask.... why? How did metal take over Latin America so completely? We look at the extreme fandom for metal across Latin America and discuss the story behind the groundbreaking Brazilian band, Sepultura, and how they changed the fate of metal music forever.

This episode originally aired in 2019.

Soulection is a music startup, which has quickly grown to be a powerhouse with a record label, a popular radio show, and worldwide tours—bringing together an international group of music lovers. It all began as an online podcast created in a garage in Southern California. At the time, Joe Kay was a college student who was looking to bring independent artists, DJs, and producers to fresh ears. Today, co-founder Joe Kay reflects on Soulection's grassroots beginnings and its impact on the music scene.

The episode originally aired in 2019.

Producer Patricia Sulbarán embarks on a journey to learn how Latino USA covered the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as part of the show’s 30th anniversary special coverage. After reviewing hundreds of archival clips, Patricia finds a woman leading the fight against stigma in the 1990s. It was actress, lawyer and activist Ilka Tanya Payán. This episode dives into Ilka’s life and overlooked legacy, as well as the wider reality of lack of treatment for HIV-positive women back then. Today, activist Aracelis Quiñones carries Ilka’s legacy, advising her community on the challenges of aging with HIV.

Muralist Judith F. Baca is mostly known for creating one of the largest communal murals in the world: the Great Wall of Los Angeles. It extends for half a mile along the Tujunga Wash river channel in the San Fernando Valley and it tells the story of California from its pre-Columbian origins until the 1950s. The project involved more than 400 Latino and Black youth from underserved neighborhoods. They started painting in the 1970s, but in the mid-80s they ran out of money. Until now: Judith has recently resumed work on the Great Wall. Latino USA visited her in her studio in Venice.

Earlier this year, award-winning author Meg Medina was named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature—she’s the first Latina to occupy this position. In her role, Meg’s responsible for raising awareness of the importance of young people’s literature, something that is now more crucial than ever, as efforts to ban books in schools and public libraries are on the rise.

Throughout her career, Meg has made it her mission to create and champion literature for children and young adults that speaks to their realities. She doesn’t shy away from incorporating complex or difficult topics in her stories—from grandparents with Alzheimer’s or bullies in school. Meg believes that children and young people are experts in their own experiences and can be trusted to read freely and share their own stories.

In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Meg Medina gets deep about identity, family, and what we lose when we don't see stories that reflect ourselves and our realities.

The musical genres most people associate with the Dominican Republic are merengue and bachata. Yet, there's another set of rhythms that are essential to the spirit of the country, and that's Afro-Dominican roots music. That's where the band Yasser Tejeda & Palotré come in. They blend some of the country's black roots rhythms like palo, salve and sarandunga, with jazz and rock to bring a new spin to local sounds—and to reimagine what it means to be Dominican. In this segment of "How I Made It," the band's frontman Yasser Tejeda walks us through the inspiration behind their latest album "Kijombo," and the making of the single "Amor Arrayano," which is all about love across the Dominican-Haitian border.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Latino USA and Black Public Media bring you Alzheimer’s In Color. It’s the story of Ramona Latty, a Dominican immigrant, told by her daughter Yvonne, and it mirrors countless other families of color navigating a disease that is ravaging the Latino community. It’s been four years now since Ramona was diagnosed. Four years of the lonely journey, which in the end her daughter walks alone, because her mom has no idea what day it is, how old she is or where she is. Ramona lives in a nursing home and COVID-19, and months of separation have accelerated the disease, and Yvonne’s despair.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida made history last year when he became the first Gen-Z elected to Congress.

Latino USA producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. went to Congressman Frost’s district in Orlando to interview him and attended one of his community events.

In 2018, producer Jeanne Montalvo reported on the choices her parents made when raising her in a bilingual household. Five years later, Jeanne’s two children both command the Spanish language. But the oldest, Martin, was 2.5 years old at the start of the pandemic and never learned English. This came with a series of challenges as he entered the school system in New York. One daycare even suggested Martin was on the spectrum. In this follow-up episode, Latino USA takes a deep dive into bilingual education history as Jeanne looks for solidarity in the ghosts of New York City’s past.

This week Latino USA brings you an episode of the Hungry for History podcast.

Here’s a little-known fact you might not have known... The beer industry might be dominated by men today but women were the original brewers and played a vital role in beer’s popularity! In this episode, Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez-Rejón explore beer’s fascinating history. Plus — Carmen Velasco Favela, owner and founder of Mujeres Brew House, an all-female run/Latina-owned craft beer company in San Diego, CA joins the show.

You can subscribe to the Hungry for History podcast here.

How is ICE handling complaints of sexual abuse from detainees? Maria Hinojosa teams up with Zeba Warsi, two immigrant women and journalists from different generations, to look at sexual abuse in ICE detention more than a decade after Maria’s documentary film on this topic. This time, they investigate how women in ICE detention are sexually abused when they were at their most vulnerable —in a medical setting— and how ICE has done very little to stop it. A special by Futuro Investigates in collaboration with Latino USA.

In the early 1990s, Willie Perdomo was a teenager growing up in East Harlem. He saw and experienced firsthand a tumultuous moment in New York City, including the crack epidemic and the consequences of the war on drugs. In his latest book of poetry, "The Crazy Bunch," Perdomo wrangles with that history and the ghosts of that time. Latino USA's Antonia Cereijido takes a walk with Perdomo through his old neighborhood of Harlem to discuss his teenage years and how memories of that time inspired his newest work.

This story originally aired in July 2019.

Today we're bringing you an episode from our vault — a love story of student activism. We're taking you back to 1968, when thousands of students participated in a series of protests that helped spark the Chicano Movement, historically known as the East L.A. Walkouts. It's also when high school sweethearts and student organizers Bobby Verdugo and Yoli Ríos danced to a Thee Midniters song and fell in love.

This story originally aired in February of 2019.

Steven Melendez thinks a lot about accessibility in the world of classical dance. Steven got his start in ballet at just seven years old, as part of an outreach program run by New York Theater Ballet. Although Steven went on to become a successful professional dancer, he always felt he had to straddle two vastly disconnected worlds: that of classical ballet and his home life in the Bronx. Now, as Steven comes full circle, becoming the artistic director of New York Theater Ballet, he reflects on the strategies that can open the doors of classical ballet to new audiences.

Latino USA continues to celebrate its 30th anniversary, bringing you conversations with some of the most influential Latinos and Latinas of the last three decades. In this episode, Maria Hinojosa catches up with pioneering filmmaker Hector Galán, who for over 40 years has been documenting our Latino communities.

In this conversation, Hector shares how he got his start as a cameraman at a local TV station in West Texas in the 1970s and how the Chicano Movement gave him a sense of identity and purpose that has stayed with him throughout all these years. After a long career making documentaries, Hector looks back at his legacy and the projects he still wants to pursue.

According to Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat, stories are a way of finding inspiration and comfort during the times we’re living through. Her award-winning writing portrays the immigrant experience, Haitian-American identity and loss. In conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Danticat dives into the history of resistance to the police violence that was all around her as a young adult in New York City, the loss of her own uncle who died at the hands of immigration authorities, and how she's making sense of the current moment.

The episode originally aired in 2020.

In 1919, an intrepid Texas state representative, José Tomás Canales, decided to lead an investigation into the abuse of power by the Texas Rangers. For several years, residents of South Texas had been reporting that members of the law enforcement agency were going rogue: beating, torturing, and even killing people, in the name of protecting Anglo settlers. The subsequent investigation into these abuses would illustrate the difficulties of reforming and creating oversight over policing on the border—and would leave behind a narrative about justified violence against the Mexican-American community, that lingers to this day.

The episode originally aired in 2020.

Latino USA has cycled through quite a few theme songs in its 30 years. There was the original theme, with acoustic guitar and soft woodwinds, followed by a brassier, more Latin Jazz influenced sound. There were even a few years when Latino USA didn’t have a theme song at all, instead featuring unique scoring for each of its stories.

In 2017, Latino USA teamed up with musical artist Xenia Rubinos to create a new song—and five years later, it’s the same one you hear on our show today. In this episode, Xenia opens up about her creative process and how her own growth inspired a special 30th anniversary remix.

For years, Anita Flores carried shame: She was a second-generation half-Peruvian who barely spoke Spanish. She pretended she didn’t care; she subtly avoided her paternal family in Lima. Then, her father was diagnosed with dementia.

As her dad’s memory started to falter, Anita would see him light up when she made the effort to speak in his first language. She tells the story of reassessing her relationship with her father, with her extended family, and with the language that kept them apart—and had the potential to bring them together.

We tackle the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos controversy and dive into why this story is so much more than just about a processed snack food but a story about race, culture, identity, and the stories that we choose to believe.

This story originally aired in June of 2021.

What happens when people living in poverty get a stable income from the government? More than 100 guaranteed income pilot programs have launched across the U.S. and most are found in California. How is a regular income — with no restrictions on how to spend the money — making a difference for participants? In this episode, we spend a month with Martha and Micaela, two participants of a pilot program launched by the city of Los Angeles — one of the biggest guaranteed income programs in the country where half of the beneficiaries are Latinx — and we learn about the history of Universal Basic Income.

For over 25 years, Uruguayan band No Te Va Gustar has been filling concert venues across Latin America. With their mix of pop, rock, reggae, ska, and other styles, the band has evolved over the years from its original three-member composition to its current nine members. Their album, "Otras Canciones," commemorates their 25th anniversary by featuring some of their most popular songs, performed in front of a live audience and featuring collaborations with legendary guests like Julieta Venegas, Draco Rosa, Jorge Drexler, and Flor De Toloache. For this edition of our segment, "How I Made It," we hear from three members of No Te Va Gustar: Diego Bartaburu, Martín Gil, and Francisco Nasser.

The episode originally aired in 2019.

Latino USA goes inside the biggest free health clinic in the country, which serves only people without insurance. There are nearly 28 million uninsured people in the United States, and for some of them, free clinics are their safety net. For undocumented people, healthcare options are very limited. For this story, we spend three days behind the scenes at CommunityHealth in Chicago, where more than half of the patients speak Spanish. We shadowed doctors and patients to observe the daily dramas that unfold there and listen in on intimate conversations—all to try to capture a snapshot of how life as an undocumented person can affect an individual's physical and mental health.

NOTE: This is a bilingual episode, where some of the audio is untranslated. A transcript of the story with full English translation is available online at www.latinousa.org.

The episode originally aired in 2019.

This week Latino USA shares an episode of the In The Thick podcast.

Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela reflect on the one-year anniversary of the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and the lasting impacts on the community. We go deeper in our roundtable to look at how families of victims—especially mothers, both past and present, bring about change. Maria leads the discussion with Keith Beauchamp, award-winning filmmaker and producer on the film “Till,” and Monica Muñoz Martinez, historian and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

You can subscribe to the In The Thick podcast here.

One year after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Latino USA and Futuro Investigates explore how families in the community are dealing with grief, how they’re navigating their journey to healing, and calling for accountability.

“Uvalde Rising,” tells the story of how victims’ parents and survivors are fighting for gun reform and calling for more mental health resources.

Some of the reporting for this episode is based on the PBS Frontline documentary film “After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics."

The Mexican singer-songwriter, Julieta Venegas, took a seven-year break before releasing her latest album, a journey of self-discovery in 10 songs that she named “Tu historia.” Now, she shares what happened during that long pause, which included making some major life decisions.

For mother and son chefs Zarela Martinez and Aarón Sanchez, educating others about the cuisines that make up Mexico is a family tradition. Zarela and Aarón have each opened restaurants, written cookbooks, appeared on TV shows, and won awards. In 2020, this duo decided to combine their talents for a podcast, where they discuss the recipes and ingredients that make up their favorite Mexican dishes.

In this episode of Latino USA, Aarón and Zarela discuss their careers, how they made it in New York City, and how they’ve navigated Zarela’s Parkinson's diagnosis as a family.

José Ralat is the Taco Editor at Texas Monthly Magazine and consequently the only taco editor in the United States. In his book, “American Tacos: A History and Guide,” Ralat dives into the evolution of tacos in the United States and its history in the borderlands. According to Ralat, tacos were introduced into the U.S. in the late 1800s. Since then, tacos have evolved into fusions —like Korean and Cajun tacos— as cultures blended with one another and chefs across the country experimented with different flavors. In this episode, Ralat gives us a brief history of the American taco and why eventually, all foods will make its way into a tortilla.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Over 300,000 students in the U.S. migrate every year to work in agriculture, from spring to fall. At a high school in South Texas, when these students return, they gather at the Migrant Student Club to discuss their experiences and get support from a migrant student counselor. At a special gathering of the club we met Reyes, who started picking asparagus in Michigan to help support his family when he was 9 years old. And over the course of his last semester of school, we follow him as he works to graduate, financially support his family, and deal with an unexpected twist: the pandemic.

This episode originally aired in 2020.

Mariana Enríquez is one of the best-known writers of a growing literary trend in Latin America that uses the horror genre to denounce the violent realities of the region—past and present. Mariana was born in Buenos Aires in 1973, just a few years before a military junta took over the democratic government in Argentina, and grew up in a country under a brutal dictatorship. She retreated to books and writing to process that historical trauma.

In this episode, Mariana shares how her connection with horror started, how she uses the genre to speak of her reality, and she reads from her latest novel Our Share of Night.

We continue to celebrate our 30th anniversary, bringing you the voices of some of the most influential Latinos and Latinas in the last three decades. In this episode, we catch up with music legend Linda Ronstadt, known as the “First Lady of Rock.” We talk to her about her memories growing up in Tucson, Arizona, and her decision to return to the traditional Mexican music of her childhood. Linda brings us into her life after retiring from music, and her memoir “Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands,” which reckons with her family history.

We start today’s episode at El Edén—the center in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where child migrants are processed after being deported from Mexico and elsewhere. Then, before diving into the reasons why Hondurans leave for Mexico and the United States, Maria Hinojosa and Latino USA producer Marlon Bishop talk about some of the history of Honduras.

This story was produced in association with Round Earth Media. German Andino, in Honduras, co-reported this story with Marlon.

This Peabody award-winning episode originally aired in 2014.

On May 5th, 1993, the first episode of Latino USA aired on more than 50 public radio stations across the U.S. Thirty years later, we look back at the creation of Latino USA, the struggle to showcase Latino voices in public media, and the show’s transformations throughout a changing political landscape in the country. In this oral history of our show, three former Latino USA staff join Maria Hinojosa and go behind the scenes to reflect on what it took to keep Latino USA going over three decades.

Press play, and join us as we celebrate 30 Years of Latino USA! #LatinoUSA30 #LUSA30

The rock en español group, Maná, is one of the most successful Spanish-language rock bands of this generation. They've sold over 40 million records worldwide, and this year their "Rayando El Sol" tour broke records previously held by the Eagles and Kanye West, when they played seven sold-out shows at the Forum in Los Angeles. But the band didn’t start out playing stadiums—it all began when one member started an English-speaking band three decades ago in Guadalajara, Mexico. Latino USA sits down with drummer Alex Gonzalez, who tells us how they got their start and became Maná.

This episode originally aired in December 2019.

Years ago, Gloria Martinez’s son went out to look for a job and never came back. Gloria would spend months searching for him, and she wasn’t alone—many others, mostly young men from rural and poor urban areas, also mysteriously disappeared. In 2008, the “false-positives” scandal broke—and revealed that the Colombian military had been systematically killing innocent civilians as part of a body-count policy they adopted in the conflict against the FARC, a leftist guerilla group. But over a decade after the scandal was exposed, relatives of the victims continue to seek justice.

This episode originally aired in December 2019.

This week Latino USA brings you an episode of the Motive podcast, from WBEZ Chicago.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it.

You can subscribe to the Motive podcast here.

At the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles last year, President Joe Biden outlined his plan to reduce the number of migrants seeking asylum at the Southern border. His administration, Biden said, would help “American farmers bring in seasonal agricultural workers from Northern Central American countries under the H-2A visa program.”

What does that mean for a program that’s already plagued with wage theft and abuse?

In the last installment of our two-part investigative series “Head Down,” we shift the focus to look at the systems put in place by the U.S. government and why they’re constantly failing foreign agricultural workers in the H-2A visa program. As a result, we uncover millions of dollars in stolen wages that, instead of being returned to the workers, end up in the coffers of a U.S. government agency.

This week Latino USA brings you an episode of The Pulso Podcast.

Texas 1951. Farmworker Pete Hernandez walks into a bar with a rifle and shoots another man. He is taken to court for murder, but when the state refuses to allow any Latinos on the jury, a rebellious team of Hispanic lawyers signs up for a wild ride that will take them all the way to the Supreme Court, and change the definition of what it means to be Hispanic in the U.S.

This episode was Produced & Written by Charlie Garcia, it was edited by Liz Alarcon. Original music by Julian Blackmore. Audio Engineering & Mixing by Julian Blackmore and Charlie Garcia. Special thanks to LULAC historian David Contreras.

You can subscribe to The Pulso Podcast here.

In 2018, Diego and Mario joined the U.S. government-sponsored H-2A visa program, leaving their families in their home country of Mexico to harvest blueberries at a farm in North Carolina for six months. They had no idea they were about to become victims of human trafficking and that their lives would be derailed forever. In the first episode of two-part special “Head Down,” we go deep into how a visa program that brings more than 300,000 foreign agricultural workers to the U.S. every year is plagued with abuse and wage theft. All of this while the U.S. government plans to expand it.

The summer of 2020 was filled with uncertainty as more than 20 million people in the U.S. were left unemployed — including Kate Bustamante’s parents. Bustamante is a 20-year-old student at Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, California. She’s always worked part-time and attended school as long as she can remember. But this summer was different. Overnight, Bustamante dropped out of classes and became her family’s breadwinner. In this personal piece Bustamante, through diary recordings and personal reflections, takes us into her world and what she went through over the summer.

The episode originally aired in November 2020.

Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo Garcia was a shy, quiet young woman who joined a band named the Miami Latin Boys. Although she had no plans of international fame, and intended to continue her studies, life had different plans for her. The Miami Latin Boys became The Miami Sound Machine, Emilio and Gloria married, and the newlywed, Gloria Estefan began to take over the spotlight. The rest, is music history. In this portrait of: Gloria Estefan, Latino USA sits down with the icon to discuss her life, her relationships, how she overcame trauma, and how she manages to be excited about everything she does, after so many years.

This episode originally aired in November 2020.

This week on Latino USA we’re bringing you an episode from the newly released podcast series Party Crews: The Untold Story.

For many Latinx kids in the ‘00s, the party crew scene was a safe space to express themselves as they came of age in the grit and glitter of Los Angeles. A space to make friends, forget about your problems, and dance the night away. But the scene wasn’t always physically safe. There were shootings and police raids. Many adults saw the scene as gang-adjacent and the media-fueled negative stereotypes of kids who were out of control. One of the teens who got caught in that easy narrative was Emmery Muñoz, after she was murdered in 2006.

Host Janice Llamoca goes on a Y2K-filled journey back in time to her own party crew days to find out what this scene meant for teens like her and Emmery, and why – to this day – Emmery’s case remains unsolved. From IHeart, VICE, and LAist Studios as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network.

You can subscribe to Party Crews: The Untold Story here.

When pioneering trans activist Lorena Borjas first arrived in the U.S. in late May of 1981, she found both community and an epidemic. Through her experiences on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, NY, Lorena developed a personal approach to connect trans Latinas and trans sex workers to critical medical and legal resources. Decades later, it would be another massive health crisis—COVID-19—that would take the life of this beloved community leader, putting into stark relief her vast legacy. Now, her closest friends paint an intergenerational portrait of Lorena, as a trailblazer, a mentor, and a mother.

This award-winning episode originally aired in May 2021.

In 2018, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes decided to take a break from the theater world. Tired of a white, male-dominated landscape, Quiara turned inward, leaning on her memories and stories of the women in her family. The result was Quiara’s first memoir: “My Broken Language.” In 2022, Quiara returned to the stage with the play adaptation of her memoir. On this episode of Latino USA, we talk to Quiara about her memoir, her play, and how grief and joy intertwine in the stories she is bringing to the stage.

Antonia Cereijido interviews former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo about his real life experience, which inspired the Oscar- nominated film Argentina, 1985. They discuss the relevance of the film today given that democracy is under attack in many parts of the world and the role of movies in helping to process painful and unspoken histories, which for both Moreno Ocampo and Cereijido are deeply personal.

Christopher Soto is a Salvadoran-American poet, activist and prison abolitionist. He is based in Los Angeles, but has remained tied to his parent’s home country.

Throughout his life, Christopher has taken many trips to El Salvador, but during his most recent visit to the Central American country in the summer of 2022, things were very different: the country’s president Nayib Bukele had declared a state of exception to address rising homicide rates attributed to criminal gangs. More than 65,000 people have been arrested since then, many of them arbitrarily.

On this episode of Latino USA, Christopher Soto takes us to El Salvador during a state of exception and we hear about the deep connections between the United States and El Salvador’s carceral culture, as well as the importance of poetry within the prison abolitionist movement.

Villano Antillano and Ana Macho are two Puerto Rican trans and non-binary musicians making waves in the music industry. In their latest projects, Villano Antillano’s debut album “Sustancia X” and Ana Macho’s “Realismo Magico,” both artists use elements of magical realism and science fiction to dream of queer and trans empowerment. In this intimate conversation, we hear the two artists bring some humor into the difficult realities of navigating a transphobic industry, and we dive deep into the sonic worlds of their latest albums.

This week Latino USA shares an episode of the USA v. García Luna podcast, from Futuro Investigates and Lemonada Media.

Genaro García Luna’s trial is over, but Maria and Peniley’s investigative work is not. In this episode, they learn that a U.S. senator has requested the DEA and the FBI information on García Luna, including the names of the U.S. officials who vetted him. We listen to some of our series’ protagonists react to the guilty verdict, and Peniley digs into what’s next for García Luna. Finally, our hosts reflect on why the war on drugs was always unwinnable, and they get into some chisme, going behind the scenes of this series.

To hear more of USA v. García Luna, head to futuroinvestigates.org.

For this week’s Latino USA, we’re bringing you an episode from the newly released podcast series from WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios, La Brega, The Puerto Rican Experience in Eight Songs.

By the end of the 1990s, merengue ruled supreme on the radio and TV in Puerto Rico, but the road to get there was long and complicated, coinciding with the growing Dominican population to the island and culminating in perhaps what was the pinnacle of its popularity and takeover in Puerto Rican music, at home and abroad: Elvis Crespo’s “Suavemente.” Journalist Ezequiel Rodríguez Andino shares the story of merengue’s ubiquity and how the shift from salsa to merengue brought to the surface serious class and racial tension that still remains today.

You can subscribe to La Brega here.

For Ayodele Casel tap dancing is magic. As a young high school student, she dreamed of one day dancing like Ginger Rogers as she recreated Ginger’s moves in her bedroom But it wasn’t until Ayodele Casel was a sophomore at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts that she took her first tap dancing class. That was her entry point into the art form which would eventually lead to a more than 20-year career as a professional tap dancer. As a Black and Puerto Rican woman, Ayodele Casel didn’t see herself reflected in the mainstream image of tap dancers because the form has been largely whitewashed through systematic racism. For that reason, she works tirelessly to remind her audiences that tap is deeply rooted in Black art and culture.

In this episode of “How I Made It,” Ayodele takes us through her tap journey and reclaims tap dancing as a Black art form.

This episode originally aired in November of 2021.

In the late 1800s, Teresa Urrea was a superstar. She was a ‘curandera,’ or healer, a revolutionary, and a feminist. At only 19 years old she was exiled from Mexico by dictator Porfirio Diaz, who called her the most dangerous girl in the country, and moved to El Paso, Texas. She also had a miraculous power: she could heal people through touch. Her vision of love and equality for all people regardless of gender, race, and class inspired rebellions against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, earning her the title the Mexican Joan of Arc. In this episode, we follow Teresa Urrea’s life, and honor the legacy of a revolutionary woman decades ahead of her time.

This episode originally aired in November 2021.

Daniel Suárez made history in 2022 when he became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, but the road to this feat has been anything but smooth. On this episode of Latino USA, Daniel Suárez talks about breaking barriers, the role his family played along the way, and how he’s trying to bring more Latinos to NASCAR.

For this week’s Latino USA, we’re bringing you an episode from the newly released podcast series from WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios, La Brega, The Puerto Rican Experience in Eight Songs.

Created by Nuyorican street kids in the mid-80s, freestyle music became the sound and story of second-generation Boricuas. Hip-hop and pop, Latin Caribbean rhythms and instruments, all came together in freestyle. The sound was ubiquitous in New York and later in Orlando, FL. Young Puerto Rican women became the face of the genre. They sang about love, heartbreak, and their sexual desires. In Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s “I Wonder If I Take You Home” —a huge hit in the genre— a young woman sings about that on her own terms and without shame, opening up mother-daughter conversations that weren’t happening.

You can subscribe to La Brega here.

The food of Mexico is diverse, complex, and beloved across the world. Don’t just take it from us—in 2010, traditional Mexican cuisine was added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Mexican chef and cookbook author Margarita Carrillo Arronte was a big advocate of this move. Throughout her career, she’s been committed to exploring Mexican cuisine and showcasing it on the world stage. Her latest release, “The Mexican Vegetarian Cookbook,” dives into Mexico’s legacy of plant-based cooking.

On this episode of Latino USA, Margarita joins the show to talk about the rich history of Mexican food.

Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler knows what it's like to live different lives within one. An ENT doctor until his early 30s, he then decided to leave medicine behind, as well as his life in Uruguay, to pursue a music career in Spain. He became the first Uruguayan to win an Oscar with his song “Al otro lado del río.”  In this episode of Latino USA, the multiple award-winning musician walks us through key moments in his career, including the creative process behind his latest album “Tinta y tiempo”—and drops a few gems about his personal life on the way.

This week Latino USA shares the first episode from the Valle de Sueños podcast.

We launch Valle de Sueños on Our Lady of Guadalupe feast day to honor those who have journeyed and kept their resiliency, faith, and love despite the treacherous path to citizenship. Our Lady represents strength, hope, and access to a kind, loving world, which represents the dreams of those who sacrifice their lives as migrants.
In episode 1, our host Laura Peña introduces the binational community of Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas from her perspective as a borderland native. After providing contextual background of the complex humanitarian situation at the beginning of the new Biden Administration, she begins telling the story starting on Day 1 of the humanitarian operation to close the Matamoros refugee encampment. Would the first group of migrants be allowed into the U.S.? The listener is left in suspense.

You can subscribe to Valle de Sueños here.

More than 25 years ago, two teachers in New Mexico were fired for refusing to stop teaching Chicano History in their classrooms; today, that history repeats itself in Denver, Colorado. What are students missing out on when they don’t learn about their history in school?

In this episode of Latino USA, we present a conversation between teachers Tim Hernández and Nadine Córdova. They talk about their shared struggles, the relevance of Chicano History in the classroom, and the lessons they’ve learned from this experience. Plus, we hear from two of Nadine's and Tim's former students.

Esta semana en Latino USA, te compartimos un episodio del nuevo podcast “La Brega: La experiencia boricua en 8 canciones”, producida por WNYC Studios y Futuro Studios.

Inicialmente, "El gran varón" fue prohibida por algunas estaciones de radio, pero a pesar de esto, se convirtió en un éxito; muchos la consideran una de las salsas más conocidas de todos los tiempos. Omar Alfanno explica que la canción fue realmente inspirada por un rumor sobre un amigo de la vida real. Sólo años más tarde se dio cuenta de que sus letras contenían una profecía escalofriante.

En este episodio, la presentadora Alana Casanova-Burgess analiza la letra de “El gran varón” y cómo esta canción que critica a un padre por rechazar a su hijo cuir ha lastimado y a la vez ayudado a la comunidad LGBTQ+ y sus familias.

Te puedes suscríbir a La Brega aquí.

For this week’s Latino USA, we’re bringing you an episode from the newly released podcast series from WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios, La Brega, The Puerto Rican Experience in Eight Songs.

Gabby Rivera was 7 when Willie Colón released “El Gran Varón” in 1989. She remembers her father playing in the Bronx. The cinematic arc of the song would stick with her: Simón, depicted as a trans queer person, is shunned by their father and dies alone of what’s assumed to be AIDS. “El Gran Varón” was first banned by some radio stations but became an international hit anyway. Many call it one of the most well-known Latin songs of all time. Its songwriter explains that it was inspired by a rumor about a real-life friend. Only years later did he realize his lyrics contained an eerie prophecy.

You can subscribe to La Brega here.

In 2018, Latino USA teamed up with the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y to put on an event honoring the 25th anniversary of Esmeralda Santiago's coming-of-age classic "When I Was Puerto Rican." In conversation with producer Antonia Cereijido, Santiago talks about what it's like to live through a hurricane, the #metoo movement, and learning to not care about what other people think of you.

In 1998, three television writers tasked with creating the next hit children's show came up with the idea of a young girl who would go on adventures and ask questions directly to the audience. With the help of consultants, they created a seven-year-old Latina girl named Dora Márquez and the show, "Dora the Explorer." Almost 20 years later, Dora is reimagined as a teenager in a new live-action film called “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” While some of the elements in Dora’s world are still fictional, the live-action film grounds Dora in reality. In this segment, Latino USA dives into the legacy of "Dora the Explorer" then and now.

Trans activist, actress and author, Cecilia Gentili, knows the power of stories. Whether she is working at her company Trans Equity Consulting, writing an op-ed for the New York Times, or portraying a character on television, Cecilia believes that sharing her story is a way to advocate for the change she hopes to see. On this episode of Latino USA, Cecilia shares about her new memoir, “Faltas,” which is written as a series of letters to people in her hometown in Argentina. Cecilia talks about how joy and grief intertwine through the narrative, and how sharing her childhood stories is her revolutionary cry to support trans youth.

Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade embraces contrasts in her music. Look no further than her latest album, “De Todas las Flores,” where Natalia found herself both processing death and celebrating life.

Prior to this, Natalia released a number of critically acclaimed albums that drew from Latin American musical history. Her journey led her to Carnegie Hall in New York City, where she premiered her latest music in a special live performance late last year.

Just days before this show, Natalia sat down with Latino USA to talk about her new album, her career, and the value of slowing down to tend to one’s inner garden.

Last November, Maria Hinojosa visited Howard University in Washington, DC to celebrate its inaugural Democracy Summit. The Summit was organized by the Center for Journalism and Democracy, which was founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Maria sat down with journalist Jodi Rave Spotter Bear and historian Kathy Roberts Forde for a panel discussion about the history of journalistic blindspots and how the mainstream media often fails to see the dangers of white nationalism. It was one of many panel discussions that took place that day.

We bring you an edited version of the conversation, moderated by Professor Dr. Jason Johnson.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones rose to instant recognition when she published the 1619 Project in 2019. Since then she’s received countless praise, awards, and recognition, but the project also engulfed her into a media firestorm with many on the far-right going after her and her work, with some states even banning the teaching of the 1619 Project.

In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Nikole Hannah-Jones reflects on how she’s pushed ahead despite controversy, and talks about trying to fit in at predominately white institutions and the importance of intersectionality. We also take a trip to her 1619 Freedom School in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.

For Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ileana Cabra — known by her stage name, iLe — music has always been a way to reflect and comment on the world around her.

iLe began her musical career singing with her brothers in their renowned rap group Calle 13. But in 2016, iLe decided to go solo. She would go on to release three studio albums, using those platforms to explore many musical genres with deep roots in Latin America and the Caribbean: from boleros and salsa, to pop and reggaeton. As a songwriter, iLe puts her lyricism at the forefront, delving into themes of patriarchy and colonialism in her music.

In this episode iLe walks us through the evolution of her music as a form of protest, and how she is daring herself to show a more personal side in her most recent album, “Nacarile.”

Nachos: They’re one of the most popular snack foods in the United States, and the name is instantly recognizable worldwide. Bright yellow nacho cheese is now a staple at countless sports events and movie nights, serving as a flavor of nostalgia to many.

But nachos’ immense popularity over the years has overshadowed their true history. The first nachos weren’t invented in ballparks or designed for concession stands. They were created 80 years ago in a small town in Mexico, along the south Texas border. And they weren’t made to be a big hit. Still, nachos would end up bigger than anyone could have ever imagined.

Rubén Blades is a singer, songwriter, actor, lawyer, and politician. He was born in Panama and became a New Yorker in 1974. After four decades in the public eye and some of the best-selling records in salsa history, his unique storytelling across music styles has kept him relevant to this day.

Latino USA sits down with the author of the popular song “Pedro Navaja” to discuss highlights of his monumental career.

This episode originally aired on October 2018.

In 1945, 20-year-old Anthony Acevedo was held in captivity with other American soldiers inside a Nazi concentration camp called Berga. There, the soldiers were used as slave laborers, building tunnels for underground fuel factories. It was during this time that the Mexican-American medic kept a secret diary and documented the horrors he witnessed inside the camp.

Acevedo held on to his war diary until 2010, when he donated it to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. That same year, he registered as a Holocaust survivor with the museum—the first and only Mexican-American to do so.

This episode originally aired in May 2018.

This week on Latino USA we feature this interview with Maria Hinojosa on the Brown Enough podcast. Cómete ese miedo —or eat your fear— is what Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa's husband told her to do when imposter syndrome sneaks up on her. But across her decades-long career, she's learned to embrace the pressure. Today, she talks to Christopher Rivas about how her parents' experience in the US shaped how she thinks about this country. Plus, what she hopes for the next generation of Brown journalists. Her new young adult book Once I Was You: Finding My Voice and Passing the Mic is out now.

Subscribe to Brown Enough here.

In most of the country, when someone says they are going to Coachella it means they are going to a music festival. But for many who grew up in the Coachella Valley in California, their experience has nothing to do with music. Coachella is divided into two parts. On the west Side, there are beautiful homes with large front and backyards. On the east side, you find the mobile homes of the mostly immigrant Mexican and Mexican American communities. The differences between the two sides are stark but there is one difference that has a particularly harsh health impact: access to clean water.

This episode originally aired in 2017.

From CSI to Donna Summer, García Luna was fascinated by anything American. Several U.S. officials said that García Luna was the person they trusted the most in the Mexican government. They called him "The Mexican Hoover," after John Edgar Hoover, the FBI’s first director. But soon, García Luna was facing accusations of corruption. In this episode, Peniley and Maria tell us exactly how far back those suspicions go as well as his obsessions, his childhood dreams, and how it all led to him heading the Mexican equivalents of the DEA, FBI, NSA and prison systems put together.

To hear more of USA v. García Luna, head to futuroinvestigates.org.

When Rafael Reif steps down as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the end of December 2022, there will no longer be a Latino president at the helm of a top university in the United States. But for Reif, his tenure and the journey that brought him to it, is one that is defined by more than just his identity.

In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Reif reflects on the legacy he wants to leave as MIT president. He talks about how his upbringing in Venezuela shaped his outlook on education, and shares his message for Latino and Latina students pursuing higher education.

After a challenging experience as a computer science major, Samantha fell in love with making video games. But more than the technical aspects of video games, she is interested in storytelling. Now, Samantha works as a game writer and narrative designer to develop the ways a player experiences the story of the game. And she’s bringing her Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage to the video games she creates. Because, for the most part, the stories of people like Samantha have not been told in video games.

In this episode of Latino USA, Samantha shares her journey of finding her way into the video game industry and the joys of bringing her whole self to the games she creates.

A Mexican-American journalist and a Cuban-Mexican investigative reporter walk into a recording studio with a bottle of tequila, and reveal an investigation where true crime meets telenovela.

“USA v. García Luna” tells the story of Genaro García Luna: The most powerful Mexican government official ever to face trial in the UnitedStates for his alleged ties to infamous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

It’s the result of a 10-year investigation and a shared journalistic obsession where Pulitzer Prize-winner Maria Hinojosa and Emmy Award-winner Peniley Ramírez tackle how U.S. money funds the drug war.

To hear more of USA v. García Luna, head to futuroinvestigates.org.

In the special presentation of the In The Thick political podcast produced by Futuro Media, Maria and Julio are joined by Daniela Pierre-Bravo, reporter for MSNBC’s Morning Joe, to discuss her new book, “The Other: How to Own Your Power at Work as a Woman of Color.” They talk about overcoming imposter syndrome and biases within our own communities. They also unpack the inequities and systemic issues in workplaces that contribute to feelings of otherness for Black and brown women.

In this year-long investigation from Futuro Investigates, we dig into how the Border Patrol’s decades-long deterrence policies create a deadly funnel, pushing migrants to cross through the Sonora Desert in southern Arizona—one of the deadliest terrains in the country. More than 4,000 remains have been recovered, and many have disappeared here. While the actual death toll is unknown, experts say it is likely much higher. As a result, volunteer organizations go to the most dangerous areas to search for missing people. We question why volunteers have to take on this work, and how this crisis fuels the Border Patrol’s budget.

Today, we are sharing with Latino USA listeners the first episode of “White Hats,” a new podcast by Texas Monthly. In this episode Host Jack Herrera visits the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, searching for how the Rangers became such enduring Texan symbols. Then he drives to the Rio Grande Valley, where historian Trinidad Gonzales recalls the Rangers’ role in a century-old family tragedy and discovering how his family history was part of the bigger story of Texas.

On Thanksgiving Day, hundreds of people gather on Alcatraz Island, the famous former prison and one of the largest tourist attractions in San Francisco, for a sunrise ceremony to honor Indigenous culture and history. In 1969, an intertribal group of students and activists took over the island for over 16 months in an act of political resistance. Richard Oakes, a young Mohawk from New York, was one of the leaders in this movement dubbed the "Red Power Movement." Latino USA tells the story of Richard Oakes' life, from his first involvement in activism to his untimely death at the age of 30.

This episode originally aired on November 2018.

Today we bring you a taste of the comedy podcast Hyphenated, by Latina comedians Joanna Hausmann and Jenny Lorenzo.

In this episode, Jenny and Joanna share various idioms and expressions from their home countries and try to explain their history and meaning, including “un arroz con mango” and “cachicamo diciéndole al morrocoy conchudo,” as well as other strange sayings from around the world.

For this year’s midterms, Latino USA is teaming up with Futuro Media’s political podcast In The Thick for a special post-election roundtable discussion. Hosts Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela are joined by Christian Paz, senior politics reporter for Vox, and Maya King, politics reporter for the New York Times, to unpack key updates in the midterm elections. They also get into the impact of young voters and the issue of abortion on the elections, and consider what to expect in 2024.

Finally—we hear from you, our Latino USA and In The Thick listeners, who called in record numbers and told us what you care about when you head to the polls.

This week Latino USA is featuring “The Ballot Boogeymen,” a podcast by Reveal, which talks about a new rash of laws and agencies criminalizing and prosecuting what they consider to be election offenses, giving listeners a glimpse of what’s to come ahead of the general elections in 2024.

You can subscribe here.

Introducing a new podcast by NPR and Futuro Studios: The Last Cup, a podcast about soccer and the immigrant experience

As Lionel Messi rose up the ranks of the Barça football club in Spain, he dreamed of winning a World Cup for his home country. But playing with Argentina's national team has proven to be this soccer superman's kryptonite.

What can Messi's story tell us about the cost of leaving home, and the struggle to return?

The Last Cup is a dual-language limited series. All episodes are in both English and Spanish. Subscribe here.

Visual artist Narsiso Martinez uses materials, like discarded produce boxes and dusty charcoal, to depict intimate scenes about the life and labor of farm workers in the United States. Born in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1977, Narsiso says migrant farm work was part of his hometown’s culture — it was normal to see young people travel to the US for work. At 19, Narsiso also made that journey, and went on to do farm work in the orchards of Washington state in order to afford his dream of pursuing art school. In this episode, Narsiso Martinez takes us to his studio and his solo exhibition at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, sharing the stories behind his work and his journey as an artist.

Author and journalist, Carmen Rita Wong, grew up believing that her father was “Papi” Peter Wong, a Chinese American man. At least, that’s what her Dominican mother, Lupe, told her. But as Carmen's mom neared the end of her life, family secrets came to the surface, sending Carmen on a search for answers. In her memoir “Why Didn’t You Tell Me,” Carmen dives into her family’s story — picking apart how race, class, and gender shaped the often difficult decisions she and her family had to make. In this intimate conversation, Carmen shares some of the childhood memories that shaped her, and talks about how the act of memoir writing can feel like a radical practice of empathy.

In the special presentation of the In The Thick political podcast produced by Futuro Media, Maria and Julio are joined by Jennifer Medina, a national politics reporter for The New York Times. They break down recent polling on Latino and Latina voters, including Futuro Media’s first-ever political poll. They also discuss the issues that actually matter to Latino and Latina voters, and what both parties are missing in their outreach. And, they get into Jennifer’s reporting on the rise of right-wing, conservative Latina candidates running on GOP platforms.

To subscribe to In The Thick, click here.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Morry Gash

Latino USA producer Sayre Quevedo grew up having only met two members of his blood family, his mom and his brother. His father left before he was born and his mother lost touch with her family after leaving home as a teenager. For a long time, Sayre's family history was shrouded in mystery. Until one Mother's Day, when everything changes, and he finds himself on a journey to untangle the story of his long-lost family and the secrets that have haunted them. This story originally aired in August 2018.

On October 9, the Los Angeles Times of a conversation between now-former L.A. City Council President Nury Martínez, fellow Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, and now-former L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, in which Martínez made racist remarks against another councilmember’s Black son and the city’s Indigenous community from Oaxaca.

Here’s an episode from our colleagues at Latino Rebels Radio, where guest host and Latino Rebels senior editor Hector Luis Alamo speaks with Gustavo Arellano, featured contributor for the L.A. Times, to get a sense of what the scandal means for the people of Los Angeles and the future of the city.

Between the years of 2010 and 2020, North Dakota saw a growth rate of almost 150% of Latinos and Latinas, according to the U.S. Census —the biggest Latino population growth in the entire country.

Jobs in the oil and gas industry are mostly responsible for this population growth in North Dakota.

But moving to and living in North Dakota isn’t always easy. And many ask: are Latinos here to stay?

In this episode we learn about some of the hardships Latinos and Latinas face when moving to a state like North Dakota and what it’s like to create a new Latino community from scratch. We also look at how this swift population growth is being addressed by the local government, and what efforts they’re making to get more people to stay for the long haul.

Latino USA is proud to present an episode of Brazil on Fire, a podcast produced in partnership between The Real News and NACLA.

Using key issues like family values and security, Bolsonaro’s hateful rhetoric and fake news machine painted the 2018 election as a battle for the soul of the country. This episode looks at Bolsonaro’s most ardent supporters and how a culture war born in the United States inspired a wave of political violence.

To subscribe to Brazil on Fire, click here.

North Dakota saw the biggest growth rate of Latinos and Latinas in the United States between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Census.

Why? Many people moved to North Dakota for jobs, particularly in the oil and gas industry, lured by an oil boom that started around 2008.

But how has this increase of Latinos, Latinas and other people impacted the state and how is this rapid growth being received?

In this episode, we look at the politics of oil and gas, the types of jobs Latinos and Latinas are doing within this controversial industry and the impact that drilling is having on the environment and Indigenous communities in North Dakota.

Latino USA is proud to present an episode from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com Rediscovering: Killed Through The Border Fence podcast.

Nearly a decade ago, a Border Patrol agent in the United States shot and killed 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez in Mexico. Rediscovering: Killed Through The Border Fence tells the story of José Antonio and his family's search for something still elusive at the border: justice. In the first episode of this new podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, a look at the tragic events on the night of Oct. 10, 2012, and how José Antonio’s family mobilized to press the U.S. government to take action as they seek for answers.

To subscribe to Rediscovering: Killed Through The Border Fence, click here.

As a traditionally Republican state, Arizona hadn’t seen a Democratic presidential candidate win since 1996. But then, in 2020, the state became a battleground. Voters chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump with a difference of just 10,000 votes. Much of that shift in politics is attributed to a grassroots progressive movement of young Latinos and Latinas, who mobilized hundreds of thousands of new voters to the polls in the 2020 election. This movement was built from the ground up more than ten years ago, initially in response to Arizona’s racist anti-immigration law SB1070. But now, at a moment when the movement should be riding the high of their recent victory, its members are facing a challenging upcoming midterm election.

On this episode of Latino USA, we travel to urban and rural parts of Arizona to follow three progressive organizers facing an increasingly popular far-right movement of Trump-endorsed candidates—and their fight to expand voting access in the state.

As recently as 1955, there were virtually no immigrants held in detention in the U.S. Today, the federal government holds tens of thousands each day, in 130 facilities across the country. But the story of how we got here did not start at the U.S.-Mexico border - it started on Florida’s shores, 50 years ago.

Through personal histories and meticulously compiled archival materials, Detention By Design will tell how the arrival of Haitian and Cuban migrants by boat in the 1970s and 1980s —and the crude experiments in small Florida jails that followed— shaped the immigration and detention system that we have in this country today. WLRN's Danny Rivero hosts.

This second episode of Detention By Design follows the revealing story of Abel Jean-Simon Zephyr, a Haitian who arrived in Miami by boat in 1973. He asked for political asylum, but authorities —caught flat-footed— paid the sheriff's office at remote Immokalee, Florida, to hold him and others at its tiny jail. It marked the miserable, and at times tragic, beginning of the modern immigration detention system.

Detention by Design is funded by The Shepard Broad Foundation.

Latino USA is proud to feature an episode from Futuro Studios and Higher Ground’s The Sum of Us podcast, Heather McGhee’s travel diary about the surprising cross-cultural connections that are rebuilding the American community, from rural Maine to the California coast and everywhere in between.

In 1921, the small town of Minden, Nevada began sounding a “sundown siren” that warned Indigenous people to leave the city limits or face violent consequences. Over a hundred years later, the alarm still blares daily. Why? It depends on who you ask. In a town full of historic markers, there’s nothing about the Indigenous history; local officials now say the siren is a tribute to first responders. Marty Meeden, a descendent of the local Washoe Tribe, had fought to end this traumatic daily reminder to no avail—until he met a pair of unlikely allies: a passionate white bicyclist and a teenage all-star runner. Together, they are working to silence the sundown siren forever, and show how remembering our history can help us all heal.

To subscribe to The Sum of Us podcast, click here.

Poet and spoken word artist Denice Frohman has been performing for more than 15 years now — you may have seen some past videos of her work go viral on the early days of social media. Denice thrives onstage, bringing a musical cadence and emotional depth to work about family, language, queerness, and her Puerto Rican heritage. Her mission is to share her community’s stories in her writing and performance.
On this episode of Latino USA, Denice talks about her journey as a queer, Latinx artist, and how she finds poetry in her everyday life.