On March 17, Honduran recording artist Aurelio Martínez died in a tragic plane crash. Aurelio was the voice of the Garifuna people and a fierce defender of their music in culture. Almost two decades ago producer Marlon Bishop became friends with Aurelio, living and traveling with him for several months. He shares the story of their time together. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our pod...
Apr 13, 2025•28 min
What does it mean to be Latino/Latina/Latinx in 2025? Is Latinidad a fiction? Should Latino be considered a race? On this episode of Latino USA, Maria Hinojosa asks those questions in a conversation with Jean Guerrero, journalist and columnist, and Julissa Arce Raya, author and activist. They also speak about colorism, recent headlines, and how simply existing as a Latino today can make you a target. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and...
Apr 11, 2025•28 min
We’re doing something different! Today, Maria Hinojosa joins listeners for a special message announcing something new from Futuro. Been dreaming of immediate full season access, and behind the scenes chisme from your favorite shows at Futuro? We have too! Listen to hear more about what’s next for Futuro. To help us grow the future of journalism go to: futuromediagroup.org/joinplus The Futuro Plus team includes producer Sam J Leeds, production managers Francis Poon and Jessica Ellis, marketing ma...
Apr 07, 2025•16 min
This week Latino USA shares episode 1 of the podcast Don't Cross Kat . Kat Torres shows an Instagram-perfect life to her large following. She’s a Brazilian supermodel turned life coach who seems harmless but is hiding a secret. And when one of her followers goes missing in the U.S., one woman sets out to bring back her best friend. Paty won’t stop until she gets her friend out from under Kat’s spell. Listen to this special episode from a new series from Futuro Studios and Wondery and hear from t...
Apr 06, 2025•56 min
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 ...
Apr 04, 2025•41 min
“What the Trump administration is trying to do to Mr. Khalil is a blueprint, and if they are able to get away with it, then they will replicate it.” On March 8th, Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was taken by immigration agents to a detention facility in Louisiana—without charges. He was taken because of his pro-Palestine activism on campus. Khalil is a legal permanent resident of the United States with a valid green card. Maria Hinojosa talks with his lawyer about the case and the chi...
Mar 30, 2025•27 min
On the first days of his migration journey, “Juan” posed for a photo outside a bus terminal to remember the moment. Two years and two thousand miles later, it landed him in the crosshairs of a recently-elected Trump administration determined to wage an all out war on immigrants, and on a plane to Guantánamo Bay. Today, the story of how one Venezuelan migrant ended up inside one of the world's most infamous prisons, and what he experienced while he was there. Plus, a conversation with one of the ...
Mar 28, 2025•27 min
Before it was the classic dress we all know and many still love today, the little black dress was mostly worn by working-class shopgirls and domestics. Monica Morales-Garcia began to research the origins of the L.B.D. to answer: How had so much changed, yet so much had stayed the same? Listen as Monica walks us through the decline of an industry and the rise of a garment. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . This episode originally a...
Mar 23, 2025•35 min
Bella Lugosi's leading role in the creepy 1931 film Dracula made him a horror icon. But there's another, even better version of Dracula that was shot in Spanish using different actors on the same sets. We try to figure out why the Spanish movie ended up so much scarier— and sexier— than the original. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . This episode originally aired in 2018....
Mar 21, 2025•21 min
In early February, Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele made an unprecedented and controversial offer: to jail U.S. citizens in El Salvador. The move came as President Donald Trump is ramping up his mass deportation plans. In this episode, host Maria Hinojosa sits down with journalists Roman Gressier, editor of El Faro English and host of the podcast “Central America in Minutes,” and Lilia Luciano, CBS News correspondent, to discuss Bukele’s attempts to ally with Trump and the parallels between the...
Mar 16, 2025•29 min
Human smugglers are oftentimes hired by migrants to help them through inhospitable and dangerous routes on their way to the United States. But how do human smugglers, also known as coyotes or polleros , get into the business in the first place? Are they more hurtful than helpful? What is fueling their industry? Renowned anthropologist and author Jason De León tries to answer these questions in his latest book “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope on the World of Human Smuggling.” Jason sits dow...
Mar 14, 2025•27 min
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...
Mar 09, 2025•49 min
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 ref...
Mar 07, 2025•18 min
To say that the United States and Mexico have a complicated relationship is to put it lightly. We’re talking over 200 years of, well, a lot. And today more than ever it’s hard to keep up with how much is constantly happening between the two. So for this episode we’ll bring OG border and immigration reporters Alfredo Corchado and Angela Kocherga to not only help us understand what’s going on, but to look back at recent history and provide much needed context. How will the relationship change now ...
Mar 02, 2025•26 min
Harvey Guillén talks with Maria Hinojosa about his role as Guillermo de la Cruz in the FX vampire comedy, What We Do in the Shadows. Harvey reflects on some recent tragic moments and some others from his childhood, none of which has stopped him from pursuing his dreams of being a Hollywood star. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Feb 28, 2025•27 min
As President Trump threatens to take the Panama Canal back, journalist Cristela Guerra recalls her childhood memories growing up between the U.S. and Panama. She tells us about the complicated history between the two countries and what’s at stake if the U.S. tries to take the canal back. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Feb 23, 2025•22 min
Emilia Pérez has sparked significant controversy not only because of polarizing remarks from its director and lead star, but for its eccentric storytelling and what many call a downright “off” portrayal of Mexico. The film has received countless accolades and is nominated for 13 Oscars. We spoke to film thinkers in Mexico and the U.S. about what went wrong, what went right, and how critics and fans are responding. Listen to our conversation with Gonzalo Galván from El Heraldo de México , Fernand...
Feb 21, 2025•30 min
In the second episode of our new series "Hombre: Understanding Latino Men," Maria Hinojosa sits down with two young Latino voters from Texas. Alejandro Flores, from Dallas, cast his ballot for Kamala Harris in 2024. First-time voter Alexis Uscanga, from the Rio Grande Valley, chose Donald Trump. This roundtable gets into the issues that informed both Alexis’ and Alejandro’s vote. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Feb 16, 2025•27 min
Author Cristina Rivera Garza’s memoir received the Pulitzer prize in 2024. In Mexico, the book sparked a feminist movement demanding justice for gender-based violence. In “Liliana’s Invincible Summer,” Cristina delves into the “emotional archive” of her sister, who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend 30 years ago, when Liliana was only 20. In this conversation, Cristina Rivera Garza and Maria Hinojosa discuss their own journeys to find the words and power to talk about gender-based violence an...
Feb 14, 2025•28 min
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 t...
Feb 09, 2025•42 min
This week on Latino USA, we're sharing an episode from Code Switch. We bring you a different kind of immigration coverage. We're telling a New York story: one that celebrates the beautiful, everyday life of the immigrant. Code Switch producer, Xavier Lopez, and NPR immigration reporter, Jasmine Garsd, spend a day at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. You can subscribe to Code Switch here . Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Feb 07, 2025•39 min
Amid the chaos generated by Donald Trump’s first days back in the White House, Maria Hinojosa sits down with someone who has sounded off on the former and current president for years: New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC tells us what, in her opinion, went wrong for Democrats in 2024 and how the party can win back voters. She also highlights the beauty and value immigrants bring to the U.S., analyzes the new geopolitics of Latin America and more. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube ....
Feb 02, 2025•35 min
In 1939, a Mexican-American high school basketball team shocked the world. Basketball, at the time, was considered a white man's game. Until Lanier High School, with their all Mexican-American basketball team, won the 1939 San Antonio city championship. But at the moment of their greatest triumph, things suddenly took a turn for this worse. This episode originally aired in 2016. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Jan 31, 2025•17 min
“Latinos are not a monolith” is something we hear whenever politicians want to court Latino voters, and no one understands the nuances of this community quite like journalist and author Marie Arana. She’s the author of “LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority," which explores the complexities, histories and cultures of Latinos in the United States. In this moment of political change, Maria Hinojosa sits down with Marie Arana to discuss just how wide-ranging Lati...
Jan 26, 2025•31 min
Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, signing sweeping executive orders targeting climate, trans rights and immigrants. We hear reactions from a diverse range of those affected, including a Venezuelan migrant at the border, a trans activist in Arizona, and an undocumented domestic worker in New Jersey. Then, host Maria Hinojosa sits down with Princeton Professor of African American Studies and author Dr. Eddie Glaude and Senior Political Reporter for Vox Nico...
Jan 24, 2025•26 min
This week on Latino USA, listen to those directly impacted by the devastating wildfires across Los Angeles County, where at least 25 people have died, thousands were displaced, and communities completely destroyed. Guest host Fernanda Echavarri is joined by Antonia Cereijido, host and reporter at LAist, to talk about the situation on the ground and the community solidarity that has sprung from this disaster. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our...
Jan 19, 2025•34 min
As a Zapotec and Maya Ch’orti’ environmental scientist, Dr. Jessica Hernandez has always found academia to be a hostile place. She had looked forward to sharing what she learned from her grandmother and father about nature as an undergraduate student, but her lived experiences and knowledge were dismissed and sometimes mocked by her professors. Now, Dr. Hernandez is working to change how we think about environmental sciences by centering Indigenous science to heal our planet, because she knows W...
Jan 17, 2025•20 min
Much has been said about Latino men after the presidential election, but a lot of it lacks context. In order to deepen our understanding of Latino manhood and its influence in the United States at this moment, we are launching a new series, "Hombre: Understanding Latino Men" today. The series features nuanced conversations with a diverse group of hombres latinos. Our first guest is political consultant and Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha. He sits down with Maria Hinojosa to unpack why Latino m...
Jan 12, 2025•34 min
Netflix has brought Gabriel García Márquez’s iconic novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" to life with a two-part limited series spanning over 16 hours of television. The Colombian masterpiece tells the multi-generational saga of the Buendía family, who establish the utopian town of Macondo. The story captures their struggles with love, war, curses, and solitude, intertwined with the magical realism that defines García Márquez’s literary style. We spoke to Alex García López, one of the series’ d...
Jan 10, 2025•20 min
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 b...
Jan 05, 2025•48 min
