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 songwrite...
Jan 10, 2023•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 06, 2023•49 min
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....
Jan 03, 2023•34 min
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, ...
Dec 30, 2022•28 min
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 generatio...
Dec 27, 2022•38 min
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...
Dec 23, 2022•51 min
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 ...
Dec 20, 2022•41 min
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 outl...
Dec 16, 2022•38 min
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 g...
Dec 13, 2022•21 min
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 ...
Dec 09, 2022•39 min
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....
Dec 06, 2022•34 min
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 searc...
Dec 02, 2022•56 min
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....
Nov 29, 2022•45 min
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 Rich...
Nov 25, 2022•49 min
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.
Nov 22, 2022•41 min
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. Finall...
Nov 18, 2022•55 min
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 .
Nov 15, 2022•54 min
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...
Nov 11, 2022•51 min
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...
Nov 08, 2022•16 min
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 t...
Nov 04, 2022•39 min
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-win...
Nov 01, 2022•41 min
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 2...
Oct 28, 2022•42 min
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 spe...
Oct 25, 2022•32 min
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 lik...
Oct 21, 2022•57 min
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 ....
Oct 18, 2022•34 min
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 ar...
Oct 14, 2022•59 min
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 az...
Oct 11, 2022•33 min
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 year...
Oct 07, 2022•57 min
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 cr...
Oct 04, 2022•31 min
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 ...
Sep 30, 2022•51 min
