Latino USA

After a year with historic implications, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sits for an intimate, in-person interview with Maria Hinojosa. AOC opens up about the January 6th Capitol riot and the lasting impact of living through a global pandemic. She also talks about how she’s recognizing and processing trauma, her role as a young, influential Latina in U.S. politics, and what she’s d...

On today’s episode of Latino USA, we meet some of the Latinas and Latinos 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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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...

From KPBS and PRX, “Port of Entry” tells personal stories, stories of love, hope, struggle and survival, from border crossers and other people whose lives are shaped by the wall. Despite the pandemic and travel restrictions, people are still crossing into Tijuana for medical procedures and medications. And, in fact, over the past decade, the urban landscape south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry ha...

We continue the story of Joseph Webster, a Black man who was serving a life sentence for murder in Tennessee – a murder he says he didn’t commit. After a conviction review unit in Nashville created to address potential miscarriages of justice refused to re-investigate his case, despite uncovering new evidence, Joseph and his lawyer question whether these units can actually address the flaws in the...

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 most recent album, "Otras Canciones," commemorates their 25th anniversary by featuring some of their most popular songs, p...

Nearly 2,800 people have been exonerated — or legally cleared — after being convicted and going to prison for crimes they didn’t commit over the last three decades. In this episode of Latino USA, we explore the case of Joseph Webster, a Black man who was serving a life sentence for murder in Tennessee – a murder he says he didn’t commit. We also learn about how the justice system is trying to righ...

For seventeen years, Ornella Pedrozo thought of her mom's detainment by ICE as her deepest, darkest secret. When she was four years old, her mother Violeta, who had fled the armed conflict in Peru, was abruptly detained by ICE. That separation, which lasted seven months, was something that Ornella didn't really talk about, until recently. In this episode, you'll hear fragments of a letter Ornella...

Known by many as “La Reina del Rock,” the queen of Latin American rock, Alejandra Guzmán has built a legacy for herself through her soulful performances and scandalous lyrics. Her famous Mexican parents, rocker Enrique Guzmán and actress Silvia Pinal, introduced her to the industry, but it’s Alejandra’s fierce stage presence and ambition that have sold over 12 million records over three decades. I...

On today’s episode of Latino USA investigative journalist Jean Guerrero speaks with Maria Hinojosa about her recent reporting on Latino social media influencers who are fanning the flames of the immigration debate. Guerrero also reflects on the dangers of misinformation and talks about why combating false narratives is personal for her. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can undocumented people get the vaccine? How much is it going to cost? And how well do the COVID-19 vaccines work around children? Or with pregnant women? Many are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after a long year like no other, as adults in the U.S. are quickly becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. But some still have questions. Many Latinos — who are among those hardest hit by CO...

Ten years ago, when she was at the peak of her career, Dominican writer and musician Rita Indiana announced she was leaving music. But “La Montra” is now back with a new album, Mandinga Times, a fusion of punk, rock, rap dembow, heavy metal, and reggaeton. In this episode, Maria Hinojosa speaks with Rita Indiana about her new album, her queer Pan-Caribbean identity, and why she decided to leave th...

For women, losing access to contraceptives and getting pregnant without planning has long-term consequences – on their education, professional development, and economic and psychological well-being. Latino USA follows Ecsibel Henriquez, a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant, as she gives birth to her second unplanned child in Colombia. We also look at how access to birth control and other reproductive...

Until recently, San Francisco Gotera prison in El Salvador was a gang prison, dedicated to holding members of the notorious MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. In 2017, nearly all the inmates inside San Francisco Gotera withdrew from their gangs and converted to Christianity. Evangelical churches came to control every part of the prison, except for one: a small isolation block where nine former gang memb...

Luis J. Valentín Ortiz from the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo tells a hidden story from Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, that of the micro-creditors — thousands of low-income retirees and former public employees with claims that the government may never pay, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. As a federal judge prepares to make a decision on whether they’ll get paid, this episode asks:...

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 nu...

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 dis...

Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States has long been a subject of intense debate. In 1952, Puerto Rico adopted a new status that was meant to decolonize the island. In English, we call it a “Commonwealth.” In Spanish, it’s called “Estado Libre Asociado”, or ELA. Puerto Ricans were promised for decades that this unique status meant they had a special kind of sovereignty while maintaining...

Despite being a U.S. colony, Puerto Rico competes in sports as its own country on the world stage. Since the 70s, Puerto Rico’s national basketball team has been a pride of the island, taking home trophy after trophy. But in the 2004 at the Athens Olympics, the team was up against the odds, with an opening game against a U.S. Dream Team stacked with players like Lebron James and Allen Iverson. Fut...

Photographer Chris Gregory-Rivera examines the legacy of the surveillance files known in Puerto Rico as las carpetas — produced from a decades-long secret government program aimed at fracturing the pro-independence movement. Gregory-Rivera looks at las carpetas through the story of one activist family, the traitor they believed was close to them, and the betrayal that holds more mystery than they...

A year after COVID-19 first shut down the United States, Latino USA looks at how the pandemic has changed the lives of Latinos across the country. We’ll check in with a domestic worker in Chicago who has lost work because of the pandemic. We'll visit a Honduran family living in Mexico after they tried asking for asylum in the U.S., but were turned away. We’ll go to the South Bronx to hear how one...

A winter storm in Texas left millions with no power and water issues in February. Latino USA producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. documented his family’s experience during the storm and kept an audio diary of what happened. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weeks after Hurricane María, the Government of Puerto Rico accepted an emphatic suggestion from officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), put it in writing as if it were its own decision, and celebrated it would be used to rebuild in a “resilient” way. On the island of Vieques — which has a very high rate of cancer — they were supposed to rebuild its only hospital, destroyed by...

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 pr...

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 h...