Latino USA

Last year in March, Honduran composer and singer artist Aurelio Martinez died in a tragic plane crash. Aurelio was the voice of the Garifuna people and a fierce defender of their music and 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.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in...

Valentine’s Day is not just about romantic love, we celebrate love and friendship in el día del amor y la amistad. So for this episode Maria Hinojosa sits down with award-winning Mexican actors and best friends Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal. They discuss how they foster their lifelong friendship, and how the two create politically powerful art. The duo also talks about Hulu’s first original Spanish-lan...

It was January 24, 2022. The King of Spain was coming to Puerto Rico. But everyone woke up to unexpected news: the statue of the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León in Old San Juan had been toppled. When the mayor promised to restore it that same day, it raised questions: Who deserves to be put up on a pedestal? Who are our champions? 

Today, we bring you the first episode of the newest season of La Brega, a podcast...

As we celebrate the release of season three of Futuro Studios’ hit-show La Brega, we take you back to where it all first started: Season 1, Episode 1.

Host Alana Casanova-Burgess sets out to define the many meanings of  “la brega”—one of them being the struggle—and its ubiquity among Boricuas. 

Alana takes us from potholes, to protests and metaphors, to compile all of the possible meanings th...

The NFL’s all-American spectacle is back with its Super Bowl halftime musical extravaganza…and it’ll be mostly en ESPAÑOL! Puerto Rico’s own Bad Bunny, is one of the biggest artists in the world, and on Feb. 8, all eyes will be on him

We speak with Vanessa Diaz, co-author of "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance"; journalist Tess Garcia, and Antonia Cereijido, hos...

Netflix’s newest crime thriller, The Rip, brings together three Latina actresses: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, and Lina Esco. The Colombian women share the silver screen with Hollywood heavyweights, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, in this high-stakes cop film, directed by Joe Carnahan. The cast reflect on their careers, from independent films like Maria Full of Grace to becoming the first Latina Supergirl. They talk acti...

“Our government has failed us in many ways.” 

A year has passed since the fires in Los Angeles devastated Altadena, CA. Who gets to rebuild? Who stays and who leaves? 

We begin by checking back in with Sal Saucedo, a hairdresser who spoke to us after his home became rubble. He has since planted new roots by opening a hair salon in Mexico City. 

Then we delve deeper into the slow and heartbreaking recovery...

Minnesotans say ICE agents and other federal officers have been terrorizing residents as part of “Operation Metro Surge” for nearly a month. And as ICE’s enforcement becomes more militarized and their numbers grow, so does the network of resistance created by everyday citizens. 

We speak to a local grassroots organizer and a journalist about the latest on the ground, the support networks keeping the most vuln...

When Journalist Zayda Rivera decided to become a witch, people in her life thought it was a joke–many did not take her seriously. Still, Zayda was confident in her choice to follow the ancient practice of brujería. 

Last year, Zayda published her debut children's book, Being Bruja: A Young Mystics Guide and its Spanish version, Vivir Bruja. This Brujería 101-guide provides easy to understand basics, and als...

“Suddenly, a memory assaulted me: For my own journey from Cuba four decades earlier, I had worn the red polyester bell-bottom pants my mother had made.” Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Mirta Ojito joins us to talk about the inspiration behind her new novel, Deeper Than the Ocean. Mirta reflects on the real shipwreck that sparked the idea for her novel, her own immigration story of leaving Cuba during the Mariel boatli...

Born in El Salvador, Julio Torres has become a big name in comedy. From writing for SNL and having an HBO comedy special, to making and starring in his own films, Julio's dry style is unique: it’s highly visual and deeply inquisitive, and at Latino USA we love it!

In this reimagined interview from a couple years ago, Julito spoke to us about developing his own comedic approach, his journey in the industry, and how he enjoys c...

The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro marks yet another chapter in a long history of U.S. interventionism across Latin America.

We talk to an expert on democracy to make sense of the incursion, how it could destabilize the entire rules-based international order, and why Americans should be concerned about the rise of an “unconstrained and autocratic” Trump.

Plus, we get a glimpse of what it was like ...

One in four women in the United States has 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,...

As you start the New Year, we wanted to bring you an episode from our friends at Vox’s podcast Unexplainable that we think you’ll like. It’s about a scientific mystery and with a Puerto Rican astronomer at the center of it all. Wanda Diáz-Merced lost her sight as a college student, she thought her dreams of becoming an astronomer were over — until she learned to listen to space instead.

Unexplainable ...

Earlier this week we brought you an episode from “My Divo” which we think you’ll enjoy as you slow down this holiday season. This is Ep. 3: “The Long-Lost Prison File” In it, host Maria Garcia looks for answers about Juan Gabriel in Mexico and discovers government files about the artist that have never come to light. As Maria learns more about Juan Gabriel’s story as a young man on the streets an...

As you enjoy time during this holiday slowdown, we want to share an episode of the “My Divo” podcast.

In this episode we hear how 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 brightness to him—a big queer exuberance. And now, as the first openly gay woman in her family line, Maria looks ...

Ada Limón ended her tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate this year – the first Latina to do so. Her work has been described as both tender and resounding, it rejoices in the simplicity of everyday life. She’s been praised for tackling head-on the imperfections of her body and the failings of our governments. But even in the darkness, her poetry does not linger in despair – it always finds a way back to the beauty i...

Journalist Tom Llamas made history this year when he became the first Latino to anchor a major weekday evening news show in English. Every weekday, around six million viewers across the country tune in to NBC Nightly News to watch Tom give the latest national and international news. 

He’s been in broadcast journalism for more than 25 years. He joined Maria Hinojosa to talk about how his upbringing in Miami as the son of ...

D. Esperanza is 14 years old. After traveling with his cousins from Honduras, he is held in the horrors of U.S. detention in Texas. For five months, while there, D. kept a journal of poems, drawings. It’s his memory of survival. Months later, Geraldo Iván Morales found the journal, about to be trashed. Now, D. and Gerardo are coauthors of "Detained," a book based on D.’s journal. This is their story.

Latino USA i...