Latino USA

In the early 70s, Miguel Angel Villavicencio was focused on making his most ambitious dream possible: to become a famous singer in Bolivia and across the world. And he was halfway there—his love songs were on the radio and he was appearing on TV. But to take his singing career truly international, he needed money. So he decided to work for Bolivia’s most powerful drug cartel in the 80s—a major supplier for Pablo Escobar. C...

The National TPS Alliance and seven plaintiffs, including Temporary Protected Status holder Cecilia González, recently sued the Trump administration for illegally terminating TPS for about 600,000 Venezuelans. Though a federal judge temporarily blocked the termination, the legal fight to defend the status, and to advocate for long-term immigration reform, continues.

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

Pope Francis, history’s only Latin American pope, died on April 21st. As the cardinals of the world set to choose a new leader, we look back on Francisco's papacy, his most praised achievements and his most criticized shortcomings. Plus, how his leadership may influence the church for years to come. Guest host Fernanda Echavarri speaks with professor and feminist theologian Natalia Imperatori-Lee and Argentinian-American j...

What began as an ordinary traffic stop for Kilmar Abrego Garcia escalated into a nightmare at the center of a Supreme Court decision. The immigrant Maryland father was deported to El Salvador’s mega prison because of an “administrative error.” But even at the Supreme Court’s direction, the Trump administration has still not brought Kilmar back.

This case has tipped the scales: “We are in a moment of constitutional crisis.”

W...

This week, Latino USA shares episode 2 of Suave: Season 2. 

Suave can’t drink. He can’t smoke weed. He can’t travel. He can’t visit old prison friends, or basically have any interaction with the police. And that’s because even though he’s free, he’s on parole for a lifetime. In other words, he’s just serving his prison sentence on the outside. Sometimes all these rules make Suave ask himself, “Will I ever really be free?”

Fo...

This week, Latino USA shares episode 1 of Suave: Season 2. 

Years have passed since Season One, and Suave is thriving. He’s got a great job. He’s on the news for his work on prison reform. He’s even got a new nickname on the block: Mr. Pulitzer. Suave is doing what he always dreamed of – and he’s making a real difference. It almost seems like “happily ever after.” Or is it? 

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Alejandro Heredia’s debut novel “Loca” has been praised as “quintessentially American”. It takes place in both the Dominican Republic and the Bronx, New York, where Alejandro was shaped into the person he is today.

In this episode, Latino USA producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. speaks with the Afro-Dominican author about his —and his family’s— migration journey to the United States, his queer awakening, and being a writer during t...

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.

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

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.

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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 ...

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 e...

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 spectru...

“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 gr...

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...

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.

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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.

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In the news this week: We discuss Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele’s unprecedented and controversial offer: to jail U.S. citizens in El Salvador. 

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 two administ...

In this week’s news and reporting, we discuss the links between the booming business of human smuggling and U.S. immigration policies and much more.

Maria Hinojosa sits down with renowned anthropologist and author Jason De León to discuss his latest book “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope on the World of Human Smuggling.” Human smugglers are often hired by migrants to help them through inhospitable and dangerous...

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 cl...