Historias Unknown

Lorena Borjas was known as the mother of the trans Latinx community in Queens, New York. After a life of activism, she passed in 2020 from COVID, but her legacy lives on. 

In this episode, Carmen tells Cristina about Lorena's life, activism and legacy.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources: 

https://lambdalegal.org/blogs/us_20231010_queer-latinx-leaders-who-paved-the-way/  https://qptv.org/content/queens-stories-story-lorena-borjas-transgender-latina-activist  https://transgenderlawcenter.org/case/lorena-borjas/  https://www.ourvoicesarefree.org/founder  https://www.amidacareny.org/transgender-awareness-week-honoring-lorena-borjas/  https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-signs-legislation-honor-lgbtq-pride-month-and-empowers-new-york-state-agencies 
https://www.them.us/story/lorena-borjas-mother-of-queens-trans-latinx-community-died-coronavirus 
https://www.them.us/story/out-on-the-frontlines-liaam-winslet-lorena-borjas

The School of the Americas (SOA) was founded in 1946 in the Panama Canal Zone, and it's purpose was to be a training ground for Latin American military and police in U.S. service schools. By 1949, SOA produced 749 U.S. military personnel and 251 Latin American graduates, representing 10 different countries. Spanish became the official language of the school in 1956, and classes were no longer taught in English. The SOA was expelled from Panama in September 1984, due to the signing of the Panama canal zone treaty in 1977.

It was then moved to Fort Benning in Georgia.  Since it opened, more than 80,000 Latin American military members have Been trained at the SOA.

In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about some of the Latin American graduates and the horrible crimes they are tied to.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

Books about the SOA mentioned: The School of the Americas:

Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas. By Lesley Gill. Published in 2004 by Duke University Press. 

Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas. By Linda Cooper and James Hodge. Published in 2004 by Orbis Books.

From Warriors to Resisters: U.S. Veterans on Terrorism. Edited by Margaret Knapke. Third edition, published in 2019. Available to download and read at www.resistersbook.org

¡PRESENTE! Nonviolent Politics and the Resurrection of the Dead. By Kyle B. T. Lambelet. Published in 2020 by Georgetown University Press.


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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero#Assassination https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/18/us-military-usa#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17183163011657&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fcifamerica%2F2010%2Fnov%2F18%2Fus-military-usa https://irp.fas.org/crs/soa.htm https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/history-soa https://soaw.org/u-s-trained-ex-military-intelligence-officer-sentenced-to-22-years-for-murder-of-berta-caceres-2
https://soaw.salsalabs.org/2022castillowestpoint https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/04/02/military-must-acknowledge-responsibility-for-false-positives-in-catatumbo/ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/10/colombia-ex-soldiers-take-responsibility-for-killing-227 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/28/colombia-military-false-positives/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/world/americas/colombia-war-crimes.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_D%27Aubuisson https://mklm.org/el-salvador/jean-donovan-lay-missioner-martyred-in-1980/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_murders_of_U.S._missionaries_in_El_Salvador#:~:text=The%20murdered%20missionaries%20were%20Maryknoll,U.S.%20missionaries%20in%20El%20Salvador. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Uribe#Internal_conflict https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19390164
https://soaw.org/notorious-soa-graduates

Latin America is one of the deadliest places to be a defender of rights; despite the high rates of activist killings and high rates of impunity, many risk their lives to fight for their rights.

In this episode, Carmen tells Cristina about the state of environmental activism in Latin America, as well as a few cases of environmental activists whose lives were taken for their activism.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Petition mentioned: https://cispes.salsalabs.org/Alianzaarrests2024/index.html?eType=EmailConfirmation&eId=c8825587-5cf6-42e9-8655-21709b29ada8 Sources:  https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/almost-2000-land-and-environmental-defenders-killed-between-2012-and-2022-protecting-planet/

Sources:  

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/who-killing-latin-americas-environmentalists  https://globalearthrepairfoundation.org/homero-gomez-gonzalez/  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/he-told-me-of-his-battle-to-save-the-monarch-butterfly-from-illegal-loggers-now-hes-gone-missing/2020/01/23/353a6a94-3dea-11ea-afe2-090eb37b60b1_story.html 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51304857  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homero_G%C3%B3mez_Gonz%C3%A1lez 
The Guardian of the Monarchs documentary on Netflix   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/mexico-second-monarch-butterfly-sanctuary-worker-found-murdered 
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/29/over-1700-environmental-activists-killed-in-past-decade-report 
https://hrf.org/the-cost-of-defending-the-environment-in-latin-america/  https://www.foe.org.au/what_is_extractivism 
https://latamjournalismreview.org/news/honduras-suspected-murderer-of-journalist-and-indigenous-leader-pablo-hernandez-captured/ 
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/honduras-indigenous-community-radio-director-pablo-isabel-hern%C3%A1ndez-murdered-un-ohchr-calls-for-murder-investigation-to-include-his-work-as-human-rights-defender/ 
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/honduras-lenca-environmental-defender-is-first-the-human-rights-defender-to-be-killed-in-2022-in-the-country/  https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/mar/22/two-murders-in-a-week-honduran-activists-risk-death-to-defend-rights 
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/melvin-geovany-mej%C3%ADa-rodr%C3%ADguez-broad-movement-for-dignity-and-justice-madj-movimiento-amplio-por-la-dignidad-y-la-justicia/ 
https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn/2022-02-24-000000  https://www.mp.hn/publicaciones/exhuman-cadaver-del-lider-indigena-en-el-progreso-yoro/  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/07/venezuela-indigenous-leader-killed-amazon-defenders 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/01/venezuela-indigenous-leader-defended-amazon-shot-dead 

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La Frente de Liberacion Homosexual, the Homosexual Liberation Front or FLH in Argentina was a gay rights organization that formed in August 1971 in Buenos Aires. They were a coalition of semi-autonomous groups, who were all far left, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and stood for LGBT rights, women’s rights and labor rights. They were met with repression, arrests and even disappeared during the Military Junta of Argentina.

In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about the FLH. If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources: 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frente_de_Liberaci%C3%B3n_Homosexual https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frente_de_Liberaci%C3%B3n_Homosexual_(Argentina) https://www.moleculasmalucas.com/post/agosto-de-1971 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezeiza_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuestro_Mundo https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9ctor_Anabitarte https://www.infobae.com/leamos/2022/05/16/estrechamente-vigilados-por-la-locura-vuelve-un-libro-de-amor-entre-hombres-que-era-inconseguible/
https://www.moleculasmalucas.com/post/pioneros-de-la-fraternidad-homosexual https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-sixties-in-argentina-political-repression-cultural-vibrancy/ Documentary mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2v0eiemcHY 

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When it comes to the Spanish Conquistadors, it’s not incorrect to say they were pretty terrible people. But out of all of them, one name stands out, he also happens to be the founder of Guadalajara, Jalisco, among other towns in the Northwest of Mexico. Nuño Beltran de Guzman was called "the most depraved man to set foot in New Spain".

In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about Nuño Beltran de Guzman, in a new series they are calling "Behind the Bastardos", where they talk about some of the worst people in Latin American history.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources: 

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu%C3%B1o_de_Guzm%C3%A1n https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/11471/nuno-beltran-de-guzman https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/658-bloody-guzman/ https://theguadalajarareporter.net/index.php/columns/columns/allyn-hunt/50000-beltran-de-guzman-an-unrelenting-application-of-evil-a-cruel-tangle-of-anti-church-anti-cortez-anti-indian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangaxuan_II 

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In light of the student protests calling for divestments from Israel and a ceasefire in US schools, Carmen tells Cristina about the student movements from the 1920s to the 1950s in Colombia and the student movement from 1918 in Argentina that led to university reform.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources: 

https://ageofrevolutions.com/2020/10/26/la-esperanza-de-america-latina-the-ongoing-student-revolution-in-colombia/ 
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6fIgwhJHxM/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D  https://everytownsupportfund.org/history-of-divestment-on-college-campuses/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Rojas_Pinilla  https://www.ainfos.ca/13/jun/ainfos00192.html  ​​https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/10/archives/15-die-in-studentarmy-strife-in-bogota-colombian-regime-puts-tight.html 
https://www.puees.unam.mx/sapa/dwnf/2/1.Ordorika-Imanol_2021_StudentMovementsAndPoliticsInLatinAmerica.pdf  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordobazo#:~:text=The%20Cordobazo%20was%20a%20civil,the%20global%20protests%20of%201968.

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Teresa Urrea was a curandera, folk saint, feminist and revolutionary. A woman ahead of her time. She came to be known as Santa Teresa or La Santa de Cabora. And in more recent times, the Joan of Arc of Mexico.

In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about the life of Teresa Urrea.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources: 

Ringside to a Revolution by David Dorado Romo Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Urrea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaqui_Uprising
https://www.latinousa.org/2021/11/05/teresaurrea/ 

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Victor Jara was a popular singer in Chile, famous for his folk songs that focused on politics, human rights, and social justice. This, along with aligning himself with Allende, made him a target for the Chilean right-wing, and he was captured and killed by the Pinochet regime after the US backed coup against Allende. Following Victor Jara’s assassination, his family fought a decades-long battle for justice, which continues to this day.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free email [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/

Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources
https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-02-28/the-last-days-of-victor-jara-chiles-political-poet-killed-by-the-pinochet-dictatorship.html  https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/04/17/inenglish/1429274863_181405.html  https://www.thenation.com/article/world/victor-jara-chile-murder-barrientos/  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/us/victor-jara.html  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Jara 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20897545  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/03/chile-victor-jara-execution-solider-extradited-us-trial 
https://cja.org/what-we-do/litigation/jara-v-barrientos/ 

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In October 1998, General Augusto Pinochet was arrested for crimes of genocide and terrorism. He spent months in house arrest in England, but 15 months after his arrest, he was declared not fit to stand trial. Upon his return to Chile, he was charged for his role in the Caravan of Death. He faced more charges over the next 5 years, but died of a heart attack in 2006. At the time of his death, he faced 300 criminal charges. He never spent a day in jail.

On this episode of Historias Unknown, Cristina tells Carmen what led up to the end of the Pinochet regime and what came after.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free email [email protected] or use this form Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/

Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources

A Nation Of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet by Pamela Constable & Arturo Valenzuela
The Pinochet FIle by Peter Kornbluh
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/11/chile-marks-50-years-since-pinochets-brutal-coup https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/09/chile-coup-democracy-1988-pinochet/675275/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet 

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In the aftermath of the Pinochet coup, Chileans faced unimaginable horrors under the military dictatorship. The Caravan of Death: Initiated by Pinochet, this series of massacres between September 30th and October 22nd, 1973, led to the deaths of at least 97 people. Victims were tortured, stabbed, and shot, their bodies disposed of in unmarked graves or dumped into the ocean. DINA's Reign of Terror: The National Intelligence Directorate, DINA, became a powerful and ruthless secret police force, tasked with eradicating Marxism. Their tactics included infiltration, torture, and assassination, targeting leftist movements and their sympathizers both domestically and internationally.

In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen what followed after Pinochet's rise to power. Including the human rights violations, prison camps, caravan of death and DINA. Stay tuned for the next episode as we explore the downfall of Pinochet's regime.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free email [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/ W

Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources

A Nation Of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet by Pamela Constable & Arturo Valenzuela
The Pinochet FIle by Peter Kornbluh 

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