Latin America Report

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Latin America Report episodes

August 30, 2016 Miami Colombians Divided Over Peace With A Guerrilla 'Mafia'
Colombia’s protracted peace talks have put a serious dent in President Juan Manuel Santos’ approval rating at home – and across the Caribbean. Santos is probably most unpopular in South Florida, home to the U.S.’s largest Colombian community, which is strongly opposed to peace with Colombia’s Marxist guerrillas, known as the FARC . In a 2014 interview with WLRN , Santos – who has staked his presidential legacy on ending his South American nation’s 52-year-old civil war – took a dig at Colombian
5 min
August 23, 2016 Does Survival In Venezuela Depend on Shippers In Miami?
The forklift’s working overtime at Vikom Export, one of the hundreds of shipping companies nestled in the warehouse labyrinths of Doral, just west of Miami. Almost all of Vikom’s shipments go to Venezuela – and they’ve doubled since last year.
5 min
August 10, 2016 First Time In Cuba: A Personal Essay From A Second-Generation Cuban
My mother says I’m American. I was born in Miami, Florida, so she is technically correct. But like many other Latin Americans who grew in up the United States, I carry with me the values and traditions of my ancestors. So I’m Latin-American --I’m a mixture of my mother’s Cuban heritage and my father's Peruvian heritage. Thanks to them, my American upbringing had a pinch of Latin spice to it --like literal aji amarillo , or yellow pepper, with some sweets too like my favorite red guava jelly. But
8 min
August 01, 2016 Miami Cariocas' Feelings For The Rio Olympics Are Like Feijoada. Very Mixed.
At a Brazilian restaurant in Doral called Brazuca’s, Danilo Leão is whipping up his most popular dish, feijoada. Pronounced fay-ZHWAH-dah , it's a heavenly stew of black beans, meats and spices created centuries ago by Brazilian slaves.
5 min
July 18, 2016 Island Crisis Makes South Florida Puerto Ricans A Fast Growing 'Watchdog'
Puerto Rico’s economic crisis has gotten deeper this summer. This month the U.S. commonwealth defaulted on $1 billion of debt – and the U.S. Congress approved a federal oversight board to rescue the island. Puerto Ricans living on the U.S. mainland want a say in how that happens. So they recently created a more unified front called the National Puerto Rican Agenda ( NPRA ). The group includes a South Florida chapter – which reflects the surprising growth of Florida’s Puerto Rican population down
5 min
July 12, 2016 Can U.S.-Cuba Normalization Save Coral Reefs? On July 4, Scientists Said Sí Señor
Billy Causey has a keen eye for recreational boaters doing dumb things around vulnerable coral reefs in the Florida Keys. Especially on heavy boating holidays like the Fourth of July. “Lookee there,” says Causey as his boat heads out from Big Pine Key. He points to a nearby cluster of party boats. “A lot of them are up on the sea grasses and people are walking around on top of small colonies of coral.” This is why Causey – the southeast regional director for the National Marine Sanctuary Program
5 min
June 28, 2016 Port Director: Panama Expansion, Larger Ships Make Miami A 'Global Gateway'
On Sunday morning, a 984-foot-long Chinese container vessel – aptly renamed Panama – became the first ship to enter the new, wider locks of the Panama Canal. The waterway’s $5.5 billion expansion ran over budget and almost two years behind schedule. But now that it can accommodate more massive, post-Panamax ships, it should be a boon to U.S. harbors like PortMiami.
5 min
June 20, 2016 Young Pioneers: How Cuban Entrepreneurs Are 'InCubating' In Miami
Imagine you’re an ambitious 25-year-old business school grad in Spain. But it’s 2013 – and unemployment there is a scary 26 percent. Where do you take your entrepreneurial talents? Communist Cuba. Seriously.
5 min
June 07, 2016 Donald Trump Faces The Mexican F-Bomb. As In, Fox.
The bad blood between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Mexico continues – and lately it has involved Miami. Last week Trump took offense when the PGA moved a major pro golf tournament from his Trump National Doral Miami resort to Mexico City. “You vote for Donald Trump as President,” he told supporters, “this stuff is all gonna stop.” And even before the PGA announcement, Trump made yet another disparaging remark about Mexicans – calling out the Mexican ancestry of Gonzalo
5 min
October 02, 2015 Migration Maze: Epic Corruption Inside Central America's Northern Triangle
Despair wrought by corruption scandals also drives migration to the U.S. TEGUCIGALPA | Hondurans don’t get riled easily. And they’re not known for takin’ it to the streets. But this has been a year of loud and angry torchlight protest marches in Honduras — and for good reason. The impoverished Central American country is wrestling with perhaps the worst government corruption scandal in its history. Or as Honduran protesters like Eldan Cruz put it: “Corruption on such a criminal level it’s
5 min

About Latin America Report

From the publisher's feed

In South Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean are a local story - and the Latin America Report, which was a weekly WLRN feature from 2013 to 2023, looked at how the two often intersected and…