Latino USA

Alaska is a Mexican-born singer from Spain with one of the most definitive LGBTQ Spanish anthems: "¿A quién le importa?" by the duo Alaska y Dinarama. In the late '70s, Alaska was one of the key figures of La Movida Madrileña, the era post-dictatorship in Spain. In this episode, the singer discusses her music career, how she went from being María Olvido Gara Jova to Alaska, and the message behind one of her most enduring hits.

This segment originally aired in 2018.

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As Vice President Kamala Harris ascends as the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate this November, we revisit Maria Hinojosa’s sit-down 2023 conversation with the vice president.

We also hear from our Latino USA listeners about how they feel about VP Harris and what they expect from her should she become the next president of the United States.

You can read more about the episode here. 

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Roberto Deniz is a Venezuelan investigative journalist whose work has uncovered widespread corruption in Nicolás Maduro’s government.

With the elections in Venezuela approaching on July 28th, Roberto sat down with co-executive producer Peniley Ramírez to discuss his work uncovering a big corruption scandal, the role the United States played in it, and the political landscape in Venezuela leading up to this crucial vote.

Read more about the episode here. 

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Many of us grew up flipping to the horoscope section in magazines or waited for that weekly hit with celebrity astrologer Walter Mercado—or maybe you have a full-blown astrology practice and plan your days according to the way the stars and planets are aligned. Whatever your feelings on astrology are, it is by no means new, and it’s experiencing a renaissance—especially among Latinos and Latinas. 

Today on Latino USA, we sit down with Isa Nakazawa, the host of Futuro Studios new show, Stars and Stars with Isa. Isa shows us how we are in charge of our own lives and destinies and how we can use astrology to enhance and understand ourselves more than ever in this changing world. She also prepared a surprise for our host Maria Hinojosa—a short reading of her birth chart.

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Anthropologist Ruth Behar is a groundbreaking scholar who also delights in salsa dancing.

Born in Cuba to a Jewish family, Ruth draws from her heritage as an anthropologist and writer. Her latest middle grade novel, “Across So Many Seas,” was released in early 2024.

In this episode, we spend the afternoon with Ruth and producer Elisa Baena before salsa class. They discuss Ruth’s writing process, how Ruth’s personal history inspired “Across So Many Seas,” and why the creative experiences of writing and dancing are connected.

You can read more about the episode here. 

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Today, Latino USA shares episode 2 of the "My Divo" podcast.

Get in, we’re going clubbing in Juárez! It’s going to be glitzy, it’s going to be gritty. This is the nighttime scene that birthed Juan Gabriel. But like many cities, Juárez holds secrets. Maria uncovers a haunting secret about Juan Gabriel and, along the way, confronts a dark piece of the past in her own family. 

"My Divo" is an Apple Original podcast produced by Futuro Studios.

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This week, Latino USA shares an episode of the "My Divo" podcast.

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 lightness and a bigness to him—a big queer exuberance. And now, as the first openly gay woman in her family line, Maria looks to Juan Gabriel as a key to reconcile her queerness with her Mexican heritage.

"My Divo" is an Apple Original podcast produced by Futuro Studios.

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In part two of our two-part special, we continue our investigation into the death of a man in a U.S. immigration detention center in 2015. José de Jesús turned himself into Border Patrol saying somebody was after him. Three days later, he died by suicide after stuffing a sock down his throat. In part two of this story, surveillance video reveals clues about what happened inside his cell, and an internal investigation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement answers many of our questions about what happened to José in the days leading up to his death.

This story originally aired in 2016.

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Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta tells us how her experience of migration led to her love of Afro-Colombian music, how a beauty pageant and its underlying anti-blackness inspired her new album, and how she came to collaborate with the legendary Afro-Colombian ensemble, Sexteto Tabalá, in her track "Pelo Cucú.”

This episode originally aired in 2020.

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A man dies in a U.S. immigration detention center, under unusual circumstances. He is found unresponsive in his cell, with a sock stuffed down his throat. His death is ruled a suicide, but little information is put out about what happened, and the family wants answers. In this first part of a special two-part series, Latino USA investigates why José de Jesús died in the custody of the U.S. government, and what his death tells us about conditions—especially mental health services—inside the immigration detention system.

This story originally aired in July of 2016.

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