Latino USA

Latino voters played a huge role in the “earth-shattering” midterm election, showing a “historic shift” to the left and away from how many Latinos voted just two years ago. Listen to a lively conversation with our host, Maria Hinojosa, Republican political consultant Mike Madrid, and Voto Latino CEO María Teresa Kumar. We bring you context, analysis, and a look ahead. “Latinos are emerging to tell us… ‘We don't care whether it's Democrats or Republicans. If you're not meeting our expectations or doing the job, we will fire you.’"

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

The morning after a historic midterm election, we revisit our conversation with Gina Hinojosa from the campaign trail. Now governor-elect, she will become the first Latina governor of Texas, and the first democrat to win the office in 35 years, in one of the most reliably conservative states in the country.

Texas holds the second-most electoral votes in the nation and is often a testing ground for policies that later manifest across the U.S. But can historically Republican Texas turn blue? And if so, what impact could it have on the rest of the country? We speak...

In a stunning upset on a historic midterm night, Tejano music icon Bobby Pulido defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz in Texas’ 15th Congressional District. We revisit our conversation with him from the campaign trail in August 2026.

Texas holds the second-most electoral votes in the nation and often serves as a testing ground for policies that later spread across the U.S. When we spoke, the question was whether historically Republican Texas could turn blue, and whether Democrats could regain ground with Latino voters in South Texas. Pulido’s win offers one answer.

In t...

Historian Timothy Snyder wants people to start calling out our current government with words like: fascism, concentration camps, and paramilitary actions. Snyder, author of “On Tyranny: Twenty lessons from the twentieth century” speaks with Maria Hinojosa about the significance of this historic moment.  He helps us understand how the upcoming U.S. midterm elections are  considered by many, including himself, to be very consequential in terms of whether the country continues to flirt with fascism. He talks about how we got to where we are, what we can do about it, and the best and worst case scenarios with electi...

Dolores Huerta has died at age 96. She was a powerful leader who shaped the labor rights movement and stayed out late to dance and chat with young people, even in her 80s. For decades, she had been a constant voice on this show, speaking on behalf of farmworkers. In this episode, we look back at her legacy and our host, Maria Hinojosa, who knew her personally, reflects on how Dolores marked her life. We also remember her last interview with Latino USA, when she revealed what happened after she was abused by activist Cesar Chavez.

Latino USA...

One night in September 2025, more than 300 federal agents – including ICE and the FBI – raided an apartment complex in the south side of Chicago in a massive militarized operation. The government claims they were after members of the Venezuelan “Tren de Aragua” gang. They entered homes at gunpoint and zip-tied residents, including US citizens. The residents claim they never showed warrants. In this episode, Maria Hinojosa heads to the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago to ask: how can victims affected by a massive militarized raid pursue accountability from the federal government?

Latino USA is the longest-running news and...

More than 300,000 Haitian immigrants lost their temporary protected status this summer, leaving them in fear and uncertainty about whether they’ll be able to remain in the United States. Latino USA host, Maria Hinojosa, travels to the deep south side of Chicago to see how the ending of TPS is impacting their Haitian community both spiritually and financially. We go to a church, a Haitian restaurant, and we also speak directly to a Haitian man who lost TPS to better understand the ripple effects that this change in immigration policy is having.

Latino USA is the...

This summer, after serving a nine-year sentence in a notorious Texas men’s prison, Estrella was released but wasn’t free. First she was put in immigration detention facilities and then deported. She’s an undocumented trans woman from Mexico caught up in the United States’ criminal and immigration systems. In this episode –reported over a decade–we go to Mexico to document her release, look back on her story, her evolving relationship with host Maria Hinojosa, and what it means to finish serving a criminal sentence when you’re an undocumented immigrant whose freedom is tenuous and bittersweet

Este verano, después de terminar una sentencia de 9 años en una prisión de hombres en Texas, Estrella salió, pero no encontró libertad. Fue transferida a las manos de ICE, a un centro de detención para migrantes para después ser deportada. 

Esta es la historia de una mujer trans, migrante de Mexico, sin papeles, regresando a su país como mujer. Es también la historia de una relación inusual entre periodista y fuente.

En este episodio exploramos lo que significa terminar una sentencia penal cuando se es indocumentado en EEUU, y lo...

This spooky season we get an extra treat from one of the masters of horror. On October 9th, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s seminal fantasy horror classic, Pan’s Labyrinth, returns for a 20th-anniversary theatrical re-release. Running until October 15th, the anniversary release includes a 3D conversion and the 4K restoration. In a conversation with Guillermo del Toro anticipating the re-release, we dive into the film's themes of fascism, machismo, and violence against women and girls – themes which unfortunately still speak to our current times two decades later.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and cul...

What identified Nixon as a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua? Was it a confidential informant's testimony? Was it the rose tattoo on his arm? Was the fact that he was skinny, young, living without parents in a housing complex? After seeking answers from local and federal law enforcement, we travel to Perú to search for Nixon and to find out whether he was a member of Tren de Aragua.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ma...

Before the Venezuelan migrant Nixon Azuaje-Pérez was arrested, a PR firm reached out to national media outlets and told them that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was taking over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado. A local politician said the organization was also taking over entire swaths of the city. After that shocking claim, the politician got a call from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. He was coming to town. The game of telephone that started with spent bullet casings ends with Nixon on a plane headed to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

Latino US...

In July 2024, then nineteen-year-old Nixon Azuaje-Pérez picked up spent bullet casings after a shooting outside his apartment in Aurora, Colorado. It was a decision that would thrust the Venezuelan migrant into the middle of Trump’s presidential campaign and eventually land him in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Local police suspected Nixon was part of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua. But was he a member? And how would anybody know?

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Priz...

Before 86-year-old Luis Valdez directed the play Zoot Suit and the film La Bamba, he was staging theater in the back of a flatbed truck in the fields of California for farmworkers  on strike. His work in teatro campesino  would eventually make its way to Broadway and then Hollywood, paving the way for Chicano stories to be told with dignity and nuance in American culture. Now, he’s the subject of a new documentary: “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez.”  On this episode, host Maria Hinojosa talks with Luis Valdez and director David Alvarado, the documentary’s director. They talk a...

We bring you a sneak peek of a recent Futuro+ bonus episode. Our co-CEO Peniley Ramírez remembers the devastating 2017 Mexico City earthquake that occured on the 32nd anniversary of the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Mexico, and shares what it takes to tell the stories that are important. Listen to the full episode by subscribing to Futuro+ at futuromediagroup.org/joinplus

The Futuro Plus Team includes associate producer Liliana Ruiz, production manager Victoria Estrada, and development manager Danetsy Len. Mixing by Multitude Productions. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last year, reporter Jack Herrera traveled the length of the Rio Grande basin – from its source in Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. He found that the water crisis in the region is worse than anyone imagines.  ”It's not a metaphor, it's not a hyperbole, we're in a water war,” he tells Maria Hinojosa. In today's episode, we explore the consequences of that crisis for the region and its people. As well as the bitter dispute for control of that water between citizens and their governments, and even between the United States and Mexico.

Latino USA is th...

YEИDRY is a Dominican-Italian artist whose newly released debut full-length album, Como Agua, takes a deep dive into Afro-Dominican rhythms. The album includes palos, bachata, merengue and boleros. Like many Dominicans, YEИDRY did not grow up with Afro-Dominican rhythms. As an adult, she discovered it was because of a dark, racist past in her country. In this Dominican takeover of Latino USA, Producer Jeanne Montalvo takes YEИDRY and Yasser Tejeda, another Dominican artist, to the oldest Dominican restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. Over a Dominican breakfast, the three of them will take you on a journey to lea...

Guadalupe Rosales is an artist and the creator of the popular Instagram accounts “Veteranas and Rucas” and “Map Pointz,” which focus on the fashion, the music, and certain latino subculture of the ‘80s and '90s in Los Angeles. She was part of the so-called party crews of the time and has kept the moment alive in history on social media and now in her new memoir East of the River: A Memoir of Los Angeles Girlhood. She writes about her adolescence living in this unique moment: the parties, the vibrancy, as well as the dangers of the time, and how si...

What would soccer be without fans? And what would a match feel like without them chanting at the top of their lungs? Chants are a way to express joy, patriotism, and frustration. They can also be funny, vulgar, and harmful.  We get into the history of chants and how they had nothing to do with sports for a long time. We speak to Andrew Lawn, author of  “We Lose Every Week: The History of Football Chanting” about the best chants from so many countries at the men’s World Cup, and ask why the U.S. just doesn’t have that...

September 11, 2001 was a paradigm shift. The terrorist attacks reshaped U.S. immigration policy forever and this year marks the 25th anniversary. Nearly 3,000 people were killed and an entire nation was traumatized. Today, as the Trump administration targets non-citizens in unprecedented ways, we revisit some of the major changes that over the past 25 years altered the country’s stance on immigrants through the lens of this one catastrophic day. Listen to an updated episode from a few years ago here. 

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

Cheech Marin is widely recognized as a multi-generational comedic icon. His counterculture humor, as part of Cheech & Chong, defined an era. What fewer people know is that Cheech is also a leading collector of Chicano art worldwide.

In this episode, Maria Hinojosa speaks with Cheech Marin about his lifelong love of art, how that art highlights the contributions of Mexican Americans in this nation, and why preserving it is a key part of his legacy. His collection is now on view as “We The People: Chicano Art in the U.S.A.,” at The Cheech, part of Rive...

In the summer of 2025, six workers died from toxic gas exposure at a Colorado dairy farm. Safety advocates say the deaths were utterly tragic, but entirely avoidable. Across the country, most farm workers are injured or die in anonymity. But the scale of this agricultural incident – described as the deadliest in recent Colorado history – makes it impossible to ignore. So we go to Colorado to show what it’s like to live and die as a dairy farmworker.

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

In a relationship, are you a golden retriever or a black cat? Maria is… neither. She’s a human chihuahua. Because they’re fierce, protective of their loved ones, ancient and some might say magical. Today, the story of the chihuahua like you haven’t heard it before. From spirit guides of the great Toltecs and Mexica to their near extermination during colonization, from their TV star role in food advertising to the objectification by Hollywood. You’ll never look at a chihuahua the same way after you listen to this episode. 

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ada Ferrer has spent decades wading through archives in Havana, helping to unearth and weave the untold stories of Cuba’s people and the island. But the most personal and profound source material she has ever found was a box of letters from the brother her mother left behind in Cuba when the family migrated to the US. Ada Ferrer joins Maria Hinojosa to discuss her new book, Keeper of My Kin, which traces her family’s story. They dive into exile, inherited trauma, and how the hostile relationship between the US and Cuba continues to shap...

Actor and singer Anthony Ramos is a powerhouse who broke out in Broadway’s smash hit, Hamilton. From theater to the silver screen and even owning a bar in Brooklyn, Ramos is also a proud New Yorker always hungry for his next project. His latest endeavor is an English-language salsa album, infused with Ramos’ signature R&B-style vocals over a bed of Latin percussion and horns. In this interview, Ramos opens up with Maria Hinojosa about his mental struggles over recent years, his creative process around his latest album, and how he has finally found peace with himself. 

 <...

Thousands are dead, thousands more injured and missing. The earthquakes in Colombia and Venezuela have been devastating. And while there are similarities in the neighboring countries, an expert told us the biggest difference is in the rebuilding phase right now: One country prepared and trained for the response– the other didn’t.  And not too far, in the Caribbean, people are going days without running water in Puerto Rico. A problem journalists on the island say could’ve and should’ve been avoided. “There's a lot of frustration, confusion and a resignation.” Listen to the latest here.

Latino U...

Texas holds the second-most electoral votes in the nation and is often a testing ground for policies that later manifest across the U.S. But can historically Republican Texas turn blue? And if so, what impact could it have on the rest of the country? We speak to two Democratic contenders hoping to shift the next election. 

In this episode, Maria Hinojosa speaks with Gina Hinojosa, a Texas State Representative and the Democratic nominee running for Governor of Texas. They discuss key issues like data centers, abortion access and education – and why the outcome of this race has...

Texas holds the second-most electoral votes in the nation and is often a testing ground for policies that later manifest across the U.S. But can historically Republican Texas turn blue? And if so, what impact could it have on the rest of the country? We speak to two Democratic contenders hoping to shift the next election. 

In this episode, Maria Hinojosa sits down with Tejano superstar Bobby Pulido, the Democratic nominee in Texas’ 15th Congressional District. They discuss key issues facing voters in South Texas, and why he thinks his “moderate” Democratic policies can win back Latino...

In 2022, 18-year-old Lisbeth Bencosme was shot four times on a sidewalk in Harlem. She was a new mom at the time, and it was her faja, a staple postpartum girdle for many Latinas, that would keep her alive until medics arrived. In this episode, we meet Lisbeth, a true badass New Yorker who takes us on her path healing from gun violence and postpartum depression, in a country where there’s little support for either.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pul...

Melissa Barrera is having quite the year. In April, she made her Broadway debut, landing a dream role as ‘Rose’ in the musical parody Titanique. She’s also an executive producer on the award-winning documentary film Traces of Home, which is set to have its theatrical release this fall. And she’s launching her very own production company. After being dropped from the Scream franchise for speaking out about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Melissa talks about how she’s learned to take more control of her life and career, and why art should be a safe haven when things in...

In late April, Orgullosa and her children packed up their belongings in Honduras and boarded a plane back to the U.S. after a court ruling said that they were wrongfully removed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In this episode, we follow the difficulties Orgullosa and her family faced in Honduras, after their unlawful deportation, the struggles they’re now going through after their return and how they’re still vulnerable to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

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

A few months ago, Maria Garcia was watching the Benito Bowl when an unexpected artist came on: the one and only Ricky Martin. Maria knew this was a touchstone moment — the artist who most represented the ‘90s Latin Boom was singing a song of resistance, in Spanish. And then Maria’s 11-year-old son said, “Who’s that???” 

Today, in an exclusive listen to the first episode of “Muy Excited with Maria Garcia,” our new podcast from Futuro Studios and iHeartRadio, Maria revisits the importance of Ricky Martin, the queer icon’s career and life, and how he had to live “La vid...

Rosie Perez has long been synonymous with New York and hip hop culture, starting with her appearances on “Soul Train”, her iconic choreographies and her big break with Spike Lee in “Do the Right Thing”. But when the Oscar, Golden Globe, and Emmy-nominated actress received a call to host a podcast about salsa music history, the native Nuyorican immediately said yes. Rosie is the host of Futuro Media’s new podcast “Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York” about the history of salsa in the city, the legends behind the music and Fania Records–often called “the Motown of Salsa”...

The Men’s World Cup may be over but there’s so much to talk about still. We sit down with a soccer expert and superfan to discuss the significance of this summer’s tournament. We get into the many “firsts” in a global competition that’s been around for almost 100 years; the controversial moments and most joyful storylines; and Spain’s journey to the coveted trophy. We also hear from host of “American Futbol” Fernanda Echavarri, about what it was like to teach her daughter all about her love for the World Cup. 

Latino USA is the longest-r...

Venezuelan musician and composer Ella Bric made history as the first woman to win producer of the year at the 2018 Latin Grammys. The trumpet player made a name for herself after moving to New York City and most recently made waves on Karol G’s Mañana Sera Bonito Tour. In this special Latino USA collaboration with WNYC, we bring you a live conversation and performance recorded in front of a live audience at The Greene Space in NYC. Ella Bric spoke to NYC Now host Janae Pierre about composing music for Futuro Media’s Our Thing: The Birth of Sa...

In early February, Latino USA traveled to the occupied West Bank to learn about the roots of the deep connections between Latinos and Palestinians. Maria Hinojosa and producer Nour Saudi accompanied a group of U.S. students and academics as they traveled from Jordan to Ramallah with their counterparts from a Palestinian university. Speaking with refugees, community leaders and student activists, we look at the parallels between the two communities— from the U.S. student protest movement to shared experiences of borders and surveillance and shared cultures around family, food and friendship. 

Latino USA is the...

When actor Harvey Guillén auditioned for a role written for a character 20 years older than him, he got cast anyway. In this intimate conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Harvey reveals how he became the breakout heart of What We Do in the Shadows as Guillermo, the vampires’ overworked human assistant who refused to stay a sidekick. In this 2025 Latino USA episode, Harvey explains how he’s built a career chasing roles not written for someone who looks like him, and rewriting them once he's in the room. He talks about trauma, tenacity, and turning “no” into a career.

Indigenous groups in South America have been cultivating the coca leaf for 8 millennia. But when the coca leaf became the base ingredient for cocaine, its story changed. In 1961, the United Nations classified the coca leaf in the same category as cocaine itself, regulating it at the same level. But the coca leaf is not a narcotic drug—it is a mild natural stimulant, venerated as sacred by many. An international movement has been trying to decriminalize and destigmatize the coca leaf. This episode spotlights the Indigenous origins of the coca leaf, and what its future could be.

La...

La mexicana Marysol Cordorieur llevaba poco tiempo viviendo en París cuando vio una publicación en Facebook invitando a un casting. De inmediato se emocionó y postuló. Lo que parecía un trabajo en un proyecto de cinearte que pocos verían fue en realidad una de las películas más polémicas de los últimos años. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrés Cantor has been a sports announcer for almost 40 years. He’s received eight Emmy Awards for his broadcasting and a place in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. You know his voice. His “Gooooooooool” has been featured everywhere from Late Night to the Simpsons. In this special episode of our new podcast “American Futbol,” we get into the nitty gritty of calling a game, why he’s not afraid to cry, and the beauty of the World Cup. 

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