LatinoUSA NPR Audio: The 1% and 99% of Mexico meet in NYC

mariachirestaurantastoria

LatinoUSA’s Antonia Cereijido writes the intro:

If you go to a high-end restaurant in New York City, there’s a good chance that you’re dining among some of the wealthiest Mexicans in the world and being served by some of the poorest. This story was produced in collaboration with Round Earth Media. Tyler Kelley is a co-reporter on the piece.

[Mariachi Restaurant in Astoria, Queens, NY, photographed by Aude. Some rights reserved.]

Latino USA: Trump is good for business – the piñata business (audio)

trumppinatas“Jennifer De Benito could have had any piñata she wanted for her 14th birthday party. She chose a piñata of Donald Trump. The three-foot-tall piñatas depict Trump in a business suit with his infamous blonde hair and they’re flying off the shelves on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border,” writes Samantha Clark.

“It all started last summer when Trump said Mexico was “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.”

“Jesús Márquez makes piñatas in Watsonville, a small farming town on the central coast of California. Márquez is from Mexico and says that although Trump’s comments are racist, they have been good for business.”

Maria Hinojosa of NPR’s Latino USA reports:

Mas…Latino USA: Trump is good for business – the piñata business (audio)

LatinoUSA: Malinche, Mexico’s Eve, the mother of all mestizos (audio)

cortezmalincheMalinche: You love her, you hate her.

LatinoUSA calls her Mexico’s Eve. Antonia Cereijido reports:

La Malinche, often referred to as “the mother of all mestizos” is one of the most controversial figures in Mexican history. She’s been called a traitor and a victim. She was a Nahua woman who acted as interpreter for the conquistadors in the early sixteenth century. She had a child with Hernan Cortes named Martín and he is often called the “first mestizo.” Mestizos are the mixed race people of Mexico that make up 60% of the country. Her legend led to the creation of the term “Malinchista.” A Malinchista is a traitor, or someone who denies their Mexican culture in favor of another.

But since the 1950s, female writers have been trying to reclaim and vindicate the story of La Malinche – not just in Mexico but also here in the U.S. Chicana writers relate to La Malinche. They too are stuck between two cultures: their Mexican heritage and the U.S. culture they live their daily lives in.

Here’s the radio report:

Mas…LatinoUSA: Malinche, Mexico’s Eve, the mother of all mestizos (audio)

In Pittsburgh, PA writers from Venezuela, El Salvador are free (audio)


Leftist loonies like Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela don’t much like criticism or mockery (i.e., reality) so they throttle creative freedom.

Israel Centeno, who fled the Venezuelan Bolivarian socialist paradise, is among the exiled writers who have found a safe place to live and write in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Latino USA’s Erika Beras brings us the writers’ stories:

Mas…In Pittsburgh, PA writers from Venezuela, El Salvador are free (audio)

Felipe Esparza: The Seven Spanish Cuss Words (LatinoUSA audio)


“There are some words, not many, just a few — that we decided, we won’t use them all the time,” said the late comedian George Carlin in his famous routine about the “seven dirty words.” If you aren’t familiar with it –– the skit tries to pinpoint a definitive list of words you can never say on radio and television [See NSFW video below.]

Mas…Felipe Esparza: The Seven Spanish Cuss Words (LatinoUSA audio)

Rosa Diaz goes ‘method’ on Charles Bukowski project (audio, video)

rosadiazPhilly singer-songwriter Rosa Diaz started a Charles Bukowski-themed project, and to make it authentic, she became a Method Actor — actually living the writer’s hard-drinking life style until it almost killed her.

LatinoUSA’s Nadia Reiman reports:

In this recent a capella music video, Diaz sings about Pain:

Mas…Rosa Diaz goes ‘method’ on Charles Bukowski project (audio, video)

Did you know? U.S. ‘interned’ Peruvians of Japanese descent (audio)

Japanese-Peruvian_Credit_MiaWarren-300x200Not only did Uncle Sam lock up Japanese-Americans in “internment camps” during World II, but a 1942 regional security pact also became the legal cover for shipping 1800 Peruvians of Japanese descent to the very same camps. Carmen Utako Tochio Villanueva (photo), who was born into one of those families in a Texas internment camp, tells her story to LatinoUSA’s Mia Warren:

Mas…Did you know? U.S. ‘interned’ Peruvians of Japanese descent (audio)

Disney Day of the Dead faux pas: Latinos turned noise into news (audio)

From NPR: When Disney tried to trademark Dia de los Muertos for their new movie merchandise inspired by the Mexican holiday, Latinos picked up their own mice, went online and turned things back around.

For this week’s News or Noise, Latino USA guest host Luis Antonio Perez speaks with POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and Kety Esquivel, a digital media strategist, about how Latinos online retaliated against the entertainment giant.

She replaced Feliz Navidad with ‘Feliz Hanukkah’ (audio)

When Austin resident Trina Hernandez (photo) found out her family had Jewish roots, it allowed her to ditch the commercial aspects of Christmas she had long disliked and connect to a tradition she found more meaningful for her and her son. From NPR’s Latino USA with Maria Hinojosa.

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