Latino Rebels Radio

Our host Julio Ricardo Varela was in Detroit earlier this week for a live In The Thick podcast from the city's Southwest neighborhood, so he took some time to talk with community leaders and journalists about the upcoming March 10 Michigan Primary. Featured image: Mural on a building in Detroit's Southwest Side (Photo by Lian Chang/CC By 2.0) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On February 16, the Dominican Republic suspended its municipal elections due to what the government said was a software glitch. Many Dominicans were skeptical and took to the streets, resulting in a massive February 27 demonstration on the country's Day of Independence. For this latest episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela talks to Futuro Media colleague Amanda Alcántara, a Dominican-American journalist who has been reporting on the story for the last two weeks. Featured image by Tatiana Fernández Geara/Latino Rebels Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Around two weeks ago, Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela was up in New Hampshire to cover the February 7 Democratic Debate. Julio also had a conversation with nine powerful Latinos and Latinas who are working together to change politics in the Granite State. You might have heard some snippets of this discussion on a recent In The Thick podcast, but we wanted more of what the group told Julio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So we did a quick BONUS segment from Nevada. Host Julio Ricardo Varela tagged along to observe a caucus site in Henderson, Nevada—the first time LR political writer Hector Luis Alamo has ever caucused in his life. Featured image: Precinct 1513 caucus in Henderson, Nevada, February 22, 2020 (Photo by Julio Ricardo Varela) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is less the 48 hours from the Nevada Caucus. In this bonus episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela connects with Hector Luis Alamo, a long-time LR contributor who has recently been filing pieces from Las Vegas about the state's Democratic race. Featured image: From left, Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate Wednesday, February 19, 2020, in Las Vegas, hosted by NBC News and MSNBC. (AP Photo/John Locher) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his push to compete in the February 22 Nevada Caucuses, Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer says that an "inclusive" message is the key for him to do well this Saturday. We connect with Jocelyn "Joz" Sida, Nevada state director for the Steyer campaign, about what they're expecting. Featured image: Tom Steyer on February 16, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo via the Steyer campaign) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One week before the Nevada Caucuses and now everyone is talking about Latino voters in 2020. What does this actually mean? In this latest episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Héctor Sánchez Barba of Mi Familia Vota, which describes itself as "a national civic engagement organization that unites Latino, immigrant, and allied communities to promote social and economic justice through citizenship workshops, voter registration, and voter participation." Featured image of Héctor Sánchez Barba with Joe Biden Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week in Brooklyn, during an attempt to apprehend Gaspar Avendaño-Hernández, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot Eric Diaz in the face. Díaz was unarmed. News of the shooting has led to community calls of accountability. We talk with two people familiar with the case: Carlos J Calzadilla-Palacio and Fabiola Mendieta. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the recent American Dirt mess taught us anything, it's this: the community's voices are (and have always been) powerful. Those voices are what's behind a #DignidadLiteraria movement that continues to elevate and celebrate what the community can do. In this new episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Roberto Lovato to the show. Roberto is one of #DignidadLiteraria's co-founders. An award-journalist, author and activist, Roberto has also written several commentary pieces for Latino Rebels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recently, a coalition of Texas organizations launched what it says is the largest voter registration program ahead of the 2020 election. The goal is to register over 500,000 Texas voters before the February 3 deadline, making them eligible to vote in the March 3 primary. Organizations involved in this effort include Battleground Texas Engagement Fund, Texas Freedom Network, Jolt Initiative, Texas Rising and MOVE Texas. For this episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Oscar Silva of Battleground Texas and Ofelia Alonso of Texas Rising. Featured image: A map of the 2018 US Senate elections in Texas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is no doubt that with all this controversy behind the publication of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, author Myriam Gurba was the key spark in calling attention to what she feels are major problems in Cummins' novel. In this conversation with Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela, Gurba shares her reasons why and also explains that the fight for representation in publishing shouldn't solely be centered around the American Dirt mess. Featured image provided by Myriam Gurba. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The start of 2020 has already been intense, but Latino Rebels Radio has decided this week that all this news will not get us down. For this latest episode, we discuss a new film about the life of Walter Mercado that is being screened at Sundance later this week and will soon be distributed by Netflix. Host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Cristina Costantini, one of the co-directors of MUCHO MUCHO AMOR, which pays tribute to a popular culture legend who took horoscopes to the next level. Featured image via MUCHO MUCHO AMOR. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this latest episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela talks with journalist Dánica Coto of the Associated Press. Coto is an AP Caribbean correspondent who is based in Puerto Rico. She has been covering the recent earthquakes that have been hitting the island since December 28. In this conversation, Coto provides the latest updates as of Sunday, January 12, 12 p.m. local time. Latino Rebels is an AP member and publishes Coto's work, as well as the work of her AP colleagues in Latin America and the United States. Featured image: Debris from a collapsed wall of a building litters the ground after an earthquake struck Puerto Rico before dawn, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, January 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Friday afternoon, FEMA scheduled a media call with other government agencies about the current federal response to the Puerto Rico Earthquakes. We are sharing that call here. Featured image: The inside of 67 year-old William Mercuchi’s home that was destroyed by the previous day’s magnitude 6.4 quake in Yauco, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, January 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latino Rebels Radio will be back next week, but our friends at the Latino Media Collective guest host with Part 6 of its Undocumented and LGBTQ series. In this episode, the LMC talks with Giuliani Alvarenga of The Body about the life and LGBTQ legacy of the late Salvadoran professor Horacio Roque Ramírez. Featured image by Sofie Dittmann Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this year, LatinoJustice PRLDEF and the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a class action lawsuit that challenged what they said was the Georgia Department of Driver’s Services’ (DDS) unlawful and discriminatory treatment of Puerto Ricans living in the state. Last week, there was a major development as a result of the lawsuit. On this episode of Latino Rebels Radio, we talk with Latino Justice's Jorge L. Vasquez, Jr. about the case. Featured image: Georgia State Capitol (Photo by DXR/Credit) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our friends at the Latino Media Collective are guest hosting this latest Latino Rebels Radio episode with the fifth part of the LMC's Undocumented and LGBTQ series. Guest Kenyon Farrow talks about the long history of using AIDS/HIV to prevent LGBTQ migrants from entering the U.S., going back to the Reagan administration. Farrow is the senior editor for The Body and The Body Pro. Image by Sofie Dittmann Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A course called "Selena and Latinx Media Representation" is now an official offering at San Diego State University. We talk with Dr. Nathian Shae Rodriguez about why he decided to create the course, what the course will be about and why Selena's story is relevant to issues of media representation today. Featured image by dignidadrebelde (CREDIT) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We took the holiday weekend off, but our friends at the Latino Media Collective got us covered with one of their shows from earlier this year. In this episode, the LMC proves that you can find Latinos in the most unlikeliest of places. Catherine Travis, Professor of Modern European Languages in the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics at the Australian National University in Canberra, speaks with the LMC about Australia's small Latin American diaspora—a community of between 90,000 to 180,000 people that is mostly comprised of Chileans, Uruguayans, Argentinians, Colombians and Salvadorans. Featured image by fir0002 (CREDIT) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last Thursday in South Carolina, Carlos Rojas of Movimiento Cosecha was translating questions from Silvia Morreno of Dignidad Inmigrante to presidential candidate Joe Biden. By the end of the exchange about Obama's deportation legacy, Biden was telling Rojas to vote for Trump. We talk with Rojas about what happened and what he thinks it means for Democrats running in 2020.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.