Latino USA

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 Maria Hinojosa. Follow the show to get every episode. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for ad-free listening, early-access and exclusive bonus episodes with the chisme behind Latino USA and all our podcasts: www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. Follow the show to get every episode. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for ad-free listening, early-access and exclusive bonus episodes with the chisme behind Latino USA and all our podcasts: www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. Follow the show to get every episode. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for ad-free listening, early-access and exclusive bonus episodes with the chisme behind Latino USA and all our podcasts: www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 about making history, the importance of sharing archival footage from the past, and about artistic inspiration.  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 Maria Hinojosa. Follow the show to get every episode. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for ad-free listening, early-access and exclusive bonus episodes with the chisme behind Latino USA and all our podcasts: www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.