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Speaker 1: Dear, let you know USA listener.

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Speaker 2: Before we start, you should know that if you want

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Speaker 2: in the episode description and after you do that, then

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Speaker 2: click play.

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Speaker 3: Let's go to the.

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Speaker 1: Show, Futuro Investigates Put.

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Speaker 4: Investia.

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Speaker 5: It's early February twenty twenty five. President Trump is back

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Speaker 5: in the White House and he's wasting no time cutting

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Speaker 5: government funds. Elon Musk, the world's richest person, is helping

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Speaker 5: the Trump administration drive the effort. They're investraating what they

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Speaker 5: call quote waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government.

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Speaker 5: Here's Elon talking about USAID, one of its main targets.

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Speaker 4: We started looking close at USAID. This is a gigantic

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Speaker 4: fraud loophole.

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Speaker 5: USAID is a US backed government agency that provides humanitarian

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Speaker 5: aid globally. After it was established into law in nineteen

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Speaker 5: sixty one, it became a lifeline for thousands of organizations

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Speaker 5: around the world. Basically, the US has supported projects centered

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Speaker 5: around democracy, anti corruption, and other key initiatives like health.

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Speaker 5: Foreign aid like USAID had bipartisan support up until this administration,

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Speaker 5: and it was seen to be in the interest of

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Speaker 5: the US. But now since Trump took office again, his

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Speaker 5: administration is canceled nearly sixty five billion dollars worth of

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Speaker 5: USAID contracts, about eighty percent of its programs, and gutted

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Speaker 5: the agency and its staff around the world. On top

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Speaker 5: of that, the White House Press Secretary, Caroline Lovett latched

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Speaker 5: onto a certain narrative around why funding cuts were needed.

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Speaker 6: I would just say a strong message to Democrats who

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Speaker 6: are out there pretending to be outraged about the long

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Speaker 6: list of crop that this administration is cutting federal waste

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Speaker 6: and funding like two million dollars for sex changes in Guatemala.

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Speaker 5: Yes, the White House Press secretary said there were so

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Speaker 5: called sex changes happening in Whatatemala using taxpayer dollars. The

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Speaker 5: misleading claim was directed towards Associacion Lambda, a local organization

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Speaker 5: that helps LGBTQ plus people in Whatatemala, and that rhetoric

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Speaker 5: from the White House had ripple effects more than two

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Speaker 5: thousand miles away. Mejia Comunicasio, that's Carl Valdez. He's the

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Speaker 5: executive director of LAMBDA in Watemala City, Godleoss, was just

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Speaker 5: having a regular day when the office phone started ringing

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Speaker 5: off the hook. Local and US media outlets were bombarding

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Speaker 5: Lambda with calls for a response to the White House's claims,

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Speaker 5: so we.

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Speaker 7: Must cater this Coneas Carlo says, it got so bad

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Speaker 7: that they had to disconnect their phone for fifteen days.

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Speaker 7: Asta el Prieto Cambia six, Senora.

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Speaker 5: Godlo says it plainly the White House lied. Lambda doesn't

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Speaker 5: provide gender affirming surgeries. What Lambda actually does is a

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Speaker 5: help strengthen local activism, gather stats about the queer community,

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Speaker 5: and they run a shelter for LGBTQ plus migrants. What

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Speaker 5: is true is that Lambda's name was on a US

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Speaker 5: government contract for two million dollars from USAI D. But

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Speaker 5: it's more complicated than that.

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Speaker 7: Those transfer mcio.

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Speaker 5: Gottos explains how they didn't even use the USAID grant money.

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Speaker 5: They were only the facilitators. The aid went to another

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Speaker 5: local org, Transformacion, which helps transmit in Watemala with things

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Speaker 5: like healthcare and economic programs. In essence, Lambda and Transformacion

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Speaker 5: became scapegoats examples from the White House to help delegitimize

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Speaker 5: USAID's overall work around the world. They were targeted and

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Speaker 5: the impacts were real.

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Speaker 2: From Udro Media, it's let you know USA. I'm Maria Josa.

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Speaker 2: Today we meet the people behind two organizations in Guatemala

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Speaker 2: that are at this center of a misinformation campaign from

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Speaker 2: the White House. We're going to look at the short

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Speaker 2: term and long term effects of the gutting of US

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Speaker 2: A I D, and we'll learn what this means for

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Speaker 2: US diplomacy moving forward. Let me pass the mic back

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Speaker 2: now to producer Rinaldo le j.

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Speaker 5: I'm in Watemala City and I'm about to meet Alex Castillo,

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Speaker 5: the co founder and director of France Romacion. Remember they

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Speaker 5: received some funding from USA I D, but it came

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Speaker 5: through Lambda, the organization I mentioned earlier. That's Alex Gasillo.

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Speaker 5: He's wearing a shirt with the company logo on it

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Speaker 5: and some loose patents. His hair is short, jelled and

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Speaker 5: kind of spiked.

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Speaker 2: Yes.

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Speaker 5: He wastes no time and starts to show me they're

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Speaker 5: now infamous clinic where, according to the Trump administration, the

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Speaker 5: so called sex changes are happening. The clinic is small,

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Speaker 5: there's a desk, a bed, a divider for privacy and

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Speaker 5: large cabinets pushed against the back of the wall that

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Speaker 5: are filled with medications and medical equipment. Alex's wife is

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Speaker 5: also here. She's a primary doctor at Transform.

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Speaker 1: You see mil Ernandez.

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Speaker 5: She lists some of the services they offers Poro you

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Speaker 5: see Mel says the trans community isn't just looking for hormones.

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Speaker 5: They also have other Needsnteno. They provide regular medical exams,

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Speaker 5: blood work, and treatment for conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

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Speaker 5: I ask her why is it important to have a

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Speaker 5: space like this. Couldn't they go to any medical provider

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Speaker 5: to get these same services. It is important here we

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Speaker 5: don't stigmatize people, she says. In Watemala, trans people face

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Speaker 5: extreme violence, largely in obscurity. The Watermelon State doesn't recognize

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Speaker 5: their existence, so there's no official counts of trans homicides

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Speaker 5: in the country. Each year, organizations like Lambda document dozens

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Speaker 5: of murders of LGBTQ plus people in the country, and

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Speaker 5: there's also no anti discrimination laws protecting them. Alex Gastio

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Speaker 5: knows all too well about this. Alex was born biologically female.

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Speaker 5: When he was forty three, he realized was trends. Alex

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Speaker 5: is now fifty four. At the time, there wasn't a

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Speaker 5: lot of information around being trans.

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Speaker 7: Porquuka aumis pasious.

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Speaker 5: Why isn't there a communal space for people like us,

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Speaker 5: he would ask. He searched all the around but couldn't

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Speaker 5: find one, So he decided to start his own. He

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Speaker 5: called it the Ransromacion. That was twelve years ago. Alex

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Speaker 5: opened a small clinic and did what he could to

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Speaker 5: raise awareness about their community. Slowly, his collective began to

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Speaker 5: grow through donations and extensive volunteer work. Then in twenty

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Speaker 5: twenty three, there was an opportunity to receive money from USAID.

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Speaker 5: And to be clear, this decades long financial commitment isn't

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Speaker 5: just charity. Many experts say it's a strategic tool of

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Speaker 5: American influence. This kind of influence was part of the

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Speaker 5: reason why USAID was established in the first place, when

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Speaker 5: it was signed into law by President John F.

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Speaker 3: Kennedy.

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Speaker 2: People who are opposed to AID that should realize that

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Speaker 2: this is a very powerful source of strength for US.

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Speaker 5: This so called strength is often referred to as soft power,

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Speaker 5: which refers to the promotion of US values and interests

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Speaker 5: through foreign aid rather than military force. Many organizations have

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Speaker 5: benefited from the AID, but it's also helped the US

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Speaker 5: by allowing them to build goodwill and strengthen its alliances. Now,

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Speaker 5: Alex Castello had a chance to expand his stream of

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Speaker 5: providing more services to the trans community in Guatemala, so

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Speaker 5: he applied for the grant. Then a few months later,

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Speaker 5: to their surprise, they were awarded the grant money. He

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Speaker 5: couldn't believe it. According to government documents, the multi year

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Speaker 5: grant was for two million dollars. The money would be

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Speaker 5: allocated in chunks between April twenty twenty four and in

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Speaker 5: April twenty twenty seven. This amount of money goes a

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Speaker 5: long way in Watemala because the US dollar is strong there,

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Speaker 5: and Alex had a vision on how to use that money.

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Speaker 5: But a storm started to brew on the horizon. Donald

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Speaker 5: Trump was on track to win the twenty twenty four

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Speaker 5: presidential election.

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Speaker 2: Yusaye albums.

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Speaker 5: Alex knew they were about to go up against something formidable,

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Speaker 5: but he didn't know to what extent. Then Trump won,

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Speaker 5: and just a few days later they received a letter

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Speaker 5: that said, quote, we are here by informing you that

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Speaker 5: USAID Watemala is terminating this award for the executive order

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Speaker 5: from President Trump.

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Speaker 1: No Sarayah gave a bazzar.

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Speaker 5: Alex was devastated. His dreams were shattered. He laid off staff,

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Speaker 5: scaled back services, and wasn't sure he'd be able to

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Speaker 5: continue to the new building they'd recently moved into. But

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Speaker 5: it wasn't just his organization that suffered. Around the world,

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Speaker 5: the impact was great. About eighty three percent of all

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Speaker 5: USAID contracts have been canceled since Trump's executive order. That's

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Speaker 5: more than five thousand contracts globally. And on top of that,

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Speaker 5: the misinformation against LAMBDA and Transfromacion from the White House

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Speaker 5: spread quickly. Local press got wind of the White House

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Speaker 5: Press Secretary Caroline Lovett's statement and soon discovered that Transfromacion

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Speaker 5: was the true recipient of the USAID money, not Lambda.

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Speaker 5: They got bombarded by costs from locals, harassing them and

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Speaker 5: asking them questions like how many sex changes have they done?

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Speaker 5: Alex's wife and the primary doctor at Transromacion, received the

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Speaker 5: brunt of the attacks, asking what right does she have

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Speaker 5: to change the sex of someone? In an email response,

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Speaker 5: a State Department representative said that funding LAMBDA did not

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Speaker 5: make the US stronger, safer, or more prosperous. They also

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Speaker 5: said they needed to ensure that they had programs that

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Speaker 5: were of national security interests to the US.

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Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, producer of Renaldo Lanos Junior

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Speaker 2: looks at the ripple effects from the slashing of USAID.

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Speaker 2: Stay with us, Hey, we're back. When we left off,

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Speaker 2: we met Alex Gastillo of Transformacion. It's an organization that

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Speaker 2: serves trans people in Guatemala. We learned about the day

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Speaker 2: he lost USAID funding for his organization. We're going to

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Speaker 2: get back now to Latino USA producer Renaldo Leanos Junior

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Speaker 2: as he reports on how USAID and migration go hand

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Speaker 2: in hand.

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Speaker 5: LAMB does work in what the Mala goes Beyond supporting

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Speaker 5: LGBTQ plus people, they also operate a shelter that houses

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Speaker 5: LGBTQ plus migrants.

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Speaker 7: Soy Alejandro MORALESY, so you're coding Lord de l'abrielehevit kumas.

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Speaker 5: That's Alexandro Morales. He runs the shelter, which he says

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Speaker 5: can house up to twenty four people. Many people in

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Speaker 5: the region leave their home countries due to violence, discrimination,

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Speaker 5: and lack of economic opportunities.

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Speaker 4: Tamo de Kei that person, he says.

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Speaker 5: They try to give them dignity here. This is something

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Speaker 5: that Alex the founder of Transformacion, also echoes with the

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Speaker 5: people he works with. But for lgbt Q plus people,

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Speaker 5: there is also a huge safety component, because for a

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Speaker 5: lot of them it's dangerous just to exist.

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Speaker 4: Jo.

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Speaker 5: This is Ahila, and that's not her real name. We're

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Speaker 5: using a pseudonyme to protect her. She's twenty two and

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Speaker 5: from Venezuela. Angila says she left home after being threatened

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Speaker 5: by local gangs and she couldn't be herself, nor did

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Speaker 5: she see a future where she could live freely as

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Speaker 5: a trans person.

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Speaker 4: Jane yea, it's.

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Speaker 5: No secret that back home, the only work trans women

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Speaker 5: can get is sex work, she says, and it's very dangerous, Madame.

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Speaker 5: Many human rights organizations have consistently reported that trans people

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Speaker 5: are disproportionately murdered across Latin America. A Hilla's ultimate goal

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Speaker 5: was to reach the US, where she believed life was

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Speaker 5: better and safer. Them back home in Venezuela and Hila

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Speaker 5: love with her sister and traverse through the deadly dairy

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Speaker 5: in Jungle. They safely crossed several countries until Anhila was

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Speaker 5: sexually harassed in Honduras and then they arrived in Whatatemala.

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Speaker 5: Their money had run out, so Anhila stayed behind. She

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Speaker 5: didn't want to burden her sister and the other travelers

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Speaker 5: they met along the way. She felt really sad that

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Speaker 5: she had to stay in Whatatemala and be separated from

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Speaker 5: her sister without a place to stay in a foreign country,

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Speaker 5: and Hila was lucky to find shelter at Lambdas. She says,

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Speaker 5: I feel safe here and I can be me and

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Speaker 5: express myself the way that I want to.

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Speaker 1: Landa means.

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Speaker 5: Lambda has become her second family, she says, but that

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Speaker 5: feeling of safety is fleeting.

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Speaker 1: Y Personasa Bison.

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Speaker 5: Angila says when people find out she's trans they start

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Speaker 5: to harass and discriminate against her. She's hoping that she'll

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Speaker 5: be able to seek asylum in Watemala or maybe one

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Speaker 5: day make it to the US, but for now, she's

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Speaker 5: happy to be in this space because she feels safe,

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Speaker 5: and that feeling of safety and stability is something many

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Speaker 5: USAID projects hoped to build for people in their home countries.

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Speaker 5: According to Milady Guilarte, she worked under the Biden Harris Administration.

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Speaker 5: Milady was the Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Latin American

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Speaker 5: and Caribbean Bureau at USAI D.

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Speaker 3: My role was to oversee our agency's operation from Panama

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Speaker 3: all the way through Mexico.

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Speaker 5: She has more than two decades of experience in this space,

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Speaker 5: so when she saw the decimation of USAID in early

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Speaker 5: twenty twenty five, she couldn't believe it. Since this summer,

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Speaker 5: USAID has been officially shut down and the remaining obligations

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Speaker 5: were absorbed by the State Department.

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Speaker 4: I was in denial first.

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Speaker 3: I knew that we had systems in place where you

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Speaker 3: couldn't just get rid of an agency.

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Speaker 5: One of the things that bothered me, Lady, was the

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Speaker 5: silence from Capitol Hill, because for a long time there

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Speaker 5: was bipartisan support around foreign assistance. She wondered why many

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Speaker 5: representatives and senators weren't speaking out, including Secretary of State

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Speaker 5: Marco Rubio, who had previously voted in favor of many

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Speaker 5: current USAID projects when he was a Florida Senator.

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Speaker 3: I will tell you that the real problems in America

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Speaker 3: spending is not foreign eight, which is a very small

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Speaker 3: part of our budget.

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Speaker 5: That's Rubio and twenty eleven, responding to concerns that a

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Speaker 5: constituent had about America spending money abroad, and that fact

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Speaker 5: remains true. For example, in twenty twenty three, foreign assistance,

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Speaker 5: including USAID and other agencies, made up a little more

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Speaker 5: than one percent of the entire federal budget. Milady knows

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Speaker 5: these facts, which is why she was so shocked to

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Speaker 5: see narratives about waste, fraud, and abuse begin to emerge

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Speaker 5: from the Trump White House, Elon Musk, and Rubio himself.

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Speaker 5: Many of the USAID funded projects take months or years

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Speaker 5: before they're actually implemented, including the grant that Dranz Romacione received.

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Speaker 5: The vetting at the agency is something Meladi's offers hand.

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Speaker 3: It was grueling, the amount of paperwork that has to

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Speaker 3: be done on a weekly basis to ensure that USAID

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Speaker 3: knows what every project is achieving the money that's being spent.

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Speaker 3: There are a lot of regulations.

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Speaker 5: Mi Lady says, there was a series of checks and balances.

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Speaker 5: It's the opposite of what the Trump White House and

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Speaker 5: Elon Musk have said.

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Speaker 3: It was one of the most thorough agencies that our

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Speaker 3: government has. We can't spend a cent without approval from Congress,

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Speaker 3: so everything that we did had the oversight of Committees

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Speaker 3: of staffers.

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Speaker 5: Milady also argues that foreign aid is in fact an

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Speaker 5: American value.

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Speaker 3: By US choosing not to remain engage in a lot

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Speaker 3: of these countries that are our neighbors really puts US

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Speaker 3: at a huge disadvantage because now China has stepped in

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Speaker 3: in a big way.

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Speaker 5: Over the last year. China has moved into countries like

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Speaker 5: Cambodia and Nepal to help fill the void left by USAID.

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Speaker 5: This is seen by experts as a way for China

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Speaker 5: to gain geopolitical infl luins in regions across the globe.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

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Speaker 2: Hey, we're back, Latino USA producer Renaldo Lanoz Junior is

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Speaker 2: going to wrap up our story as we hear again

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Speaker 2: from Milady about some of the current attacks on LGBTQ

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Speaker 2: organizations that are located outside of the United States.

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Speaker 5: Besides misinformation about USAID, Milady says there was something else

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Speaker 5: that was especially egregious to her, the Trump administration singling

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Speaker 5: out certain projects like Lambda and trans Romasion.

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Speaker 3: There was nothing even close to sex change assistance going

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Speaker 3: to any of these countries, not Guatemala.

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Speaker 5: But nowhere in the world. He says, it was unfortunate

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Speaker 5: to see the administration target so called DEI programs and

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Speaker 5: the LGBTQ plus community because these are communities that already

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Speaker 5: go through a lot in.

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Speaker 3: The developing world. LGBTQI community has been ostracized, they're abandoned

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Speaker 3: by their families. There's high suicide rate, lack of opportunities.

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Speaker 3: It's damaging, it completely hurtful.

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Speaker 5: Many of the projects that have been eliminated worldwide focused

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Speaker 5: on combating climate change, HIV prevention, and hunger. Me Laydy

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Speaker 5: hammers down and stresses that many of these projects were

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Speaker 5: also intended to help build stability in people's lives so

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Speaker 5: they don't migrate or stay in other countries.

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Speaker 3: When you start missing the economic engines that are providing

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Speaker 3: for you and your family, your first option is to leave.

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Speaker 3: That creates a brains rain. It also stimulates illegal migration.

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Speaker 3: It's a domino effect.

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Speaker 5: When there's a sense of instability or danger like there

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Speaker 5: was for Ancilla, the trans woman from Venezuela who we

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Speaker 5: heard from earlier, people leave home, which is why the

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Speaker 5: folks at thenfl Marcion are trying to provide safety for

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Speaker 5: trans people in Guatemala. It's a big day today at

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Speaker 5: the organization's office La. I'm back with Alex Castillo. Today.

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Speaker 5: There's a small party to celebrate Dransfomrcion's twelfth birthday. They

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Speaker 5: lost a lot recently, but they still through a celebration

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Speaker 5: because they knew what it would mean to the people

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Speaker 5: they worked with. There's a loud music blasting, tables with

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Speaker 5: prices apignata with the light pink and blue colors of

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Speaker 5: the trans flag, and a cardiff hot dogs or tucos

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Speaker 5: as they call them injate Mala. I asked him how

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Speaker 5: he's feeling, because it's such an important day and he's

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Speaker 5: been through a lot recently. Is bas this year we

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Speaker 5: thought they were going to erase us with the USAID

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Speaker 5: funding cuts, but as you can see, he says, it's

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Speaker 5: the opposite. They're still trying to get by. They have volunteers,

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Speaker 5: people working on reduced salaries, and they're applying for funding. Elsewhere.

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Speaker 5: As I look around, people are dancing, laughing, playing games,

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Speaker 5: getting to know each other, and for a brief second

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Speaker 5: in their lives, they're able to just exist without judgment.

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Speaker 5: I ask Alex what it's like to see all of

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Speaker 5: this croke Massine to Pleno Felice. He says he feels

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Speaker 5: happy because he knows they found a space where no

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Speaker 5: one will bully or harass them.

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Speaker 2: Don Diana in lombretrans a cranquila men bullying sins.

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Speaker 5: As the party goes on, Alex and his wife take

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Speaker 5: the stage. They hype up the crowd and Alex says

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Speaker 5: he's proud to see how far this organization has come.

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Speaker 5: All we had were a lot of dreams and a

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Speaker 5: lot of ideas, he says. Alex says those dreams have

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Speaker 5: now solidified, and it's evident by the people in front

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Speaker 5: of him that's what he wants to celebrate today, their lives.

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Speaker 5: He also brings up the U.

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Speaker 1: S a i d.

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Speaker 5: Money scandal. We're showing that we remain resilient as a community,

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Speaker 5: he tells the crowd. Later, there's cake, but it's not

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Speaker 5: just a regular cake. The founder's faces are on it.

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Speaker 5: And when the singing ends, a beignata that's covered in

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Speaker 5: the colors of the trans flag. One by one, people

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Speaker 5: take turns. They're blindfolded. They step up to take a

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Speaker 5: swing at it. They're all cheering each other on, and

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Speaker 5: then someone delivers the final blow. The candies come streaming out.

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Speaker 5: Everyone in sync pounces onto the ground to scoop up

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Speaker 5: as many sweets as they can. Alex and some of

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Speaker 5: the other founders at Fransmacion look at the scene in

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Speaker 5: front of them and smile at each other. They don't

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Speaker 5: know exactly what their future holds, but they're going to

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Speaker 5: keep fighting to continue to provide for the people here today.

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Speaker 5: USAID money for many was seen as a way to

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Speaker 5: expand dreams of helping people in their home countries where

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Speaker 5: there often isn't support for things like promoting the rights

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Speaker 5: of LGBTQ plus people. And when I was leaving Watemala,

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Speaker 5: I had to ask myself what exactly does it mean

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Speaker 5: for something to be in the US's interest and who

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Speaker 5: gets to decide that? I had Alex's voice ringing in

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Speaker 5: my ear because this was the same question he asked

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Speaker 5: himself when the USAID money was pulled out from under him.

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Speaker 5: How much money is the US spending to put migrants

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Speaker 5: on planes and to port them back to their home countries?

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Speaker 5: He says, how much money is being used to fund

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Speaker 5: wars abroad? And are Americans better off now than they

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Speaker 5: were before? USA idea was decimated. These are the questions

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Speaker 5: that Americans across the country will have to grapple with

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Speaker 5: for the years to come.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Renaldo Lanos Junior. It was

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Speaker 2: edited by Mitra bon Shahi and Benni Le Ramirez. It

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Speaker 2: was mixed by Julia Caruso. In fact checking for this

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Speaker 2: episode by Roxanna Aguire. Fernando Echavari is our managing editor.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced as part of the Investigative Reporting

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Speaker 2: Fellowship of the Ida B. Wells Society. Special things to

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Speaker 2: our co publishing partner Elfarro English Ni Latino USA. Team

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Speaker 2: also includes Revecca Ivara, Stephanie lebau Ris, Luna Floori, mar Marquez,

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Speaker 2: Urgeta Martinelli, Monica Moreles Garcia, Aloma Perez, jj Krubin, Annello Reyez,

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Speaker 2: Adriana Rodriguez, and Nancy Trucquillo. Benni Lee Ramirez and I

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Speaker 2: are executive producers. I'm Your Host Maria jo Josa Latino

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Speaker 2: USA is part of Iheart's Mike Uldura podcast Network. Executive

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Speaker 2: producers at iHeart are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana. Join

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Speaker 2: us again on our next episode. In the meantime, I'll

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Speaker 2: see you on all of our social media and don't forget,

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Speaker 2: la proxima.

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Speaker 4: Chao Latino USA is made possible in part by La

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Speaker 4: Tau Foundation. The Nannie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter

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Speaker 4: future for the nation's children by strengthening families, building greater

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Speaker 4: economic opportunity, and transforming communities, and the John D. And

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Speaker 4: Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation