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Speaker 1: Dear listener. First of all, happy holidays and felises pistas.

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Speaker 1: You know, this year, the holidays look and feel so

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Speaker 1: different than any of the celebrations we've ever had before,

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Speaker 1: and so we asked you, our listener, to tell us

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Speaker 1: about your plans, and this is what you had to say.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Maria, my name is DeBie Rossa. I live over

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Speaker 2: here in sunny San Diego, California. So usually how my

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Speaker 2: family spends Christmas is we get all together to my

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Speaker 2: grandma's house. My grandma is ninety seven, and we just

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Speaker 2: you know, eat everything manulo tam. Unfortunately, we're not going

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Speaker 2: to be gathering at all. It sounds like we're going

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Speaker 2: to be doing like a like a drive buy from

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Speaker 2: my grandma, so she's not lone during you know, Christmas night.

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Speaker 3: My name is Norma and I'm from Montclair, New Jersey.

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Speaker 3: I and my children celebrated this past Thanksgiving, and we're

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Speaker 3: planning on doing it a little differently for Christmas. They

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Speaker 3: have never cooked a turkey the way you know the

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Speaker 3: Puerto Ricans do it, and they followed me as I

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Speaker 3: prepared the turkey with the belong and the garlic and

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Speaker 3: the ore and all that good stuff, and then the

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Speaker 3: next day we each stuck the turkey in the oven

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Speaker 3: and it was cooking. They followed me, and you know,

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Speaker 3: they had their own ingredients and we all made a roccunandule.

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Speaker 3: What was great about this was that the pandemic gave

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Speaker 3: us an opportunity to actually pass down some of these

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Speaker 3: great Puerto Rican recipes to my children, and hopefully they

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Speaker 3: will be able to do the same for their children.

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Speaker 1: From Futuro Media, It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Jojosa and

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Speaker 1: today a socially distant Christmas special. Christmas is a very

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Speaker 1: special time for many Latinos and Latinas, and it's not

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Speaker 1: just about the religious part of it. It's that one

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Speaker 1: time of the year when you get to see your abulitos,

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Speaker 1: your bias, your primos and brimas who live far away.

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Speaker 1: Everyone knows that this is a time to gather around

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Speaker 1: the table, to eat delicious food, to drink maybe a

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Speaker 1: little bit too much, to celebrate, to dance, sing, and

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Speaker 1: let it all hang out. But this year, COVID nineteen

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Speaker 1: has turned the holiday celebrations upside down. Most of us

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Speaker 1: are going to stay at home. We won't be gathering

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Speaker 1: with any of our extended families and relatives to keep

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Speaker 1: them safe and ourselves too. I feel a bit lonelier

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Speaker 1: this year, but there are so many reasons to stay positive, thankful,

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Speaker 1: and even hopeful. And that's why we wanted to talk

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Speaker 1: with Latinos and Latinas who actually have a lot of

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Speaker 1: experience spending the holidays away from their loved ones as

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Speaker 1: it is. Sometimes it's because of their job, sometimes it's

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Speaker 1: because they can't legally travel across borders. And so for

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Speaker 1: many people in the Latino community, spending Christmas away from

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Speaker 1: family is not so new. How have they learned to

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Speaker 1: cope with the holidays and what tips can they share

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Speaker 1: This year, when so many of us are going to

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Speaker 1: be away from our families during the holidays, We're going

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Speaker 1: to start our socially Distant and Responsible Christmas Special. In Oakland, California,

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Speaker 1: producer Renaldo Leangos Junior spoke to a Puerto Rican musician

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Speaker 1: for whom music has always been an essential part of Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Here's Renaldo with that story.

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Speaker 4: Maria Jose Montico is an acupuncturist and a musician with

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Speaker 4: the She's originally from Puerto Rico, but it's been living

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Speaker 4: in the Bay Area for more than thirteen years. Mariasa's

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Speaker 4: music has always been a part of her life, especially

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Speaker 4: during the holidays.

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Speaker 5: In Puerto Rico, we have this tradition that's called paranda,

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Speaker 5: and it's basically like somewhere around Christmas, a group of

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Speaker 5: people decide to go around from house to house and

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Speaker 5: wake up people in the middle of the night by

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Speaker 5: playing music.

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Speaker 4: Duringa paranda, people usually quietly gather around other people's homes

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Speaker 4: and then they shout.

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Speaker 5: Asato and then the music will start and it's like

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Speaker 5: this typical Puerto Rican Christmas music.

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Speaker 4: Maria grew up with these traditions in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 5: The neighbors would open their doors and you know, offer

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Speaker 5: up all their food and their drink, and then the

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Speaker 5: people that would come in would just like play music,

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Speaker 5: sing and dance together.

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Speaker 4: The celebration is also really long, she says, like it

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Speaker 4: starts like.

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Speaker 5: In December, and then it goes towards January, towards the

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Speaker 5: Reyes Maggos, and then after the Regyes Magos, there's the Oktavitas,

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Speaker 5: and after the Octavitas, and there's the San Sebastian Festival,

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Speaker 5: and then that you know, Christmas is like officially over

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Speaker 5: in February.

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Speaker 4: Getting together as a family is what Maria enjoys most

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Speaker 4: about the holidays. She tries to go back to Puerto

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Speaker 4: Rico a few times a year, but sometimes she hasn't

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Speaker 4: been able to visit during the holidays. She remembers some

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Speaker 4: Christmases she spent in Oakland away from her family. Those

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Speaker 4: moments were pretty lonely, sad, and she felt very homesick.

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Speaker 5: But I feel like after I started being part of

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Speaker 5: this Puerto Rican Bomba community, then we would gather to

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Speaker 5: celebrate as we do in Puerto Rico, So that made

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Speaker 5: everything better. Honestly, to have a strong community here. It's

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Speaker 5: kind of like chosen family that's very rooted in the

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Speaker 5: culture of where I'm from, so it's kind of evoking

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Speaker 5: my good times in my childhood.

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Speaker 4: Maria also found solace and food and music.

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Speaker 5: I would like play Puerto Rican Christmas music. I was like, oh,

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Speaker 5: I really need to get some paste lists, you know,

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Speaker 5: I need to find somebody that makes this like Puerto

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Speaker 5: Rican Tamali's like, I really need to eat this because

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Speaker 5: you know, it just makes my heart happy.

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Speaker 4: In twenty twenty, she feels lucky that she'll be able

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Speaker 4: to be back in Puerto Rico for the holidays.

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Speaker 5: It's definitely gonna be a different kind of Christmas because

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Speaker 5: we're gonna go there and quarantine and take all the percussions.

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Speaker 5: You know, my mom wants me to go to her

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Speaker 5: house right away, and it's like, no, Mom, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 5: You know, like we need to take care of you,

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Speaker 5: you know, and be considerate.

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Speaker 4: Maria says this Christmas will be pretty mellow and that

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Speaker 4: there will be a lot of social distancing, but she's

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Speaker 4: still looking forward to going back to her homeland.

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Speaker 5: You know, there's there's something in me, like like Asa Bourriqua,

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Speaker 5: living in the diaspora, that it's kind of like I

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Speaker 5: need that little like recharge of being in my land,

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Speaker 5: you know, it kind of like feeds my internal battery

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Speaker 5: so that I can keep going in life.

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Speaker 4: During the pandemic, Maria has lost work as an acupuncturist,

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Speaker 4: but COVID nineteen has allowed her to really focus on

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Speaker 4: her music. That includes dropping her latest single, Urakhan and

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Speaker 4: finishing up her first album. Creating music has been a

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Speaker 4: lifesaver for her during these last few months. It's a

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Speaker 4: louder to heal work through shame and insecurities. When Maria

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Speaker 4: isn't working on her craft, she's listening to other people's

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Speaker 4: music because it's a release for her.

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Speaker 5: When I need to shake things off, I'll just put

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Speaker 5: on some music, and you know, I start perando in Michelcina,

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Speaker 5: you know.

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Speaker 4: And when she starts to feel alone because she can't

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Speaker 4: physically be at home with her family, she turns up

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Speaker 4: some music that reminds her of Puerto Rico to help

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Speaker 4: her feel more connected.

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Speaker 1: Healthcare professionals are used to working during the holidays, even

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Speaker 1: more so this year as COVID nineteen cases keeps surging

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Speaker 1: across the country. Editor Marta Martinez spoke with a Venezuelan

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Speaker 1: doctor who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, And here's Martha with

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Speaker 1: that story.

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Speaker 6: Salvador Naararette is about to finish his twelve hour shift

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Speaker 6: at Cleveland clinic. We speak on the phone. Well, he's

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Speaker 6: on a break. He wears white scraps and the fluorescent

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Speaker 6: light in the room highlights the shadows under his eyes.

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Speaker 7: You know, we usually work between sixty and seventy hours

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Speaker 7: a week average, and then within the last two or

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Speaker 7: three weeks with the racing cases of the COVID we've

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Speaker 7: been having a rearrangement of duties.

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Speaker 6: Salvador will be graduating from medical school in June. Back

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Speaker 6: in Venezuela, where he's from, Salvador was a surgeon for

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Speaker 6: eight years.

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Speaker 7: With the situation in Venezuela and all the you know,

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Speaker 7: the racing crime rate, the decreasing economic freedom that we

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Speaker 7: experienced there, we decided to move here to the States.

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Speaker 7: So in order to get the full license here as

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Speaker 7: a surgeon, you need to do residency again.

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Speaker 6: Going back to medical school was hard for him, and

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Speaker 6: even more so in a foreign country with a little child.

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Speaker 8: We took a hit with a winter definitely.

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Speaker 7: That was especially the winter here in Cleveland, which is

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Speaker 7: super hard, you know, with probably seventy percent of the

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Speaker 7: days being gray and you know, short of light. But

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Speaker 7: now you adapt, you know, and then there's some good

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Speaker 7: things about winter, just a few, but there's some there.

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Speaker 6: Being a student again also meant working most holidays. For

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Speaker 6: the first three years, sal about or missed most Christmas celebrations,

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Speaker 6: but he had a lot of family support.

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Speaker 7: Long story short, My mom came from Spain. My sister,

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Speaker 7: who at that time was living in New York also came,

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Speaker 7: so they made those Christmas days better for me, but

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Speaker 7: definitely was It was very tough. And then on top

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Speaker 7: of that, Michelle, my wife, her whole family was back

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Speaker 7: home in Caracas, you know, having a hard time with

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Speaker 7: all this economical situation. So it was definitely definitely hard

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Speaker 7: for everybody.

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Speaker 6: Time it got a little bit easier, they bought a

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Speaker 6: small house and started to feel at home. They had

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Speaker 6: two more children in the US. But as a healthcare professional,

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Speaker 6: you get used to having to work during those special days.

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Speaker 6: Salvador says.

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Speaker 7: You usually start working at six am, and then that

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Speaker 7: moment where you know you're taking a shower, you grab

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Speaker 7: a cup of coffee, and you said, crap, I'm going

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Speaker 7: on the twenty fourth and I won't be with the kids.

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Speaker 7: So those twenty minutes before home and the hospitals where

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Speaker 7: you think about it. But once you start working, it's

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Speaker 7: you know, it's so busy that you know hours fly

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Speaker 7: and the day goes by so quick you don't even notice.

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Speaker 7: I think the people on the other side, like my

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Speaker 7: kids and my wife, they suffer more because they're kind

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Speaker 7: of enjoying the dinner and stuff and I'm not there

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Speaker 7: right But but you really don't don't feel it that

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Speaker 7: much while you're working.

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Speaker 6: This year, for the first time, Salvador will be able

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Speaker 6: to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with his family.

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Speaker 6: Even got New Year's Eve off, which is a miracle,

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Speaker 6: he says. But this year, because of COVID, it will

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Speaker 6: only be the five of them celebrating. Very different from

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Speaker 6: the way they celebrated the holidays in Venezuela back home.

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Speaker 7: You know, Venezuelan people like to party, were very joy people.

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Speaker 7: You start celebrating probably from the first or second week

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Speaker 7: of December. We have like the typical music that we

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Speaker 7: listen in this in this season. It's usually from the

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Speaker 7: west side of the country, which we call Guidas. We

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Speaker 7: do have some special dishes for Christmas. We have the ayaka,

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Speaker 7: which is a classic. It's a salty pastry made of

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Speaker 7: corn flour and then it's filled up with pork or beef.

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Speaker 6: The family plans to cook a traditional Venezuela and dinner

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Speaker 6: this Christmas. Salvador's favorite dish is in salada degaina.

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Speaker 8: Russian salad with chicken. I really love it. I like mayonnaise.

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Speaker 7: I know there is not very healthy, but I love

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Speaker 7: it so I really like the salad for my wife.

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Speaker 8: The favorite is the ajaka.

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Speaker 6: Salvator hopes that he won't get any emergency calls on

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Speaker 6: Christmas Day, but that's always a possibility.

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Speaker 7: But yeah, the fact that you're used to it, and

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Speaker 7: then also your family is used to you know, see

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Speaker 7: you living for a call, and that probably makes things

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Speaker 7: less harder.

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Speaker 8: But also the fact that we've been migrating.

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Speaker 7: You know, I'm the third generation of immigrants, which looks

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Speaker 7: you know, it feels crazy. So we've been immigrants for

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Speaker 7: so long that you're used to, you know, spend some Christmas.

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Speaker 8: Without your significant others.

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Speaker 7: And definitely the fact that the technology is advancing and

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Speaker 7: you have FaceTime and all these things, and then at

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Speaker 7: least you can see them and then talk to them

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Speaker 7: and have a little bit of that you know, that heat,

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Speaker 7: that worm, that family gives you this and these days.

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Speaker 6: For Salvador, Christmas is all about making his children happy

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Speaker 6: and being together as a family. He says that seeing

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Speaker 6: them grow up in a safe place and guaranteeing a

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Speaker 6: better future for them made it all worth it.

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Speaker 1: Coming up on Latino USA, we learn more about what

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Speaker 1: Christmas is like when you're undocumented and how refugees who

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Speaker 1: are asking for asylum in the US are spending the

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Speaker 1: holidays while they're forced to wait in Mexico. Stay with us,

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Speaker 1: plat vayous hey, We're back and for this socially distant

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Speaker 1: Christmas special, we're learning from Latinos and Latinas who have

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Speaker 1: a lot of experience about spending the holidays away from

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Speaker 1: their families. For many people, the COVID nineteen pandemic presented

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Speaker 1: a problem that they'd never encountered before, not being able

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Speaker 1: to travel home for the holidays, But for undocumented people,

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Speaker 1: not being able to take a plane or across the

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Speaker 1: border is reality. Our Latino USA intern Emil Sekiros brings

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Speaker 1: us this story from the Napa Valley.

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Speaker 9: For Arlenkrea Valencia, an undocumented artist, traveling out of the

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Speaker 9: United States is something she hasn't been able to do

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Speaker 9: for more than twenty years.

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Speaker 10: Last night, I was sharing with my father, like I

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Speaker 10: said to him, you know, for the first time, people

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Speaker 10: get to see a little bit of what we feel

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Speaker 10: and how we have to live. And he just like

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Speaker 10: chuckled to himself and he said, you know, don't get tendan.

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Speaker 4: They'll never understand.

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Speaker 9: Boarding Mitwakan, Mexico. Arlene immigrated to the United States with

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Speaker 9: her family when she was just three years old and

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Speaker 9: ended up in Neaple Valley, California. Arlene is an award

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Speaker 9: winning artist. A lot of her artwork revolves around immigration

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Speaker 9: and separation. As an undocumented person, Arlene has had to

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Speaker 9: deal with the fact that she might never see her

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Speaker 9: extended family in this lifetime, let alone during this pandemic.

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Speaker 10: I think it's always been really devastating not being able

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Speaker 10: to connect with our family and at least not being

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Speaker 10: able to share that space together.

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Speaker 9: But for the first time ever, she feels that everyone

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Speaker 9: else is getting to experience a little bit of what

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Speaker 9: it's like to live as an undocumented person.

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Speaker 10: The citizens and people who have the freedom to travel

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Speaker 10: and to go places truly understand because even though we

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Speaker 10: are in these lockdowns and limiting all sorts of socialization,

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Speaker 10: there's still a sense of freedom, whereas for us there's

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Speaker 10: absolutely none of that. But if I had to put

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Speaker 10: a percentage to it, it's only ten percent of what

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Speaker 10: the actual feelings of being undocumented are. But in a

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Speaker 10: way it's a blessing because it allows us to tap

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Speaker 10: into our emotions of empathy and maybe some sort of

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Speaker 10: understanding the ways in which we're living.

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Speaker 9: Arlene says that this reality has forced her and her

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Speaker 9: family to live in the moment and value the small things.

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Speaker 9: Even on Christmas, the only thing that matters to them

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Speaker 9: is a simple act of being together.

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Speaker 10: Growing up as a child, things were really tight and

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Speaker 10: presents were never guaranteed, and we just grew up knowing

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Speaker 10: that that was not our reality. So it wasn't an

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Speaker 10: expectation that, you know, there would be a bicycle in

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Speaker 10: the tree or anything like that. And now as we

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Speaker 10: are older, we really appreciate just the fact that we're together.

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Speaker 10: And so when Christmas comes around, as long as all

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Speaker 10: of my whole family is sitting in the living room

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Speaker 10: having a cup of Cafe Canella, we're all good, and

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Speaker 10: that's what it's all about.

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Speaker 4: She says.

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Speaker 9: She wishes people didn't take the technology that we have

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Speaker 9: today for granted.

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Speaker 10: Because I remember the first time that my dad was

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Speaker 10: able to jump in on FaceTime with his brother who

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Speaker 10: he hasn't seen in over twenty years, and it was

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Speaker 10: so magical and so beautiful to just see his face

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Speaker 10: light up and to be able to look into his

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Speaker 10: brother's eyes I think we take for granted zoom and

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Speaker 10: FaceTime and all of these things that allow us to

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Speaker 10: stay connected, and we want more, right, We want better speeds,

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Speaker 10: we want better connection. We hate when there's a little

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Speaker 10: bit of a lag, but as in documented people, we

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Speaker 10: will take the lag and the low speeds all day

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Speaker 10: just to be able to make a connection with our family.

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Speaker 9: But this Christmas season is going to be different for

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Speaker 9: the Gorrea family as well.

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Speaker 10: My father has been recently diagnosed with some health issue

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Speaker 10: use and we don't want to expose him to the

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Speaker 10: potential of getting sick. And my mother too, she's also

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Speaker 10: not doing very well, and so we're just you know,

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Speaker 10: being extra extra cautious because one of the nuances of

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Speaker 10: being undocumented is that you always have to figure out

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Speaker 10: how to take care of yourself without healthcare system. So

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Speaker 10: we're really fearful that if anyone, anyone in our family

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Speaker 10: was exposed to COVID, we would not have access to

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Speaker 10: healthcare or have the means to be able to access

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Speaker 10: an er if we needed to. So I'm a little devastated,

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Speaker 10: but like I said, super grateful that for now my

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Speaker 10: parents and my family are okay. And if that means

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Speaker 10: not being able to see them for the holiday, then

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Speaker 10: that that's the sacrifice that we're willing to make.

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Speaker 1: And our final stop in our Christmas Special is the

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Speaker 1: border town of Matamoros, Mexico. Renaldo Leans Junior spoke to

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Speaker 1: an asylum seeker who's trying to form a community this

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Speaker 1: holiday season. Here's Renaldo with that story.

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Speaker 4: A group of people gather near the kitchen of this

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Speaker 4: small apartment in Matamoros. They're planning on making a warm,

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Speaker 4: home cooked meal and preparing to celebrate this Christmas holidays.

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Speaker 4: They're all members of the LGBTQ community and are seeking

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Speaker 4: asylum in the US.

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Speaker 7: Leave the.

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Speaker 11: Kissing and Esperez if iams.

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Speaker 4: That's he's a gay man from Guatemala and he's been

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Speaker 4: waiting in Mexico for more than a year now. This

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Speaker 4: will be his second Christmas in Matamoros. He says, this

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Speaker 4: place isn't just an apartment, it's a shelter. He helped

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Speaker 4: create it as part of its organization, Rainbow Bridge. If

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Speaker 4: saw the need for a safe and dignified space for

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Speaker 4: the members of the LGBTQ community like him who were

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Speaker 4: placed into the Trump administration's migrant protection protocols. Program and

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Speaker 4: were sent to Mexico to wait for months. Human Rights

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Speaker 4: First says there have been more than a thousand reported

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Speaker 4: violent attacks against migrants who were sent to Mexico under

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Speaker 4: MPP and that LGBTQ migrants are a vulnerable population.

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Speaker 11: Joyege Principios de Julio del Doos mil di Navian Organiza

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Speaker 11: no exists.

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Speaker 4: He arrived at the border in July of twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 4: when there weren't many organizations helping asylum seekers in the

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Speaker 4: MPP program. He was alone and had nowhere to go.

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Speaker 11: Krnosco and Carne Propia loke is is the process.

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Speaker 4: If says he knows exactly what this group of LGBTQ

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Speaker 4: asylum seekers are going through and he's happy he can

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Speaker 4: help make their lives a little easier. MPP hearings have

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Speaker 4: been indefinitely suspended because of the pandemic. This means many

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Speaker 4: migrants on the border won't be spending the holidays with

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Speaker 4: their loved ones. For this will also be the second

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Speaker 4: Christmas away from his partner of more than nine years,

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Speaker 4: who is back in Whatmala. Being a part has been

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Speaker 4: very difficult for both of them.

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Speaker 8: Asido is.

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Speaker 11: Mos Junto and Nocido defaced.

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Speaker 4: Back in what his partner spend a lot of time together.

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Speaker 4: They didn't live together, but they saw each other every

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Speaker 4: day and they even worked together last year. He really

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Speaker 4: missed his partner during the holidays. Last Christmas in New Year,

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Speaker 4: he didn't celebrate at all, and he didn't see anybody.

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Speaker 4: Growing up, had a complicated relationship with his parents because

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Speaker 4: of his sexuality in he said, at some point they

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Speaker 4: even physically attacked him and he had to leave home

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Speaker 4: for a while, and then his parents forced him to

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Speaker 4: go to conversion therapy at a local church. So the

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Speaker 4: holidays weren't really something got much joy from.

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Speaker 11: In Central America familiaries. He Los Membrosnasla.

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Speaker 4: The holidays back in Central America are usually family celebrations,

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Speaker 4: but members of the l g B t Q plus

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Speaker 4: community often suffer because they have to meet with family

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Speaker 4: members who usually don't accept them. He hopes a community

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Speaker 4: he's brought together here at the shelter will make the

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Speaker 4: holidays feel a little less lonely for everyone this year.

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Speaker 4: There's also something or someone that is is cautiously optimistic

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Speaker 4: Aboutels says before COVID nineteen, his boyfriend was about to

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Speaker 4: get his Mexican visa renewed so that his partner could

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Speaker 4: visit him, but then the pandemic unfolded and he wasn't

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Speaker 4: allowed to travel. Recently, his partner had a meeting at

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Speaker 4: the Mexican embassy, so it's possible that he'll be able

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Speaker 4: to join him in Matamotos for Christmas and the New year.

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Speaker 11: Jundo's Compartia.

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Speaker 4: He says that if his partner is able to come to Matamotos,

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Speaker 4: they'll for sure spend time together and be able to

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Speaker 4: celebrate the holidays. With the new US administration in the

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Speaker 4: near horizons, of the hopes that this will be the

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Speaker 4: last Christmas he spends in Matamoros, but he knows changes

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Speaker 4: won't happen overnight. When it comes to coping with the

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Speaker 4: holidays away from your loved ones, it's what the recommends.

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Speaker 11: Staying positive, Commander is cisandering Soosias Lamore in a pass

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Speaker 11: personas cola cosa.

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Speaker 4: Posively. It's one of those focused on the love and

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Speaker 4: pieces that you have with the people around you and

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Speaker 4: your family and look at things from a perspective that's

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Speaker 4: as positive as possible. Musician Maria Jose Montijo's advice is

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Speaker 4: to pay attention to your mental health.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, these months have been really, really rough. I think

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Speaker 5: my general sentiment is that you know, if you're alive

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Speaker 5: and you're like healthy, like just celebrate that, you know.

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Speaker 5: I don't think it's a time to like be hard

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Speaker 5: on I sives. It's so important to co evate some

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Speaker 5: compassion for ourselves and for our coping mechanisms.

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Speaker 4: For Salva Navarete, the Venezuelan doctor, the most important thing

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Speaker 4: is feeling at home wherever you are.

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Speaker 7: If you had a Christmas tree at home, if you

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Speaker 7: had some music that you'd like, something like that, So

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Speaker 7: make sure you have it on those days, right so

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Speaker 7: you can close your eyes and transport your mind and say, okay, listen,

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Speaker 7: I have the smell of the Christmas tree, or maybe.

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Speaker 8: The smell of a special dish.

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Speaker 4: And don't underestimate what you already have, which is already

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Speaker 4: a lot, says undocumented artists Arlene Corea Valencia.

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Speaker 10: Hold space to be grateful for what you do have.

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Speaker 10: I know it seems like this will never be over,

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Speaker 10: and we might be in this COVID lockdown or sheltering

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Speaker 10: in place for a long time. But the truth is

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Speaker 10: that life will return for all of you and for everyone,

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Speaker 10: and we will get back to our normal patterns.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for all of your messages. Happy

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Speaker 1: holidays and felices fiestas to each and every one of you,

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Speaker 1: and our very best wishes for twenty twenty one, because

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Speaker 1: aren't you ready for a new year? I know I am.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for listening.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Reinaldo Leanos Junior and Emili

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Speaker 1: Sequiros and edited by Marta Martinez. The Latino USA team

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00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 1: includes Miel Massis, i'm Re Lopes Crusado, Julieta Martinelli, Alisa Escarce,

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Speaker 1: Gini Montalvo, and Alejandra Salasad with help from Rol Prees.

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Speaker 1: Our engineers are Stephanie Lebo, Julia Caruso and Lia Shaw,

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Speaker 1: with help from Alishiba YouTube.

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Speaker 4: Our digital editor.

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Speaker 1: Is Luis Luna. Our New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow

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Speaker 1: is Julia Rocha. This week we say goodbye to our

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Speaker 1: interns Jimena del Serro, Emil se Quiros and Cabrie La Bayez. Hey,

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Speaker 1: you did great work as interns during a pandemic. It

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Speaker 1: will be unforgettable for you and for us who chas

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Speaker 1: gracias for all of your hard work and congratulations. Our

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Speaker 1: theme music was composed by Saniel Robinos. If you like

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Speaker 1: the music you heard on this episode, stop by Latinousa

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Speaker 1: dot org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host and executive producer Marie Nokosa. Join us again

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Speaker 1: on our next episode, and in the meantime, look for

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Speaker 1: us on all of your social media. I knows bemos Felicidades.

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Speaker 12: By Latino USA is made possible in part by W. K.

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Speaker 12: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with communities where Children Come First.

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Speaker 12: The John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the

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Speaker 12: Annie Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation's

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Speaker 12: children by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity, and transforming communities.

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Speaker 8: You know, I remember the melodies, I cannot recall the names. Well,

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Speaker 8: you can sing it for me. No, that's definitely I

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Speaker 8: need a glass of wine for sure for that.

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Speaker 1: But like Maria jo Josa next time on Latin USA.

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Speaker 1: Despite no physical evidence, an alibi, and recanted witness testimony,

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Speaker 1: JJ Velaskis has been in jail for twenty two years

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Speaker 1: for a crime. The evidence suggests he did not commit

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Speaker 1: the story of jj velaskis.

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Speaker 9: When you're innocent, you're like the worst position to represent

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Speaker 9: yourself next time.

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Speaker 4: On letting the USA