Opinion

President Biden’s new border policy is being met with mixed reviews as heavy criticism is lobbed at the administration for continuing Trump-era guidelines.

A rundown of the Latino-centric news from the first week of the new year.

“Poet. Maestro. Cuba’s defiant son. Pablo Milanés was all these things and more. He was also the soundtrack of my youth,” writes Puerto Rican journalist Susanne Ramires de Arellano.

According to the Latin America Development Bank, only 49 percent of women in the region have a bank account. Even though Latin American women own half of the region’s small businesses, 70 percent of them have no access to financing at all.

Senior editor Hector Luis Alamo gives a rundown of some of the facts, bits of news, real histories, and actual lies he came across during the past week.

In honor of December 10, the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Paris that transferred ownership of the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico to the United States, a look back at the U.S. invasion of the island, what it meant to Puerto Ricans at the time, and what it means today.

Rather than ending the U.S.’s Trump-era stance on immigration, the Biden administration looks intent on furthering it to appease Republicans.

At approximately 45 days, Puerto Rico is known for having one of the longest holiday seasons in the world. Starting the week leading up to Thanksgiving, and ending with Las Octavitas on 14 January, a festive aura envelopes the archipelago. But amidst the merriment, there’s one significant cultural tradition whose absence is painfully palpable : Los Reyes Magos.

This week’s wrap-up comes to you from the cozy confines of quarantine, as senior editor Hector Luis Alamo has managed to catch COVID for only the second time this year.

Equal pay isn’t just about our paychecks, it’s about our economic security. And our ability to control our economic security is inextricably linked to our ability to decide whether and when to become a parent.

The recently announced Netflix series will follow three friends hoping to make it in the world of reggaetón. But when Netflix announced the show, no Boricuas appeared to be behind the camera—either as producers, consultants, or in its eight-person writers’ room.

For Puerto Rico, Don Pedro represents an important link between the 19th century, when Latin America freed itself from Spanish colonialism, and the modern era, in which Latin America strives to protect itself from the insidious influence of U.S. imperialism.

How Latino immigrants thumb their noses at America by butchering the English language.

The recent image of a car stuck in a massive pothole in Humacao, Puerto Rico makes a fine metaphor for the state of Puerto Rico today and the role played by the pro-statehood Gov. Pedro Pierluisi and his New Progressive Party in the deterioration of the island.

In her first piece for Futuro Investigates, Futuro Media founder and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa reflects on why the crisis of migrants crossing the desert, a decades-old story, should matter to all of us right now.

Senior editor Hector Luis Alamo gives a review of some of the most interesting and important things he saw, read, and heard over the past week.

In an attempt to shift negative attention away from the problematic and troubled agency, the National Border Patrol Council is deploying social media posts to spread misinformation and blatant lies.

“It bothers me how the producers, the world-famous martial artist, and I didn’t stop to think about how poorly it reflects on our island that such a segment needed to air in the first place”

Almost $9 billion in bad debt and a half-century of high electricity prices hang in the balance in Puerto Rico.

The discovery of an old rifle in the woods leads to a reflection on the Native Americans who first inhabited the area around Chicago and the city’s early history.

Latino Rebels’ senior editor Hector Luis Alamo provides an overview of some of the most interesting and important things he’s seen, read, and heard over the past week.