Stories from the front lines of the immigration fight, new music from Kap G, Princess Nokia, and Soda Stereo, a controversial exhibit at Zona Maco, the movie trailers you shouldn’t miss, and more highlights from this week.
An ICYMI snapshot of the Latinternet, curated by REMEZCLA.
News
- According to immigration activist and artist Julio Salgado, an ICE operation picked up approximately 100 immigrants for deportation in Los Angeles on Thursday. Along with this week’s deportation of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, a Mexican mother of two residing in Arizona, the incident has caused a new wave of fear as immigrants and activists prepare for the Trump administration’s broad new deportation priorities.
- Oscar López-Rivera set foot in Puerto Rico on Thursday for the first time in three decades. The political prisoner’s sentence was commuted in mid-January, as one of Barack Obama’s last actions as president. For an in-depth look at López-rivera’s story, listen to Latino USA’s deep dive here.
- Colombia moved one step closer to ending its 52-year guerrilla rebellion this week, as its second-largest rebel group joined the government for peace talks in Ecuador.
- As Ecuador’s presidential election looms, can its fragmented Indigenous movement find a way forward? Here’s why the left vs right political binary has never really served this community.
Music
- The Atlanta Falcons may have lost the Super Bowl on Sunday, but at least we got a new heater from Kap G featuring Quavo.
- Princess Nokia dropped a double video feature for “Bart Simpson” and “Green Line,” off her 1992 EP. Catch the defiant New York girlhood vibes here.
- “I didn’t want to buy more Yeezys when I saw that.” Here’s what got J Balvin so disillusioned with Kanye.
- Other releases: hit play on the latest from Mexican R&B songstress Girl Ultra, Spanish coldwave act Paralelo Corazon, Ciudad Juárez’s electronic netlabel Lowers, a longing ballad from twin duo Ibeyi, and the first single from Soda Stereo’s Cirque du Soleil show.
Film & TV
- Everybody Loves Somebody may seem like your run of the mill big budget romcom, but here’s why the bilingual, bicultural film is an important project – and a risk.
- This week, Jane the Virgin took a heartbreaking, shocking twist. Here’s why Jane will never be the same again [warning: Spoilers.]
- Check out new trailers for documentary Chavela, about the iconic Mexican songstress; Una Mujer Fantástica from Chile’s rising star Sebastián Lelio; and 50-part docu series Other Boys NYC, which delves into the personal lives of New York City queer and transgender men of color from a truly diverse range of backgrounds.
Arts
- At Zona Maco, famed artist Gabriel Orozco made waves by recreating a fully-functional Oxxo convenience store at buzzy gallery Kurimanzutto. Some people thought it was genius, and others, not so much.
- Next fall, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles will exhibit the work of 116 radical Latina artists from Latin America and the US. Learn more about Radical Women here.
- Check out photo projects from Latina photo collective MoreMulher, who are redefining beauty standards on their own terms; photographer Cristobal Olivares, who is chronicling the immigrant experience in Chile; and Steven Burton, whose project Skin Deep portrays ex-gang members side-by-side with retouched versions free of their characteristic tattoos. It’s a powerful statement on the struggle of men who seek to reinvent themselves while still bearing the prominent signifiers of gang life.
