Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood
What the FARC? Women are the silent victims of Colombia’s conflict, exploited and abused by guerrillas as much as their enemiesGavin O’Toole reviews the book Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood by Paula Delgado-Kling. The…
Resilience and Resistance: a History of the Colombian London
Over the last 50 years, hundreds of thousands of Colombians have made their mark as the UK's largest spanish-speaking community. As a consequence, Londoners are never far away from the enticing smell of pandeja paisa, the…
The Danger of Being Underestimated: the Peruvian Double Agent who was Key to D-Day Victory
On the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when thousands of Allied troops landed on beaches across Normandy, starting the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied northern Europe, we look at how Elvira de la Fuente Chaudoir, a little known…
LATIN LONDONER #50: LISA LUGO, SVP Marketing & Creative Solutions Live Nation UK
Born and bred a true Nuyorican, after working at Live Nation in the US, Lisa Lugo moved to the UK in 2015 where she oversees a team responsible for developing programmes for brand partners across Live Nation’s festivals and…
Listening to Nature
“Our father, listen attentively to the voice of our rivers, listen to the fearsome trees of the great forest.” So wrote José María Arguedas in 1966. The poet, writer and anthropologist (1911-1969) is one of the most celebrated…
An unknown path for Argentina as far-right libertarian Javier Milei wins election
Amidst one of the worst economic crises in Argentina’s history, Javier Milei staged one of the biggest upsets in its political history by beating Sergio Massa, the current economy minister and Peronist candidate, in the…
10 Stand Out UK Afro-Latinos y Latinas
In the last of our series celebrating Black HIstory Month...it’s time to bring it home. While the US has long been celebrating the contribution of Black Latin Americans to its culture, and life, we here in the UK also have our…
'Women Resisting Violence: Voices and Experiences from Latin America' by the WRV Collective
'Women Resisting Violence' draws on a range of case studies from Nicaragua, Brazil, the UK, Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala, to paint a contemporary landscape of feminist struggle. Together,…
Does Economic Reality Jeopodise Latin America's Second Pink Tide?
In an impressive switch, Latin America's right-wing presidents have lost almost all the presidential elections. The region has, once again, been painted in pink and red, even more than during Chavez and Correa´s times.…
"They Looked for Them out of Love"
'Abuelas' is a film about a group of ordinary grandmothers who became extraordinary women. Known as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, these women have spent almost 50 years looking for their ‘disappeared’ grandchildren who…
Same-Sex Marriage Becomes Legal in Mexico
On 26 October, Tamaulipas became the last of Mexico’s 32 states to legalise same-sex marriage. Legislators approved the measure to reform the state’s civil code - which previously only recognised marriage as the unity between a…
Taking Selfies with Shotguns: Transcending Violence in Bolsonaro’s Brazil
Luis Octavio dos Santos Gouveia Junior reflects on the bittersweet experience of returning to his native Brazil after seven years. He argues that, in Bolsonaro’s Brazil, guns have expanded from being an instrument of self-…
Bolsonaro Turns Queen’s Funeral into Election Rally
The Brazilian President's attendance at The Queens funeral had everything to do with politics and little to do with grief, argues Clorrie Yoemans
LatinoLife 22 Confirms its Place as 'the UK's Most Inclusive Festival'
The only UK festival to be chosen for 'The Inclusive Festival Guide' compiled by European research project Fest Space, LatinoLife's 7th edition delivered the UK's biggest Latin music Festival. London’s only…
“Los Nadies” become Somebodies in Colombia
After a very contested campaign, Colombians recently elected Gustavo Petro, a former M-19 guerrilla member, as president, and Francia Márquez, the first vice president in Latin America of African descent, The duo Petro and…
Colombian elections 2022: Petro or Fico?
Colombia’s presidential elections are just around the corner (with a second round in June if no candidate obtains more than 50 per cent of the vote). With two main candidates on opposing sides of the political spectrum, what do…
Colombia: London Mural Honours Lucas Villa
London graffiti artist Kapo pays tribute to the demonstrator assassinated during Colombia’s national strike in 2021 in Stockwell’s ‘Hall of Fame’
Art as Evidence: Into the Belly of Latin American Political Posters
“Thinking Inside the Box” is an exhibition based on the archives of Latin American political art from Senate House Library, organized and led by students. The project dives into the largely unknown yet expansive collection of…
Postcard from...Havana: Family at a Crossroads
It’s been a busy and sad week in our Cuban household. Danay and Osvaldo, two married younger members of this small Cuban family are leaving the country tomorrow to make a new life for themselves in Argentina, where Danay’s Cuban…
Let’s Talk About Religion: Interview with directors Maya Cueva and Leah Galant
On the Divide premiers March 17th as part of the “Human Rights Watch Film Festival”. The feature-length documentary follows the life stories of Mercedes, Denisse and Rey in McAllen, Texas, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley,…
The Right to Die? Euthanasia in Colombia
Meet the lawyers fighting to make euthanasia a human right in Latin America.
Brazilian women in London share experiences of gendered violence
As the rates and intensity of violence against women dramatically rose globally over lockdown, Gil, a Brazilian woman in London who has suffered domestic violence, tells her story of being denied support from emergency services.…
Zapatistas Embark on 'Journey for Life' World Tour
Zapatistas visit UK on voyage to five continents of the world to meet with those building ‘a better world'
Latin Londoner #43: Vinicius de Carvalho, Director, King's Brazil Institute
Born in Barra Mansa, Brazil, Vinicius de Carvalho is Director of University of London’s King’s Brazil Institute. He is also Vice-Dean International for the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s College, and Reader…
Retracing Galeano’s Open Veins
‘Gold, Oil and Avocados, A Recent History of Latin America in Sixteen Commodities’ by Andy Robinson is an account of export extractivism in Latin America. Robinson argues that to understand the major political upheavals in Latin…
Río Turbio: women marginalised by the mine
Filmmaker and archivist Tatiana Mazú González sheds light on the role of women in the Río Turbio miner’s struggle
Brazil: Independence Celebrations Mark a Day of Divisions, over Unity
Clorrie Yeomens reflects on the trauma and mixed feelings that Brazilian Independence Day conjures up for many Brazilians
Inside Rome’s Operation Condor Trial: An Interview with Dr Francesca Lessa
On 8 July 2021 in Rome, Italy’s Supreme Court charged 14 former officials and military personnel with the murder of Italian citizens in South America during Operation Condor. Oxford academic, Dr Francesca Lessa, and MPhil student…
Latin America Criminalises Mining Protest
All over Latin America mining protest is being criminalised by government legislation. Protestors in Andalgalá, Argentina are arrested and beaten, while in Brazil the Munduruku are fighting Anglo American, financed by US…
Venezuela: Trochas de la Información
Produced by Circuito Gran Cine, a collective of film makers based in Venezuela, this film is one of a series about the difficulties Venezuelans have faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, ranging from water shortages to the lack of…
Que Vivan 'Los Turcos': Latin America's Arab connection
Last year, when the crisis in Colombia coincided with the Israeli incursion into Gaza, Colombian and Latino social media platforms were awash with calls for solidarity with Palestinians, after the distressing scenes of the…
Time to Come Together for Colombia
On April 28th May in Colombia the people of Cali city took to the streets to peacefully protest and march against the new tax reform put in place by president Ivan Duque. What started off as a peaceful demonstration soon turned…
The Amazon: Biden and Bolsonaro's no- deal
The United States and Brazil have been conducting closed door negotiations to broker an Amazon rainforest protection agreement — with the U.S. and other nations tentatively to provide significant funding, and Brazil possibly…
Latin Londoner #40: Monica Feria-Tinta, Barrister
Originally from Peru, Monica is the first Latin American barrister to practise at the Bar of England & Wales. She holds an LLM in International Law (LSE) and was awarded the prestigious Diploma of the Hague Academy of…
Mexico: Informal Workers and the Pandemic
The story of Noe, a private driver and ambulant salesman, is that of many in Mexico left without an income or government help. It is left to informal neighbourhood based support to helps them get by.