Central America/Caribbean
Remembering Ariel Camacho, the 22-year-old star of Mexico’s narcocorridos
Ariel Camacho, lead singer of the group Los Plebes del Rancho, was killed in a car accident on Wednesday. Just 22 years old, Camacho was already a big name in the world of narcocorridos, Mexico’s musical odes to drug trafficking culture.
Mexico’s ‘hints of homophobia’ make living there a challenge for a gay American
“You have to think about where you invest your time and your energy and your love, because you don’t want to waste it,” says Omar Solis, a gay American student in Mexico trying to figure out how to live openly. “But that’s what it takes.”
After Oscar wins, Mexican filmmakers are hailed at home for their ‘Midas touch’
Two Mexican-born filmmakers took major prizes at the Oscars this weekend, continuing the country’s winning streak at the biggest awards show in film. That success is encouraging young and emerging film students in a country where making movies remains tough.
This Panamanian Carnival tradition manages to make blackface ‘playful’ and ’emancipatory’
In Portobelo, Panama, a local spin on the Carnival holiday celebrates Africans who escaped from Spanish slavery. But while it features “Diablos” with whips and kids wearing blackface, an American academic who works with locals says it’s a powerful, celebratory metaphor.