Refaat Alathamna was born in the Gaza Strip in the late 1970s, when Israel still exercised control from within. Back then, it wasn’t all that unusual to go abroad to study, and Refaat decided to go far away, to a country he had never heard of. Decades later, what he learned in there would end up saving his life.

Find the English transcript of “From Gaza” here. Or check out the Spanish transcript here.

Bogotá is known as one of the cities with the most graffiti in the world, and this is no accident — local policies have led the city government to support, fund, promote, and teach urban art. But how did this come to pass? Today we tell the story of a 16-year-old graffiti artist and how his parents’ fight led to the streets of Bogotá being painted without fear.

Find the English transcript of “Painted Bogotá” here. Or check out the Spanish transcript here.

In an internet full of noise, Radio Ambulante Studios is still committed to deeply reported stories about real people and real lives. But we can’t do it alone. This journalism exists because people like you decide it matters. Our goal is to raise $40,000 in the coming weeks to keep telling the stories of Latin America and Latino communities. DONATE TODAY HERE and help sustain our independent journalism.

Ask us anything! We’re preparing a special episode with listener questions about anything related to Radio Ambulante. To participate, send us a voice note with your name, where you’re listening from, and your question to the WhatsApp number at this link. The number is (+1 555 917 9841).

 In 2024, Iván Colmenares crossed the border into Venezuela on a routine trip. An encounter with the authorities changed the course of his life forever. In a foreign land, with no way for his family to reach him, Iván found himself caught up in a political game, and his survival depended on an unexpected connection.

Find the English transcript of “Welcome To The Rodeo” here. Or check out the Spanish transcript here.

In an internet full of noise, Radio Ambulante Studios is still committed to deeply reported stories about real people and real lives. But we can’t do it alone. This journalism exists because people like you decide it matters. Our goal is to raise $40,000 in the coming weeks to keep telling the stories of Latin America and Latino communities. DONATE TODAY HERE and help sustain our independent journalism.

Ask us anything! We’re preparing a special episode with listener questions about anything related to Radio Ambulante. To participate, send us a voice note with your name, where you’re listening from, and your question to the WhatsApp number at this link. The number is (+1 555 917 9841).

In 2022, Tania Guerrero and her husband decided to have a second child. Their financial situation was stable, so unlike during her first pregnancy, they decided to go to a private hospital in Durango, Mexico. They were looking for comfort. But it would end up marking a turning point in their lives.

Find the English transcript of “The Contagion” here. Or check out the Spanish transcript here.

In an internet full of noise, Radio Ambulante Studios is still committed to deeply reported stories about real people and real lives. But we can’t do it alone. This journalism exists because people like you decide it matters. Our goal is to raise $40,000 in the coming weeks to keep telling the stories of Latin America and Latino communities. DONATE TODAY HERE and help sustain our independent journalism.

Ask us anything! We’re preparing a special episode with listener questions about anything related to Radio Ambulante. To participate, send us a voice note with your name, where you’re listening from, and your question to the WhatsApp number at this link. The number is (+1 555 917 9841).

Argentinian doctor Marcos Hourmann had been working in Spain for almost two decades when one night he found himself faced with a situation that was new to him: a patient was asking him to end her suffering. The decision he made would change his future.

Find the English transcript of “Medical Record” here. Or check out the Spanish transcript here.

Ask us anything! We’re preparing a special episode with listener questions about anything related to Radio Ambulante. To participate, send us a voice note with your name, where you’re listening from, and your question to the WhatsApp number at this link. The number is (+1 555 917 9841).

The twins Ana and Lichi grew up far from their parents. They spent their childhood moving from city to city, always in the care of a relative. Being together was the only constant in their lives: they had only each other. But at age 13, a trip to northern Paraguay would change their lives forever.

Find the English transcript of “The Girls and the Wild” here. Or check out the Spanish transcript here.

Ask us anything! We’re preparing a special episode with listener questions about anything related to Radio Ambulante. To participate, send us a voice note with your name, where you’re listening from, and your question to the WhatsApp number at this link. The number is (+1 555 917 9841).

Alexis Figueroa is willing to do the unthinkable to get a celebrity’s autograph. In this episode, we follow him as he attempts to get the one autograph that got away, that of an aging rocker he’s been after for more than a decade. Will Alexis get the memento he’s looking for, or will his best-laid plans fail him once more?

This story was originally published in 2018.

In the early 2000s, Daniella Tobar, a 20-year-old actress, joined a cutting-edge artistic and architectural project: living in a glass house right in the heart of Santiago, Chile. Anyone passing by could see her doing what we all do: sleeping, cooking, showering. It wouldn’t be long before a scandal broke out.

When Erica met Henry, it was love at first sight. But back then, in the late ’90s, she was only 15, and they soon lost touch. More than a decade later, Henry reappeared: he got her phone number and called her. They started talking every day, and Erica gradually fell in love. But it wouldn’t be long before she discovered that Henry had kept something crucial about his life a secret from her.

For the children of Argentine mountaineer Guillermo Vieiro, his death was always shrouded in a certain mystery. They grew up with many questions about him and believed there would never be answers—until, in early 2024, almost forty years after his death, someone called them with unexpected news.

Lorena Borjas was the queen of queens. No one had more prestige and authority among the community of Latina trans women in the Queens neighborhood of New York. Borjas seemed to be everywhere: on the streets, handing out condoms to sex workers; in the courts, accompanying trans women at risk of deportation; or in hospitals, helping people living with HIV. For the queens of Queens, a world without Lorena was unthinkable. And when they lost her, they asked themselves: what will we do without her?

Our series podcast, Central, has a new production: Las Reinas de Queens, the story of a group of trans women from Queens, New York, all Latin American immigrants. Across ten episodes, we follow their fight for the right to exist and thrive in the face of raids, violence, and exclusion. But we also join them at drag shows and beauty contests where they compete against each other to become the new queens of Queens.

Father and son Julio and Andrés share a passion for Andean biodiversity. Each in his own way and in his own time, has dedicated his life to protecting Peruvian seeds from various threats, guided by a common conviction: the information they contain is an ancestral treasure.