America’s Largest Minority is Also Its Most Misunderstood (NY Times, 2024)
It’s as if the sight of a migrant scaling a wall or wading ashore is now a Rorschach test, our Rashomon. Depending on where we sit on the political spectrum, we perceive different truths: Some see a brown “invasion,” others an unremitting drug war, a humanitarian crisis, a political failure, a symptom of societal collapse. The politicizations are legion, and the distortions dire.
Read MoreTwo Sisters Take On the 20th Century, With Ghosts in Tow (NY Times, 2024)
Marie Arana reviews THE VOLCANO DAUGHTERS, by Gina María Balibrera.
Gina María Balibrera’s debut novel, “The Volcano Daughters,” spits fire from its very first page just as the fevered mountain of Izalco has flung brimstone for much of El Salvador’s volatile history. This is an epic story, a remarkable achievement for a writer making her first foray into the literary landscape. Balibrera demonstrates a fearlessness that is rare.
Read MoreAmerica Is Obsessed With Cuba. But What Do We Know About Its Citizens? (NY Times, 2021)
Marie Arana reviews THE CUBANS: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times by Anthony DePalma.
Almost exactly 40 years ago, in the spring of 1980 — even as cherry blossoms swept down the streets of Washington, D.C., the Iran hostage crisis crept toward a halfway mark and the World Health Organization announced the global eradication of smallpox — a flotilla of boats, creaking under the weight of a desperate humanity, began making the 100-mile journey from Cuba to Key West.
Read MoreOp-Eds in the New York Times
In a series of guest Op-Ed columns for the New York Times, Marie explores a number of timely issues in Latin America, from poverty to Bolivarianism to new reverse-flow economies. THE KIDS LEFT BEHIND THE BOOM: March 20, 2013, Lima, Peru Henrry Ochochoque is a jovial 12-year-old with a report card full of A’s…
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