Spanish Language

This video chronicles the 1998 return to Cuba of an American college professor, Dr. Magaly Lavendenz, forced as a child to leave Cuba in 1962, and who grew up in the U.S., but with a distinct Cuban identity.

This four-part series examines changes in Cuban society during the post-Soviet economic crisis between 1994-98.

In 1975, the first Cuban soldiers went to Angola to help defend that newly independent government from invasion by South African troops. After nearly fourteen years of bitter conflict, the Angolan War ended, Namibia was established as an independent state, and Cuban and South African troops have returned home. Filmed on location in Angola, South Africa and Cuba, this documentary examines the politics of the war from both sides and features remarkable combat footage, archival material and interviews with Cuban and South African soldiers as well as grieving families of those who died in the war.

Examines women in Latin America and the cultural values that shape their lives. Scenes of urban slums, abandoned children, reform schools and broken homes are juxtaposed against romanticized media images.

Puerto Rico has the highest incidence of female sterilization in the world. Over one-third of all Puerto Rican women of childbearing age have been sterilized. So common is the operation that it is simply known as ‘la operacion.' Using newsreels and excerpts from government propaganda films, plus interviews with Puerto Rican women, doctors, birth control specialists and politicians, this film explores the controversial use of sterilization as a means of population control.

Dramatizes the life and work of Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922), a Puerto Rican journalist, writer, suffragist, and labor organizer.

Examines the U.S. Navy's control and use of Vieques, a satellite island and municipality of Puerto Rico, as a military training, exercise and deployment base.

Examines the centuries-old tradition in Puerto Rico of using hand-carved santos in Catholic religious practices. The film visits an elderly santero (carver) and his teenage apprentice, revealing the skill and artistry of this ancient craft as well as the importance of the saints in the lives of the faithful.

Surveys the activities of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the 1950s, including the background to the shooting incident in the U.S. Congress by four Puerto Rican nationalists in March 1954, and the contributions of the movement's leading figure, Don Pedro Albizu Campos.

Examines the history and present-day reality of Puerto Rico, including the history and the contemporary relationship between the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S.; the impact of industrialization on the island's economy, ecology and social life; economic exile and life in New York City; and the history of the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Examines Puerto Rico's `Operation Bootstrap,' the highly vaunted economic development plan undertaken in the 1950s to provide a role model for economic development throughout Latin America.

This documentary, featuring interviews with industrialists, economics, and government officials, analyzes the economic development of Puerto Rico, from 1940 through 1994, including the impact of NAFTA on the Commonwealth's economy.