Alexandria is a rising star in Peru.  She is descended from Andean Incan tribes who spoke a phonetic language going back 15,000 years. The Incas had little use for the Bible as it made no sound.

Alexandria speaks Spanish. She’s a lawyer elected to Peru’s Unicameral Congress for a five-year term. In Peru’s patriarchal society women continue to be second class, but are emerging into leadership.

Alexandria is a champion for the ancestors of the 95,000 slaves who were brought to Peru, and for the rights of women:  equal pay for equal work, voting rights, abortion rights, birth control, pre-and-post-natal clinics to lower mortality rates, and to end femicide, (men murdering their wives, about 250 per year). Alexandria is determined to stop this. She has become a familiar face on local and national TV.  Many see her as a long overdue messiah.

Basilio is a highly respected orthopedic surgeon.  He was born into poverty during Fidel Castro’s 49-year reign as dictator. His parents were descendants of over a million slaves brought to Cuba during the brutal Spanish rule.  1.3 million Cubans describe themselves as black among 11.2 million population.

Castro thumbed his nose at the United States and aligned with Russia, turning Cuba into the only Communist nation in the Western Hemisphere. Under Castro, Cuba remained one of the poorest nations in Latin America. Yet, it provided free education and health care, one of the best systems in the world. It allowed Basilio to go to medical school all-expenses paid.

Basilio spends half his time doing pro bono surgery among the 72% of the population who live below the poverty line.   

Beyonce is a popular professor of Jamaican Literature at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, a school of 50,000 from which she graduated. Three times she has been chosen teacher of the year because of her eloquent storytelling and recitation of poetry.

Jamaica’s history of oral storytelling consists of folktales told by slaves during the colonial period going back to the Ashanti tribe in West Africa from which many of Jamaica’s two million slaves originated. She recites folklore of the indigenous people of South America, Jamaica’s first inhabitants, that go back 4000 years.

Beyonce’s repertoire also includes the works of Claude McKay, Jamaica’s most famous poet. His poetry celebrates peasant life in Jamaica and protests racial and economic inequities. Her dream is to keep Jamaica’s folk history alive and its ongoing struggle for justice.

Carlos is a 24-year-old living in a poor district of Asuncion, the capital city of Paraguay, population 6.8 million. He is Catholic by default as over 80% of Paraguayans are Catholic. He was born, out of wedlock, on a farm to an illiterate sixteen-year-old mother who never attended school. Ancestrally, his mother was mestizo, a combination of Spanish and indigenous Indian. His father, who he never knew, was black, an ancestor of the 115,000 slaves that were brought to Paraguay in the sixteenth century. Carlos has two younger sisters and two younger brothers all by different fathers.

Paraguay remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America. It ranks fourth in terms of extreme poverty after Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. This can be largely attributed to its tragic history of constant wars and dictatorships. The most devastating war that lasted 6 years from 1864-1870 took the lives of almost 90% of the Paraguayan males creating an imbalance of four females to each male. While that ratio has nearly equalized, the effects of low marriage rates and high out of wedlock births and poverty remain.

Carlos was fortunate to have received a scholarship to attend The American School of Asuncion where he received a high school diploma. From there he went on to graduate from the National University of Asuncion with a degree in pre-med. He is now proceeding in postgraduate studies to become a medical doctor. His goal: to help lift his mother and younger sibs out of poverty. 

Jazmin dreams of becoming a doctor but is a woman without a country. She was born in Haiti and orphaned at age eight when her parents were murdered by a street gang. She was brought to the Dominican Republic by refugees fleeing violence.

Haiti shares the Island of Hispaniola with the dominantly white D.R. which has a long history of anti-blackness. Dark is bad, light is good.

Jazmin is stuck in a low paying job. She’s trying to straighten her hair to get a better job. Straight hair surpasses skin color as a racial determinant.

The D.R. has passed laws that deny citizenship to Jazmin and the 8% black minority, leaving them without a country. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to a nationality.”

Jasmin’s dream is to go to medical school and return to Haiti, her homeland, and help her people.

Jose is a homeless orphan in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. He is 10 years old, speaks broken Spanish, and stays alive by stealing, begging, and rummaging through garbage cans. His mother was murdered by his father who abandoned him. The year around tropical climate enables him to sleep under trees or whatever shelter he can find.  There are 150,000 orphans in Honduras. Some 17,000 are due to femicides, a husband who murders his wife. Honduras has the highest femicide rate in Latin America due largely to an aggressively masculine culture. There is no state care for these children.

Several world organizations have stepped in to address this crisis. Jose is one of the fortunate ones who was discovered by a compassionate social worker who adopted him and brought him to the U.S. to raise as part of his family.

Julio, age 17, is the breadwinner for his family, a widowed mother and three younger sisters. He has a mature unflappable demeanor. He harvests bananas, one of Guatemala’s main exports. He speaks Spanish and is Catholic.

Guatemala, 18 million population, is the cradle of Myan civilization. Julio is a mix of indigenous Myan and European. Many African slaves during Spanish rule took refuge in Myan communities.

Guatemala has a tragic history of violence. A civil war lasted 36 years in which 200,000 Guatemalans were killed or disappeared, including Julio’s father.

Despite spectacular natural beauty, Guatemala is one of Latin America’s poorest countries. 55% live below the poverty line, including Julio and family. He dreams of saving enough to get a better house. He loves taking his little sisters to the beach.

Kusi, whose name means “Happiness and joy” is known as the “White Mama” of Mururata, a ghetto of about 2000 residents, the last of the Afro-Bolivian population.

Kusi is a nurse and caregiver for the community. Her lighter skin reflects the ancient Incan empire who lived in the Andes several centuries before Spanish conquest. Spain took the Incas into slavery to work silver mines. Most died of harsh working conditions or smallpox brought by the Spanish.  

Spain then began to import thousands of slaves. Countless slaves died due to high elevation, (13,000 feet), cave-ins, explosions, toxic vapors, and disease. Life expectancy was only six months. The dead would soon be replaced with another shipload of slaves.

Kusi represents the last of the Incan empire but her tell-tale hair labels her as part African. Her dream is to help keep this remnant community alive.

Lara is an actress in Montevideo’s vibrant film industry. She aspires to lead roles in films that attract companies such as Disney, Amazon, HBO, and Netflix. 

She was born into an affluent family with roots in Southern Spain where red hair is not unusual. She’s a graduate of the University of Montevideo with a post-graduate degree in the Arts and Film Studies. Her dream is to gain stardom, not for ego, but to be a change agent and positive influence in Uruguay.

Uruguay, with 3.4 million population, is considered the most European country in Latin America. Yet 20,000 slaves were brought in. Uruguay declares itself an inclusive nation and condemns racism. It is known for its liberal social laws. It allows same sex marriage, accepts LGBT, allows prostitution, abortion, and marijuana. It has a strong economy and over 400 miles of beautiful beaches.