Historias Unknown

Berta Cáceres was a Lenca indigenous leader, an environmental activist, and a human rights defender. But she was also so much more than that: a beauty pageant queen, a revolutionary (she joined the FMLN during the Salvadoran Civil War), and a mother. In part two, Cristina talks about Berta Cáceres' early activity with COPINH, leading up to the PPP plan, which would ultimately be their most dangerous fight. 

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Sources

Who Killed Berta Caceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet by Nina Lakhani 
https://archive.ph/BsiZB#selection-3399.94-3399.248
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres
https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-02/berta-caceres-and-the-resistance-that-was-born-under-an-oak-tree.html
https://elpais.com/elpais/2016/03/04/planeta_futuro/1457113234_162700.html
https://www.gaipe.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Represa-de-Violencia-ES-FINAL-.pdf
https://www.internationalrivers.org/news/remembering-river-defender-berta-caceres/
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/honduras-berta-caceres-killed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_and_Tribal_Peoples_Convention,_1989
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lempira_(Lenca_ruler)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Miranda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerica_Project
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/21/berta-caceres-name-honduran-military-hitlist-former-soldier

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Berta Cáceres was a Lenca indigenous leader, an environmental activist, and a human rights defender. But she was also so much more than that: a beauty pageant queen, a revolutionary (she joined the FMLN during the Salvadoran Civil War), and a mother. In part one, Cristina talks about Berta Cáceres' family, early life, her time with the FMLN, and her work leading up to the cofounding of COPINH in 1993.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/

Want ad free episodes? And weekly bonus episodes? Support Historias Unknown on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HistoriasUnknownPodcast
By joining, you can help Historias Unknown donate 20% funds to charity.

This month's donation went to CLEAN, carwash worker center, an org that has been helping car wash workers who are unable to leave their homes due to increasing ICE raids in LA county, by providing groceries to over 200 car wash workers. Follow @carwasherxs on instagram

Follow on social media:
Instagram: https : //www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@historiasunknown
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Historias Unknown is on YouTube now! https://youtube.com/@historiasunknown?si=_rmuVXrSQhs5R1bg

Sources

Who Killed Berta Caceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet by Nina Lakhani 
https://archive.ph/BsiZB#selection-3399.94-3399.248
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres
https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-02/berta-caceres-and-the-resistance-that-was-born-under-an-oak-tree.html
https://elpais.com/elpais/2016/03/04/planeta_futuro/1457113234_162700.html
https://www.gaipe.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Represa-de-Violencia-ES-FINAL-.pdf
https://www.internationalrivers.org/news/remembering-river-defender-berta-caceres/
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/honduras-berta-caceres-killed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Honduras_(1932%E2%80%931982)

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The birth control pill revolutionized women’s independence in the US and so many places, but came at the cost of Puerto Rican women, who were experimented on without consent in the birth control trials of the 1950’s. One third of the island’s women were sterilized during these trials. And one woman stood out in the fight against this injustice, she was Dr Helen Rodriguez Trias

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/

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By joining, you can help Historias Unknown donate 20% funds to charity.

This month's donation went to CLEAN, carwash worker center, an org that has been helping car wash workers who are unable to leave their homes due to increasing ICE raids in LA county, by providing groceries to over 200 car wash workers. Follow @carwasherxs on instagram

Follow on social media:
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Historias Unknown is on YouTube now! https://youtube.com/@historiasunknown?si=_rmuVXrSQhs5R1bg

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Tr%C3%ADas
https://massivesci.com/articles/helen-rodriguez-trias-science-heroes/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1447119/
https://web.archive.org/web/20031016140115/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_273.html
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1122157
/https://archive.ph/qzv60
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/9/28/the-bitter-pill/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-puerto-rico-pill-trials/
https://medium.com/the-lily/how-puerto-rican-women-were-used-to-test-the-birth-control-pill-7453a3b6ab73 
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/gregory-pincus-1903-1967/ 
https://womanisrational.uchicago.edu/2022/09/21/margaret-sanger-the-duality-of-a-ambitious-feminist-and-racist-eugenicist/ 
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-dr-john-rock-1890-1984/ 
https://remezcla.com/culture/birth-control-testing-puerto-rico/ 
https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/05/24/oral-contraceptives-history-puerto-rico-testing-massachusetts-ethics 
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10029088/puerto-rico-sterilization-abortion-reproductive-rights-history

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For years, she was considered to be the only woman to have been legally hanged in the state of Texas, but today, this is not the case. And yes, she was Mexican. Her name was Josefa (Chipita) Rodriguez. Cristina tells Carmen about Chipita and then they do an update about El Salvador. 

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/

Want ad free episodes? And weekly bonus episodes? Support Historias Unknown on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HistoriasUnknownPodcast
By joining, you can help Historias Unknown donate 20% funds to charity.

This month's donation went to CLEAN, carwash worker center, an org that has been helping car wash workers who are unable to leave their homes due to increasing ICE raids in LA county, by providing groceries to over 200 car wash workers. Follow @carwasherxs on instagram

Follow on social media:
Instagram: https : //www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/
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Historias Unknown is on YouTube now!  https://youtube.com/@historiasunknown?si=_rmuVXrSQhs5R1bg

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipita_Rodriguez
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/rodriguez-josefa-chipita
https://www.caller.com/story/news/columnists/2017/10/16/chipita-rodriguezs-unjust-hanging-haunts-texas/769883001/
https://www.tshaonline.org/texas-day-by-day/entry/1035
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/san-patricio-tx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean-to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuevo_Santander
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Revolution
https://www.southtexasnews.com/san_patricio_county/news/entertainment_and_society/chipita-s-ghost-lingers-on-in-san-patricio-on-156th-anniversary-of-hanging/article_82f2857c-0722-11ea-8bd4-13166f2a723d.html
http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2020/02/josefa-chipita-rodriguez-texas-bandit.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_of_the_Americashttps://beta.elfaro.net/el-salvador/hermanos-bukele-compran-tres-nuevas-propiedades-en-el-centro-historico-por-1-25-millones

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Joe Arpaio was the Maricopa County Sheriff from 1993 to 2017. During his tenure, he enacted the worst racial profiling against Latinos, ruled over the county jails with abuse, misused funds, which led to numerous lawsuits, cost taxpayers millions of dollars and eventually led him to be convicted of criminal contempt of court. This is a behind the bastardos episode, Carmentells Cristina about her biggest opp and a true terror to the Latine community in AZ, Joe Arpaio.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/

Want ad free episodes? And weekly bonus episodes? Support Historias Unknown on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HistoriasUnknownPodcast
By joining, you can help Historias Unknown donate 20% funds to charity.

This month's donation went to CLEAN, carwash worker center, an org that has been helping car wash workers who are unable to leave their homes due to increasing ICE raids in LA county, by providing groceries to over 200 car wash workers. Follow @carwasherxs on instagram

Follow on social media:
Instagram: https : //www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@historiasunknown
Substack: https://substack.com/@historiasunknown

Historias Unknown is on YouTube now!  https://youtube.com/@historiasunknown?si=_rmuVXrSQhs5R1bg

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-arpaio-timeline-20170801-story.html 
https://web.archive.org/web/20150117161910/http://www.mcso.org/JailInformation/TentCity.aspx 
https://web.archive.org/web/20121023032303/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1997-09-18/news/human-plights/2/
https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/chain-gangs/ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Seagal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Ferrigno 
https://www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/blind-refugee-abandoned-by-border-patrol-is-dead/ 
https://www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/26/timeline-burmese-refugees-arrest-to-death/ 
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/2/27/nurul_amin_shah_alam 
https://web.archive.org/web/20120505072757/http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/12/sheriff_arpaio_oversaw_worst_r.php 
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348061-trump-pardons-arpaio/
https://www.aclu.org/cases/ortega-melendres-et-al-v-arpaio-et-al

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