© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

FinCEN Investigation's Miami Ties, Defining Latinx, Analysis of Judge Barbara Lagoa

Carl Juste
/
Miami Herald
Judge Barbara Lagoa (right) following the nomination by Governor Ron DeSantis to the Florida Supreme Court at the Freedom Tower in Miami. President Trump is expected to announce his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday, Lagoa is on his shortlist of potential nominees.

The investigation into the FinCEN files dump and the Miami connection. Plus, defining the term Latinx and who's using it. And analysis of Judge Barbara Lagoa, on President Trump's shortlist of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On this Thursday, Sept. 24, episode of Sundial.

FinCEN Investigation

Thousands of leaked financial documents reveal a massive network of money laundering using some of the world’s largest financial institutions. The FinCEN files were given to BuzzFeed News, who in cooperation with the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists and hundreds of reporters around the globe, pored through the documents and made significant connections.

As with the Panama Papers four years ago, financiers and developers living in South Florida played an important role in the money laundering network.

WLRN is committed to providing the trusted news and local reporting you rely on. Please keep WLRN strong with your support today. Donate now. Thank you.

A team of journalists at the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and McClatchylooked specifically at a number of Venezuelan expats living in South Florida who helped launder money from organized crime syndicates and kleptocrats in the Maduro regime into banks in South Florida.

“Now with the U.S. sanctions and with all the attention on them, they’ve gotten even more sophisticated,” said Antonio María Delgado, a reporter for El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald. “They have huge fortunes in the international system and they were able to take out billions of dollars. I wouldn’t be surprised to find funds from the Venezuelan regime in Wall Street, in big firms, just because it's been siphoned out for years.”

McClatchy senior investigator and chief economics correspondent Kevin Hall along with Delgado explained how these networks have become so sophisticated and why federal prosecutors have struggled to reign them in.

Continued Discussion Over The Term Latinx

The term Latinx has increasingly gained traction as a more inclusive form of identification for Latin Americans. Instead of using Latino or Latina, the term has emerged as a rejection of the gendered nature of the Spanish language.

But a recent Pew Research poll found only 3 percent of Latinx adults use the term.Naiomy Guerrero identifies as black Latinx. She recently served as a curatorial fellow at the Perez Art Museum Miami, focused on Latinx art, and explains why the term may be more popular than the survey suggests.

“If you think about the way you use words, you don’t walk into a room and say, ‘Hi, I’m Latinx.’ No one does that. It’s useful for me in writing vs. talking. It’s a very new word but in movement circles, it’s very common.”

Dr. Philip Carter is a professor of linguistics and English at FIU. He’s been studying language South Florida’s Latinx communities for years and recently organized a forum on Facebook Live with Latinx speakers from across the country.

“Young Latinx people who may not identify as LGBTQ+ but nevertheless sees them as a part of a coalition of people. The term can be broadened to also think about inclusivity in terms of sexuality, gender, race and ethnicity,” Carter told guest Sundial host Tim Padgett.

Carter and Guerrero also explained how other gendered terms in Spanish are being adapted to be more inclusive.

Analyzing Judge Barbara Lagoa

President Donald Trump is scheduled to announce his nomination to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this Saturday. On his shortlist of potential nominees is Judge Barbara Lagoa, a member of the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta. Before Lagoa was appointed to the federal court this year, she spent decades moving her way up Florida’s judicial system.

David Abraham, University of Miami Professor of Law Emeritus said she first came into prominence back in 2000 working as a pro bono attorney for the family of Elián González.

“Barbara Lagoa entered that fray as a militant advocate of the family, in Miami that won her a great deal of attention and respect. She did very good work on the law, but she had an extremely weak case and they lost. But it did earn her attention from Governor Jeb Bush and an appointment to the state’s 3rd District Court.”

Abraham explained why Lagoa’s experience as a first generation Cuban-American raised in Hialeah, her membership to the Federalist Society and her allegiance to Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Ron DeSantis could make her an ideal candidate for President Trump’s nomination.

Chris knew he wanted to work in public radio beginning in middle school, as WHYY played in his car rides to and from school in New Jersey. He’s freelanced for All Things Considered and was a desk associate for CBS Radio News in New York City. Most recently, he was producing for Capital Public Radio’s Insight booking guests, conducting research and leading special projects at Sacramento’s NPR affiliate.