Week # Air Date

The State of the Union, the President, and Latino reaction. Well, we never could have imaged that the year 2002 would start out quit like this: 'As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, or economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our union has never been stronger.' A union, perhaps strong, but facing unknown and unpredictable problems in the future. The words of President Bush attempting to put this new reality in perspective. And at the tail end of his speech, made mention of the opportunity to work with other countries. The State of the Union speech was long on goals but short on specifics, the president never mentioning any trade agreement with Central America, nor touching on the severe economic crises in Argentina. And Mexico, an early focus of the Bush administration, never came up.

Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners in Guantánamo, Cuba and no protests from Fidel. The year 2002 might be the year when we actually witness some real change in the long and complicated relationship between Cuba and the United States. For several weeks now Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners have been held on a remote end of the Cuban island that the U.S. still controls; it's known as Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo. There have been no protests on the Cuban side of the island since they first arrive there. And on the island, some say, this may signal a change in U.S. ' Cuban relations.

Here's a story that might sound familiar, a probe of a giant energy corporation's influence in the highest levels of government has grown into a national scandal. The Mexican government is reportedly sifting through secret bank accounts and auditing financial movements of the giant state owned oil company, PEMEX. There is suspicion that PEMEX broke Mexican campaign finance laws by illegally funneling $100 million to the most recent presidential candidate of the former ruling party, the PRI. Over the years similar allegations constantly surfaced with little or no investigation, but with the current probe the PRI has decided to go on the counter attack.

The alternative music of Julieta Venegas. Julieta Venegas is a singer-songwriter and classically trained musician from Mexico City. She got her start with Mexican punk group Tijuana No!, but it is with the release of her second solo album 'Bueninvento' where Venegas has been recognized as an up and coming artist in Latin alternative music scene.