Suave

It’s been quite the year, for the United States and for Futuro Media. At Latino USA, we’re bringing you in-depth reporting from the front lines. At Futuro Studios, we’re developing ground-breaking shows like La Brega Season 3, which is set to premiere early next year.

In this special Giving Tuesday episode, Futuro Media founder Maria Hinojosa reflects on the year behind and the year ahead. She’s joined in conversation by Latino USA Managing Editor Fernanda Echavarri and Futuro Studios Executive Editor Maria Garcia.

The Futuro Plus Team includes producer Tasha Sandoval, production managers Victoria Estrada and Jessica Ellis, marketing manager Luis Luna, and development manager Danetsy Len. Mixing by Multitude Productions. 

Suave has been named an Apple Podcasts Series Essential and to celebrate we wanted to bring to the main feed one of our exclusive Futuro+ bonus episodes.

In season one, Suave told host Julieta Martinelli about a mixtape he recorded inside his prison cell at SCI Graterford more than three decades ago. It remained a mystery lost to time… until today. In this episode, the making of Suave’s long-lost mixtape, the music that inspired it, and liner notes for his favorite 90’s hip-hop and reggaeton tracks. Plus, a discussion about the importance of music in prison and the artists Suave and Julieta love.

Season 2 of Suave was made possible by The Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support the visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at mellon.org.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peaks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Suave and all our podcasts. https://bit.ly/joinfuturoplus

In the final episode of Season 2, Suave and the team visit a location in the Bronx with deep significance to Suave— a place where you can say his journey towards freedom began. As Suave takes inventory of the past, and the challenges of the last couple of years in particular, he comes to terms with the weight of institutionalization. And he reveals one surprising and life-changing decision. 

After the crisis he’s been going through, Suave could use a change of scenery, so the whole team decides to go on a trip to Puerto Rico. It’s Suave’s first time back since he was a child to the island where his mother was born and raised— a moment he used to fantasize about in prison. There he reconnects with family who come from a long lineage of survivors… and of Santería practitioners. A spiritual belief his mother always believed would be linked to his salvation.

An unexpected event turns Suave’s world on its head, and Suave seems ready to throw it all away. He feels violated, and it triggers a response from Suave we’ve never seen before. As he grows increasingly agitated and isolated from everyone around him, Suave’s actions put everything that he has built at risk.