Colombia's Aterciopelados ("The Velvety Ones") delivers another smooth song with a political message. This time, the band questions immigration policies and asks who has the right to dream of a better life.

We are at Mexico City’s public university talking with Manuel. He tells us about the contrasts that exist within his neighborhood and what he thinks about the relationship between the United States and Mexico.

Should government pump money into the economy and generate jobs by financing giant public works projects? In the extremely close Mexican presidential election of 2006 (which he lost), Andrés Manuel López Obrador made it clear that that his answer is a decisive ¡Sí!

Martin, Eduardo and Karla travel around Chubut province in Argentina, learning about and filming each area’s fauna. Here, they are on the Valdes Peninsula to learn about this precious protected area. The Patagonian peninsula is a breeding ground for elephant seals and penguins. It’s like a big maternity ward each spring!

New York has the Hudson; Paris has the Seine; London has the Thames. Rivers were important in the building of these cities: they were commercial routes and also a source of food. Aterciopelados (in English, literally “The Velvety Ones”) the well-known Colombian band, remind us of the importance of our rivers with the title song of their socially conscious album Río.

The old saying goes “Hijo de tigre, sale pintado”. Literally, it means the baby tiger is going to bear the same marks as his father. But it also means that there are some things we inherit and carry with us. Here, Aterciopelados is singing about leaving some inherited, violent habits behind.

Want to know what you didn’t know before? Here’s the first in our series of what you didn’t know about… electronic art. We talk to a veteran electronic artist who’s been playing around with computers since the old Commodore and Amiga machines connected to TV sets. He’s linking and looping, moving from one networked idea to the next. See if you can follow his rapid-fire monologue about his digital works.

Political campaigns are tough (and they can get even tougher after the voting). In this video documenting Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidential race, we learn some of the tricks of the trade in Mexico.

Útilies. It relates to school supplies, including notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, paper, scissors… anything children need to get through the school year. Not a big deal for the middle class, but it can be a serious challenge to those of lesser means. López Obrador made it a campaign promise that útilies would be provided free to all children throughout Mexico, just as he did for the children of Mexico City while he was mayor.

Just, as immigration is a big campaign issue in the US, emigration touches a nerve in Mexico. When Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador ran for president of Mexico in 2006, he wanted to make it clear that his goal was to create jobs, in Mexico, so that would-be migrants would feel less need to flee north.

Our good friends from México City are willing to talk about everything: good, bad or ugly. Here we have their take on kidnapping, one of the growing fears of Mexicans.

Always with a light touch, often with full force, Bersuit Vergarabat dishes out social commentary and political activism. "Madre Hay una Sola" is no exception, as Gustavo Cordera apologizes to Mother Nature for the damage done to her by the human race.

Working as a cook/domestic worker on a construction site, Doña Coco is the first to get up in the morning and the last to go to bed at night. Her monthly salary of C$2,000 Córdobas really just covers “el arroz y los frijoles” (“rice and beans”) for her family. So, how does she provide clothing and all the rest for her five kids? Leonido, the interviewer, asks the tough questions.

The effort to de-mine Central America is truly an international one, with assistance coming from the U.S., Germany, Spain, France, England, Japan, Canada and Sweden (who’s ambassador is featured here, speaking eloquent Spanish). Also we hear from soldiers on the pleasure of serving a mission of peace, as opposed to one of war.

Arriving in December of ‘71, a young Arturo Vega decides that it is New York where he is going to clavar, or stay put. His journey began in Mexico, where he began his artistic life as an actor and participant in experimental theater or “happenings”—an art form which was not well received by the powers that be in that country.