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Bad news. A new report shows that Hispanic adults are the most likely to report going without health care because of the costs. At least that’s what’s happening in 43 of the 50 states where data are available, according to The Commonwealth Fund’s 2026 State of Health Disparities Report. 

Let’s move on to some (relatively) better news. In this newsletter, I’m exploring the hyphen between:

- Fernando

A couple months ago, I was on a panel in Los Angeles about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show. Through that, I met Daniel Morales, an entertainment and public affairs publicist, who told me about a story I might be interested in: The origin of Jenni Rivera’s nickname: “La Diva de la Banda.”

If you’re not familiar with Jenni Rivera, she was one of regional Mexican music’s biggest artists and, in general, one of Latin music’s best-selling artists before she died. In 2012, Rivera and members of her team were aboard aplane that crashed south of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. The tragedy happened during what was about to be a massive inflection point in her career: a cross-over into the mainstream American market, a homecoming for the Long Beach, California, native.

Days before she died, Deadline reported ABC was developing a multi-camera family comedy titled “Jenni,” starring Rivera herself.

She still left an indelible legacy. One undisputed fact (that even Google’s search algorithm recognizes): Rivera was “La Diva de la Banda” (The Diva of Banda Music).

Daniel Morales told me than in 2002, he helped organize a Pride festival for the Latino LGBTQ community in L.A. The festival had booked Alejandra Guzmán, La India and Jenni Rivera to perform, and the organizing team was designing the promotional flier for the event. The flier would have each artists’ name and a descriptor.

“We called Alejandra Guzmán the ‘Rock Diva,’” Morales remembers. “And then La India, well, she was the ‘Salsa Diva.’ And then Jenni, who no one knew who she was — we were like, well, let’s just call her the ‘Banda Diva.’ And that was the beginning of all of that. It truly was something that came out naturally from just developing a poster that made sense.”

What I learned was that the nickname actually predated the 2002 festival in L.A.

I reached out to the Estate of Jenni Rivera to see if Morales’ account matched their records. A publicist for the estate responded via email saying:

“The Diva de la Banda nickname was given to the singer by her former publicist, Yanalté Galván. About the Pride event you mentioned, the Estate says it might have been one of the first times the nickname was used, since Yanalté was Jenni’s publicist back then.”

I knew what I had to do: contact Yanalté Galván to see where the nickname came from. Yanalté Galván, whose full name is Yanalté Galván Kent, agreed to do an interview for this story.

I spoke to her via a virtual video call. She interrupted the conversation to get up from her chair, leaning over her table to retrieve some unspecified item. “I want to show you something,” she said. More on that in a bit.

Galván Kent told me she had just started working with Rivera in 2001, when the two women flew to Guadalajara to film a music video. The video was for a banda song Rivera had recorded with her brother Lupillo. Seeing Rivera perform that song on that set ignited an idea in Galván Kent.

“She’d recorded a duet with her brother Lupillo [Rivera] called ‘Que me entierren con la banda,’” the publicist remembers. “And when we were there, I thought, without a doubt banda music is this woman’s genre. Banda music is in her. She feels it.”

And that’s when Galván put two and two together. The journalist-turned-publicist had just finished a contract working with Carmen Jara, another regional Mexican singer. During that project, Galván said she had trademarked the name la “Diva de la Banda” for Jara but that Jara only ever made one banda album.

“Carmen Jara is very versatile,” said Galván. “She only recorded one banda album. Then she did mariachi, then Tex-Mex. She’s done a lot of genres. So the name didn’t fit her. The name was mine, so I could do with it as I pleased. I gave it to Jenni.”

Galván Kent said having a slogan or nickname back then was a common strategy for positioning artists.

“It was very common,” Galván Kent said. “For example, I labeled Pedro Rivera (Jenni Rivera’s dad) the Patriarch of the Corrido.”

So what did Galván Kent want to show me earlier in the conversation? A copy of a newspaper article published on Dec. 28, 2001, eight months before the Pride festival Morales mentioned. The article, printed in the newspaper El Aguila, had a notable subhead. The article, which is about the Rivera family’s end-of-year festivities, has this subhead “Jenni Rivera: La Diva de la Banda.”

Galván Kent says performing at that Pride festival was an important moment in Jenni’s career. Galván Kent had worked as a publicist for renowned Mexican American singer Marisela and knew how strong the LGBT community was as a fan base.

“The LGBT community is extremely loyal, and they love women [performers],” she said.

Galván Kent’s calculus was that if Jenni did well with that Pride performance in L.A., it could add some serious momentum to her still-nascent career. “If they liked her, we would have the LGBT community’s support, which was huge,” she said.

“It was an inflection point in her career,” Galván Kent remembers. “And from then on, the LGBT community rallied behind her.”

Today, Rivera’s legacy lives on. Last month, her kids released a vinyl and CD version of a 2009 album named after another one of Rivera’s other nicknames: “La Gran Señora.”

And while I’m over here thinking about how we it’s been almost 14 years since we lost “La Diva de la Banda,” Galván Kent is remembering her by another moniker.

“We lost an undeniably wonderful person, yes,” she said. “But [her parents] lost their daughter. Her kids lost their mom. Her siblings lost a sister. And that’s precisely what I lost.”

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What is it like to be a swap meet vendor in 2026? How much do they make? And why is the number so different from what it was a decade ago for many of them?

I went to one of the longest-running swap meets in Los Angeles to find out.

I post a mini-doc every two weeks on my YouTube channel. Subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss the next one.

Latino political representation has increased nationwide. The number of Latino elected officials has jumped significantly in recent years, with historic firsts in cities like Des Moines and Salt Lake City. There are 7,700 Latino elected officials right now in the U.S. That’s up from 6,883 in 2020, according to data from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.[Associated Press]

The “swicy” trend continues. Sweet and spicy food is a hit among U.S. consumers, according to snacks manufacturer Nu Products Seasoning Company in New Jersey. “Some of the strongest performers right now include Mexican and Latin American,” the company’s vice president said. “Mango-chili, tamarind, cajeta, dulce de leche and ancho-cinnamon bring heat, fruitiness and caramelized depth.” [Food Business News]

A new FIFA World Cup song is here. In March, “Lighter” from Carín Leon, Jelly Roll and Cirkut was released. This month, “Por Ella” from Belinda and Los Ángeles Azules was the second single revealed off the official album. More singles will be released in the following weeks, but it’s fun to see who FIFA is choosing to represent the Canada-, USA- and Mexico-based tournament. [FIFA]

It’s not just songs. A new FIFA World Cup potato chip is here. Lay’s is debuting 40 new flavors for the tournament, but only three will be available in the U.S. Two of them are inspired by Latin American countries (Brazil and Argentina). [NY Post] 

Seven Latinos were selected in the NFL Draft. This weekend in Pittsburgh, a handful of Latino football players heard their names called, including Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders as the No. 1 overall pick. [Remezcla]

The Mariachi Brothers detained by ICE are opening for Kacey Musgraves. When the country star goes on tour in Texas for some album release shows, Antonio, Caleb and Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar will open for her New Braunfels dates.  [De Los from the Los Angeles Times]

The Latina talents behind Apple TV’s “The Studio” accept industry award. Frida Perez (co-creator), Keyla Monterroso Mejia (actor), and Lorena Perez Batista (music editor) accepted the Beyond the Lens Impact Award on behalf of the cast of Apple TV’s “The Studio.” This happened at the Impact Awards Gala, hosted by the National Hispanic Media Coalition, on Friday. Frida Perez, co-creator of the show, shared her passion for her work and her love for the cast and crew she collaborates with behind the scenes every day, saying, “I feel so lucky and so grateful to work in a job where I get to collaborate with people I admire.”

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This section is a random musing from the week that is not related to my work as a journalist. 

This week’s rant: Is the protein craze over? Objectively, no, because I keep seeing those protein “clear” fizzy drinks that just haven’t convinced me to buy them. But aside from those, I think the era of putting protein in everything is dying down. Or at least I’m not buying them as much anymore.