How a White House Lie About “Sex Changes” in Guatemala Helped Decimate USAID
Latino USA
My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Earlier this year, the White House falsely claimed that millions of US taxpayers' dollars were funding “sex changes” in Guatemala — a lie used to justify gutting USAID, which has provided aid worldwide for more than 60 years.
In this episode, we travel to Guatemala to uncover the truth, hear from local organizations caught in the controversy, and learn how losing USAID funding has affected these LGBTQ+ organizations and damaged U.S. credibility abroad.
This reporting was produced in partnership with El Faro English and it’s part of the Ida B. Wells Society Investigative Reporting Fellowship.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Dear Latino USA listener, before we start, you should know that if you want to listen to this episode, add free. |
| 0:15.7 | Just join Futuro Plus. |
| 0:17.9 | And you can join for as little as $7 a month. |
| 0:21.2 | Joining also gets you behind the scenes access, and yes, some cheesme. |
| 0:26.9 | So, click the link in the episode description. |
| 0:30.3 | And after you do that, then click play. |
| 0:32.9 | Let's go to the show. |
| 0:44.4 | Futuro investigates. |
| 0:46.5 | Futuro. |
| 0:47.7 | Futuro. |
| 0:48.1 | Futuro. |
| 0:48.5 | It's early February 2025. |
| 0:54.8 | President Trump is back in the White House, |
| 0:56.8 | and he's wasting no time cutting government funds. |
| 1:01.2 | Elon Musk, the world's richest person, |
| 1:04.5 | is helping the Trump administration drive the effort. |
| 1:08.1 | They're invigorating what they call, |
| 1:10.0 | quote, waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal |
| 1:13.2 | government. Here's Elon talking about USAID, one of its main targets. |
| 1:18.9 | We started looking closely at USAID. This is a gigantic, fraudulent poll. |
| 1:24.9 | USAID is a U.S.-backed government agency that provides humanitarian aid globally. |
| 1:31.3 | After it was established into law in 1961, it became a lifeline for thousands of organizations around the world. |
... |
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