ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some recent documentaries by Latin American women alongside works by Latina producers in the United States and addresses the increasingly transnational nature of this activity. It outlines some of the shared interests evident in this work and situates it within emerging networks of women producers throughout Latin America, the US, and Canada. La Operacion was a founding work of Latin American womens cinema. The chilling documentary examines the practice of sterilization of Puerto Rican women—a practice so common that it is simply known as la operacion. The Battle of Vieques deals with colonialism— specifically the US militarization of the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques and the subsequent destabilization of the islanders' lives and livelihoods. The Battle of Vieques and La Operacion both chart the complex power relations and permeable borders between First and Third Worlds.
