The Brief

From its start over 200 years ago in central Mexico to the late 20th century, the mariachi genre was traditionally dominated by all-male groups.

Until Rebecca Gonzales helped bust open the door.

“It was very difficult for me in the very beginning,” Gonzales said in a recorded interview now available as part of UCLA's oral history project, Mariachi Music in Los Angeles and beyond. “I felt like all the eyes were on me."

All eyes were on her.

As the sole woman in the leading mariachi group Los Camperos de Nati Cano, the house band at famed La Fonda restaurant in the 1970s, and one of a handful of women in the scene at all, she was a rarity. Gonzales was not the first woman to play music in the genre, but she was the first to be asked to join such a high profile all-male mariachi in either the U.S. or Mexico.

A third generation American integrates a very Mexican genre

Rebecca Gonzales was born in 1953 in San Jose, California. Her mother was born in Arizona and her father in Texas. Her grandparents immigrated from Mexico.

“I never learned Spanish… I started taking Spanish at a community college,” she said.

She started playing violin at 10 years-old and would practice at home with her younger sister.

Rebecca Gonzales, center, joined Los Abajenos de Isidro Rivera before joining Los Camperos de Nati Cano in L.A.

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Rebecca Gonzales collection, courtesy Mary Alvaro Velasco.

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“I was an average student. I mean, the only thing I was really good at was music,” she said.

And she was painfully shy, she said. But that all changed when she was 16 and had her first boyfriend.

“He was a musician, so we had that in common, and we would go to concerts all the time. And back then, there was fantastic concerts going on at the Fillmore in San Francisco, where he was, an hour drive from my house,” Gonzales said. That's where she saw Carlos Santana, Jethro Tull and other late 60s rock stars.

Those experiences fed her love of many musical genres, but her music studies still focused on classical violin.

Mariachi wasn’t part of her cultural upbringing. Her father liked and played norteño, the accordion-focused music played by small musical groups on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

But when she signed up for a mariachi class at San Jose City College after graduating high school, it was a revelation. The joy and smiles on the faces of the students in that class were contagious, a far cry from the serious face she made, she said, when playing classical music.

“I'll never forget coming home to let my father know that night. I said, 'You know what? This music is really great… I think this is going to be a big part of my life,'" Gonzales said.

She began playing and singing in local Mariachi bands. But that wasn't enough to leave classical music just yet. She transferred to Cal State L.A. and Cal State Northridge to continue studying classical music.

Her big break in L.A.

Mariachi’s pull, however, continued in L.A. The leader of a local mariachi ensemble asked her to join and she jumped at the chance. She also visited La Fonda, to hear what was arguably the best mariachi group outside Mexico at that time, Los Camperos de Nati Cano, the house band at the club on Wilshire Blvd.

Rebecca Gonzales, front-left, was the first woman to join an established all-male mariachi in 1976 in either the U.S. or Mexico.

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Rebecca Gonzales collection, courtesy Mary Alfaro Velasco

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“My big break came when I… went there one night to visit, and there was my friend that I worked with in the mariachi in San Jose," who was playing for Los Camperos, she said.

The friend asked Gonzales to come up on stage. A few more impromptu performances followed, until the group's manager asked her to come back again so the founder, Nati Cano, could see her.

“He hired me that night,” she said.

Gonzales was not even 25 years old.

“That took a lot of guts. That's inspiring," said Mary Alfaro Velasco, an L.A. based bolero and mariachi performer who interviewed Gonzales for the archive. “That she went into this all-male, paisa-man environment, as a young Mexican American girl, pochita, that didn't even speak the language."

Gonzales spent eight years playing with Los Camperos, where she became a celebrity of sorts in the U.S. mariachi scene.

“A lot of movie stars used to come to La Fonda,” Gonzales said, noting actors Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Montgomery, and former Beatle George Harrison, who brought his Latina wife, Olivia.

There’s even a photo of her in a mariachi outfit dancing with President Ronald Reagan.

Rebecca Gonzales, left, dances with Ronald Reagan in a photo dated 1982, when Reagan was U.S. President.

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Rebecca Gonzales collection, courtesy Mary Alfaro Velasco

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But it was not always glamorous. Gonzales told Velasco about some of the painful parts of being the first woman in such a famous all-male mariachi band.

“I remember her describing what it was like, playing in restaurants [when she was a young woman] and literally being assaulted, men touching her,” Alfaro Velasco said.

La Fonda’s house mariachi made it a tourist destination, including visitors from Japan. The group’s leaders recognized that and included songs outside the Mexican repertoire, like Sakura, a Japanese folk song that’s become representative of Japan.

“I would sing it… and they loved it because we're connecting with their culture,” Gonzales said.

Eight years of performing at La Fonda ultimately took its toll on her health. Patrons smoked inside La Fonda because it had not been banned yet. She began feeling sick, and asked that ventilation be put in. But, she said, the managers refused.

“That was one of the things that turned me off and made me want to leave the group,” she said.

After she left the group in the mid-1980s, she joined other groups and founded her own. In 2004, she was inducted into the Tucson International Mariachi Conference Hall of Fame and in 2023 the Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque also inducted her into its hall of fame.

One of her aspirations was for a woman to do what she'd done in the home of mariachi music.

“I'm hoping that I live to see the day that a woman is part of one of those big groups in Mexico,” she said in the interview.

But that didn't happen. Gonzalez died last year at the age of 71, just a few years after recording the oral histories.

Meanwhile, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan and Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, two of the biggest bands in Mexico, remain all-male.

Her story is in the historical record

With her story now in the UCLA archives, it's part of the historical record.

“[Mariachi] is such an important form… everybody who lives in L.A. hears mariachi music and nobody really knows very much about it in terms of the general public,” said Jane Collings, the project manager for the series.

The oral histories of Mexican Americans and other non-white people, she said, are very important in this day and age.

“There's a clear attempt [by the Trump administration] to erase this history and that makes the work of an archive such as this ever more important,” Collings said.

And it's the mission of the UCLA archive, she said, to keep those stories alive for current and future generations.

President Donald Trump launched a military strike against Venezuela overnight, resulting in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

In a news conference this morning, Trump said the U.S. is going to "run" that country, until a proper transition is in place.

California lawmakers are reacting to the attacks.

"Nicolás Maduro was a thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela, terrorizing and oppressing its people for far too long and forcing many to leave the country. But starting a war to remove Maduro doesn’t just continue Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution, it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen illegal escalation," says Sen. Adam Schiff, a democrat.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, who represents areas including Murrieta and the Temecula Valley, says President Trump, "has taken strong action to protect America’s homeland from neighboring threats of narcoterrorism and the scourge of deadly narcotics. The Trump administration has my full support."

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla says, "Let’s be absolutely clear: Trump’s military action in Venezuela is unlawful without approval from Congress."

California Governor Gavin Newsom did not directly response to the attacks. He zeroed in on a comment Trump made about the L.A. fires during the news conference.

"Unless Trump is finally delivering the federal aid survivors need to rebuild after the horrific fires — nearly a year after California first requested it — he should keep Los Angeles out of his mouth," Newsom's office says on social.

Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face a raft of charges in the United States following President Trump's announcement early Saturday that the U.S. attacked Caracas and took them into custody.

Maduro, Flores and senior Venezuelan officials face charges related to alleged "drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies," according to an unsealed indictment posted on social media Saturday by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The indictment alleges that, starting in 1999, the defendants partnered with international drug trafficking organizations to ultimately transport thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States.

Maduro and his wife "will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Bondi wrote in an earlier post on X.

The new indictment adds to charges from the first Trump administration, when the U.S. Justice Department announced a federal indictment against Maduro in March 2020.

That indictment alleged that Maduro was the leader of the Cartel de los Soles, and that he and other defendants took part in a narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Colombian guerrilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Prosecutors said that the Cartel de los Soles was made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials who abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted the nation's institutions to import large quantities of cocaine into the United States.

According to the 2020 indictment, Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel de los Soles, which sought to get rich and flood the U.S. with cocaine, allegedly using the drug as a weapon against the United States.

Prosecutors said that Maduro helped negotiate multi-ton shipments of cocaine, and directed the Cartel de los Soles to provide military-grade weapons to FARC.

He also allegedly coordinated foreign affairs with Honduras and others to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking.

The current Trump administration has ramped up the pressure over the past year. In November 2025, the U.S. designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization.

The new indictment released Saturday reiterates these charges and also alleges that Maduro "partnered" with organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas and Tren de Aragua.

Separately, the International Criminal Court has been investigating the Venezuelan government for alleged torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detentions.

This is a developing story, which may be updated.

The impact of the Trump administration's stunning airstrikes and "capture" of Nicolás Maduro already are being felt well beyond Venezuela's borders — the most significant U.S. intervention in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama.

President Gustavo Petro in neighboring Colombia announced that security forces were deployed along the border to prepare for a possible refugee influx. Colombia hosts the largest Venezuelan diaspora.

Petro confirmed multiple strikes in Caracas, including a military airbase, other installations and the legislative building. He condemned the attack as an aggression against Venezuela and Latin America, urging de-escalation.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the U.S. attack on neighboring Venezuela and the seizure of Maduro, saying the strikes "crossed an unacceptable line" and set a "dangerous precedent."

Lula said the action evoked "the worst moments of interference" in Latin America and threatened the region's status as a zone of peace. Despite his past alliance with Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chávez, relations have cooled since Brazil refused to recognize Maduro's disputed 2024 election victory, widely dismissed as fraudulent.

Other regional powers, including Chile and Mexico, echoed strong condemnation. Mexico called the strikes a violation of the U.N. Charter and urged an immediate halt to acts of aggression. In a Fox News interview Saturday, President Donald Trump said Mexico was run by drug cartels, adding, "Something is gonna have to be done with Mexico."

Cuba and Nicaragua — two of Venezuela's closest allies — are closely monitoring the crisis. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel labeled the U.S. action "state terrorism" and called for urgent international intervention.

Cuba, facing its most severe economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, relies heavily on Venezuelan oil. Any disruption could worsen an already dire situation, and the government in Havana — which has been in power since 1959 — has been watching the unfolding situation closely.

What's next: The global stage

Close allies China and Russia also have reacted. Russia condemned the strikes, reaffirming solidarity with the Venezuelan people. In a statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry called the Trump administration's pretext for attacking Venezuela unfounded and said if the reports of Maduro's capture were true, the U.S. action marked an "unacceptable assault" on Venezuela's sovereignty.

Despite such expressions of support, Moscow has stopped short of challenging the U.S. more forcefully amid a months-long pressure campaign by the Trump administration against the Venezuelan leadership.

China said it strongly opposed the U.S. action, condemning the move as a violation of international law. In a statement, the foreign ministry said Beijing was "deeply shocked" by what it called Washington's "blatant use of force" against a sovereign state, arguing it infringed on Venezuela's sovereignty and threatened peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the E.U. supports "a peaceful and democratic transition" in Venezuela. But she stopped short of criticizing the U.S. attack.

"We stand by the Venezuelan people and support a peaceful and democratic transition," she said, adding that any solution must respect international law and the U.N. Charter.

Venezuela has called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, raising questions about the legality of the U.S. operation. In a statement, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply alarmed" by the overnight developments, expressing concern "that international law hasn't been respected."

Updated January 03, 2026 at 12:01 PM ET

This is a developing story.

President Trump said the U.S. will run Venezuela until a "proper transition can take place," as he defended Saturday's military strikes that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

"We're there now, but we're going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place," Trump told reporters from Mar a Lago. "So we're going to stay until such time as we're going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place."

Trump's remarks cap a dramatic few hours that began with reports of explosions in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, the scale of which became apparent only when the president said Maduro and his wife had been captured. Trump later told Fox & Friends that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were being brought by boat to New York where they'd stand trial.

He said U.S. oil companies would head to Venezuela to operate in their oil reserves, and the military is set to attack again if necessary to secure the effort.

"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country, and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so," he said.

Watch President Trump's remarks

Trump said there were some U.S. injuries sustained during the operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, but no fatalities.

"This is something that gee, I don't know, is amazing and to have a few injuries but no death on our side was really amazing," Trump told Fox and Friends ahead of his Mar-a-Lago address.

Trump told Fox that he watched the "extremely complex" operation unfold "like I was watching a television show."

Trump defended the operation, telling the network, "You know what, we did a great job with stopping drugs from coming into this country, and nobody's been able to do it until we came along. But they should say, 'great job.' They could say, 'Oh, gee, maybe it's not constitutional.' You know, the same old stuff that we've been hearing for years and years and years."

He was asked by Fox about China's concerns about control of the oil and responded that he has a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"There's not going to be a problem, and they're going to get oil. We're going to allow people to have oil, but we can't take a chance after having done this incredible thing last night of letting somebody else take over, where we have to do it again," he said.

Trump did not outline clear next steps for regime change, but noted Venezuela does have a sitting vice president and sent a warning to anyone who might continue supporting Maduro.

"Well, if they stay loyal, the future is really bad, and really bad for them. If they convert, there's a conversion factor. I would say most of them have converted. He's had very little loyalty," he said.

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