The Unusual Suspects: 12 Hispanic Power Players In The Cannabis Space To Watch In 2022

By Javier Hasse & Hernán Panessi.

Green, young, passionate… Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world have always been a constant source of creativity, innovation and talent. It happens in most areas – art, business, sports, finance, politics– and cannabis is no exception.

The entrepreneurial spirit, an innate ability to solve problems and adapt to changes, resilience in the face of adversity, the magic of the hustle, the arrogance, the skein of desire: There, precisely in the center that effervescence, inhabits the Latin DNA.

Thus, it is worth highlighting some characters that the world, now more than ever, should be keeping a close eye on. Names that, from their own place, with their gestures, tricks and intelligence, stand as agents of change and contribute an indisputable quota in the construction of Latinx empowerment around cannabis.

Matías Litvak (Israel / Argentina)

At age 32, this Argentine without formal studies but with the broad back of experience, heads the cultivation office of the public university of Bar-Ilan, in the city of Ramat Gan, in Israel.

"My motivation was never financial," Litvak remarks. "With great pride I can tell you that I am a professional cannabis grower."

He started by growing some plants at home, initially to help a friend’s father. He continued to collaborate with Mamá Cultiva, an international organization that groups parents of children with refractory epilepsy, cancer and other pathologies, who have not found an improvement with traditional medicine and tried medicinal cannabis – and other cannabis activists. Today, Matías occupies a central place in one of the most important universities in Eurasia.

"I come from the future, with the experience of the future," he expands on his work in the world of research. A research he has been carrying out for the last three years in Israel and that already has the entire Argentine cannabis community and (surprise!) the majority of Argentine politicians excited.

Facu Banzas (Argentina)

IRL is a category of content specifically designed to share thoughts, opinions, feelings and slices of life.

“I sit at the computer and I start to smoke a joint. People come in and comment on something. People are good topic triggers. That's where the conversation begins,” says Facu Banzas, one of the most scandalously popular streamers in Latin America.

In short, Facu makes a stoner IRL. Not only because he smokes, but because, most of the time, his conversations live in the sphere of the rambling.

With more than 400,000 followers on Twitch, Facu is happy with his life as a content generator and always - always, always – finds motivation in a joint.

“I used to smoke and fall asleep. Now, if I smoke, I start talking, so it’s just perfect for what I do,” he explains.

Marijuana has very often served to empower his community, to seek points of contact with his followers, to free his thoughts and to encourage his more creative side.

"You are improvising all the time, because you are live all day long," he concludes.

MuyPaola (Chile)

“I like marijuana. I've always liked it a lot,” voices Paola Sagués, a Chilean influencer who, through her project, Santiago Verde, shakes up the cannabis scene in her country.

“Cannabis has activist, social, playful, recreational, entertaining and business overtones. That's what's interesting,” she describes.

Medicinal user, feminist activist and owner of an Instagram account (where she posts books recommendations, life hacks, cultivation tips and various jokes) with more than 100k followers, MuyPaola found in cannabis more than an ally: she embraced it as a way of life.

Filmmaker, scriptwriter and video director, Paola enthrones her ideas in Santiago Verde, a hybrid that has been operating since the beginning of 2015 as a cannabis communications channel, where she also shares information about the industry and humorous pills. "We generate content for different brands in the industry," she explains.

“Through my MuyPaola account, I narrated the learning process, the path as I got to know the different edges of this circuit: the medicinal, the recreational and the industrial. We went over all its facets. Those who follow me know what the process was from when I started cultivating until now,” she says.

Carlos Vives Jr. (Colombia / Puerto Rico)

"We are heirs of those families that were in the marimbera era of the '50s and' 60s, families that found abundance thanks to cannabis," confesses Carlos Vives Jr., from Santa Marta, Colombia.

Born in Puerto Rico to a Samarian father and raised on pure sea and Latin heat, the enthusiastic Carlos gets up every day at 5 in the morning and travels from his home for about 30 minutes to a village on the outskirts of Santa Marta, in Bonda, a tropical dry forest with a ​​microclimate that’s perfect for growing cannabis, says Carlos.

Immediately, at 6:30 a.m. he begins to do his rounds, cataloguing cannabis genetics. Later, in his second round, he oversees the warehouses where Avicanna’s commercial crops are set up. "I take care of the new crosses."

About his work at Avicanna, a cannabis biotech company, Carlos Vives Jr. explains: “We are one of the few in South America that employ a feminized seed technique on a large scale, in a large public company. With that, we were able to hit a milestone: we produced millions of CBG seeds.”

The best ting about his job? “Being able to get up every day and not be in a cubicle, but in the open air. And that work allows me to be able to use my hands and feet. To be able to walk and be with the plants.”

Lelen Ruete (Uruguay / Argentina)

River Plate fashion icon and cannabis photographer, Lelen Ruete stands as one of the most interesting figures in the Southern Cone. Why? See any of her portraits suffices to notice that there, in her colors, in her stamp, in her gaze, her talent is enthroned.

She started photographing buds, continued traveling the world and ended up publishing in international media. "I wanted to show all the work behind it, the sacrifice and passion that it takes to create such plants," says Lelen, referring to one of her obsessions: the entire culture built around the cannabis plant.

"The plant itself is artistic and I seek to enhance it," she voices.

And she concludes: “As the cannabis world grows, I think there will be more room for my career and this will happen when cannabis companies down here [in Latin America] start having a designated budget for visual and design work, as do the more experienced companies in the world of advertising or fashion.”

Facu Santo Remedio (Uruguay)

Let's say it quickly, let's say it clearly: Facu Santo Remedio is a storyteller. "Being an actor is what made me discover myself and get out of the culture I was in," he says.

Facu does not shy away from tags. He’s a cannabis influencer.

Games via Instagram, collaborations with small grow shops, flirtations with television and the democratization of cannabis through an increasingly playful and friendly place. Facu represents a breath of fresh air to the ecosystem of marijuana disseminators: He is young, relatable, friendly and funny.

And since he met the plant, his fascination never stopped growing: “I think it still has a lot of potential. In addition to being a trip, this plant can save and change lives. Above all, I want it to be decriminalized everywhere."

DT. Bilardo & L-Gante (Argentina)

"Nowhere else have I heard a rhythm and a sound like this," warns L-Gante, the Argentine artist with 2.7 million subscribers on YouTube and whose videos exceed 100 million views each, regarding Cumbia 420, the new musical style that has take over Latin America and has him as the poster child.

Formally, Cumbia 420 is cumbia, reggaeton and marijuana.

“Cumbia 420 connects in a very personal way with the audience it tries to represent. It is a product 100% designed for people who smoke, for people from the hood and for humble people who are immersed in a certain adverse situation, but who want to go out, want to progress,” details DT.Bilardo on the close connection of Cumbia 420 with its followers.

Hit machines, popular ambassadors and the most sought-after names of the moment, the artist L-Gante and his producer DT.Bilardo are two of the fundamental characters within the outpost of the Criollo music genre.

And, these days, Latin America lies at their feet.

Facundo Garretón (Uruguay / Argentina)

IT businessman, former Congressman, biotech investor and adrenaline lover, Garretón is recognized as one of the most thriving “garage entrepreneurs” in Argentina, constantly changing his skin and keeping his pulse steady as he explores new horizons.

A few years ago, he ventured into the production of cannabis for medicinal use with YVY Life Sciences, a company based in Uruguay.

"I found the sector to be very attractive to start investing, understanding that it is still developing and it will continue to do so," Garretón said recently in an interview with El Planteo.

"Latin America’s potential is huge. This is why, as soon as I finished my public functions, I began to connect with the sector and analyzed more than 300 cannabis companies," he continues.

The entrepreneur recently made headlines in South America after acquiring a massive property formerly owned by Susana Giménez (one of the biggest TV stars in the region) with the intent of turning it into a cannabis farm – which he already has done. For the future, brand-new adventures related to cannabis that are being increasingly conceived and planned to be big.

Polita Pepper (Mexico)

Activist, teacher, cannabis cup juror, audiovisual producer, and all-terrain feminist, Mexican Genlizzie Garibay, PhD (known in the cannabis world as Polita Pepper), is one of the biggest, most singular and moving names in North America.

After a long academic career, Polita Pepper dedicated her life to expanding rights, home growing, community cultivation and the development of cooperatives and national cannabis production.

From Cannativa, an educational project that she runs with a group of colleagues, she conducts research and promotes the culture of the use of medicinal plants.

"Education is social transformation, bro," she says.

Ramitagram (Argentina)

“Sometimes they tell me that I lack ambition, but working to eat and smoke weed is enough for me. I smoke the most delicious weed in the country, I grow my own, I managed to buy a better camera, dress well… I don't think one can have more in life. The rest is luxury,” reveals youtuber Ramiro Terraza, better known as Ramitagram.

“In some videos I am practically blind from smoking. But in others I’m not, I haven’t smoked a puff. If anyone catches the groove, great. In many videos I did not smoke because being high becomes untenable when you do everything, "he laughs, speaking about his work visiting places where he gobbles up delicacies and curiosities of all kinds.

Recently, Ramita put together a video blog about flying with legal cannabis, evidencing the benefits of REPROCANN, the patient registry that enables the cultivation and transfer of medicinal cannabis in Argentina. He titled that video "Traveling by plane with legal marijuana in Argentina" and it has already garnered almost 100,000 views.

His content ranges from lifestyle to food and cannabis. In Bajoneando por Hay, his main account, he already has almost 700,000 followers. “I like to entertain. To give people something to watch.”

Mariano Duque Velasco (Spain)

Mariano began to interact with cannabis at a young age. But his mind was ultimately blown by a grow op in the Spanish mountains.

Later, he invested some money and started importing Dutch seeds.

Thus, he became one of the cannabis promises of Spain, his country, and opened the Asociación Club Medical THC. "They gave me legal permission to cultivate cannabis, it was a dream."

When Uruguay legalized and regulated cannabis in 2013, Duque Velasco traveled there, won a few cups and, together with some colleagues, in the middle of an ExpoCannabis, he had an idea: he wanted to develop seeds that were bigger, stronger, faster.

“We are not just selling a seed,” confesses Duque, head of BSF Seeds, one of the most popular seed banks in the Spanish-speaking world. "We take the plant to its maximum splendor."

"There’s still a lot to do in the cannabis genetics world," he says about the possibility of innovation. And, with the brand inserted in large markets and having the endorsement of the rap universe (by definition, one of the most cannabis-infused), he concludes: “We don't sell seeds, we sell dreams. It was the first thing I received when I entered this world.”

This article was originally published on Forbes and appears here with permission.