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I'm not really clear on what you mean by one latch cable undone.
Did you remove the cable?
Or did you just close the bonnet and it only latched on one side?
The half moon on the head light is the washer for the head light.
If you did not remove any cables then just reach inside the MINI and pull the Bonnet release then reach under the hood to release the latch.

 

What year is your car? I remember some of the early models had too much slack in the cable and detached from the latch. A common fix is securing the end of the cable to the latch with a small zip tie so the cable won't drop away from the latch.

IIRC, some owners got access to the latch through the fender liner. Since you mentioned your neigbor has a garage and a floor jack, I suggest you jack up the car, remove the tire and try to peel back the fender liner.

 

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What year is your car?

 

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I have the Bentley manual. A little more expensive but very detailed, next best thing to the factory manuals.

Use these suggestions at your own risk, since I have not done this. I did go open my hood and look at everything to come up with these suggestions. If I were you, I would put the front on a solid jack stand, and remove the front wheel. You can then see about 6 screws holding the front of the plastic wheel well on. I would think removing these would give you enough flexibility to bend the front half of the plastic wheel well a little and reach in to release the catch. It is a thin plastic. You have to push the rear bottom of the catch forward to release it. It looks like a tight fit with the headlight housing blocking your room to work. The catch is against the inside of the headlight housing

I would not cut a hole in the well unless you are extremely careful, . there are too many wires on the other side. Worst case you may have to replace this plastic wheel well if you can not bend it back properly.

There must be others whose cable broke, and the MINI service dept must have a procedure for opening the bonnet. Why not call and get their advice.

 

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There is at least two more threads on broken hood latches:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=117565
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co....php?p=2253239

 

I have had this prob you have to go through the wheel liner.Remove the wheel, release the fasteners to the front and from there you can pop the latch.Now the reason mine would'nt open was the cable housing had shrunk stopping the lug on the end of the cable from making contact with the latch no matter how hard you pull the bonnet lever inside the car.Fix was a simple spacer on the cable behind the lug,check that before you close again,i've seen it happen on another car as well.

 

Pop the wheel well liner - it doesn't take drilling or broken pop rivets. Put the car on jackstands (never work on a car that's just on a jack) remove the front wheel, pull the center of the plastic popper and gently pry out. Takes some time, there are over a half dozen fasteners, but after that you're in.