First featured by the tabloid television show Al Rojo Vivo, a line of jeans in Medellín, Colombia is causing controversy. The jeans are called Anorexy jeans and 15 year old Anorexia survivor Catalina Puerta began a protest against the creators of the line claiming they make the eating disorder that claims at least 17 percent of young women in Medellín seem fashionable. The first lady of Medellín, Lucrecia Ramírez, has stepped forward calling for the name of the jeans to be changed. Originally the owner of the Anorexy line, Carlos Mario Zuluaga, at first said that he would not change the name of the line saying he chose the name not because of the eating disorder but because the name sounded good to him and said the jeans were made for all women sized 6-14. The company has since changed its position and the company will likely change its name.
Via / Caracol Radio and W Radio
90 year old former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, was fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken yesterday as part of his indictment in the killing and disappearance of nine people in the 1970′s. The booking took place in Pinochet’s mansion in a suburb of the Chilean capital of Santiago, where he has been under house arrest.
Despite his picture being used to promote the 45th Feria de Cali, a multi-day event including concerts and parades in the Colombian city, Tego Calderon will not be doing his guasa, guasa at the Feria. According to Tego’s publicist there were contractual issues that the Feria organizers were aware of.
According to the magazine Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, more than 30 California universities are in the top 100 of schools that award bachelor’s degrees to Latino students.
When desperate housewife Eva Longoria’s boyfriend, San Antonio Spur’s Tony Parker, was pulled over during a traffic stop , Longoria had a few things to say. According to the officer who wrote the citations, Longoria shouted “He’s just a Mexican bike cop. He only wants your autograph.” Longoria denied making that statement through her publicist saying
Getting over a border wall may be just the beginning for undocumented families in the United States. If Georgia Republican Congressman Jack Kingston has his way, babies born to undocumented mothers would not be granted citizenship as has been the case. According to the legislation proposed, only babies born to U.S. citizens or permanent residents would be granted citizenship.
Children and adults in the poorer neighborhoods of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas weren’t asking for superheroes or baby dolls under their arbolito de Navidad. They were asking for their president. The talking Hugo Chávez doll, which comes dressed in a military uniform or in the traditional red shirt of his party, the Movimiento V República will recite portions of the actual President’s speeches when you press a button. Needless to say, in the wealthier barrios of Caracas, the Hugo Chávez didn’t even make it on the shelves.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been chosen as Hispanic Magazine‘s Hispanic-American of the year. Not only is Gonzales, the son of migrant workers, the United State’s first Latino Attorney General, he was also passed up not once but twice to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Gonzales was a key person in the creation of the Patriot Act and took heat for what seemed like his defense of the U.S. use of torture interrogation tactics. With the hot button issue now being the issue immigration, let’s see how well this Hispanic-American of the Year represents.
I wish that more Latino musicians would stick with the language that made them popular. I love Shakira’s music when the accompanying lyrics are in Spanish. I don’t like Shakira as much when the words coming out of her mouth are in English. I think that unfortunately much is lost in translation. I understand that it is important for Latino artists to attempt to capture the U.S. market but nowadays that doesn’t mean you have to sing in English.
The one thing that disregards race, politics, class, etc., is love. Much like Ricardo Arjona’s song Ella Y El which details the love affair of a Republican and a Marxist Cuban, the militarized border between Mexico and the U.S. also has its share of love stories.