Archive for November, 2006
Spanish airline discriminates against Peruvian politicians
12:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Peru| Spain| race · 1 Comment
28 Nov 2006
It seems that Spanish airline Iberia has some ’splaining to do…as to why two Peruvian parlamentarians were the target of what can only be regarded as racist and xenophobic comments on the part of Iberia staff at Lima’s airport.
Peruvian congresswomen Hilaria Supa and Maria Sumire, both members of the oppositional UPP-PNP alliance, complained they have been the target of discrimination by Spanish airline Iberia. The incident obviously happened on Saturday evening at Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport.According to Sumire’s version given to CPN Radio, both legislators arrived at Iberia’s check-in counter to board the 8:55 p.m. flight to Madrid.
However, they were told the airplane was full and there was no alternative for a later flight that night.
Sumire maintained that despite purchasing the tickets in advance, airline personnel made them wait unnecessarily while servicing other customers first. After the congresswomen started to complain about this disadvantage, an airline employee apparently answered something that roughly translates to “how can you be congresswomen if you don’t even know how to speak the language? Obviously you don’t speak Spanish very well, so complain all you want”.
Um, she said what?! Yet another reason not to fly Iberia. While Spain seems to be the most progressive country in Europe, it appears that some of the people hired by its national airline are not. Which begs the question: was the employee a Spaniard or a racist Peruvian?
Via / Living in Peru
Image via Perfil.com
Latino blogger makes a sport of outing
11:27 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Chismes| GLBT| Internet · Comments Off
28 Nov 2006
Perez Hilton, one of the most widely-read blogs on the internet, is the pen name of a gay Latino blogger, one Mario Lavandeira. You probably knew that already. But did you know that Perez feels he’s paving the way for gays and lesbians who want to come out of the closet by talking up their sexuality on the blog? His mission is to “out” as many celebs as possible:
On that point, as he sees it, they have forfeited their right to privacy.“In American culture, a lot of people still think that being gay is bad and that being gay will hurt your career. I generally don’t think that.”
Famed Mexican TV star dead
4:59 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| TV| mexico · Comments Off
27 Nov 2006
As reviled as he was loved, it’s an undeniable fact that Raul Velasco, host of the famed Mexican variety show Siempre en Domingo was an important figure in Mexican popular culture. Some say he’s guilty of destroying Mexican popular culture. His death Sunday marks the end of an era for Mexican television and for many 20-30-40-somethings who first saw their favorite Mexican stars make their debut on Siempre en Domingo:
Raul Velasco, who hosted one of Mexico’s most popular and enduring television programs, “Siempre en Domingo,” died Sunday at his home in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, his network said. He was 73.Velasco, whose variety show has been compared to “The Ed Sullivan Show,” was credited with launching many of Mexico’s biggest pop stars to fame by having them appear on his show, which was broadcast from 1969-1998.
Gay telenovela in Spanish and online
12:52 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · GLBT| Internet| Spain| language · 2 Comments
27 Nov 2006
In this age of pick and choose content, many are saying if what you want to see on TV doesn’t exist, create it yourself. And that’s just what a group of guys from Valencia, Spain have done; they’ve created a Spanish-language online gay soap opera based on Queer as Folk (video after the jump):
One month was enough for seven Valencian communications students to reach the height of popularity on the internet with their online miniseries Lo que surja (LQS), a replica of the popular series Queer as folk.With no budget with lots of enthusiasm, these seven young people illustrate the lives of a group of gay friends.
Mapuches Vs. Microsoft
8:12 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Chile| business| language · 2 Comments
27 Nov 2006
Microsoft Corporation isn’t making any friends in Chile after it rolled out a Windows software package in Mapudungun, the langauge of the Indigenous Mapuches who are mostly based in the south of the South American nation.
At the launch in the southern town of Los Sauces, Microsoft (Charts) said it wanted to help Mapuches embrace the digital age and “open a window so that the rest of the world can access the cultural riches of this indigenous people.”
But Mapuche tribal leaders have accused the U.S. company of violating their cultural and collective heritage by translating the software into Mapudungun without their permission.
They even sent a letter to Microsoft founder Bill Gates accusing his company of “intellectual piracy.”
Rafael Correa Looking Like Winner in Ecuador Elections
5:27 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Ecuador| Politics · Comments Off
27 Nov 2006
This morning it looks like the second round of the presidential election in Ecuador puts lefty Rafael Correa winning against wealthy Bible toting, self-proclaimed “hero of God” Alvaro Noboa.The returns showed Correa with as many as twice the votes recorded as his rival, who claimed the polls were rigged. This marks another victory in Latin America for left of center politicians who have aligned themselves with the politics and personalities of firebrands and “enemies” of the U.S. like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.T
he election, which pitted Correa against billionaire banana tycoon Alvaro Noboa, was watched closely in the US. Correa had promised to disregard a free trade agreement with the US and close down a US military base in the country. Correa’s win means Ecuador joins Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Nicaragua, and Venezuela on the list of countries that have also elected leftist presidents in recent years.
Via / The Christian Science Monitor
Image Via / La Jornada
A moving story brings victory for janitors
5:42 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Health| Justice| Labor · 1 Comment
24 Nov 2006A group of janitors in Houston have won a tentative case for higher pay and health insurance, helped by the SEIU (Service Employees International Union). The win comes after the moving testimony before attorneys and executives during which one Salvadoran janitor, Ercilia Sandoval (see video), told her story of battling cancer without health coverage:
Last September Sandoval began feeling worn out on the job. She scrubbed bathroom fixtures through headaches and fevers, emptied trash cans with sore arms and a tight back. Lacking health insurance, she couldn’t afford to see a doctor. Nearly a year passed before she forked over $200 for a consultation. A mammogram confirmed her worst fears: She suffered from advanced-stage breast cancer. Yet hospitals in Houston wouldn’t treat her because she was uninsured. She waited two months to be approved for state disability coverage. In June, doctors finally began chemotherapy treatments but say she probably has only a few months to live.
Latinos angered at Obama’s support of fence
3:34 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Immigration| Politics · 4 Comments
24 Nov 2006
While many liberals anxiously await the announcement that Illinois senator Barack Obama will make a bid for the presidency in 2008, some Latinos are up in arms over Obama’s support of the proposed fence on the U.S. Mexico border:
Hispanic leaders say he has betrayed the trust of the people who always gave him their votes.“He’s lost his vision; he’s lost his feet on the ground,” said Hispanic leader Carmen Velasquez.
Obama is being criticized after siding with Republicans in the Senate to approve a 700-mile wall across the Mexican border. The vote happened almost two months ago.
Obama defended his position, saying “I am confident that, if you look at my track record, there hasn’t been a stronger friend to the Latino community than me.” Chicago’s CBS2 reports that Obama met with Latino leaders in Illinois and assured them that the vote was “part of a larger strategy”.
Via / CBS2 Chicago and Hispanic Tips
El Caballero de la Salsa Declares His Opposition to Iraq War
3:00 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Politics · Comments Off
24 Nov 2006
While Gilberto Santa Rosa celebrated his 30 year salsa career at Madison Square Garden, he took time out to tell the crowd his opinion on the escalating crisis in Iraq.
We have many of our fellow countrymen fighting in this absurd war…and the best Christmas will be when they return. I am speaking for the innocents who are fighting and dying over there on both sides.
The Latin Grammy winner and featured artist on the new Cocorocos album has spoken in public about his position against the war in Iraq before, specifically at a concert in Puerto Rico earlier this year.
Via / El Diario/La Prensa
Boston U Republicans Offer “Whites Only” Scholarship
12:03 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Education| race · 1 Comment
24 Nov 2006
Most people know that $250 won’t you that far in any college or univeristy these days, but the amount offered by the College Republican’s of Boston Univeristy vie their Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship isn’t really the point.
The application itself offers an explanation: “We believe that racial preferences in all their forms are perhaps the worst form of bigotry confronting America today.”According to Joe Mroszczyk, president of the College Republicans, his group is offering the scholarship to point out “how ridiculous it is to have any sort of racially based scholarship.”
Of course this hardly addresses the real issue behind affirmative action, the disadvantage that people of color and women have from jump because they are people of color and women, combined with poorer quality educational resources available to people of color. But we all know racism and sexism aren’t that serious anymore, right?
Via / ABC News
Image Via / Boston University News
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