Archive for April, 2007
NYC Looking to Pay the Poor Like in Mexico
9:23 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · mexico|New York City · Comments Off
24 Apr 2007
NYC’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in Mexico today checking out the 10 year old Oportunidades program, commonly known as Pay the Poor,that he wants to import into the big apple. The program offers families meeting specific income guidelines financial incentives for meeting certain goals like getting their kids to school on time and taking their children for doctors’ visits. Similar programs exist in other Latin American countries like Nicaragua. Under the proposed NYC plan families could earn an extra $5,000 a year under the program.
Parents would receive payments every two months for family members meeting any of a series of criteria. The payments could range from $25 for exemplary attendance in elementary school to $300 for a high score on an important exam, city officials said. The project, first announced in the fall. was scheduled to begin as a pilot program in September with 2,500 randomly selected families whose progress will be tracked against another 2,500 randomly selected families who will not get the rewards. Officials planned to draw the families from six of the poorest communities in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Cancer rates soar in Latin America
7:18 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Health|Latin America · Comments Off
23 Apr 2007
The number of cancer cases in Latin America is growing, according to information released at a recent conference in Buenos Aires that sought to examine the rise of the disease in the region. The number of current cases is shocking, and the reports from the conference reveal a grim prediction for the future. Mexico’s Milenio reports:
América Latina has a virtual epidemia of advanced cancer due to the scarce programs of control and prevention of the disease in the region and the lack of medical personnel, the [Cancer] specialists [at the conference] said on Monday.It is estimated that in Latin America there are 800,000 new cases of cancer each year, of which 450,000 end with the death of the patient, a number which could double by the year 2020 if the current state of deficiency in the prevention of and attention to the disease continues.
The Buenos Aires event was funded by monies from a Nobel prize by the Programme for Action Cancer Therapy (PACT), part of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is organizing other events in the region to bring medical specialists together in an effort to end the cycle of misinformation. PACT has also designated 40 million dollars to the creation of cancer prevention centers, the purchase of equipment and training of medical personnel in Latin America.
Via / Milenio
Pope: No more limbo, it’s heaven or hell
2:02 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Religion · 4 Comments
23 Apr 2007
While the words of the Pope have long gone unchallenged in Latin America and other countries with large Catholic communities, even the staunchest supporters of the Vatican’s doctrines must be scratching their heads at this: after 800 years, Pope Benedict XVI has done away with the concept of “limbo”:
The decision was taken after Benedict XVI was presented with Vatican studies that said there were “serious” grounds that such souls could go to heaven, rather than exist between heaven and hell as they have done for almost 800 years.
Mexico City mayor won’t back down to activists
5:28 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Justice|mexico|society|Women · Comments Off
20 Apr 2007
Last week we told you that Mexican television star Chespirito had joined forces with an anti-abortion organization called “Dénme Chance” (“Give me a Chance”) to try to force the genie of the women’s reproductive rights movement in Mexico City back into the bottle. That same organization has in turn published the cell phone number of the Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, without his permission, urging anti-abortion activists to call him.
Gonzales: Hell no, he won’t go (part II)
2:26 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Politics · 1 Comment
20 Apr 2007
Last month Maegan predicted that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, mired in a scandal over the firing of several U.S. attorneys, would not leave his post without a fight. As evidenced in yesterday’s hearings before the Senate Judiciary Commitee, Gonzalez isn’t ready to give up. I listened to the hearing on NPR for about an hour yesterday, and it was incredible to me how easy it is to evade questions by saying “I don’t recall”. To grilling by senators over meetings that appear in the Attorney General’s calendar and at which Gonzales was present, he answered “I don’t recall.” Man, I wish it were that easy for regular people like me to get out of trouble by just faking amnesia.
…after hours of questions from the panel, an exasperated Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Gonzales didn’t meet that burden [of truth].“You’ve answered ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I can’t recall’ to close to a hundred questions. You’re not familiar with much of the workings of your own department. And we still don’t have convincing explanations of the who, when and why, in regard to the firing of the majority of the eight U.S. attorneys,” said Schumer.
Poll: Americans support legalization
12:54 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration|society · Comments Off
20 Apr 2007
The majority of American people support the legalization of undocumented immigrants, according to a USA Today-Gallup poll conducted last weekend and released yesterday. According to USA Today, “78% of respondents feel people now in the country illegally should be given a chance at citizenship.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m a little (pleasantly) suprised by this. Given the number of people commenting about immigration on this website and the nature of those comments, one would think that we are living in the most anti-immigrant society in the world.
Senator Ted Kennedy doesn’t seem surprised, saying:
“As with so many issues, the American people are ahead of Washington on immigration reform. They know that only a plan that offers a path to earned citizenship will fix our broken system.”
Do polls really matter? I know that politicians lean on them to test the waters with the public, but in the end decisions in Washington are made in a vacuum and unfortunately I don’t think the results of this poll will transcend today’s headlines.
Via / USA Today
Maradona to be moved to a psychiatric hospital
6:54 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Drugs|Sports · 1 Comment
19 Apr 2007
A couple of weeks ago we told you that soccer legend Diego Maradona had been admitted to a Buenos Aires hospital for acute hepatitis, a result of heavy alcohol consumption. Now his doctors are saying that La mano de Dios can leave the hospital, but will have to check into a psychiatric facility to continue his treatment, something that it seems Maradona does not want to do. According to his physician:
“He’s more communicative. He’s accepting things and is aware of the seriousness of his current state, but we are still trying to convince him that he needs to go to a psychiatric clinic. He can’t be convinced in one day, as he’s very “special”, said Cahe.
VivirLatino Visits Calle 13
2:26 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Events|Music|New York City · 1 Comment
19 Apr 2007
Picture this, a palm tree in the background, a drink in my hand, and Calle 13 next to me. This was no dream, this was the album release party for Calle 13′s sophomore effort held last night at the Chelsea, NYC lounge Stereo. The fieston, sponsored by Latina Magazine, celebrated Residente o Visitante featuring Tango del Pecado and la Crema. The video for Tango del Pecado looped on a big screen at last night’s party. Both Residente y Visitante ( René Pérez y Eduardo Cabra) were gracious and patient. Be sure to pick up their new album which drops officially on April 24. More pics after the jump.
Immigrant denied marriage license in PA
1:29 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Immigration|Justice · 8 Comments
19 Apr 2007
West Hazleton, Pennsylvania has denied a marriage license to an undocumented immigrant who was looking to wed his partner, an American national this week. The ACLU has filed a federal suit on behalf of the couple, stating in a press release:
“This marriage is legal under the law of Pennsylvania and the federal immigration laws,” said Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The Register of Wills is supposed to issue marriage licenses according to Pennsylvania’s marriage law, not to challenge that law or federal immigration law. Ms. Stankovic has no authority to interfere in people’s lives this way.”
The abovementioned “Ms. Stankovic” (love the name) is the county’s Register of Wills who denied the couple the license.
California N.O.W: Feminist and racist?
6:09 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|Controversia|Women · 5 Comments
18 Apr 2007
Every now and then VL gets tips from readers around quite controversial subjects. Many are hard to confirm and we choose not to publish them, but I found a tip I received today so disturbing that I felt it needed to be shared with readers.
Are the words “feminist” and “racist” always contradictory? Many women of color who considered themselves isolated from the women’s movement of the 1970s would probably say no. And if what we gather from the following tip is true, it would look as if racism is alive and well in the California chapter of N.O.W. not just in the form of exclusion, but in the form of ignorance.
VL is publishing the following information in good faith as the opinion of a VL reader, but we can’t prove or disprove the statements, so please read on with that caveat in mind. If anyone wants to counter the accusation or clarify any points, this is your forum as well. Here’s the letter in its entirety:
“I am a member of the California chapter of the National Organization for Women, and attended my first CA NOW Board meeting on February 24th this year. It was open to the public, so I see no problem in sharing statements that I heard there.
The California chapter president, Kimberly Salter, who was talking about visiting New Orleans during the National NOW State Presidents’ conference and talking to New Orleans residents, stated that the residents were all very appreciative of “the Mexicans” for coming to work there and live in tent cities, and she added that it was a cultural issue, because Mexicans were used to leaving their families and living in tent cities to send money home, and that other cultures wouldn’t do that.”
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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