2009 April 16 | VivirLatino

Archive for April 16th, 2009

Obama is in Mexico

16 Apr 2009

President Barack Obama has begun his much-anticipated trip to Mexico today, and both here and there people are expecting a lot out of this visit. Up for discussion with Obama’s counterpart, President Felipe Calderón, are the issues of trade, immigration and — perhaps the biggest standout — the U.S.’s role in fighting the drug war which has plagued Mexico of late.

I’m not expecting much to come of the immigration conversation, but Obama did make a promising statement on the issue of U.S. involvement in ending drug-related violence:

“It is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner” with Mexico in the battle against drug cartels, Obama said at a welcoming ceremony with Calderon. The two nations must “stand side by side in order to promote common security and common prosperity,” he said.

As we here at home hope for some progress in Mexico-U.S. relations, Mexicans in Mexico have their own set of wishes and requests for President Obama. Back in January, Al Jazeera interviewed people on the street in Mexico City to ask them what they would ask of the new U.S. President. Their answers are compelling. Check it out, and let’s see if they — and we — get our wishes.

Via / Bloomberg

Bolivia Evades Evo Assassination

1:45 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia| Latin America| Politics| World| crime · 1 Comment

16 Apr 2009

01_evo Evo Morales announced today that Bolivian security forces have apprehended 3 alleged international mercenaries who were out to kill him, as the country goes through a very difficult political moment.

Morales stated that the assassins were from Ireland, Hungary and Bolivia, and were planning to kill him and the vicepresident with “bombs and sophisticated weapons”.

Upon arrival in Venezuela for the Alternativa Bolivariana para América Latina y el Caribe (ALBA) Summit, Morales told reporters:

“I’ve been informed that there was a shootout that lasted half an hour in a hotel in the city of Santa Cruz where 3 foreigners have fallen, with two arrests [...]

Last year in Bolivia the right tried to use the vote of the people to get me out with a revocation referendum. They failed. Afterwards they tried a coup d’etat. They failed. Now they were planning to shoot us to pieces. They are failing.”

This news comes one day after a dynamite bomb exploded outside the home of the Roman Catholic cardinal of Santa Cruz, Julio Terrazas.

Via / CNN Expansión

Sugar

12:35 pm By la Macha · Arts| Movies · 2 Comments

16 Apr 2009

I saw the movie review for this at Roger Ebert’s site, and thought it looks really interesting:

Ebert has this to say about the film:

The film is knowledgeable about how the system works. American teams maintain elaborate Dominican training facilities, send talent scouts to local leagues and keep recruits under close watch: Room and board is provided, there are security guards to enforce discipline, the kids get a few days off once in a while. This is heaven for them. For years, their dreams have been filled with visions of big-time baseball.

Being in the Midwest, probably the only thing I’ll ever see of this film is the movie clip (at least until it comes out at Netflix). So I want to hear from some of you lucky ones living in big cities. Have you seen this film? What did you think? I’m already a bit antsy at the idea that “immigration” means sexual interaction with local blond woman–but maybe the film handles the whole thing well. Wouldn’t that be an oddity?

Choosing a Better Future in the Americas

16 Apr 2009

obama_cuba_usa According to the Washington Post, the following Op/Ed ran in several newspapers that target or have heavy Latin@ readership. It comes as Obama heads to the Summit of the Americas.

Choosing a Better Future in the Americas
By President Barack Obama

As we approach the Summit of the Americas, our hemisphere is faced with a clear choice. We can overcome our shared challenges with a sense of common purpose, or we can stay mired in the old debates of the past. For the sake of all our people, we must choose the future.

Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas. My Administration is committed to the promise of a new day. We will renew and sustain a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security. Read more…

April is National Poetry Month : Noemi Martinez

8:34 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Women| literature · Comments Off

16 Apr 2009

Today’s poema comes from an incredible media maker, activist, mami, blogger, poeta, Noemi Martinez of Hermana, Resist.

Here it is recounted
Noemi

synthesis

we get these folks
you know the type,
they have the feminist fist
tattooed on their ankles
want to visit my community
with their “poorest in the nation” shit
their novelty right now
is mexicans in the colonias.
My valley, my people
and they want to see
the real deal
the real colonias,
you know,
with the really really
poor conditions,
“where it floods & they don’t have electricity”
my valley, my people
and they come w/
notepad, pencil in hand
sic-sicing at our
mexican men & their
macho macho ways
you know, my people
& want to see
“real” victims
and look at that kid
no shoes, shit
let’s get some tequila on the other side
& “authentic” food but how can you eat this?
my people, my valley
you & your fucking rainbow
stickers& yr
world eat fish mentality
and fuck i’m not
even religious or catolica
but leave them w/ their virgen, my Tonantzin
appeared to my juan diego, my people
and lets go for a site
visit, let’s see
the colonias
you know-giving me
facts I know by memory,
numbers I don’t need to hear
because it’s my valley, my people

*yes, yes taken out of context.
Yes yes, you will bring funds, $, awareness.
Yes yes I work well with the enemy.

Add This to Fujimori’s Crimes : Mass Sterilizations

7:55 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Peru| Women · 3 Comments

16 Apr 2009

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was found guily of human rights violations, specifically the deaths of 25 people during his administration, torture and kidnapping. The guilty verdict earned Fujimori 25 years in prison, a sentence that his daughter Keiko said during an interview with Jorge Ramos on Univision’s Al Punto was equivalent to a life sentence due to his age. While Alberto Fujimori plans an appeal and his daughter is thinking of running for president, another one of his war crimes hasn’t been brought up, mass sterilizations of indigenous women and men.

During Fujimori’s time in office hundreds of thousands of Andean women were “threaded” or given hysterectomies, many against their will. Health clinics would open in rural villages, sometimes accompanied by military bands and dancing. Posters would appear all over the countryside urging family planning. but family planning wasn’t about access to birth control for the Fujimori regime. It was about stopping indigenous people from having children at all.

There is a nearly half hour documentary on this here.

VivirLatino

Archive for April 16th, 2009

Obama is in Mexico

Bolivia Evades Evo Assassination

Sugar

Choosing a Better Future in the Americas

April is National Poetry Month : Noemi Martinez

Add This to Fujimori’s Crimes : Mass Sterilizations

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