A while back we told you about how Bolivian super president, Evo Morales, went on a hunger strike to put pressure on the Bolivian congress. Well, it seems el presidente knew what he was doing:
Morales had canceled a diplomatic visit to Cuba to maintain a vigil inside the presidential palace, where for almost a week he consumed only water and coca leaves, the raw ingredient in cocaine and a folk remedy used in Bolivia to suppress hunger. He slept on a bare mattress on the palace floor, surrounded by fasting union leaders who form part of his coalition party.
“The Bolivian people will never forget this revolutionary process,” Morales, 49, said today in the presidential palace, moments after concluding the strike. In remarks on state television, Morales said he hoped the fast would strengthen Bolivians’ support for “profound economic, social and cultural changes.”
The new bill guarantees increased representation in Congress for Bolivia’s indigenous communities, who broadly support Morales, an Aymara Indian and a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Opposition lawmakers argued that the measure would give Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism party, known as MAS, an advantage in both chambers. The bill, blocked in the opposition-controlled Senate, passed after Morales agreed to reduce the number of proposed indigenous voting districts to 7 from 14.
And we think our president is some crazy socialist. Until Obama sleeps on the floor with union leaders (hell, until *union leaders* sleep on the floor!!) to put pressure on Congress, I don’t want to hear anything about how our country is falling into an abyss of U.S.S.R communism. Please.
1:00 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · business|Controversia|Marketing|mexico|Politics|society|Spain|World · 3 Comments
14 Apr 2009
Burger King has pissed off Mexico’s Ambassador to Spain because of a new ad campaign running in that country for a product called the “Texican Whopper”. Ambassador Jorge Zermeno wrote to Burger King in Spain to denounce what he called “denigration” of the Mexican flag.
“This advertisement denigrates the image of our country and uses improperly Mexico’s national flag,” Jorge Zermeno wrote in a letter to Burger King in Spain, the Reforma newspaper reported on Monday.The ambassador contacted the local offices of Burger King after he saw the posters in Spain, Reforma said. The burger is only available in Europe, according to the paper.
Mexico has strict laws prohibiting the defamation of the flag, Zermeno said. He asked Burger King to cancel the ad campaign that “offends Mexicans and Mexico.”
You might remember from numerous posts on VL over the past few years that Mexico doesn’t like people doing weird things with their flag, and this offense can be punishable with harsh fines and even jail time.
Reuters reports that Zermeno’s complaint was related to posters (image above) for the campaign found around Madrid, but I wonder if he’s seen the TV version (video after the jump) – which from the looks of it was created for the U.S. or Canadian market — as it’s much worse.
12:00 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · literature|Uruguay|Women · Comments Off
14 Apr 2009
Today’s poem comes from Uruguyan poet Delmira Agustini (October 24, 1886 – July 6, 1914).
Explosión
Si la vida es amor, bendita sea!
Quiero más vida para amar! Hoy siento
Que no valen mil años de la idea
Lo que un minuto azul del sentimiento.Mi corazon moria triste y lento…
Hoy abre en luz como una flor febea;
La vida brota como un mar violento
Donde la mano del amor golpea!Hoy partio hacia la noche, triste, fría
Rotas las alas mi melancolía;
Como una vieja mancha de dolor
En la sombra lejana se deslíe…
Mi vida toda canta, besa, ríe!
Mi vida toda es una boca en flor!
For English keep reading
10:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Marketing|Tech · 1 Comment
14 Apr 2009
Last month I reviewed the AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro Smartphone and wondered, seriously how did I live without a smartphone up to this point? Well you may not have to live without one either.
Vivirlatino is participating with another 25 websites to give away an AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro smartphone and a US$100 AT&T gift card each, to readers in the U.S. Apologies to our non-U.S. readers.
So you can have 26 chances to win this phone, pero sadly you can only win one.
Where can you win? Here is a list of the site participating and the dates their contests will run:
Tools for Thought (15-Apr 19-Apr)
ChipChick (16-Apr 20-Apr)
VivirLatino (17-Apr 21-Apr)
slashgear.com (18-Apr 22-Apr)
www.modaco.com (19-Apr 23-Apr)
Gadgetell (20-Apr 24-Apr)
GeeksRoom (21-Apr 25-Apr)
OSNN (22-Apr 26-Apr)
Techmamas (23-Apr 27-Apr)
Clintonfitch (24-Apr 28-Apr)
Justanothermobilemonday (25-Apr 29-Apr)
Geek.com (26-Apr 30-Apr)
MediaBlab (27-Apr 01-May)
Smartphonethoughts (28-Apr 02-May)
Mobilityminded (29-Apr 03-May)
The Gadgeteer (30-Apr 04-May)
Geekzone (01-May 05-May)
Techie Diva (02-May 06-May)
Bostonpocketpc (03-May 07-May)
GearDiary (04-May 08-May)
MobilitySite (05-May 09-May)
AbsoluteWindows (06-May 10-May)
Mobilejaw (07-May 11-May)
Experiencemobility (08-May 12-May)
HackCollege (09-May 13-May)
Gear Live (10-May 14-May)
So how do you win?
Actually the contests don’t kick off till Wednesday so you’ll have to wait till then. VivirLatino’s own giveaway will go live on Friday.
Pero if you just can’t wait check out this deal that will give you a free Jabra BT4051 Bluetooth headset when you buy an AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro.
7:53 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Cuba|language|Obama|Politics · 3 Comments
14 Apr 2009Yesterday we told you how Obama lifted restrictions on travel to Cuba (but only for Cuban-Americans) and lifted the cap on remittances sent by family members to family members in Cuba. The real news was that the announcement was made in part in Spanish! Gasp!
This is historic yes, and it’s clear that the intent was to speak directly to Cuban-Americans and who knows maybe even Cubans. Pero dies it show that the Obama administration “gets it” as the anchor woman says?
Get what exactly?
The embargo is still in place. Travel to Cuba is still limited to Cuban-Americans.
While the policy is a change, it’s not exactly groundbreaking.
And what about that pesky immigration issue?
Where’s the Spanish language White House briefing on that.
I know, I’m never satisfied.
6:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Books|Controversia|GLBT|Internet|literature|Shopping · Comments Off
14 Apr 2009
Amazon says that it deleting the sales ranks of many many books that are marketed to or are about gays, lesbians, transpeople and or have the word “sex” in it was an error . Who or what caused the error is still out.
One theory is that a lone hacker is behind the mess.
Weev says he organized an army of off-shore computer users to make a bunch of fake Amazon accounts and flag all the gay and lesbian books they could as inappropriate. Also, he got several friends with high-trafficked websites to embed an iframe code that made their visitors automatically send the flags without their knowledge.
The issue with this theory is that some of the sales ranking deletions go all the way back to February.
There is also the theory that a French employee (blame the French!) misunderstood the term “adult”—which refers to porn stuff in Amazon’s system—with “erotic” and “sexuality.”
Regardless if it was a glitch, a hack, right wing organizing, or just bad decision making, Amazon.com has apparently removed the feature that lets users flag books as “inappropriate.”
Via / Gawker (I know, I’m ashamed I read that site too), Consumerist
8:10 pm By la Macha · Controversia|Family|Violence|Women · 5 Comments
13 Apr 2009Being from the same state as Eminem–I have a love/hate relationship with him. On the one hand, I love seeing somebody from home succeed, on the other hand…DAYMN. Does he have to be such an offensive asshole?
Here’s his latest song/video (pissed off trigger warning–I’m not kidding when I say that this video will more than likely piss you off, don’t watch unless you’re ready for it!):
Eminem gets just enough disparaging mocking stuff on himself that I think we’re all supposed to laugh and not *truly* be offended. And honestly, I think that I would be not *truly* offended if it weren’t for the image of the woman being shoved through the grinder. I know he is referencing this old Hustler cover (NSFW and potentially triggering)–but frankly, there are some things that just never should be referenced except in a disparaging sense. Especially given the fact that women are being murdered in his own home state. It’s one thing to make fat jokes and gross druggie jokes, it’s another thing all together to introduce a whole new generation of men to the idea that violence against women is a joke or “ironic” or hip.
And on a side note, I notice that Eminem hasn’t had much to say about how domestic violence is treated within the hip/hop community. And it’s not like women in the hip/hop community haven’t demanded that domestic violence be addressed. And frankly, until Eminem can see fit to support the female hip/hopers out there, he can take his “irony” and his “sarcasm” and shove it.
7:31 pm By la Macha · race · 3 Comments
13 Apr 2009If you’re like me, you probably haven’t really been paying too much attention to this whole “pirate situation” that the mainstream media is currently masturbating itself over. I did give a passing thought that I wished I knew more about the development of the “pirate phenomenon” that has sprung up over the past ten years or so, and I also considered the three obviously very poor very under funded “pirates” to be more than a bit stupid for so directly confronting a first world nation.
Other than that–I’ve been pretty non-committal. Mainstream news masturbation does not interest me too much, really.
But now alternative media and radical media sources are starting to do what they do best–presenting the story mainstream media is too busy jacking off to pay attention to.
First, start with the following videos from Somalian rapper, Knaan. Read more…
2:25 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · children|Chismes|Controversia|Latin America|Paraguay|society · 1 Comment
13 Apr 2009Why is that those who preach chastity and abstinance and purity are the ones who are least likely to practice it – even when their profession supposedly requires it? Take the case of none other than Fernando Lugo, President of Paraguay, who
…has publicly recognized the paternity of a child of nearly 2 years, after last Wednesday he was presented with a paternity suit. The child was conceived when Lugo was still a bishop, though he left the order in December 2006 to pursue the presidency, which he won last year.“It is true that there was a relationship with Viviana Carrillo (mother of the child)”, said Lugo, recognizing the paternity of the child in a message to citizens in which he assured them that he “assumes all responsibilities that could come from that fact.”
26 year-old Carrillo “categorically denies” having filed the suit, even though she allegedly signed the document. Paraguay’s La Nación newspaper reports today that Carrillo’s family has left the town where they leave because of death threats.
The video above shows his confession at around 4:30. Why is this dude still wearing a priest outfit when he’s no longer a priest? What a hypocrite.
Via / 20 Minutos
1:23 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Obama|Politics · 5 Comments
13 Apr 2009
As was speculated last week, President Obama will lift all travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans, allowing them to visit the island as many times and for as long as they like.
“Restrictions on the families will be lifted,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The official said an announcement lifting all restrictions on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans to the island would come later in the day.
It would be the first time since 1982 that Cuban-Americans would be free to travel back and forth between the United States and Cuba.
Also lifted are restrictions on remesas, the monetary remittances sent by Cuban Americans to family back on the island, which were — previously capped at $300 every 3 months — and packages containing personal items such as clothing and personal hygiene products.
Via / AFP
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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