Archive for the ‘Brazil’ Category
Why Isn’t Housing Considered a Right? Looking at Recent Evictions in Brazil
6:41 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| housing · 3 Comments
30 Aug 2009On Monday, following a court order, 240 police went to evict 800 families from the Olga Benário squatter settlement in an area called Capão Redondo, sprawling southern São Paulo. The property had been occupied for two years by hundreds of families, many from the social movement Frente de Luta por Moradia (the Front of Struggle for Housing). The property’s owner, a transport company, was able to get an eviction order from a judge, even though it owes back taxes, and even as the State Public Defender’s office was attempting to protect the residents. The eviction ended with burned houses and cars, and hundreds of families on the street in the mud.
Having just come out of a personal housing crisis myself here in NYC where the cost of living continues to rise and gentrification is swooping into neighborhoods of color making it hard for old timers to stay, and for new immigrants to find homes, I have to wonder why isn’t housing a right, especially for families with children?
Save Agua, Xixi No Banho (Pee in your Bath).
8:03 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Environment · Comments Off
6 Aug 2009Admit it…..how many of you VL readers have peed in the shower? A new PSA in Brazil is encouraging people to tinkle in the tub as a way to conserve water. A really annoying kid’s voice tells us that everyone, even aliens pee in the bath (and the commercial has images to prove it). It’s an animated golden shower fantasy.
Via / Consumerist
USA’s Futbol Luck Runs Out Against Brazil
8:43 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Sports · 2 Comments
29 Jun 2009Did people really think that the USA would repeat what it had done with Spain?
Yesterday the US’s soccer team faced Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Cup Final in Johannesburg, South Africa. The US was ahead, 2-0, after the first half pero, I predicted that Brazil was going to come through in the second half and win.
Yup, I was right. Brazil not only tied the game in the second, pero won 3-2.
Martes Musica Verano 2009 Edition : Céu’s Vagarosa
6:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Music| Women · Comments Off
16 Jun 2009
It’s been more than a whole year since we’ve heard from Brazilian singer Céu. Just in time for the season of playas and parties, Six Degrees Records and Urban Jungle Records releases Céu’s Vagarosa. Vagarosa translates to “slow, easygoing, and leisurely” and that perfectly describes the sound and mood of this album pero this cd is anything but light and fluffy. The jaunty cavaquinho, a sort of Brazilian ukelele, betrays the into’s,Sobre o Amor e Seu Trabalho Silencioso, ruminations on the magic chemistry of love.
The cd then seemlessly moves into a funkier reggae beat with Cangote.
Vagarosa employs lots of electronic tricks, evident in the rendition of the Jorge Ben song “Rosa Menina Rosa”, that work beautifully with the more classic elements of jazz horns, blues beats and Céu’s sensual rich voice. She also employs non-traditional instruments and arrangements like in the song Ponteiro, that features a circus organ.
Sonâmbulo references hip hop with a little bit of tango in it’s tale of a sleepwalker.
All in all Vagarosa may be this summer’s perfect soundtrack, with Céu experimenting musically but never to the point of being to obscure or unreachable. This one will get alot of play in casa mala and it should in your casa too.
Breaking: Air France Wreckage Located
4:39 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Brazil| World| france| travel · Comments Off
2 Jun 2009CNN just reported that wreckage from Air France Flight 447 has been located off the Northeast coast of Brazil and, as expected, no survivors have been found:
On Tuesday morning, Brazilian air force planes spotted the debris field, consisting of an airplane seat, an orange life vest, small white fragments, an oil drum and signs of oil and kerosene, spokesman Jorge Amaral said. Another official described the debris field as being 5 kilometers long.But it was not until a French commercial vessel arrived on the scene that confirmation of the debris’ origin was made.
The report above from MSNBC says that officials are reluctant to confirm that this is in fact AF447 without first finding debris bearing the serial number. Whatever the case may be, the news can’t be good, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims and the nations of Brazil and France for their terrible loss.
Via / CNN
Brazil is Hit Hard by Air France Incident
4:31 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Brazil| World| france| travel · 2 Comments
1 Jun 2009We’re calling it an incident, but everyone is expecting the worst: a catastrophic accident in the disappearance of Air France’s flight 447, which left Rio De Janeiro last night and hasn’t been heard from since. Search crews still haven’t found any wreckage, but with this much time off radar we can only speculate that the aircraft met with a bitter end. Judging from the passenger manifests, as would be expected, the nation of Brazil will be one of the hardest hit in terms of victims, second only to France:
The airline company identified the nationalities of the victims as two Americans, an Argentinean, an Austrian, a Belgian, 58 Brazilians, five British, a Canadian, nine Chinese, a Croatian, a Dane, a Dutch, an Estonian, a Filipino, 61 French, a Gambian, 26 Germans, four Hungarians, three Irish, one Icelandic, nine Italians, five Lebanese, two Moroccans, three Norwegians, two Polish, one Romanian, one Russian, three Slovakian, two Spanish, one Swedish, six Swiss and one Turk.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy just met with families at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, and was straight with them, saying that the possibility for finding survivors was “very low”.
As the story develops, multiple theories are swirling, among them that the plane met with foul weather and was brought down by a lightning strike, by turbulence or a combination of both, given that the aircraft was flying through rough conditions as it sent out an automatic message notifying Air France maintenance of faulty mechanical equipment.
Via / CNN
Developing: Air France Plane Missing After Takeoff in Brazil
8:35 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Brazil| World| france| travel · 2 Comments
1 Jun 2009An AirFrance jetliner went missing last night about an hour and a half after takeoff from Rio De Janeiro International Airport. AF 447 was bound for Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport and was carrying 228 passengers and crew when, at about 8:30 p.m. local time, the plane reported mechanical problems and disappeared from radar screens. While there are little details to report, Air France is preparing for the worst. CNN reports:
“I can say without doubt that this is a catastrophe,” Gourgeon said, adding “the entire Air France company and its staff are very moved and affected by this.”A crisis center was being set up at Charles de Gaulle to deal with anxious relatives and friends waiting for news of passengers. Air France has also set up a hotline: 0800 800 812 in France, or +33 157021055 for international callers..
Airbus has opened a crisis room and their flight safety team is in place, a company spokesperson told CNN. Airbus is working closely with authorities and Air France, he said, declining to comment further.
Brazil has just launched search teams to recover the aircraft, an Airbus A330-200, around where it was last seen, 365 kilometers off the Brazilian coast in the Atlantic Ocean.
We’ll tell you more as the story develops.
Via / CNN
Brazilian Man Kidnaps Child, Crashes Plane
12:12 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bizarro| Brazil| Latin America| society · Comments Off
13 Mar 2009This story — which sounds like something out of a movie — couldn’t be more colorfully tragic. A Brazilian man allegedly kidnapped his own daughter, 5, and escaped authorities fleeing in a small airplane, which he then crashed into a shopping center in downtown Goiania, Brazil after being chased down by Brazilian air force fighter planes. Both father and daughter were killed, and the crash destroyed 20 vehicles on the ground.
The video above is in Portuguese, but you’ve already got the idea of the story. Take a look at the video to see a recreation of how it happened.
Via / 20 Minutos
Catholic Church Stands Behind Brazilian Abortion Excommunication
9:46 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Health| Religion| Women| children · 3 Comments
10 Mar 2009
Last week the horrific news of a 9 year old girl being raped by her stepfather and subsequently having a life saving abortion put the Catholic Church in the spotlight after the local church excommunicated the girl’s mother. Responses here included people disturbed not just by what happened to the girl initially but also the second victimization of the girl and her family, and people stating that cases such as this were one of the reasons so many were leaving the Catholic Church. One person was who commented was willing to sacrifice the life and mental well being of the child so that she could carry and give birth to twins. Even President Lula of Brazil commented on the case, taking sides against the church.
The Vatican made an official statement on the case and not surprisingly supported the decision of the local Brazilian Church to excommunicate the mother and the doctors who performed the abortion. The church then went even further and attacked the girl as being more sinful than the step-father who raped her.
From the Latin Americanist:
“It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re to a local daily. Re- who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for Bishops- acknowledged that “life must always be protected” yet did not say anything over the girl’s life being in danger by her pregnancy.
Aside from excommunicating the girl’s mother, Sobrinho also had the gall to disparage the raped child:
The stepfather was not excommunicated because the church said that his action, although deplorable, was not as bad as ending the life of an unborn child.
“It is clear that he committed a very serious sin, but worse than this is the abortion,” Sobrinho said.
That’s right mujeres, abortion, even to save the life of a nine year girl is worse than child rape according the the Roman Catholic Church.
Excommunicate my ass now.
If Jesus is Love, Where’s the Amor for 9 Year Old Brazilian Rape Victim
2:04 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Health| Religion| children · 7 Comments
6 Mar 2009
It’s so horrific that it physically hurts me to think about: a 9 year old child (allegedly) raped by her stepfather and then she becomes pregnant.
A nine-year-old Brazilian girl who was impregnated after being allegedly raped by her stepfather underwent an abortion yesterday.
The child- who’s identity is being kept private- would’ve had her life in danger had she allowed the pregnancy to continue according to doctors. (At the time of the abortion the eighty-pound girl was in her fifteenth week of pregnancy). “She is very small. Her uterus doesn’t have the ability to hold one, let alone two children,” said Fatima Maia- the director of the hospital where the abortion was performed.
And instead of the faith community offering compassion and comfort to a child, the Roman Catholic Church has come down on the girl’ mother and doctors for saving her physical life.
A Roman Catholic archbishop says the abortion of twins carried by a 9-year-old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather means excommunication for the girl’s mother and her doctors.
Despite the nature of the case, the church had to hold its line against abortion, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho said in an interview aired Thursday by Globo television.
“The law of God is higher than any human laws,” he said. “When a human law — that is, a law enacted by human legislators — is against the law of God, that law has no value. The adults who approved, who carried out this abortion have incurred excommunication.”
I worry about the girl’s emotional life, her soul and not in the sense of if she will go to heaven because she had an abortion. I wonder about how this child can comprehend all that she has had to face and will continue to face.
I also wonder what the hell the Catholic Church is thinking when they lack the basic compassion and love that Jesus preached.
Via / The Latin Americanist
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
- Link Cariño | Hissip: [...] Who’s your mama? [...] [...]
- la Macha: I agree totally with you bubbles. [...]
- Bubbles: Re: "Many women have mental, emotional instabilities which cause them to end up in abusive relations [...]
- la Macha: and whaaaa? women who have mental health issues are suddenly to blame for getting beaten? [...]
- la Macha: gabriel--i don't agree with you that women have a submissive nature--but that's ok, I guess. I agree [...]
- Mangos With Chili Presents Beloved: A Requiem for Our Dead in the Bay Area Tonite & Nov. 15th
- Vigil for Marcelo LuceroThis Evening in Patchogue, Long Island, NY
- VL At The Cine: The Fourth Kind
- Rihanna interview
- One of Marcelo Lucero’s Attackers Pleads Guilty
- Remembering Marcelo Lucero : One Year Later, The List of Hate Crimes Grows Longer
- Rihanna Speaks
- A Message To Maine
- Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity
- New York City Wakes Up to Four More Years of Bloomberg
VivirLatino RSS Feed
- VL At The Cine: The Fourth Kind
- Rihanna interview
- One of Marcelo Lucero’s Attackers Pleads Guilty
- Remembering Marcelo Lucero : One Year Later, The List of Hate Crimes Grows Longer
- Rihanna Speaks
- A Message To Maine
- Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity
- New York City Wakes Up to Four More Years of Bloomberg
- Who’s Your Mama : Event at Food for Thought in Amherst on November 13th
- A Favorite Latina on the Web Needs Our Support
