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“Miss Spain” Moves to Mexico

6 Jul 2009

Times are tough for beauty pageants. With every year that passes they become more irrelevant and more of a joke than a competition to most. Perhaps that’s why Spain’s “Miss España” pageant is suffering so much that they need to take the show on the road: to Mexico. The organization’s president admits that the economic crisis is what lead Miss España to leave la madre patria and move to el nuevo mundo:

It is the first time in 49 years that the event will be celebrated outside of the country. “The world economic situation has forced us to open up borders,” said Andrés Cid. He also mentioned that the decision will “possibly open doors to future events in different places around the world…”

Why Mexico? Because the Mexican tourism industry is still suffering the effects of the swine flu and needs a platform from which they can talk the hundreds of thousands of Spanish tourists who visited the Riviera Maya each year into coming back.

So it works out like this: lack of interest on the part of the Spanish public and low ratings = the pageant needing money. Mexican tourism authorities buy something that won’t work for them, since no one is watching this in the first place. Nice little deal.

Via / 20 Minutos

Surreal Sports News: U.S. Soccer Crushes Spain, the World’s Greatest Team

5:14 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bizarro| Spain| Sports| Twitter · 4 Comments

24 Jun 2009

I’m not a huge sports fan, but I can get into futbol. One thing I always get from my soccer fan friends from Latin America and Spain is what a joke the U.S. team is. But what you expect from a country who thinks soccer is for sissies and only knows David Beckham for his modeling gigs. Sheesh.

So what was my surprise when I saw that the number one trending topic on Twitter was the word “Spain” and found that the world was tweeting this astonishing outcome in the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinals today: the U.S. mopped up the floor with Spain in a 2-0 win. For those of you who don’t know, Spain is the number one team in the world, and boasts some of the sport’s most talented athletes.

Spain went into this game with the confidence of the jock who always clobbers the wimpy kid and got clobbered themselves. But this isn’t just shocking to me; this is world soccer history: the U.S. today became the first team to beat Spain since 2006 and some experts are calling the victory the best performance since they defeated England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Might this help get some momentum moving in making soccer a more popular sport in the U.S.? I doubt it. I mean, how many of you had ever heard of the Confederations Cup before this? How many even care to know what it is? Yeah, I thought so. But it would be nice though!

In the end, Spain loses more than just a game (and their chance at the finals for this tournament): they lose face. As you might expect, Spain is devastated and fans are blaming the loss on the cockiness and overconfidence of their (nearly) invincible team.

Via / Twitter

Undocumented Worker Loses Arm in Workplace Accident, Boss Throws Arm in Trash

5:40 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia| Labor| Spain| World| society · Comments Off

11 Jun 2009

241016 Here at VL we’ve heard all sorts of stories about worker abuse from all over the world. Quite often, the victims in these cases are undocumented workers. This story from Spain just might be the worst I’ve seen yet. When a Bolivian immigrant worker in Valencia, Spain, lost his arm in an accident at the bread factory where he worked, his employer threw the arm in the garbage. Bolivia’s El Deber reports:

The accident occurred the 28th of May when the employee, Franns Rilles, a 33 year-old Bolivian, was working the night shift in an industrial bakery in Real de Gandia, in the Mediterranean region of Valencia.

According to the regional secretary of CCOO [Spain's most powerful workers Union], Josep Antoni Carrascosa, after the accident, the bakery’s owner drove the injured man towards a hospital in Gandia “but at about 2 km from the medical center he left him to his own devices”.

Shortly after, the owner “returned to the factory, cleaned up the blood and threw the arm into a trash bin,” according to the Union, which will sue the owner [on behalf of the victim].

Yet another story that tests our faith in humankind.

The victim had been working 12-hour shifts at the company for 2 years, where he earned the equivalent of $32 per day.

Via / El Deber

As Spain’s Economy Declines, Latinos Want to Go Back Home

8 Jun 2009

planretorno About a year ago, the Spanish government launched a campaign that was somewhat controversial among immigrant groups: el Plan Retorno (”Return Plan”), a program offering monetary assistance (basically early unemployment benefits and a paid ticket back home) to immigrants who are in Spain and want to go back to their home countries. When I first heard about this I thought to myself, “Why would anyone take a measly amount of money to go back after all they’ve gone through to get there?” What I wasn’t counting on was a real estate bubble — arguably the largest in all of Europe — bursting and leaving the construction industry in ruins. Construction was a prime industry for immigrants to Spain and suddenly tens of thousands were left jobless. The effects are being felt the hardest in Latino immigrant communities, and as a result thousands have already applied for benefits from the Plan Retorno. Argentina’s Clarín reports:

According to the latest data, 5088 foreigners living in Spain have asked to return to their countries with the help of the voluntary return program that started in 2008.

According to the Spanish Labor and Immigration Ministry, they have already processed 4,753 petitions, and 3,977 have been approved. Citizens of Latin American countries are the “primary applicants”, making up 91% of the petitions.

Applicants accepted into the program reportedly receive an average of 9000 euros (about 12,500 dollars).
Read more…

Almodovar to Make U.S. TV Series Based on “Women on the Verge”

2:05 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture| Movies| Spain| TV · 7 Comments

19 May 2009

Pedro Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is considered a comedic masterpiece and is a personal favorite of mine. One might think I’d be excited about the premise of bringing it to television, but more than enthusiastic, I am feeling a bit tortured. This will be either the best or worst show ever:

Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is venturing into television with a series adaptation of his first international hit, the Oscar-nominated 1988 feature “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”

Fox TV Studios is developing the English-language hourlong project and has tapped Mimi Schmir to pen the pilot script. Almodovar and Schmir are exec producing [...]

The “Women” series “will be a suburban drama about a group of women who have known each other for a long time, perhaps from college, who are in the middle of their lives and looking at the second half of their lives,” Schmir said.

Like the movie, the series will feature a fair amount of humor. Schmir also is planning to pay homage to the movie by keeping some elements, like the film’s ongoing gag of unsuspecting visitors to the actress’ apartment being knocked out by sleeping pill-laden gazpacho she had intended for her philandering lover.

That sounds…boring. I am not going to judge too much before seeing it, but I think a lot about what makes Mujeres al borde special has to do with the when, where and who of the film. When? The 80s. Where? Downtown Madrid. Who? Some of the best comedic actors Spanish-speaking film as ever seen — and at their prime at that. How do you pull this off in a U.S. suburb? And furthermore, how do you make the premise worthy of an on-going series? I’m just not seeing it.

Have a look at the clip from the original classic and let us know if you think this show has any chance in hell of being good.

Via / The Hollywood Reporter

Arrests made: Basque/ETA

2:45 pm By la Macha · Controversia| Spain| Women · Comments Off

23 Apr 2009

I just got finished reading about how there has beenyet another arrest of an ETA top officials.

The serial arrests of ETA’s military chiefs may be even better news in the long term. The four captured over the past year apparently belonged to a hardline faction that pushed for an end to ETA’s ceasefire two years ago. Now there are signs that the peaceniks have regained control. Josu Urrutikoetxea, a veteran who took part in talks during the ceasefire, is said to be back near the top. Arnaldo Otegi, who has served time in jail for terrorist offences, has reappeared as a spokesman for ETA’s political arm. He is said to want a negotiated end to four decades of violence.

I honestly don’t know too much about the Basque/ETA conflict in the Spain region. I know through subcomandante Marcos that it is essentially a conflict over land–and that conflicts over land these days tend to wind up with “government” being “right” and those it’s stealing land from being “terrorists” (witness the recent Somalian “pirate” conflict). But I also know that far too often organizations engaged in violent resistance are beyond highly problematic for the women, disabled folks, queers and other marginalized people of the communities they are from.

So, I’ve been reading about the history of ETA–and as usual, when it comes to far too many factions and organizations that have a valid critique of the concept of the “nation/state”–it is a confusing, long, violent, and far too male centered history.

It reminded me a lot of FARC, an organization that may be rooted in ideals that I can support, but in practice, has become just as mercenary, if not more so, than the nation/state they hope to overthrow. I don’t know if ETA is totally mercenary (it seems like there is at least a faction of ETA that is trying to prioritize the needs of the community rather than the organization), but it sure does seem to have some big problems.

I’m interested in hearing from others who know more about this than I do. What do you know about ETA? Am I wrong in my conclusions? I don’t need a history lesson (unless you’re willing to offer one!) but I would really like to hear about these arrests from somebody who knows more about Basque/ETA than I do!

Mexican Government Up in Arms Over Burger King Ad

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.

Carlos Baute is a Matchmaker in Spain

11:10 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Music| Spain| TV| Venezuela · Comments Off

30 Mar 2009

Remember how Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute swore he’d never leave Venezuela with his hit song “Yo Me Quedo en Venezuela” (above)? Well the lyrics now ring with irony, as Baute has apparently given up on his homeland and is forging a new career in España. After recording a hit duet with Spanish singer Marta Sanchez, Baute is also hosting a crappy-looking dating show which looks like a refrito of The Dating Game. Preview after the jump. Read more…

A Town Bands Together to Save a Friend from Deportation

10:47 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Spain| World · 1 Comment

26 Mar 2009

20090313elpgal_2 For a change from the posts about raids and militarized borders, an immigration story with a very happy ending.

It happened in Spain, a country with an “immigration problem” like the U.S., but where people as a whole tend to be a lot more likely to look at immigrants as people rather than “problems”. Hassane Moctar, at 21 years old, arrived by night on a makeshift raft to Spain from Mauritania, taking his life into his own hands to try to find a better life in Europe. He ended up in Galicia, where a family from Cangas do Morrazo, a town near Pontevedra “adopted” him. Hassane has been living with the Veiga family for 6 months, and the family who were once strangers now consider him part of their family.

But things weren’t so rosy with Hassane’s legal situation. Two weeks ago, Hassane, now 24, went to court to answer to a deportation order which would send him back immediately if something wasn’t done. His attorney demonstrated that the people of Cangas supported him, that he spoke Spanish, and that he even had job offers. The Veiga family began a signature campaign and managed to collect 5,000 names from townspeople in support of Hassane staying in Spain. His Galician “sister” testified on the stand to the fact that he was now part of the Veiga family:

“Ever since he started living with us, he’s been just like any member of the family. He’s never had any problems and we all love him. My 95 year old grandmother asks where Hassane is as soon as she gets up, and he spends a lot of time with her. If he gets deported, my grandmother will die.”

But initially much of this was considered irrelevant to his case by the judge. Now he had to wait for the verdict.
Read more…

A Day Without Immigrants in Spain

11:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Spain · 1 Comment

23 Feb 2009

The Day Without Immigrants in the US had had mixed results for a number of organizational and practical reasons, pero as the Latin American and other non-European immigrant population continues to grow in Europe, some people in countries like Spain are pulling a U.S. move: blaming the immigrants for economic troubles.

This is one of the reasons a day without immigrants is being organized in Spain. Here will see some Spanish voices expressing what a day without immigrants would be like. Peep the mujer who said it would be great.

Also I’m wondering why we didn’t hear any actual immigrant voices?

Via / El Ecuatoriano

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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 [...]

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