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Archive for the ‘Spain’ Category

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

The Oscar’s Spanish Language Moment

23 Feb 2009

Actually there was one Spanish language moment right before Penelope Cruz won for best supporting actress when Angelica Houston, who was charged with giving Pe her nomination tribute, finished off with a “Felicitaciones”.

“This is not going to be 45 seconds, I can say that right now. Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one. Thank you so much to the Academy

I want to share this with my fellow nominees and with the amazing ensemble of actors that I had the privilege to work with in this movie. Thank you, Woody, for trusting me with this beautiful character.

Thank for you having written over all these years some of the greatest characters for women. And I cannot talk about great female characters without thanking my friend Pedro Almodóvar for having made me part of so many of his adventures. Thank you, Bigas Luna, Fernando Trueba, for giving me my first movies. Thank you, Harvey Weinstein. I wanted to dedicate this to my parents and to my brother and sister, to my friend Robert Carlo, who is not with us anymore, and to everyone who has helped me from the beginning and you know who you are and I thank you from my heart.

I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream. And I, always on the night of the Academy Awards, I stay up to watch the show and I always felt that this was, this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world because art, in any form, is and has been and will always be our universal language and we should do everything we can, everything we can, to protect its survival.

So I thank you so much and I have to say something in Spanish, because everyone? Todos lo que, desde España, ahora están compartiendo éste momento conmigo, y sientan que esto también es de ellos, se los dedico, y a todos los actores de mi país. Muchisimas gracias. Thank you so much.”

Via / Lossip

Penelope Cruz Wants Her Damned Oscar

3 Feb 2009

This past Sunday Penelope Cruz picked up a Goya award (see above video), her country’s version of the Oscars for her performance in Woody Allen’s Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona. While most people are pleased to just be nominated, la Pe told Liz Smith she wants more than that:

I congratulate Penélope again on her nomination. I ask, because it’s the tiresome but necessary question, if it really matters to her if she wins. “Hmmm … what can I say? It’s not a lie that it is an honor to be nominated, and if I don’t win, I won’t be any less honored, but … look, ask anyone who is nominated. No matter what you think you feel about awards, when you’re there, sitting in that seat, with those people, all dressed up — of course you want to win!”

At least she’s honest! I personally don’t think she’ll win (though I thought her performance was fabulous)…too much stiff competition in that category.

P.S. What is up with the intro to that video?

Via / wowowow.com

From Inside Guantánamo: What Life is Really Like in the Soon-to-be-Gone Prison

28 Jan 2009

If there is anybody out there who still has any doubts as to whether the U.S.’s shameful hellhole Guantánamo should be closed, ex-prisoner Lahcen Ikassrien has some things to tell you. Ikassrien, a Spanish resident and Morrocan national, was a prisoner at Gitmo for nearly 4 years after being captured in Afghanistan and accused of being a supporter of the Taliban.

If you understand Spanish, have a look at the video above, in which Ikassrien describes in detail what his life (if you can call it that) was like during his detention (among the torture, being laced with gasoline and set fire). I’ve also translated parts of his interview with Spain’s Telecinco here because I think it’s of interest to our readers. This kind of testimony doesn’t reach us through U.S. mainstream media:

What is the before and after for Lahcen Ikassrien, after living 3 and a half years in hell?

I am a Muslim and I will continue to be a Muslim. I don’t force anyone to enter my territory nor to accept my beliefs. I don’t have problems with Jews or with Christians nor with anyone of any other belief. But I ask for respect for Muslims because people try to make others believe that we are terrorists or that women are forced to wear ‘hiyab’ and that’s not true. I ask for respect.

Friday Field Trip : Let’s Go to the Prado!

2:04 pm By Maegan La Mala · Arts|Spain · Comments Off

23 Jan 2009

Thanks to Google (and seriously, these days Google is in everything), we can visit some of the master works of art held in the Prado Museum of Madrid, Spain without leaving your seat.

The Prado Museum has become the first art gallery in the world to provide access to and navigation of its collection in Google Earth. Using the advanced features of Google Earth art historians, students and tourists everywhere can zoom in on and explore the finer details of the artist’s brushwork that can be easily missed at first glance.

I love Spanish art and was lucky enough to visit the Prado once upon a time years ago. It’s nice to see some of my favorite works like Las Meninas and El Jardin de las Delicias

My only complaint is that you can only really look at 14 works of art and there are plenty more worth looking at pero it’s a good start. Let’s see if more museums go virtual.

Visit the Prado here.

Will Smith Gets Spanish

13 Jan 2009

Actor Will Smith was in Spain and stopped by a ridiculous show called El Hormiguero to promote his new movie, which I have no idea what it’s called in English, but is apparently titled “7 Almas” in Spanish. In the video above you’ll see Smith follow the conversation of the host via simultaneous translation, answer a couple questions in Spanish, cry about the Obama victory, and sing a flamenco song en español. Too much weird content for me here folks! I have to admit I pretty much despise him in his natural state, but since he’s so good-natured in Spanish he seems almost…ALMOST palatable.

Via / TV y Espectaculos

Flood of Cuban “Grandchildren” into Spain

31 Dec 2008

Spain announced last week the opportunity for mass nationalization of the grandchildren of Spanish citizens who were forced to flee to Cuba during the Spanish Civil War, and the response from Cubans fitting this description has been overwhelming.

Cuban cardiologist Norberto Díaz Reyes will be a Spaniard in 15 days. And he hopes to be in the “madre patria” in less than 3 months. “I always wanted to return to my grandparents’ country. I would like to live and work in Spain for many years”, he says, with a smile wider than the Havana harbor. Norberto, 38, was the first person in his country to take advantage of the so-called “Grandchildren Law”, part of the “Historial Memory Law”, which, starting yesterday and lasting for two years, will let some 150,000 Cuban descendents of emigrants and exiles, obtain Spanish citizenship.

150,000 may not sound like a lot, but that’s only a fraction of what the Spanish government is expecting. In looking at data, it appears that there should be a lot more people on their way to the Spanish consulate in Havana: in just the first third of the last century, over one million Spaniards had emigrated to Cuba. Another piece of data is that in 1905 there were over 100,000 Spaniards from Galicia — just one region of Spain – living on the island. These numbers point to a possible avalanche of petitions for citizenship, and the Spanish consulate has hired an extra 35 people just to deal with all of them.

El País reports that some people waiting in line (for days, some for weeks and months)could care less about living in Spain; what they want is a European passport so they can get to Miami.

Similar lines are forming outside of consulates around Latin America, such as the one in Buenos Aires, where the Spanish government has hired 150 extra employees to handle the demand.

Via / El País

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