Archive for the ‘Spain’ Category
Spain Says it Won’t Abide by Harsh EU Immigration Directive
10:49 am By Maegan La Mala · Dominican Republic|Immigration|Politics|Spain · Comments Off
8 Aug 2008The Vice President of Spain, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega cleared up any possible doubt about her country’s stance on Europe’s harsh new immigration directive — “The Return Directive” — which would criminalize immigrants and allow them to be held up to 18 months before deportation. Speaking at a roundtable on immigration in the Dominican Republic — and flanked by her party’s Secretary of Integration, a Dominican immigrant and naturalized Spanish citizen, Bernarda Jiménez — De la Vega made things perfectly clear:
De La Vega said “[The Directive] has not been applied and will never be applied,” and asked that Latinos looking to immigrate to Spain “remain calm”, stating that Spain’s national laws provide for a maximum of 40 days detention if immigrants are picked up by authorities. In a serious tone, De La Vega ended her statement by saying “Is that clear?” She also urged potential immigrants not to worry about the economic slowdown which has left many in the construction business — a key sector for immigrants — jobless because Spain is poised to “continue growing”, insinuating that foreign labor will still be in demand.
Wow, sounds exactly like when our politicians talk about immigration, right?
Via / Público
Lopez Obrador to Spanish President: Butt Out of Mexico
10:31 am By Maegan La Mala · Controversia|Latin America|mexico|Politics|Spain|World · 2 Comments
4 Aug 2008
Remember Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the defeated candidate for the Mexican presidency and self-proclaimed “legitimate president”? Well he’s still around and while he isn’t the actual president, he’s getting involved in policy as if he were one. AMLO’s telling Spanish president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to butt out of Mexican issues, after the prez showed interest in talks of energy reform in Mexico, particularly the privatization of the oil industry.
AMLO says that recent proposals by the PAN ruling party to privatize petroleum will be met with great public resistance because
“…we don’t want foreign masters! The only master here is the Mexican people!”
To the Spanish president — who is visiting Mexico for a meeting with Mexican president Felipe Calderon — AMLO had a curt message:
“They [the Spaniards] shouldn’t get involved. I would tell Rodríguez Zapatero to stop sticking his nose in Mexico…”
AMLO, on a tour of 70 Mexican cities, rounded off his speeches with an ominous message about the dangers of privatization of oil, saying that if it happens “it will be very difficult to get it back. We don’t want to be a colony.”
It’s a bit strange to hear a leftist would-be leader complaining about the Latin American left’s BFF in Europe, Zapatero, but the fact is that the bad blood goes back at least a year. Back in July of last year, AMLO’s camp expressed “repudiation” for a visit from Zapatero because they still hadn’t forgiven him for congratulating Calderon on his victory before all the votes were counted.
Via / La Jornada
Chavez and the King: Reunited and it Feels So Good
9:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Latin America|Politics|Spain|Venezuela|World · Comments Off
25 Jul 2008Who says broken relationships can’t be mended? Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his archenemy King Juan Carlos of Spain are putting the past behind them and mending fences today in Mallorca, in one of the most anticipated meetings of the year:
The best part is that in this encounter, instead of a “Por qué no te callas?!” there was a “Por qué no vamos a la playa?” The president and the king joked around as Chavez proposed a jaunt to the beach.
Or maybe that’s not the best part. The best part is that Spanish press is reporting that King Juan Carlos gave Chavez one of those famous “por qué no te callas?!” t-shirts!!!
Via / El Pais
Latino Immigrants to Europe Use Plastic Surgery to Fit In
7:51 am By Maegan La Mala · Bizarro|Latin America|race|society|Spain · 3 Comments
25 Jul 2008
File under self-hatred a lo Europeo. Plastic surgeons in Spain are reporting a barrage of requests from Central American and South American immigrants wanting to undergo plastic surgery to make themselves look “more European”. According to doctors around 2500 immigrants submit themselves to procedures such as rhinoplasty (nose jobs) and other types of surgery to modify their faces.
“What they want is for people not to recognize them as foreigners and go unnoticed,” explains plastic surgeon José María Palacín.
The surgery is said to cost around 5000 euros (around $7800) and 20 Minutos reports that the majority of immigrants that request the surgery are Ecuadorian and Colombians living in Madrid.
This is of course a terrible thing, but it also makes me stop and think: what is happening in Madrid that makes immigrants feel the need to go to these lengths to “go unnoticed”?
Via / 20 Minutos
Hugo Chavez Needs a Hug
2:44 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Politics|Spain|TV|Venezuela · Comments Off
21 Jul 2008Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is all about making up lately. First he becomes friendly with Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe, and now he wants to hug it out with King Juan Carlos, the same King Juan Carlos who told Chavez : Why don’t you just shut up aka Porque no te callas.
Somehow, porque no me das un abrazo isn’t as catchy or reggaeton worthy.
Via / The Latin Americanist
The True King of the Mountians
11:36 am By Maegan La Mala · france|Spain|Sports · Comments Off
21 Jul 2008
This year’s Tour de France is the most competitive (and hence, most interesting) it’s been in years. I admit to being obsessed with this year’s tour (it has nothing to do with large groups of men in skin tight suits pumping up huge hills. I swear.), especially with my main man, Alejandro Valverde and his team Caisse d’Epargne. Valverde and Caisse d’Epargne have both taken some hits this Tour: Valverde began the Tour with a huge crash and Caisse d’Epargne just lost one of it’s strongest members (Oscar Pereiro) to a horrible crash. But Valverde has vowed to fight on. And in yesterday’s stage, he did exactly that, fighting through the uphill climbs in the Alps to move up into 9th place from 14th. The best part was when Tour announcers breathlessly proclaimed Valverde was “biking like the true Spanish King of the Mountain he is.”
I love anybody who can be proclaimed a ‘true’ King of the Mountain. Mhm.
Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain Claims Life
10:15 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Spain|Sports · Comments Off
7 Jul 2008I don’t get the Running of the Bulls, an extreme annual sport in Pamplona, Spain that involves thousands running away from charging bulls let loose on the street. Maybe it’s revenge for all those bulls killed in bullfights (which I don’t get either). Actually it’s partially a religious feast, celebrating San Fermin
This year’s running of the bulls has already claimed one life, but not from a bull. The man apparently fell from an ancient wall that circles the historic center of the northeastern town. Was he drunk? Was he pushed? The body, found with an Irish issued bank card, had been laying dead for hours before it was found.
Spain Beats Germany, Wins Eurocup
5:34 pm By Maegan La Mala · Germany|Spain|Sports|World · 1 Comment
29 Jun 2008What no one thought was possible has happened. Spain is the European champion for fútbol, defeating Germany 1-0 in a stressful but beautiful match. Here’s the goal that won the match, landed in the first half of the game
Most people didn’t believe that Spain would even make it to the quarter finals, much less defeat a team as strong as Germany. The last time Spain won the Eurocup was 44 years ago, and after the game President Zapatero commented that he is the first Spanish president to see a Eurocup win in a democratic Spain.
Via / YouTube
Nearly 2 Million Latinos Living in Spain
8:39 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Latin America|Spain|World · Comments Off
25 Jun 2008
For hundreds of thousands of Latin American immigrants that leave their home countries each year — and in spite of what Lou Dobbs might have you believe — the first choice in destination isn’t the United States but Spain. A recently released report estimates that 1.8 million people of Latin American origin now live in Spain, and the 5 largest communities are Ecuadorans, Colombians, Argentines, Bolivians and Peruvians.
Immigration to Spain is said to be having a positive impact on the countries of origin, which are receiving 15% of immigrants’ salaries in the form of “remesas” sent to family back home.
Up until now, the acceptance of immigrants into the Spanish system has been pretty open. But earlier this month, as a result of a harsh economic crisis in Spain, the government announced incentives for unemployed immigrants to return to their countries of origin.
Via / El Universal
Kids Sent to Institution Because of Cell Phone Addiction
12:56 pm By Maegan La Mala · children|Lifestyle|society|Spain|Tech · Comments Off
17 Jun 2008
Two Spanish children, aged 12 and 13, have been sent to a mental hospital because of their addiction to cell phones. BBC Mundo reports that the two boys were sent to the institution because they were “unable to do normal activities without their cell phones.” According to the parents, the children’s grades were affected by the excessive cell phone use and their conduct was also severely impacted.
The children will be receiving treatment in the Children’s Mental Health Clinic in Lleida (Catalunya) for three months in an attempt to get them off the cell phone habit.
The BBC reports that the boys had been showing signs of addiction to their cells for 18 months prior, but the parents had not intervened.
Maybe I’m old school, but do we really need a treatment program for this? How about just taking the cell phones away?
By the way, it’s not just kids who are addicted to cell phones in Spain. In a country of 44 million people, there are 50 million cell phones — more phones than people.
Via / BBC Mundo
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