Posts Tagged ‘Argentina’
Argentine taxi driver beaten to death after killing baby
12:18 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Controversia · Comments Off
2 Jan 2007
The new year in Argentina began with a scandalous occurrence — first the death of a baby who was hit by a taxi, then the murder of the taxi driver by an angry mob:
Minutes before 2007 got started, a woman with a 8 month-old baby was run over by a taxi. The child died shortly after, according to Clarín.After the accident, the driver was chased by a group of neighbors led by the father of the baby.
When he was caught, they beat him and stoned him to death, and he died in the hospital a few hours later.
Police are investigating the case and have arrested the father of the baby. They also are trying to confirm whether the taxi driver was drunk, although witnesses say he hit the victims when he swerved to miss a pothole.
This is a huge story in Argentina right now. If you read Spanish, check out Clarin’s coverage, which includes video.
Via / 20 Minutos
Buenos Aires opens internet cafes for street kids
2:55 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Education|Internet|society · 1 Comment
27 Sep 2006
I am not sure whether to applaud this or ask the question: “why internet cafes and not places for them to live?”:
The government of the Argentine capital inaugurated the first “cybercafe” for children and adolescents who live on the street, the first of five of these facilities expected to open in the city.More than a simple cafe with internet access or just a place where one can play games online, the new facility is a “learning and recreation” space to help better the living conditions of “these children that have lost almost everything,” said Jorge Telerman, Mayor of Buenos Aires, during the opening of the cafe.
According to Spain’s 20 Minutos, these cafes will offer, on top of internet access, recreational and educational activities, and light meals.
The idea for this project was supposedly born from data that showed that homeless children in Argentina spent 60% of the money they receive panhandling on cybercafes.
While on the surface it seems like a great idea — providing internet access, and therefore access to information, education, and the world in general to these children — my mind can’t help but wonder why more basic needs aren’t covered first, like a home, foster parents, meals and education.
What do you think? Is this a good idea or does it overlook these children’s well-being?
Via / 20 Minutos
Image via 26Noticias.com.ar
Wisteria Lane goes south
5:49 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Colombia|TV|World · 3 Comments
14 Aug 2006
The title of this post doesn’t refer to the fact that Desperate Housewives, while a huge hit in its first season, is being snubbed by viewers in its second. It refers to the fact that while American viewers might see the show as a snoozefest, not so the case with viewers in Latin American countries, such as Argentina.
The New York Times reported yesterday that as a result of the show’s success in Latin America (it’s broadcast on the Sony Channel with Spanish subtitles), Latin American producers are purchasing the rights to recreate the show in localized versions for their countries, all to be called “Amas de casa desesperadas”.
Three versions of the series are under way, each tailored to a different area of Latin America. And three additional productions are a possibility, said Mr. Barbosa and executives here, depending on the outcome of discussions with networks in Mexico, Venezuela and Chile. First off the ground is the Argentine version, which will also be shown in neighboring countries including Uruguay and Paraguay and is scheduled to go on the air in six months or so. After that comes a production in Portuguese for Brazil and a second Spanish-language version made for Colombia and Ecuador.
I am skeptical. The most interesting thing about this article to me was the following:
…in the Colombian version of the series, the nouveau riche couple Carlos and Gabrielle Solis will be Ecuadoreans. “They are the ethnic couple on the block, the equivalent of Hispanics in that society,” Mr. Barbosa said.
I’ll hold my tongue, but your thoughts on that are certainly welcome.
Related: Desesperadas a la argentina (Clarin, in Spanish)
Via / The New York Times
Argentine asks government for a vasectomy
12:01 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Family|Health|Politics|sex · Comments Off
9 Aug 2006
I had no idea that vasectomies were illegal in Argentina, until I read that some guy that seriously needs to get one is now petitioning his government for permission to do so:
An Argentine who is 44 years old and has 37 children has asked the courts to allow him to have a vasectomy because he doesn’t want to keep procreating.The case of Cleto Ruiz Diaz has all of the ingredients to attract the media, but it’s gotten more notoriety because the Argentine parliament is close to giving a green light to letting men and women have operations to eliminate their ability to reproduce.
According to Montevideo.com/EFE, the man works as a painter, and doesn’t have the money to buy contraceptives because
he says that “buying a box of condoms would be mean ‘leaving his family without a kilo of sugar’”. He also says he cannot control himself to abstain when he falls in love with a woman, and that he lived for 14 years with three wives under the same roof.
Argentine director dies suddenly
1:02 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Celebrities|Movies · Comments Off
30 Jun 2006
Acclaimed Argentine director Fabian Bielinsky, 47, died in his sleep on Wednesday in Sao Paulo of what appears to have been a heart attack.
Bielinsky was, after directing only two feature length films, one of Argentina’s most acclaimed directors, most notable for his film Nueve Reinas:
…winner of 21 international awards, and later for the police story El Aura (2005), for which he had just won six awards at the Cóndor de Plata awards ceremony.
Raíces: Eladia Blásquez
5:14 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Features|history|Music|Raices · Comments Off
7 Apr 2006
Raíces is a VL Friday feature saluting Latino music icons of days gone by.
Tango isn’t necessarily the most popular music among Americans in my age group. I think I’m one of the few people I know who realizes that tango isn’t just a dance involving a lot of fishnet stockings and sultry gazes. Tango is poetry, and in my opinion is the musical genre that comes closest to being more literature than entertainment. Its lyrics speak of the culture of which it was born — that of the arrabales of Buenos Aires — mysterious to the rest of us and beloved by its sons and daughters for their beautiful grimness and for embodying the porteño spirit in a code that only a native son can truly understand.
Tango has had many, many incredible poets — alas, too many to name. But one that has to come to mind when talking about the spirit of the arrabal; of the poverty that shapes art, the despair that begets the sublime, is Eladia Blásquez.
Argentina: 30 Years Later
2:05 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|Argentina|Politics · Comments Off
27 Mar 2006
Where were you thirty years ago? I was just being born. Seems like a long time ago that an important chapter in the history of Latin America was being written, but the fact is it’s still as fresh in the minds of many as if it were yesterday.
On Friday, Argentines commemorated the 30th anniversary of the military coup that would mark the beginning of a dictatorship and claim the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people. It all started on a normal day in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo, a porteño symbol and a place whose name has become synonomous with oppression and death.
Thitry years ago, on March 24 1976, a military commitee headedup by Jorge Rafael Videla and comprised of Admiral Eduardo Massera and Brigadier Ramón Orlando Agosti gained power through a coup de etat.
There began a dictatorship that is said to have claimed between 9000 and 30,000 victims, and that didn’t end until October of 1983, with the election of Raúl Alfonsín as president of Argentina.
The little wine industry that could
7:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina|Food|Marketing · Comments Off
22 Mar 2006
You already vivir Latino, why not drink Latino?
Have you ever had Argentine wine? It’s consistently good and best of all, very affordable. I’m not ashamed to say that I had a $5 bottle of excellent vino argentino the other night.
Argentina wants more foreigners to come to know and love its wines, and is working on ways to make that happen. One way is to kick it up a notch, and make what will be considered world class wine:
”We’ve already shown the world that Argentina is capable of producing pleasing wines at a reasonable price,” said Bressia. “Now Argentina must consolidate its position as a maker of wines of great prestige . . . we can make the highest-quality wines.”
Increasing the presence of Latin American brands in the United States is something I get excited about. Small companies in countries like Argentina actually making an impact on a competitive American industry such as wine is great both for the consumer in that it opens him or her up to the diversity of another culture’s way of doing things, and great for the economy of the exporting country.
Here’s to Argentine wine busting down the doors in the U.S. Salud!
Via / Miami Herald
Southern Cone Making Strides for la Mujeres
3:55 pm By Maegan La Mala · Argentina|Brazil|Chile · Comments Off
16 Jan 2006
Brazil currently writing legislation which would legalize abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy without restriction and up to 20 weeks in cases of rape and in all circumstances to protect a woman’s health or if the fetus is not viable. Currently abortions are allowed only in cases of rape or when a woman’s life is in danger.
Argentine homemakers are now eligible for retirement pensions from the state. According to a presidential decree homemakers will be able to receive retirement benefits and will be exempted from the rule that they contribute financially to the pension program for at least 30 years, normally required of paid workers.
And yesterday, Chile elected its first female president, Michelle Bachelet. The Socialist single mother beat, with over 60% of the vote, conservative billionaire Sebastián Piñera.
Via/ Women’s eNews & The New York Times
Epitafios: Written in Stone as Critical Hit
4 Oct 2005
I honestly didn’t know what I was going to watch on television after the series finale of HBO’s Six Feet Under. Thank Dios for HBO Latino’s Epitafios. Epitafios is the first HBO dramatic series filmed in Spanish and in Latin America (Argentina to be specific), using Latino actors. The 13 part series was produced along with Argentino television and film production company Pol-Ka. The HBO Latino website describes the show:
Five years after a fatal hostage situation at a school left 4 students dead, the people involved with the incident are starting to turn up murdered. All clues point to someone’s master plan of killing everyone involved. Can an ex-policeman and a psychologist, both involved with the original hostage situation, stop it before it’s too late.
One of the things that attracted me to the thriller series was its rootedness in South America. There are small details in scenes that place the heart pounding (and sometimes gory) action in the Southern Hemisphere. There is the manner of speaking, mannerisms, and props in the background.
HBO Latino doesn’t want to keep anyone from enjoying the show because of language barriers so it offers repeats of the show complete with English subtitles (although the translations aren’t perfect). There is a multimedia website that is as much a rompecabezas as the show is and shouldn’t be played with if you are the type of person who hates spoilers because it revealed to me many of the plot twists. Sin embargo I can’t wait till next Monday night at 9 pm to catch the next episode.
The show is also repeated throughout the week and available on-demand for those with digital cable. Check your local listings. Epitafios is to die for.
Hola!
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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