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
9:46 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil|children|Health|Religion|Women · 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.
2:04 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil|children|Health|Religion · 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
7:11 am By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|Culture|Latin America|race|society · Comments Off
10 Feb 2009In honor of Black History Month, are a couple more videos focusing on an element of Afro-Latino culture. This time we focus on the plight of blacks in Brazil, and the reality of a nation that on the surface appears to be colorblind, but where the legacy of slavery remains.
The first video, from Al Jazeera, focuses on the hardships still faced by black Brazilians in Bahía. The second, from PBS, follows university students attempting to “qualify as black” in order to gain access to university in Brasilia.
Enjoy!
Via / Al Jazeera
It’s been too long since there’s been some Brazilian sounds on VL, so to lighten up your Tuesday afternoon, I give you a tune you’re bound to love (though the video could be more compelling): Bandeira by Zeca Baleiro. Lyrics in Portuguese after the jump (beautiful!)
4:25 pm By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|GLBT|Latin America|society · Comments Off
21 Aug 2008
A major move in the right direction in Brazil with regard to trans rights: the government has decreed that it will subsidize all gender reassignment procedures for its citizens:
The decree was published in the official bulletin and recognizes sex changes as a “right”, as was defined in a 2007 decision which the government denied a reversal, in spite of protests by conservative and religious groups.
The only requirements for the subsidized procedure is that the patient be over 21, and have undergone 2 years of psychological evaluation, which means that the first procedures will not take place until 2010.
Spain’s 20 Minutos reports that the Brazilian Health Ministry projects that without the economic barrier, the procedure might be requested by one out of every 10,000 Brazilians.
Via / 20 Minutos
2:00 pm By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|Controversia|Sports · Comments Off
15 May 2008Brazilian swimming star Rebeca Gusmao, widely expected to represent her country in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, has been suspended by the International Swimming Federation from the sport for two years for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Testosterone was apparently found in Gusmao’s system after a test at the Panamerican Games in November of last year, and her suspension is retroactive to that date. According to Venezuela’s El Universal, as a result, Gusmao has lost the 4 medals she won at the Rio Games, as well as 2 won for the 50 and 100 meter categories, which have been given to her Venezuelan competitor, Arlene Semeco.
Dubbed “the giant” because of her impressive body mass, it is believed that her particular body type and rapid change in appearance (that’s her before, check out her ‘after’ picture after the jump…if you dare) can be attributed to the use of testosterone. Just days ago, Gusmao said that she would go to Beijing and bring a medal back for Brazil, saying “No athlete is psychologically stronger than I am, and no athlete wants to win as much as me.”
12:35 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Controversia|GLBT|Media|sex|Sports · Comments Off
30 Apr 2008
Seems famous people paying for sex is the media story of the moment, with the men involved being made the center of the story and the women/sex workers involved being pushed further into the margins at best, demonized at worst. The latest is futbol player Ronaldo being the latest, claiming that three transwomen are extorting him.
The 2002 World Cup winner picked up three prostitutes.
When they all booked into a motel, the AC Milan striker discovered that the prostitutes were in fact men.
According to Rio police, he alleges that the transvestites then tried to extort money from him.
7:42 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Brazil|Environment · Comments Off
14 Feb 2008
Not too long ago , I wrote about the alarming rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Well finally the Brazilian government has taken some action, raiding 8 illegal sawmills and confiscating 10,000 cubic meters of lumber.
Police began moving in on the sawmills in the town of Tailandia on Monday.The town, which is home to dozens of sawmills, is in the south of Para state, one of the worst-hit areas by Amazon deforestation at the hands of loggers.
Hopefully this wasn’t a one-off of the Brazilian government and they will continue to make sure that more of this precious resource is not lost.
Via / BBC
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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