9:24 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Books|Culture|Latin America|Obama|Politics|Venezuela · 1 Comment
19 Apr 2009The Eduardo Galeano book that Hugo Chavez gave President Obama yesterday, “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent”, has gone from an Amazon rank of 54,295 to number 2 today. Hey, not bad in just over 24 hours, and if this gets Americans to understand the history of the U.S. and Europe in Latin America, all the better.
Check out the interview with Chavez above where he talks about giving the book to Obama and how apparently awesome his meeting with the U.S. president was.
Via / AP
3:37 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Latin America|Obama|Politics|Venezuela|World · 2 Comments
18 Apr 2009While Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might have called President Obama a “poor ignoramous” last month, he appears to be changing his tune — at least a little. At the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago last night, the South American leader had something very different to say about his U.S. counterpart:
“I think it was a good moment,” Chavez said about their initial encounter. “I think President Obama is an intelligent man, compared to the previous U.S. president.”
OK, so he’s not calling him Einstein, but he isn’t calling him ignorant either.
In the meeting, Chavez gave Obama the Eduardo Galeano book, “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” (video after the jump…check out Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s reaction when that happens). And if you’re wondering if Obama took the hint, not right away. AP reports that he thought Chavez was giving him his own book and wanted to give Huguito one of his, too. Oh, well. Understanding comes poco a poco.
Read more…
6:49 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Cuba|Latin America|Obama|Politics|Puerto Rico · 2 Comments
17 Apr 2009
A poet friend of mine invited me to join a Facebook Group called , “AMERICA” is not U.S.A. AMERICA is the name for a whole continent”. This US-centrism has been a peeve of mine for at least ten years now, specifically from when I lived in Chile and found myself in the very difficult position of defending my Latina/Puerto Rican identity (Yes, Kai I’m talking about being Rican again, sigh).
Now the idea of who is “America” comes up again against the context of The Summit of the Americas, which started yesterday in Trinidad. Love him or hate him, President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua raised a good point at the start of the Summit, saying:
“It is not of the Americas , because Cuba is missing, Puerto Rico is missing,”
So how can you have a Summit of the Americas without two nations facing important challenges rooted in colonialism?
Read more…
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.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter