Daily Headlines: September 27, 2016

* Colombia: “In the name of the FARC, I sincerely apologize to all the victims of the conflict for any pain we may have caused during this war,” admitted rebel commander alias Timochenko as he and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a historic peace deal yesterday.

* Mexico: The Mexican peso, which has hit record lows over the last past week, has sharply rebounded following the United States (US) presidential debate on Monday night.

* Argentina: In a surprising move, former Argentina men’s national team coach Gerardo Martino was named as manager of Major League Soccer expansion club Atlanta United.

* Venezuela: According to a State Department spokesman, US Secretary of State John Kerry “spoke of our concern about the economic and political challenges that have affected millions of Venezuelans” after meeting President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Colombia's leftist FARC rebel force signed a historic peace accord with the government bringing the country a step closer to ending their half-century civil war.”)

Online Sources – Goal.com, Reuters, SBS, Fox News Latino

Late Uruguayan Author Galeano Receives State Honors

The late Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano will receive state honors usually reserved for deceased heads of state and ministers.

The body of the prolific writer who passed away on Monday due to lung cancer will be on view at the legislative chambers in Montevideo. Galeano will be displayed for at least seven hours today in the same hall where other important Uruguayan cultural figures also received honors after their deaths including Mario Benedetti and Carlos Páez Vilaró. In addition, senators from the ruling Frente Amplio bloc proposed a special session of Congress in recognition of the man who died at the 74.

“He was an intellectually brilliant and totally self-made man,” said ex-president José Mujica about Galeano. The current senator also praised the late author as “one of the few chosen people who in the last thirty to forty years dignified us as Latin Americans.”

Born in 1940, Eduardo German Hughes Galeano began his career by publishing cartoon under the pseudonym “Gius” based on the Spanish-language pronunciation of the name “Hughes”.  He would eventually drop that moniker as he began writing news articles while also working a series of other jobs.

In 1971, Galeano published what is considered as perhaps his most famous text: “Open Veins of Latin America.” The book strongly criticized what he viewed as the historic exploitation and ransacking of Latin America’s natural resources at the hands of foreign powers.  His work endeared him as a leftist intellectual but was also banned by in his native country as well as Chile and Argentina. Galeano was imprisoned following the 1973 military coup in Uruguay and forced into exile for nearly twelve years.

Interest in “Open Veins” pique once more in 2009 after then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez gave a copy to U.S. leader Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas and urged him to read it. Galeano generally backed the regimes of Chávez and current chief Nicolas Maduro including co-signing a letter denouncing Obama’s executive order imposing additional sanctions against the Maduro regime. But according to Ticio Escobar, Paraguayan anthropologist and friend of Galeano, the Uruguayan was upset that Chávez used “Open Veins” in order to attract media attention to himself.

Daily Headlines: May 30, 2013

* Brazil: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden continued his official trip to Brazil and urged the country to to further open its economy by encouraging free trade and ties to U.S. businesses.

* U.S.: Two former coaches filed a lawsuit against Major League Soccer team Chivas USA alleging that they were fired for not being Latino.

* Argentina: An Argentine prosecutor investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing claimed that Iran has “infiltrated” numerous Latin American countries with the purpose of carrying out “terrorist activities.”

* Mexico: A Mexican man became the first person in Latin America to successfully undergo a permanent implantation of an artificial heart.

Video Source – YouTube via user telesurenglish
 
Online Sources- Reuters; CNN; LAHT; BBC News

Lionel Messi off to MLS?

Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi is beloved by the millions of aficionados behind FC Barcelona who are in awe of his amazing skills. Yet they are likely to be shocked after Messi reportedly said that he will bolt Spain for the U.S.

According to several “sources”, Messi is rumored to leave Barca and join a Major League Soccer (MLS) team. During practice for tonight’s World Cup Qualifier against Bolivia, Messi allegedly told teammates that “if el mellizo can do it then why can’t I?” (This remark would be in reference to countryman Guillermo Barros Schelotto who played a key role in the Columbus Crew’s championship last season).

MLS commissioner Don Garber was unavailable for comment though some eyewitnesses said that he made drunken, disparaging remarks about David Beckham during an impromptu party yesterday. In addition, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has yet to speak out on the rumors despite his insistence last month that "Messi is not for sale and that's it.”

Messi’s transfer will likely fall under the Designated Player Rule where MLS teams are allowed to sign one player outside the approximately $2.3 million salary cap. Thus, Messi could join Barros Schelotto in Columbus or his fellow Argentine Claudio Lopez in Kansas City. Bookmakers in England placed their best odds on Messi joining Beckham at the Los Angeles Galaxy. Apparently, the bookies have anticipated that MLS execs will bend the rules and favor a star-studded squad in L.A.

Image- Daily Mail (The sight of Lio Messi in a Barca jersey may soon come to an end).
Online Sources- Times Online, SI.com, MLS, Wikipedia, ESPN.com

News briefs – Soccer

* South American giants Boca Juniors will play European champion A.C. Milan on Sunday for the World Club Cup championship. The Xeneizes won over the Italian squad in the 2003 Intercontinental Cup.

* Brazilian striker Kaka can add another award to his mantel; on Thursday he was named as World Player of the Year by World Soccer magazine. Argentina’s Lionel Messi came in second though he was named as Sports Illustrated Latino’s 2007 Sportsman of the Year.

* For some teams, 2007 has been the year of the underdog:

• Lanus won the latest Argentine championship for the first time in their 93-year history.
• Argentina's Arsenal upset Mexico’s Cub America to win the Copa Sudamericana.
• Provincial side San Jose won the Bolivian league title.
  
• Atlante captured the Mexican championship for the first time since 1993.
  
• La Equidad is in the finals of the Colombian league championship despite playing in their first year in the top division.
  

* Though players like Juan Pablo Angel and Cuauhtémoc Blanco flourished last season in Major League Soccer, one Latin American player brought in under the “Beckham Rule” has been an utter disappointment. FC Dallas dropped the option of resigning Brazil’s Denilson; the former international tallied one goal and eight assists during the 2007 season.

* Speaking of designated players and MLS, Argentina’s Olé reported that Juan Sebastian Veron will stay with domestic side Estudiantes de La Plata instead of accepting a “lucrative offer” from D.C. United. (Hat tip: Soccer by Ives).

Sources- Telgraph.co.uk, The Latin Americanist, Reuters UK, ESPN Soccernet, Goal.com, The Sports Network, Wikipedia, Soccer by Ives

Image- CNN (“Neri Cardozo celebrates after scoring the winner for Boca Juniors against Etoile Sahel”)

Commentary: “Becks” and the Latin American impact on American soccer

It’s easy to dismiss Major League Soccer (MLS) as a terribly inferior soccer league in a country where the game is of little importance compared to baseball or American football. Even with the arrival of David Beckham to the States some people doubt that his presence will have any sustainable impact to the league and to soccer in the U.S.

Despite the hoopla and hype surrounding Beckham, MLS has a card up its sleeve that may be very valuable for the league: the Designated Player Rule or “Beckham Rule.” The rule allows MLS teams to obtain at least one expensive (read: high-caliber) player without it affecting their salary caps and was created to avoid the bidding wars that led to the demise of the old North American Soccer League. The overall impact of the rule remains to be seen, but so far it has shown some promise in two Latin American players:

• Colombian Juan Pablo Angel (image) takes up one of the two DPR slots for the New York Red Bulls. (The other slot filled by a U.S. player of Argentine background- Claudio Reyna.) The former star for River Plate and Aston Villa was named MLS player of the month for May and June as he has tallied nine goals in only eleven games. Angel’s efforts were even rewarded during the MLS All-Star Game last Thursday where he received MVP honors.
• Mexican star Cuauhtémoc Blanco showed the promise anticipated by fans after he played in his debut with the Chicago Fire last night. "We saw a lot of his skills, his vision, his creativity” observed teammate Calen Carr as Blanco scored the Fire’s lone goal in a 1-1 tie in a friendly against Scotland’s Celtic FC.

“Beckham Rule” aside, several notable players from Latin America have made a serious impact on MLS since its inception over a decade ago from Carlos Valderrama and Raul Diaz Arce to Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Carlos Ruiz. Given MLS has problems to contend with, yet the impact of Latin American players in MLS along with the “Beckham Rule” could easily pay long-term dividends for the league.

Sources- Al Jazeera, MLSNET, Wikipedia, sover.net, Metrofanatic, SI.com, FOX Sports

Image- infobae.com