Daily Headlines: October 28, 2013

* Argentina: Opposition factions made big gains in yesterday’s local elections and may have “snuffed out” any chance of amending the constitution to allow President Cristina Fernandez to run for a third term.

* U.S.: St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltrán was named as the recipient of this year’s Roberto Clemente Award in recognition of his charitable efforts.

* Nicaragua: The Nicaraguan government issued a “red alert” for a dengue epidemic that has killed at least twelve people this year.

* Colombia: The FARC guerillas “quietly” released a former U.S. army private to Red Cross representatives over four months after he was detained in southeastern Colombia.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Reuters; Fox News Latino; Nicaragua Dispatch; USA TODAY

Today’s Video: Ballplayer, pioneer, humanitarian

This week’s video theme of notable Puerto Rican figures continues with undoubtedly one of the greatest Latino baseball players of all time: Roberto Clemente.

The outfielder played eighteen years with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a career filled with honors including twelve Gld Gloves and two Worlfd Sreies titles. Due to his being a dark-skinned Latino, Clemente faced the same racism and vitriol aimed at African-American ballplayers. Through it all Clemente forged ahead and even reached the 3000 hit plateau in his final regular season at-bat.

Clemente spent most of his off-season doing charity work and it was this humanitarian spirit that led him to help Nicaraguan earthquake victims in December 1972. Tragically, he died on New Year’s Eve of that year as a passenger of a plane overloaded with relief supplies. About six months after his passing, Clemente became the first Latin American ballplayer to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Clemente’s legacy lives on today as one can see in this video clip:

• Tuesday - Pedro Pietri
• Monday - Hector Lavoe
  

Online Sources- Baseball Hall of Fame, YouTube, The Latin Americanist

Pujols gets Clemente Award

Dominican native and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, Albert Pujols, was named the 2008 Major League Baseball Roberto Clemente Award recipient over the weekend.

The award is given annually "in recognition of the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual contribution to his team"

According to MLB's website, this award was "first bestowed by MLB in 1971, and it was renamed in Clemente's honor in '73 and bestowed each year since." Clemente, who was born in Puerto Rico, a was the first Latin-born player to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Known for his skill as well as his heart, his career was cut short by his untimely death in a 1972 plane crash while attempting to transport relief supplies to an earthquake-stricken Nicaragua.

Pujols himself was emotional in his acceptance speech: "Like I was 15 years ago, a poor little boy in the Dominican Republic, my dream was just to be a professional baseball player... At the end of the day, when all is said and done playing this game ... it doesn't matter what you did in the field, it's what you do off the field and the lives that you touch off the field."

Chevy, the award sponsor, will be donating $30,000 and a 2009 Chevy Traverse to the Pujols Family Foundation, which helps families with children that have Down's Syndrome (Pujols and his wife have a 10-year old with Down's Syndrome).

Source: Major League Baseball