Daily Headlines: February 26, 2010

* U.S.: Renowned Latina actress Rita Moreno was one of twenty artists receiving the National Medal of Arts at the White House yesterday.

* Honduras: Ex-president Manuel Zelaya accused Honduran authorities of ''seeking personal revenge” by bringing up new corruption charges against him.

* Puerto Rico: The director of the U.S. federal housing agency's Puerto Rican division was arrested on corruption charges.

* Mexico: Six suspects were arrested by Mexico City police in relation to the January shooting of Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas.

Image – SFGate.com
Online Sources- SFGate.com, New York Times, CNN, RTT News, The Latin Americanist

Today’s Video: Marta maravilhoso!

On Monday, FIFA presented its awards for the top male and female soccer players of 2008. To nobody’s surprise, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo won top men’s honors by an ample margin over Argentine Lionel Messi and Spain’s Fernando Torres.

In the other non-surprise Brazilian star midfielder Marta won female Player of the Year for the third straight year. The 21-year-old was stellar in helping Brazil capture the silver medal in last year’s Summer Olympics as well as second place during the most recent Women’s World Cup.

In addition, Marta announced that she would bring her style of futebol to the States by joining the Los Angeles Sol for the Women's Professional Soccer’s inaugural season.

Below is a video clip of one of Marta’s best goals; an absolute golazo against the U.S. in the 2007 Women’s World Cup semis:

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Los Angeles Times, UPI, AHN, YouTube

Jesús Moroles receives arts honors

Sculptor Jesús Moroles was one of several figures honored with this year’s National Medals of the Arts and Humanities. Along with the likes of actress Olivia de Havilland and comic book legend Stan Lee, Moroles received his recognition during a White House ceremony yesterday.

The Texan-based Moroles is best-known for his granite sculptures and monuments including the "Floating Mesa Fountain" for the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico and the "Houston Police Officers Memorial." According to the National Endowment of the Arts, Moroles’ artwork is renowned worldwide:

Moroles has more than 2,000 works in place in China, Egypt, France, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States, in museum, corporate, public and private collections. To date Moroles's work has been included in over one hundred and sixty one-person exhibitions and one hundred and ninety group exhibitions worldwide. Among his distinctions, Moroles is a member of the Board of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, and recipient of the 2007 Texas Medal of the Arts Award for Visual Arts by the Texas Cultural Trust.

Moroles’ work is a family affair according to his official bio; his parents, brother, sister, and brother-in-law serve as “integral parts” of the Moroles Studio in Rockport, Texas.

Image- Ovation TV
Sources- whitehouse.gov, New York Times, National Endowment of the Arts, moroles.org

Bloggers of the world unite!

This week’s post on blogs will briefly look at three nominees in the Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog category for this year’s Weblog Awards. While we commend and congratulate all the nominees, the following trio of blogs is exceptional and should be read as often as possible:

Babalu Blog

An acerbic anti-Castro blog that we commend for its views even if we don’t always agree with it’s content. Politics aside, every so often they will include posts on Cuban cuisine that easily makes one’s mouth water.

Chileno

This blog provides very acute observations on Chilean culture. Topics range from the legacy of ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet to checking out which pharmacies in Santiago sell birth control pills.

Guanabee

The oversimplified description of this blog is a Latino version of Gawker. Yet this blog is more than that in its views of Latino life in the U.S. and “beyond the barrio” in areas such as gossip, media, and current events in the Americas.

Click here to vote for which blog from the Americas should be the crème de la crème .

Sources- Babalu Blog, Chileno, Guanabee, 2007 Weblog Awards