Daily Headlines: March 16, 2009

* Mexico: Members of the “emo” youth subculture continue to be harassed and discriminated according to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission.

* Bolivia: “It is time for the international community to reverse its misguided policy toward the coca leaf” wrote Bolivian president Evo Morales in a New York Times opinion piece published on Friday.

* Latin America: Over 300 journalists were killed in the Americas from 1987 to 2008 according to the Inter American Press Association.

* Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega and U.S. officials are at loggerheads over the withholding of $62 million in aid to the Central American nation.

Image- Rolling Stone
Online Sources- New York Times, eTaiwan News, miamiherald.com, The Latin Americanist, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: December 23, 2008

* Argentina: First it was the “emos” in Mexico. Now it’s the “flogger” youth in Argentina who are being harassed and abused for their lifestyle.

* Peru: Good news - President Alan Garcia’s approval rating has hit a six-month high. Bad news – It’s at a paltry 25%.

* Honduras: According to a U.N.-backed report drug violence has spiked in Honduras most likely due to spillover from Mexico.

* Brazil: France and Brazil will sign several agreements including one that would make Brazil the first Latin American country to have a nuclear-powered sub.

Image- DERF
Online Sources- Bloomberg, MSNBC, CNN, The Latin Americanist, LAHT

Emo harassment extends beyond Mexico

Recently, we mentioned a wave of attacks on young Mexicans who have immersed themselves in the “emo” culture. Unfortunately, the harassment of emo youth has shown up in other Latin American countries:

* According to NME.com, a Chilean TV station recently aired footage of a group of emos being attacked by skinheads.

* Several Peruvian bloggers have observed how the media tends to look down on emos including a “sketch of false cases” for a comedy program.

* A fifteen-year-old student was attacked and stabbed by a pair of his schoolmates in Bogota, Colombia. According to the mother of the victim, he was assaulted for being an emo:

“He dressed and had hair just like an emo. They said that he should stop being a chicken and fight like a man. But he always said that he wasn’t interested in arguing.” - [ed. Personal translation]

Sources (Spanish)- El Tiempo

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Global Voices Online, NME.com

Image- USA TODAY (“Jose Luis Caballero, a 21-year-old self-described "Emo," hangs out in the Insurgentes Traffic Circle in Mexico City on April 7. Caballero said he has been threatened recently amid frictions between Mexico's multiplying youth movements.”)

Mexican “emos” need Jesus, says bishop

In recent weeks there have been attacks against the growing number of Mexican youths who have wholeheartedly embraced the “emo” culture. Several hundred “metal fans and emo fans” fought in Querétaro, while emos and punkeros exchanged some not-so-nice pleasantries in Mexico City.

Why are these dark-clothed, morose youths being targeted? One journalist explains:

Anger against the emos has come from many quarters: punks and goths who think emos are ripping off their culture, homophobes who don’t find emos masculine enough, and those who simply seem threatened by a group that is so different than the mainstream.

Mexican emos have fought back in the form of demonstrations yet there are some public figures like a local VJ and mayor who have sympathized against the emos.

The bishop of Chiapas has even lent himself to the fray by claiming that the emos lack identity and are hopeless. They should follow the example of Jesus, said the bishop, who represents light and hope…strength and enthusiasm.”

Sources (English)- Sierra Vista Herald, Idolator, L.A. Daily, Uncovering Mexico

Sources (Spanish)- El Universal, La Jornada, Milenio

Image- Milenio