Daily Headlines: September 4, 2014

* Argentina: Argentina enacted a measure of revenge for losing the World Cup title match in July and thumped Germany 4-2 in an international friendly held in Dusseldorf.

* Brazil: A pair of polls released yesterday showed that President Dilma Rousseff gained support but is still expected to lose in a likely runoff to challenger Marina Silva.

* U.S.: A new medical study concluded that the sexual risk behaviors among young Latinos vary due to factors like language, country of birth and economic status.

* Venezuela: Producers of U.S. TV drama “Legends” apologized for a scene depicting the Venezuelan government buying nerve gas for using against opposition protesters.

Video Source – TyC Sports via YouTube

Online Sources – Deutsche Welle; The Latin Americanist; Reuters; The Guardian; Medical Xpress

Study: One in Three Young Brazilians Use Condoms

A study released last week found that some Brazilian youth engage in risky sexual and drug practices.

The report from the Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Federal University of São Paulo or the acronym UNIFESP), 34.1% of 1742 young Brazilians between the age of 14 and 25 either rarely or do not use condoms whenever they engage in sexual intercourse. Of this percentage, a slightly high percentage of young women prefer to not use contraception in comparison to young men (38% compared to roughly 33%).

The Brazilian Health Ministry advises people to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and undesirable pregnancies by using a condom.  As a result, health officials have distributed of millions of free prophylactics through campaigns such as the one in the video at the top of this post.  (About 493 million condoms were given away to young Brazilians in 2011 based on the Health Ministry data).

A March 2013 poll found that 83% of Brazilians favor condom use yet their distribution has come under fire from religious activists who back abstinence.

“In this carnival do not have sex. Keep yourself holy for marriage, because family is good,” said legislator Alexandre Padilha in 2012.

“Despite widespread awareness of condoms, 40% of young people in Brazil do not use condoms in all sexual relations, according to the health department,” mentioned a CNN.com article from 2012.

Today’s Video: The struggle against HIV

Today is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, a date in which we reflect on the millions of people affected by the disease.

There is the worry among some experts that complacency and the global economic crisis will lead to less treatment and prevention of the disease. Such is a concern in the Americas, particularly in developing countries marked by high poverty and few social opportunities. The Latino population in the U.S. continues to be susceptible after one Californian researcher found that Latinos wait the longest to get medical attention after being diagnosed.

Yet as we mentioned earlier this morning, there are numerous organizations still going strong in order to create awareness and education of the problems of HIV/AIDS in the Americas.

The following video was co-produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and examines how Dominican sex workers struggle to survive in light of the heightened risk of contracting HIV:

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Caribbean World News, Jamaica Gleaner, YouTube, Global Voices Online

Today’s Video: The art of Andres Serrano

Depending on whom you ask, Latino artist Andres Serrano is either a courageous contemporary artist or an immoral perverted heathen. What is clear is that he is not afraid to ruffle some feathers via his artwork and photographs of risqué subjects.

His latest exhibition is crap and we mean it in the most literal way possible:

Now, the genial renegade is back, fulfilling his desire to do, in his words, "something that would provoke even me"—namely, shooting 66 different piles of doo-doo dumped by as many animals, blown up to eight feet high and ready to hang on the walls of the Yvon Lambert Gallery (in New York City) beginning September 4…

"I always said I wouldn't work with children and sex, and I wouldn't work with shit, so when I came up with this idea [which dawned on him, to the best of his recollection, during the nude wrestling scene in Borat], I had to put myself in a special place. I had to prepare myself mentally—it was a scientific and aesthetic investigation."

Do you find Serrano’s work moving or nauseating? Judge for yourself with the video below showing several of his pieces.

Note: The following video contains several strong images. It is definitely not safe for work!

Sources- The Latin Americanist, YouTube, Village Voice, Slate

Paying More Than $40 for Four At Honduras Motels

So much for privacy. Amantes seeking haven in motels that charge by the hour in Honduras may feel like someone is watching them because, well someone is. The government. Actually the Honduran government is watching the motels under operation Fiscal Love.

Honduras is claiming that many of these establishments are evading taxes by severely underreporting business. Tax auditors are literally sitting in the lobbies of motels, counting the number of cars that stop in . The government says its not interested in the actual goings-on in the motel, just the money.

Source (English) - The Denver Post
Image - Super Signage