If you're looking to translate news about the tragic death of actor Heath Ledger from English to Spanish don't use Google's Translator. If you type in Heath Ledger and ask for an English to Spanish translation, the name is translated as Tom Cruise. I couldn't believe it but I tried it out myself and it's true! It could be a bug. It could be that a programmer is having some fun (or wishful thinking). I guess in Spanish all those gringo actors are all the same.
Despite worldwide criticisms of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, if a Gallup poll inside Colombia is to be believed , he would be voted most popular! According to the poll Uribe can boast an 80% support rating in his country. 74 percent of those polled approve of his handling of international affairs, 67 percent approve of how he deals with FARC and other such movements, and 64 percent approve of his dealings with paramilitary movements.Sources- YouTube, Wikipedia
* A leading Cuban dissident called last Sunday’s parliamentary elections “a farce”.
* Colombian defense minister Juan Manuel Santos rejected any future mediation by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez with guerillas.
* Amazon rainforest deforestation skyrocketed in the last five months of 2007 according to a Brazilian government study.
* Follow-up: Mexican police arrested a suspect accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol on Saturday.
Sources- AFP, BBC News, FT.com, Guardian UK, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist
Image- MWC News
According to the Mexican government, over 100,000 soldiers have deserted from Mexico’s armed forces over the past seven years and some of them have helped armed gangs. During a legislative hearing, Sub-secretary of Defense Tomas Angeles Dahuajare admitted that gangs recruited soldiers, and blamed low salaries and a lack of benefits for the high number of desertions. However, he claimed that it is not a national security risk:
(Dahuajare) rejected that the military desertions, which included members of the Navy…impacted national security since most of them involve troop personnel. [ed. – personal translation]
Dahuajare’s remarks come on the heels of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report stating that drug cartels based in northern Mexico have established bases of operation in Mexico City. Still, police captured a high-ranking drug smuggler on Monday and eleven hitmen yesterday.
Sources (English)- Associated Press, UPI
Sources (Spanish)- RCN, Milenio
Image- BBC News (1998 photo of Mexican army troops in Chiapas)
As a New York Giants fan I’m eagerly looking forward to the Super Bowl on February 3rd even if the odds are not in the team's favor. Aside from the game, I’ll be sure to keep the TV on mute during Bud Light’s ads since one of them will feature comedian Carlos Mencia.According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times:
He's baaaaaack!!! Did you think -- even for one second -- he wouldn't be? Gifted [ed. as in idiot savant] Hispanic comedian Carlos Mencia is poised again to steal the year's really big ad show in a new commercial brewery giant Anheuser-Busch is prepping for the Super Bowl of Advertising on Feb. 3…
We won't give away the punch lines to any of the commercials being eyed for Anheuser-Busch's Super Bowl list, but suffice it to say the new Mencia spot, "Language of Love," is set in a bar instead of the classroom, which allows for some shapely additions to the visuals, even as the spot does a fine job of referencing at least one of the funniest aspects of last year's spot.
Mencia was featured in this Bud Light commercial during last year’s big game where miraculously he did not scream at the camera or yell any of his cringe worthy catchphrases. (Ha ha ha! Foreigners learning English! Dee-Dee-Dee!)
Then again, there have been worse commercials with overrated comedians.
(Hat tip: Deadspin.)
Sources- Chicago Sun-Times, Deadspin, YouTube
Image- USA TODAY
“I fear greatly that the connectivity between narco-terrorism and Islamic radical terrorism could be disastrous in this region,” Stavridis said.
* Commuting Mexico City women tired of being goosed and ogled now have a new option – female-only buses.
* Venezuela’s government is on alert to combat food smuggling across the border into Colombia.
* Landless framers in Brazil invaded a ranch formerly owned by a drug baron.
* United Nations soldiers should not withdraw early from Haiti according to a U.N. official.
Sources- Monsters & Critics, International Herald Tribune, Reuters
Image- MSNBC (“A bus with a sign reading "service exclusive for women" drives through the streets of Mexico City last week.”)
Several Republican presidential hopefuls have eyed the Cuban exile vote in Florida as critical in winning the state’s primary a week from today. Though the national Latino vote leans towards the rival Democrats, the Cuban-American voting bloc has been strongly Republican and they are expected to make a difference during the closed primary.Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has focused most of his resources to winning in Florida and he has been actively campaigning there for weeks. He appeared in a Spanish-language ad being played across the state despite his October campaign appearance at a Philadelphia “English-only” steak stand. While other candidates stumped in New Hampshire and Michigan, Giuliani spoke at a Hispanic evangelical Christian church in Miami and held a campaign rally at a Three Kings Day Parade in the Little Havana neighborhood.
Senator John McCain appeared in Little Havana yesterday while flanked by Cuban-American legislators Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. As he sipped a cortadito at the famed Versailles restaurant, McCain called Hugo Chavez “a threat” to the Americas and said that he would open an investigation against Fidel Castro. However, McCain was ambiguous when asked about the possibility of changing U.S. travel restrictions on Cuba.
Recent poll numbers have given ex-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney a slight lead in Florida over McCain and Giuliani. Yet Romney is also courting the Cuban exile vote via his bilingual son Craig who narrated an ad in Spanish.
Unlike the other Republican candidates mentioned above, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has placed little emphasis on Florida and is campaigning elsewhere.
Image- New York Daily News (John McCain drinks Cuban coffee during an appearance in Miami yesterday)
Sources- South Florida Sun-Sentinel, MiamiHerald.com, Guanabee, Wonkette, CBS News, Baltimore Sun, Associated Press, The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News
The website for Panama’s legislature has been down for nearly two weeks after being sabotaged by hackers. The website was attacked on January 9th, the same day that former president Manuel Noriega had his extradition appeal turned down by a U.S. court. However, Panamanian officials suspect that another motive is to blame: Pedro Miguel Gonzalez was elected president of Panama's legislature in September, despite being wanted in the United States for the 1992 murder of U.S. Army Sgt. Zac Hernandez.
His candidature was strongly opposed by Washington, which warned the move would hurt relations between the two countries.
Peruvian and Chilean hackers attacked government websites in a pair of incidents last year; tensions continue between both governments over territorial disagreements.
Image- 404-error-page.com
Sources (English)- Guardian UK, Canada.com, The Latin Americanist
Sources (Spanish)- Asamblea Nacional de Panama
Brazilian prosecutors are investigating charges of racism during Sao Paulo Fashion Week held earlier this month. Though black was the color du jour during the fashion extravaganza, black models alleged that they were discriminated against. They may have a point as only 28 of the 1128 models featured during Sao Paulo Fashion Week where black. As BBC News noted, several models of African descent were unhappy not only with Fashion Week but also at the modeling industry as a whole:
And outside the landmark Bienal building - where Sao Paulo Fashion Week is being staged - young black models voiced their frustration.
"I think the business is smaller for black girls," says 19-year-old Rafaela Favero. "But I don't know if it is because we are just black - but we are different, our pattern of beauty is different - our hair and our bodies."
"In a fashion show it is practically impossible," says 24-year-old Rafael Milagres.
Last year, we noted how Bolivian models tend to equate “beauty” with looking light-skinned rather than indigenous.
Sources (English)- AFP, BBC News
Sources (Spanish)- La Tercera
Image- BBC News
Chilean activist Patricia Troncoso (archived image) has gone over 100 days fasting as she and other indigenous rights advocates are protesting her jail sentence. Doctors at Herminda Martin Hospital where Troncoso is being kept have warned that she “is in a very, very serious condition,” while her lawyers continue to appeal her ruling.Troncoso was convicted to ten years in jail for setting fire to a farm under a law passed during Chile’s military dictatorship. Several human rights groups have unsuccessfully called for President Michelle Bachelet to intervene:
On Monday, Amnesty International and Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an Argentine human rights group, asked Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to intercede in what Amnesty called "an unjust trial and sentence."
Bachelet has in the past declined to intervene, noting that a court, not the government, has jurisdiction over Troncoso's case.
According to Chilean daily La Tercera, local police cleared out three tents located in front of the Herminda Martin Hospital where several Mapuche activists where camping out in solidarity with Troncoso.
Sources (English)- Associated Press, Xinhua, RedBolivia
Sources (Spanish)- La Tercera
Image- barilochense.com
* Richard Chavez- the brother of famed civil rights activist Cesar Chavez (image)- publicly backed Hillary Clinton’s run for the U.S. presidency.
* Speaking of Clinton, last night’s Democratic debate was an ugly verbal slugfest between her and fellow frontrunner Barack Obama.
* Did you know that despite the trade embargo the U.S. is the top provider of food to Cuba?
* Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s increasing power is not sitting well with the country’s cable companies.
* Follow-up: In early morning trading, Latin American currencies and stocks have made small gains which could lead to a halt in recent losses.
Sources- Boston.com, International Herald Tribune, Guardian UK, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, Reuters
Image- PBS
