Watch "Paz Sin Fronteras" concert webcasts!

On Sunday, a one-of-a-kind concert entitled Paz Sin Fronteras ("Peace Without Borders") will be held on the Simón Bolívar bridge linking Colombia and Venezuela. Juanes, Juan Luis Guerra, Alejandro Sanz and Miguel Bosé are some of the musicians confirmed to play at the concert whose aim is to promote regional peace after a recent diplomatic crisis nearly led to armed conflict in South America.

Colombian rockero Juanes- the mind behind the performance- hopes Sunday's concert can make a positive difference:

Do you think this concert -- or music -- can really make a difference?

``It's not that a song by Alejandro or Carlos is going to change people. But music becomes an excuse to send a message, that we're all here together building peace, that we are here as citizens and this is what we want, and we have to be heard. I think the governments have to understand and listen. We don't want to get involved in conflicts between people. We've had enough internal conflicts.''

Don't think you'll be one of the expected 400,000 people attending the concert? Then try catching it via live webcasts:

1. Terra Colombia (http://www.terra.com.co/) will be showing the gig from 1.30pm to about 5.00pm local time (2.30pm - 6.00pm EDT). "The service to view the concert will be free and without subscription" according to eltiempo.com.
2. Yahoo! Telemundo (http://espanol.music.yahoo.com/especial/juanes/index.html) will also have the concert and their coverage will start at 2.00pm EDT. Aside from the webcast, a press release claimed that viewers can "also be able to see and communicate with each other instantaneously."

Do you have any tips on where the Paz Sin Fronteras concert can be seen elsewhere online or on TV? Please let us know in the comments!

Sources (English)- Hspanic PR Wire, miamiherald.com
Sources (Spanish)- RCN, El Tiempo, Terra Colombia, Yahoo! Telemundo
Image- New York Times

Before the Incas, There were Temples in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered ancient temple ruins that could predate the Inca empire. The 11 room, 2,700 sq ft stone and adobe temple had 11 rooms that held mummies and idols. The temple predates Incas in the region, but has Incan history, as changes were made to the structure following Incan incursion in the area.

"It's from both the Inca and pre-Inca cultures, it has a sequence," Washington Camacho, director of the Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park, told AP news agency.
"The Incas entered and changed the form of the temple, as it initially had a more rustic architecture."

Source : BBC

Is Access to Buying Computers a Sign of Change in Raul's Cuba?

In the United States, freedom is just another name for being able to buy more stuff. So, I'm a bit wary of the claims that Raul Castro's decision to allow the Cuban people to buy electronic equipment : computers, video and DVD players, 19-inch and 24-inch television sets, electric pressure cookers and rice cookers, electric bicycles, car alarms and microwaves, as a sign of a Cuba that is more free.

While access to these items certainly can make Cuban life easier (what would I do without my computer, microwave, and rice cooker?), does the average Cuban have the means to access these items?

"The country's priority will be to meet the basic needs of the population, both material and spiritual," Raul Castro said as he replaced his brother, a staunch critic of capitalist consumer society.

Readers should note that I am no Cuba hater but I wonder about a more open press, for example, not about the ability to make a tv dinner.

Source : MSNBC

Bloggers of the World Unite!

• One of the perks of being an MLS futbolista: preseason games in Cancun. (See the above image).
• An interesting coincidence: the same laws which caught ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet money laundering in 2002 were also used to link Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution ring.
• Has the Vatican’s new seven deadly sins redeemed liberation theology?
• Chef/author Anthony Bourdain really liked Uruguayan cuisine during a trip there for his show “No Reservations.”
• Latino food vendors received the green light to continue selling near the soccer fields in Red Hook, Brooklyn. (Contrast that with what’s happened around the pitches in Prince William County, Virginia).
• Venezuela’s exportation of oil to the U.S. may save its government from being place on a U.S. list of terrorist-sponsoring countries.
• Spring breakers may be increasingly worried over partying south of the border, but that hasn’t stopped some students from heading to El Salvador to work on social projects.
• Paramilitaries, NGOs, and Venezuela were some of the information gathered from the laptops of recently killed FARC guerilla commander Raul Reyes.
• Are moderates to blame for the “restrictionist” position by some Republicans on immigration?
• The battle of the beefcakes: Saul Lisazo vs. George Clooney.

Sources- A Year in Uruguay, The Daily Dish, The Offside Rules, The Latin Americanist, kottke.org, Foreign Policy Passport, Chile From Within, Two Weeks Notice, Guanabee, Tim’s El Salvador Blog, Plan Colombia and Beyond, holamun2,

Images- boston.com

Cuba, Mexico could normalize relations

Diplomatic relations between Cuba and Mexico could soon be normalized according to several officials. Though relations had frozen in 2002 under previous leaders in both countries, there seems to be a thaw after Mexico's top diplomat visited Havana this week:

"Relations between Mexico and Cuba are completely normal and a new chapter of cooperation has been opened," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said after meeting with Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

Perez Roque said he would travel to Mexico in September "bearing an invitation for President Calderon to make an official visit to our country," from President Castro.

Espinosa told reporters that her visit marked "the start of a new period in the relations ... between Cuba and Mexico," after six testy years under Mexican ex-president Vicente Fox.

Among the pressing issues between both countries are Cuba's $400 million debt to Mexico and “organized crime rings” which are supposedly behind the smuggling of Cuban migrants.

Sources- Reuters, AFP, Xinhua, Chicago Tribune

Image- Associated Press (“Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa is seen during a meeting with Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, not seen, in Havana, Thursday March 13, 2008.”)

Report: Chavez blamed for anti-Semitism

A U.S. State Department report on anti-Semitism claimed that disdain against Jews was growing worldwide. The study found that prejudice against Israel and “government-promoted hatred towards Jews” was on the rise. Among the governments cited by the report (entitled "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism") was the one in Venezuela:

The report singled out a number of leaders, governments and state-sponsored institutions for fanning the flames of anti-Semitism, with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the top of the list.

It also took to task the Syrian government, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as well as the government-backed Venezuelan, Saudi Arabian and Egyptian media.

"Chavez has publicly demonized Israel and utilized stereotypes about Jewish financial influence and control," it said.

The Chavez regime and the Iranian government have strengthened political and economic ties in recent years; earlier this month, Ahmadinejad said that both countries will “remain partners in different fields.”

Sources- Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, the Latin Americanist, IRNA

Image- MSNBC

Daily Headlines: March 14, 2008

* According to the AP, a U.S. federal judge has been requested to figure out if John McCain who was born in the Panama Canal Zone- can run for president.

* A Chilean court fined a local McDonald’s after a customer broke a pair of teeth biting into a piece of drill hidden in a sandwich.

* Mexico’s government has doubts over the claims that several Mexican students were among the dead in the Colombian military’s recent attack which killed Raul Reyes.

* Several economic experts told Bloomberg that Latin American exporters are being hurt by improving exchange rates.

Sources- UPI, Associated Press, the Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle, Wikipedia

Image- Scoop

Today’s Video: Isabel Allende

We end this week’s video theme of Latin American women and literature with Chilean author Isabel Allende.

“The House of the Spirits”, “Of Love and Shadows”, and “City of the Beasts” are just a few of the novels written by Allende who is certainly one of the best-known novelists in all the Americas. In 1996 Allende created a foundation in honor of her daughter, and Allende became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2003.

The video is from Allende’s appearance at the 2007 TED conference; her impassioned speech calls for us to stop the injustices against women and to become more active in changing the world for the better.

(Video link):

Previous videos this week:

• Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni
• Mexican "Renaissance woman" Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
• Dominican author Julia Alvarez

Sources- isabelallende.com, Wikipedia, Google Video, Isabel Allende, TED

Seven Cuban “futbolistas” defected while in U.S.

Seven members of Cuba’s under-23 soccer squad have defected while they played in Florida. After a surprising 1-1 tie with the U.S. on Tuesday in the qualifying tourney for the Olympics, five players sneaked out of the team’s hotel in Tampa and were joined by two more yesterday.

According to one of the players that left the Cuban team:

''We're fine, calm, feeling hopeful about our new lives,'' [team captain Yenier] Bermudez told The Miami Herald by phone Wednesday night. ``Of course, we're nervous because we're young, have no family here, and we don't yet know the way of life here, but we hope the Cuban and American communities will help us get started.''

At least five of the players will try out for second division professional team Miami FC according to a spokesman for the club and they could also seek political asylum.

The Cuban U-23s are scheduled to play Honduras this afternoon though the team may have to drop out of the competition since only eleven players will be eligible to play. (Aside from the seven defectors, Roberto Linares will serve a suspension after being red-carded in the game on Tuesday.)

Image- New York Times (Yendry Diaz (in the blue uniform) was one of the seven Cuban players to defect this week)

Sources- Canadian Press, Bloomberg, miamiherald.com, Reuters UK, USA TODAY, Guardian UK, Who Ate All the Pies

South Korea plans energy partnership

South Korea anticipates expanding energy relations with Central and South America, said the country's foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan today.

President Lee Myung-bak will tour the region in November after attending Peru's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The country also will have an economic forum with Latin American officials in Seoul in September.

Read more here.

Source: Yonhap News

Bush urges Colombia trade deal

President Bush urged Congress to approve a free trade deal with Colombia, saying if it is not passed, leftist anti-American sentiment in Latin America will increase.

"Time is running out and we must not let delay turn into inaction," Bush said.

Free trade with Colombia would advance U.S. economic and security interests, Bush said, and will reward president Alvaro Uribe for promoting democracy and fighting violence within his country.

Bush also took the opportunity to chastise politicians considering pulling out of NAFTA.

Read the Associated Press coverage here.

Rice skips Argentina

U.S. Secretary of State will skip Argentina on her tour through Latin America, just as Bush did last March. The country's new president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has strong ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Meanwhile, Rice has visited Brazil and Chile.

Source: NYT

Daily Headlines: March 13, 2008

* Britain’s Prince Charles and wife Camilla continued their tour of the Caribbean with an impromptu jam session with a group of Rastafarian musicians in Jamaica.

* During a speech on Wednesday, U.S. president George W. Bush blasted Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez for “praising terrorists.”

* Despite its own energy problems, Argentina agreed to keep providing natural gas supplies to Chile.

Sources- International Herald Tribune, People’s Daily Online, Al Jazeera, Reuters

Image- Associated Press

Today’s Video: Julia Alvarez

We continue this week’s theme of famous Latin American women in literature with a look at Julia Alvarez.

Alvarez- who is of Dominican background- has written numerous acclaimed books of fiction and poetry. Despite this, her 1991 novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents” has been the subject of controversy after a South Carolina school board recently banned the text. In an interview published last month Alvarez noted how the book’s outlawing of her book reminded her of her childhood under infamous dictator Rafael Trujillo.

The following video clip is another interview of Alvarez discussing her most recent book on quinceañeras. Alvarez explains why she wrote on the subject despite her initial reluctance as well as “what writing is all about”.

(Video link):

Previous videos this week:

• Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni
• Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Sources- SFGate.com, The Latin Americanist, Wikipedia, YouTube, Independent Weekly, Vivirlatino

Will the next New York governor help Latinos?

Earlier today New York governor Eliot Spitzer resigned from his post due to his involvement in an illegal prostitution ring. Spitzer’s replacement will be Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a visually impaired African-American who is experienced and well-respected by his peers.

What can the state’s Latino population expect from Paterson whose term is set to begin on Monday? According to LoHud.com’s blog on immigration, Paterson “has certainly spoken up for immigrants’ rights” during his time as lieutenant governor. Nevertheless, he will have to tread lightly on the issue of immigration; Spitzer’s plan for providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants was dropped last year amidst controversy.

Meanwhile, an article in one of New York City’s main Spanish-language dailies- El Diario/La Prensa- said experts feel that Paterson will do more for the Latino community than Spitzer:

Under Paterson’s mandate, the number of Hispanics in high office could increase…according to experts.

“Well, at first nothing will change. If (Paterson) names new people then I have no doubt that he will take Latinos into account,” opined Rodolfo de la Garza, political science professor at Columbia University.

Though Hispanics currently represent 16% of the state’s population only 4% of them work for the state government. -[ed. personal translation]

Paterson will become the first African-American governor in New York history and the state’s first physically disabled one since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Sources (English)- Christian Science Monitor, AFP, Huffington Post, LoHud.com, Gothamist

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- TIME

Prince William County's Immigrant Crackdown Impacting Everyday Life - Even Futbol

Prince William County, Virginia, and it's anti-immigrant crackdown is something I've been following. Today an article in the Washington Post points out how public policy impacts the private lives and personal time of Latinos.

As Prince William proceeds with its crackdown on illegal immigrants, one result is a shake-up and shrinking of the area's entrenched Hispanic soccer leagues. The reason is simple, organizers say: Players and fans, among them many illegal immigrants, are so worried about being detained by authorities en route to or at games that they are avoiding local fields. Legal immigrants are also wary, for themselves or their illegal relatives, organizers say.

The result has been that teams have moved their games. Some don't play because not enough players have signed up. Spectators aren't showing up for games the way they used to , no children playing on the sidelines.

Futbol and local games are a regular part of my family life and I can't even envision what Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, NYC would look like if this situation were repeated here.

Source : Washington Post