February 20, 2009 | 9:15
am
The daughters of Joni and Joan are alive and well and living these days in places like Buenos Aires and Portland, Ore. They also were on stage Tuesday night at the Troubadour, in West Hollywood, demonstrating to a transfixed crowd how they've absorbed the lessons of the aforementioned Mitchell, Baez and other elder stateswomen of the singer-songwriter sisterhood, writes Reed Johnson.
But Argentine Abstract Expressionist Juana Molina, who headlined Tuesday's show, and Oregonian urban folkie Laura Gibson, who helped open it, also are finding inventive new ways to update and transmute two distinctly feminine singing styles and sensibilities.
Read more on the link above in today's Calender section.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Image: Juana Molina, the Argentine singer-songwriter performing at the Troubadour in West Hollywood with a full band on Feb. 17. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times
January 14, 2009 | 9:28
am
There were no rabble-rousing speeches, but Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the film version, was greeted by an eager audience at the nearly full Julio Bracho cinema, which hosted the premier of the first part of Steven Soderbergh’s long-awaited portrait of the Argentine revolutionary last night.
“Che, the Argentine,” got its first Mexican screening on the sprawling campus of Mexico’s most influential university, the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico). The movie has, like all upcoming major releases here in Mexico, been selling for weeks now on stands that deal in pirated DVDs, but there remain those who want to see the film on the big screen. The audience was a mixture of all ages, from amorous teenage couples to unaccompanied gray-haired men, and they received the portrait of the much-adored revolutionary with gusto.
January 12, 2009 | 10:11
am
More affordable computers and an expanding broadband network are two of the factors helping to push Internet use in Latin America, according to a survey conducted by Pyramid Research for Google.
The Miami Herald reports that the recent expansion of Internet users in Latin America has been dramatic.
In 2007, for example, Colombia added 5.4 million Internet users, or about 12% of its population of 45 million -- an 80% increase in the number of Colombia's Internet users that year.
Brazil added 7.4 million Internet users in 2007 (17% growth), Mexico more than 2.2 million (an 11% increase) and Venezuela 1.58 million (38% growth).
Read the full report through the link above.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
January 12, 2009 | 10:07
am
Argentina soccer hero Diego Maradona, famed in Britain for his “Hand of God” goal against England during the 1986 World Cup, could have been the cause of a fire scare in Manchester, England, over the weekend before the Chelsea club was due to take on Manchester United.
According to Tribal Football, Maradona's love of Cuban cigars was said to be behind the evacuation of Manchester's Radisson Edwardian Hotel at 7 a.m. Sunday, just nine hours before kickoff at Old Trafford.
After the hotel's smoke alarms went off, Chelsea's players had to wait outside in bitterly cold conditions for 40 minutes before they could return to their rooms. Chelsea went on to be defeated by Manchester United 3-0. Argentina coach Maradona was in Manchester to watch Carlos Tevez, a striker from his own team who plays for Manchester United.
The British newspaper The Sun quotes a firefighter at the scene saying: "It looks as though it was set off by Diego and his entourage smoking cigars on the 14th floor."
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
November 20, 2008 | 11:44
am
Grahame L. Jones reports in The Times:
Diego Armando Maradona got off to a successful start as a national team coach on Wednesday when Argentina defeated Scotland, 1-0, in Glasgow in one of 46 international games played worldwide.
The 1986 World Cup winner had winger Maxi Rodriguez to thank for launching the second Maradona era in the right fashion.
Meanwhile:
Mexico scraped through to the final round of World Cup qualifying on Wednesday night despite a 1-0 loss in Honduras that is certain to put Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson under even closer scrutiny.
"El Tri" managed to make it through because it held the score down in rain-drenched San Pedro Sula and because Jamaica could not conjure up enough goals in Kingston, where it defeated Canada, 3-0.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Argentina's Maxi Rodriguez, second from right, scores past goalkeeper Allan McGregor of Scotland on Wednesday. Credit: Paul Thomas / Associated Press
November 12, 2008 | 10:04
am
Patrick J. McDonnell reports from Buenos Aires:
The glittering storefront in this capital's trendy Palermo district once housed an art gallery and then a Chinese restaurant. Now it's a haze of pink: all Barbie, all the time.
Inside, girls face a dazzling constellation of Barbie-labeled outfits and trinkets, watch Barbie DVDs on a flat-screen TV or choose their preferred Barbie hairdo ("Butterfly," "Princess," "Fashion Fever"). A rear door leads to the high point: the Casa de Barbie, complete with life-size Barbie bedroom, Barbie costumes and makeup counters, even a catwalk for showcasing Barbie couture or staging a Barbie disco.
And, everywhere, of course, are dolls. Lots of dolls.
"This place is fantastic," said Michelle Blanchard, 37, accompanying her wide-eyed daughter, Francisca, 4. "For little girls, it's a place of dreams."
Welcome to the world's only stand-alone Barbie store, an "experiential marketing" experiment deemed such a runaway hit that the mercantile temple to Barbiedom may be replicated on a global scale. Coming soon: a five-story Barbie emporium in Shanghai.
Click here for more on Argentina.
Photo: Lucero Gonzalez, 6, reclining on sofa at the Barbie Store. Behind are collections of classic Barbie dolls. Credit: Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times
November 9, 2008 | 10:37
am
John Kiriakou, now in the private sector, served as a CIA counter-terrorism official from 1998 to 2004. Today, he writes in Los Angeles Times Opinion about how he thinks Iran is making major diplomatic inroads into Latin America, right under Washington's nose.
It's amazing, really. Iran, after all, is regarded by most of the world as an outlaw country. Sanctions are in place on much of its military-industrial complex, and international loan guarantees are virtually impossible to come by. The Iranian economy is in tatters. Even while $100-plus oil was enriching most producers in the region, Iran's low-tech, outdated industry was barely profiting. In fact, 6% of the country's gasoline is imported.
Nevertheless, over the last year, Iran has worked diligently to expand relations with a host of Latin American countries, most of which have populist leaders who harbor a strong distrust of the United States and are looking for a powerful friend to help them rebuff Washington's influence.
Read the rest of "Iran's Latin America push" here.
— Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
October 23, 2008 | 9:12
am
Patrick J. McDonnell and Chris Kraul report:
Argentina's incendiary new plan to nationalize billions of dollars in private pension funds spooked already jittery investors Wednesday and helped spark the second consecutive day of double-digit percentage declines in stock markets.
The new doubts about Argentina come as fears of a global recession have pummeled Latin American stocks, bonds and currencies. Many people are concerned that the relative prosperity and brisk growth of recent years may be over.
The Bovespa index in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, tumbled 10.18% on Wednesday, as the Brazilian currency, the real, continued to fall against the U.S. dollar.
Argentina's benchmark Merval index fell as much as 17.2% Wednesday before recovering late in the afternoon and posting a decline of 10.11%. That followed a 10.99% drop Tuesday, on word of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's plan to nationalize some $30 billion in private pensions.
The two-day plunge was the sharpest dive since a 16% drop in May 2004, when Argentina was still suffering the aftereffects of the nation's 2001-02 financial collapse and loan default.
Argentina's economy has rebounded strongly since then and has grown at an 8% annual clip in recent years. The nation now boasts a reported $47 billion in reserves, and officials have dismissed fears of another default.
But critics here and abroad are alarmed that the government may view the pension funds as a replacement for declining tax revenue from exports of soybeans and other commodities, a major income source.
Read more of "Argentina pension fund move sends Latin America stocks plunging" here.
Click here for more on Argentina.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
October 13, 2008 | 8:56
am
Facing a crackdown in Mexico, smugglers turn to Argentina as a base for importing ephedrine, which is turned into methamphetamine destined for the U.S. The trade has brought killings and intrigue, writes Patrick J. McDonnell.
The three young entrepreneurs met their contacts outside a Wal-Mart here and drove off with them, apparently convinced that they would be celebrating a lucrative new deal.
But authorities believe it was a set-up, linked to Mexican mobsters bent on reshaping the global drug trafficking map.
The three men were handcuffed, forced to kneel in the mud and sprayed with bullets; their bodies were dumped in a ditch. The execution-style slayings have sent shock waves across Argentina, which has largely been spared the drug violence seen in Colombia and Peru, the world's top cocaine producers. These killings, authorities say, were related to a more prosaic product: ephedrine, the synthetic stimulant found in cough and cold remedies. Ephedrine is also used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, the highly addictive drug long a scourge in the United States.
Officials suspect that the three men were involved with a relatively new smuggling route called the "ephedrine highway," the triangulated transport of ephedrine from Asia to Argentina to Mexico, ultimately destined for the booming U.S. meth market.
Click here for more about the drug trade, here for more about Argentina and here for more on Mexico.
Click here to read about how crystal meth is causing concern in Mexico.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
October 5, 2008 | 9:56
am
Chris Kraul and Patrick J. Mcdonnell report from São Paulo on the growing popularity of Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
"Buoyed by a robust economy and his ability to work with leaders across the ideological spectrum, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has emerged as the chief power broker and mediator in South America.
"Lula's rise has paralleled the decline of U.S. influence in its 'backyard,' analysts say, a result in part of Washington's plummeting global prestige and the Bush administration's unremitting focus on the Middle East.
"A moderate with an unassailable leftist background, Lula has become the point man for healing regional crises such as the current turmoil in Bolivia and the recent escalation of tensions among Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador."
Click here for more about Brazil.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, second from the right, with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa at the meeting in which they talked about regional integration in Manaus, Brazil. Credit: Antonio Lacerda / European Pressphoto Agency
