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The fourth year Drama major was approached first by campus police, who intervened after having received several complaints from offended parties and proceeded to drive González to the Río Piedras police station once she refused to put her top back on. At the station, she was interviewed by state police and received a citation for next Friday, April 27.

The case was widely reported by all major local news media outlets, except by the University of Puerto Rico's own newspaper, Diálogo and its online component Diálogo Digital [es]. Diálogo reporter Joel Cintrón, who covered Charlene's story, expressed his frustration through local blog 80grados.com [es], which ended up publishing the censored piece:

[…] la historia fue reseñada, pero el presidente de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Miguel Muñoz, dio la orden de que el tema de Charlene y su arresto no se trataran de ninguna manera por Diálogo Digital. Así me lo hizo saber Melba I. Guzmán Díaz, relacionista pública que fue nombrada como directora de Diálogo pero quien en la práctica funge como relacionista de la administración.

Questions about why campus police had taken Charlene González directly to the police station and not the University's security office were left unanswered by said institution's security personnel.

Charlene Jane González de Jesús, at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (Source: Facebook Public Profile)

Local bloggers and social media users where quick to disregard University president Muñoz's wishes that the story go unreported - with many chiming in on Charlene's story. Perhaps most controversial was PODER 5's Michael Castro, who describes himself as a “Christian human father, husband, teacher, blogger” on his Twitter account (@MichaelDCC), and led the charge against Charlene's protest.

On his post “Charlene Jane Gonzalez: The body as a weapon to make fool of yourself” [es], Michael writes under his blogger name, Prometeo:

Personalmente entiendo que ni hombres ni mujeres deben andar por ahí descamisados[…] En una playa, si un hombre quiere andar descamisado lo hace y punto y la mujer usa su bikini y ya está. Si quieren ir a una playa donde ir topless sea para ambos entonces esas playas tienen acceso restringido porque no todo el mundo quiere verle los pechos a una mujer[…] Hay un lugar para cada cosa pero algunas personas no entienden eso, en especial gente como Charlene Jane Gonzalez […]

He continued, making numerous references throughout his post to Charlene's breast size:

Si Charlene quiere que la acompañen va a tener que buscar otras muchachas con su condición de microbusto para que la acompañen en la lucha por los derechos de las que no tienen… derechos.

The misogyny was not lost on all readers, some of whom reached out to Michael through Twitter, Facebook, and blog comments:

Nadie Hernández (@aerigirl80) questioned via Twitter: “Why make constant references to her [chest] size? If they were big, would they be “melons”? Is the fact relevant? [es]

Hector Ramos similarly addressed the subject in Raul Colón's blog post regarding the issue, “Topless Self Expression, Noise & Using the Right Platform”:

How did she open herself for mockery? By failing to have breasts big enough for your liking? Your repeated comments regarding the size of her breasts show a lack of respect towards women.

Blogger “Elco Lao” was moved further towards Charlene's defense after reading Prometeo's post, writing in his “Letter to Prometeo about Nude Protests and the University of Puerto Rico's scandal after noticing a student protesting with her naked breasts…” [es]:

En el caso de Charlene González de Jesús, su PROTESTA DESNUDA es un acto en el que ejerce un DERECHO HUMANO DE LIBERTAD DE EXPRESIÓN, que NINGUNA SOCIEDAD DEBE CONDENAR… Pero, que tú, o que yo, no estemos dispuestos a realizar este tipo de protesta, sea por los criterios morales o éticos que cada cual tenga […] no es JUSTO que impongamos nuestros criterios a la hora de limitar o prohibir una MANIFESTACIÓN PACÍFICA que denuncia las actitudes de discrimen en nuestra sociedad, INCLUYENDO EL RECHAZO AL CUERPO DESNUDO EN PÚBLICO…

What remains crystal clear is that there are still many more people on the island that, like Michael Castro, dismiss Charlene's protest and subsequent arrest as something worthy of public ridicule. Katherine M. Cepeda-Rivera writes for Cruce - an online culture magazine published by Puerto Rico's Metropolitan University - about the more than 800 comments [es] posted under leading local newspaper El Nuevo Día's initial news report about the incident:

Los mismos nos plantean un problema grave: un problema grave de moralidad. Tanto hombres como mujeres se dedicaron a escribir insultos dentro de los cuales se encontraban: “puerca”, “sucia”, “puta”, “inconsciente”, “loca”, “desquiciada” […] Aparentemente mostrar las tetas es un acto más lascivo que, de acuerdo con algunas personas, un beso entre gays o lesbianas, más lascivo que un hombre se case con una mujer veinte años menor o viceversa, más lascivo que el problema de trata humana en Puerto Rico. Repito, TRATA HUMANA en Puerto Rico (el cual no ha tenido cobertura). El que una mujer muestre las tetas es un acto más lascivo, más lascivo… LASCIVO.

Amárilis Pagán Jiménez states her concerns in a separate column for Cruce, “El cuerpo en guerra” [es] (The body in battle):

En Puerto Rico al día de hoy, los cuerpos de las mujeres son campos de batalla devastados por el fundamentalismo religioso, el conservadurismo gubernamental y la hipocresía de los líderes políticos que seguramente disfrutan plenamente de sus propios cuerpos y que prefieren guardar silencio con una mojigatería que les debería avergonzar. Acuso a esos líderes, a las iglesias cuyos discursos sólo contribuyen a reprimir el cuerpo humano y a verlo como pecado y a las empresas que se lucran de la venta de nuestra sexualidad, de todas las agresiones sexuales, la violencia en relaciones de pareja y la represión de expresiones políticas legítimas que hoy nos avasallan. Pero también asumo parte de la culpabilidad, y creo que el resto del país debe asumirla. Porque en la medida en que guardamos silencio, miramos a otro lado o nos sentimos con demasiado trabajo como para apoyar las acciones de defensa de nuestra humanidad, nos hacemos cómplices de quienes nos agreden.

And as interest for Charlene's story dies down, one comment lingers and a question remains. As blogger and Twitter user Michael Castro wrote to fellow Twitter users @aerogirl80 and @elcolao in their back-and-forth about this incident: “My attitude is a reaction to Charlene's “protest”. Some praise her, some defend her, and I laugh.”

What will Puerto Rico do?
.

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Trinidad & Tobago

There was outrage in the blogosphere over the death of two-year-old Aliyah Johnson, a victim of child abuse. Guanaguanare was worried “that [it] will amount to nothing”:

The sort of callousness that did not recognise or respect her humanity/divinity is not something that was just one lifetime in the making. This sin is generational and it will also be generations before it is lifted…and only if we begin right away to work towards that future.

Government offices and officials can only do so much. We are the ones, however, who have actually heard the cries and have seen the bruises and other signs of abuse. We continue to be the silent witnesses in our neighbourhoods and maybe even in our own homes. We have to stop pretending that it will all go away…

In a follow-up post, the blogger linked to a video that could help “[address] the problem of child abuse and the wider problem of violence (and the connection between the two) in our country.”

The Eternal Pantomime added:

Remember Daniel Guerra? Remember he was picked up in a car a stone’s throw from his house, by a parlour, and days later his body was found in the Tarouba waterway system?

Remember the Prime Minister wrote a Letter to Daniel, that was really a letter promising to save all the children of Trinidad and Tobago promising that what happened to Daniel, Akiel, Sean Luke, Amy, Hope…would never happen again…

Well…crimes against children are on the rise, and the government has been quietly dismantling social work and welfare projects that can assist in these situations…So think about little Aaliyah now, who, according the forensic report was beaten to death… This is going to happen again and again partly because this society is very sick and partly because very few systems are properly enabled to deal with these issues…when last you hear about the trial against the two boys that killed Sean Luke? I done talk…

Bloggers in Trinidad and Tobago also focused on other issues this past week, including the Dangerous Dogs Act “as news of yet another innocent child being violently ripped and torn apart by yet another, dangerously-aggressive, unrestrained dog makes the rounds” and patients' rights, as cancer patients who were over-exposed to radiation at a national facility continue to seek justice.

The Bahamas

More north along the Caribbean archipelago, Bahamian netizens had elections on their mind. Blogworld, who recently posted her own voter's manifesto said:

So, in the parlance of the day: Papa has rung the bell.

I can talk the talk like any other Bahamian in 2012. Papa = the current prime minister, Hubert Ingraham. ‘The Bell' = the announcement of a date for the next general election. I know how to translate the statement.

I just don’t know what it means.

She went on to explain:

Some time ago, I wrote up my own manifesto (since the political parties vying for leadership of the country hadn’t seen fit to share any of their promises or policies for the next five years) as a voter, a participant in a process that is commonly called “democratic”. Since that time, others have joined me in making similar statements, and a few voices have called for our leaders and other politicians to have the balls to step out from behind their carefully crafted propaganda and open themselves up to discussions of issues with reasonable citizens.

But, disappointingly, and with one important exception (Branville McCartney of the DNA) they haven’t.

And this, to my mind, does not bode well for our future.

So my question is this. Given the passion and energy being expended in tearing down the other parties, or the other leaders—in dismissing reasonable questions and observations as ‘FNM' or ‘PLP' or even ‘DNA'—each of these being intended as insult, what happens the day after elections, when one party has won and the other(s) has/ve not? How do we work on building a nation of Bahamians?

So as we stare down the home stretch, as we slide into these last three weeks before Bahamians go to the polls and cast our votes, I would like at least one day to be dedicated to having the people who are contesting the elections to tell us what their vision is for this nation. Where do we go from here? How do we find our place in the twenty-first century?

Weblog Bahamas‘ Rick Lowe, meanwhile, hoped that “the level of discussion will be raised for the campaigns”:

If this is what we will get from the opposition it certainly seems to narrow the choice. It also makes me wonder why we must refer to some M.P.s as honourable.

Cuba

Cuban diaspora bloggers acknowledged the passing of Miami-based Catholic Bishop Agustin Roman. Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter said:

Cubans have lost the physical presence of one of the great leaders of the Cuban exile community who passed away yesterday night at the age of 83 but his spirit and his writings live on. Monsignor Agustín Román wrote and spoke about the challenges facing the Cuban people and…offered a profound analysis of the state of the Cuban dissident movement that remains extremely relevant.

Pedazos de la Isla said of a speech the late Bishop made “about the importance of the internal Cuban opposition, dissidence, or Resistance”:

As he explains in this heartfelt piece, no matter what you call those brave Cubans inside the island, they all fight for justice. And justice is what Roman also represented in his 84 years of life. Although he is now physically gone, he will always spiritually guide not just Cuban exiles, but all Cubans, into freedom. His example was one worth emulating- a true man of God, a true Catholic, and a true Cuban. He was not afraid to tell the world that his brothers and sisters were in need of freedom, he was not afraid to say that he was an exile, and he was not afraid to explain why he was exiled (he was sent out of the country at gunpoint by the Cuban regime). Agustin Roman did not live off of hate or bitterness, and yet, he was clear in explaining that fighting peacefully was not a sign of weakness, but instead a sign of great strength and courage.

babalu shared details about the funeral arrangements:

This afternoon, Father Agustin Roman will be laid to rest. At noon today, a funeral procession will leave La Ermita de la Caridad and make several stops throughout Miami.

Diaspora bloggers also expressed concern about the safety of the man who was arrested before the start of a Papal Mass in Santiago de Cuba for shouting “Down with communism!” and published a translation of an interview with the man's mother.

On island, bloggers were talking about the trial of El Ñaño, an imprisoned Rastafarian priest. (This post gives some background on the case). Even before yesterday's trial, bloggers were tweeting about his innocence; they also live-tweeted the court proceedings, ending with the following update:

The trail has ended but the judgment may be delayed for months.

Other Territories

Jamaica: Abeng News Magazine kept its readers au courant with the latest developments in the Trayvon Martin case.

Puerto Rico: Gil the Jenius likened the country's increasing violence to a cancer.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: And Still I Rise marked the thirty third anniversary of the La Soufriere eruption.

Barbados: Contemporary artist Sheena Rose commented on the stereotypical image many people have of the Caribbean:

The more I travel, the more I realize that people do not know the Caribbean. I get the feeling that they thinking we live at the beach all day, have the steel pan playing and drinking coconuts all day, living in a paradise. Yes to me, my home is my paradise but it have more than the beach and coconuts.

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · comments (2)
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Enrique “Kike” Estrada is a cartoonist of an endangered species in Puerto Rico. He is the kind of cartoonist who makes observations and humorous commentaries, caustic at times, about events and news in Puerto Rico. His work has been exhibited in Greece, Argentina, Serbia, Germany, the United States, and Puerto Rico. He has published at least two books of cartoons, but the best space to appreciate his work is through his web page www.planetakike.com [es].

He received me very warmly to talk about his caricatures and the Internet at his home, where he also has a graphic design studio and his own garden, from which he obtains the best possible quality of produce for his kitchen.

Kike started talking a little about how he chooses the themes that he develops for his drawings:

Kike Estrada

Kike Estrada (KE): Antes yo dibujaba todos los días reaccionando a las cosas que pasaban en Puerto Rico. […] Pues, ya yo no dibujo ese tipo de cosa. Hay un momento en donde pensé que en lugar de estar haciéndolo bien lo estaba haciendo mal porque era parte del ruido en vez de parte de las soluciones. Y entonces eso como que me alejó un poco del trabajo. Cuando lo he retomado ahora, pues, dibujo más de cosas que son muy pertinentes en Puerto Rico, pero trato de que sean pertinentes para no puertorriqueños; o sea, tratando de trabajar los asuntos en vez de las situaciones. […] Yo sé que habría una demanda por dibujar de lo específico del día, pero hay tanto ruido con respecto a esas cosas, que añadir ruido no es saludable.

But Kike didn't always draw cartoons. His creative capacity was mostly occupied with graphic design, and for a time he didn't work on caricatures at all:

"Another water increase?"

KE: ¿Tú sabes cuándo yo volví a dibujar caricaturas? Yo volví a dibujar caricaturas el día que le metieron los dos aviones a las Torres Gemelas. […] Yo puse el televisor. Cuando vi que un segundo avión le estaba dando a una torre, yo dije, “Se jodió el mundo. El mundo cambió hoy”. Y eso me causó una ansiedad tan cabrona, mano, que me puse a dibujar. […] Me volví loco dibujando. Y de ahí no he vuelto a parar.

For a cartoonist with his sense of humor, ironical and satirical, and his ability to broach and highlight the absurd side of the issues that affect Puerto Ricans, the Internet happens to be the perfect place to exhibit his work. In this space, as the sole editor, he found freedom to express his point of view, which otherwise would be almost impossible to express:

"Proportion…"

KE: Como yo soy diseñador gráfico, hubo un momento en donde empezamos a aprender Internet porque el mundo había cambiado, y los clientes que antes yo tenía que hacían anuncios de prensa o cosas, pues todos ahora querían tener presencia en el Internet. Así que nosotros fuimos aprendiendo de eso. Y yo dije, “Bueno, pues yo voy a hacer una página de mi trabajo”. Y ha sido bien chévere porque no es censurable. O sea, yo hago lo que yo quiero hacer ahí, y digo lo que yo quiero decir ahí.

However, Kike doesn't see himself as someone who has mastered the art of drawing cartoons. According to him, his contribution lies not so much in the quality of his drawings, but in the message he tries to send:

"How many more?"

KE: Yo soy miembro de la Asociación de Caricaturistas [de Puerto Rico]. Ahí hay unos chamacos jóvenes que son unos virtuosos, mano […] En el caso mío, yo no soy un virtuoso. Yo soy en todo caso un dibujante como sui generis. Yo no dibujo bien. Yo dibujo mal. Lo que pasa es que ya desarrollé una forma de dibujar mal que me gusta cómo se ve.

On the cartoonists trade in journalism and how it has gradually disappeared in many newspapers in Puerto Rico, he thinks:

KE: Yo creo que los periódicos han ido prescindiendo de los servicios de los caricaturistas porque los caricaturistas pueden herirte más que una foto.

Kike sees the Internet as as an important resource for cartoonists. For him,  the Internet is among the greatest inventions ever created. He marvels at the possibilities it can offer. Thanks to the Internet, cartoons can survive despite its disappearance from traditional spaces in the newspapers.  Furthermore, the Internet eliminates the filter that news goes through before it hits the presses. But the benefits of the Internet are not only for cartoonists:

"My electoral proposal"

KE: El Internet ha sido bien bueno porque le ha dado voz al que no tenía voz. ¿Cómo carajo yo hubiera podido dar a conocer mis dibujos si no existiera el Internet? Tendría un paquete de dibujos ahí que nadie hubiera visto porque no había salida; el Internet te da la salida. Y por eso es que hay que enseñarle a todo el mundo el Internet. Hay que enseñarlos a que programen páginas y a que diseñen sus propias cosas y que después digan los disparates que les dé la gana de decir, o que hagan las genialidades que les dé la gana de hacer, pero que la gente tenga la opción de agarrarse del Internet como el medio más accesible que tenemos.

All images have been published with permission.

Written by Ángel Carrión · Translated by Louella Mahabir · View original post [es] · comments (0)
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The Earth, image by Esparta Palma CCBy on Flickr

Culture

India: The Last Handwritten Newspaper in the World

The earliest forms of newspaper were handwritten and now ‘The Musalman‘ probably is the last handwritten newspaper in the world. This Urdu language newspaper was established in 1927 by Chenab Syed Asmadullah Sahi and has been published daily in the Chennai city of India ever since.

Azerbaijan: Novruz Bayram

Alongside Iran and elsewhere, Azerbaijan once again celebrated Novruz, the Zoroastrian or Persian New Year. Usually celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, Novruz marks the first day of Spring, and is one of the most important dates in the Azerbaijani calendar.

This next promotional video prepared for Eurovision shows how the holiday is celebrated in Azerbaijan.

Human rights and videos

Ethiopia: Child Abuse Caught on Mobile Phone Camera

Ethiopian Facebook users have reacted to a mobile phone recorded YouTube video which shows a little girl constantly being abused by her mother. Shortly after the upload of the video, netizens on Facebook organized an online campaign for justice by starting a Facebook group called “Ethiopians Against Child Abuse”:

Warning: the video shows situations of child abuse.

This month also saw other reactions in Ethiopia regarding human rights abuses, in the next case, an Ethiopian domestic worker was beaten by her employers in front of the Ethiopian Embassy in Lebanon, and it was captured on video. Sadly, she committed suicide shortly after.

Ethiopia: Outrage Over Abuse of Ethiopian Domestic Worker in Lebanon

Ethiopia Lebanon: Online Outrage Over Death of Domestic Worker Turns into Activism

The graphic nature of the video together with the tragic end of the plot left Ethiopians netizens outraged. Ethiopians have been using Facebook and online petition sites to mourn her death and campaign for justice for domestic workers in the Middle East.

Online activism

Kony 2012 Special Coverage Page

With the Kony 2012 campaign, discussions increased online on the topics of online activism, its efficiency and how media portrays the conflicts and situations lived in different African countries. A Special Coverage page was created to follow the reactions on the polemic video with Ugandans weighing in on the topic:

Uganda: Kony 2012 Video Response from Ugandan Prime Minister

On the YouTube comments for the previous video, Ugacentricity gives credit to the intentions behind the Invisible Children's video, but defends the need for an accurate portrayal:

No doubt, Jason's intentions MAY have been good, but he threw truth and fact out in favour of drama and innuendo. True, he may not have got the 100 million+ viewers, but the end doesn't always justify the means. As a Ugandan who was affected by Kony, I'd rather have had 100 people listening to the truth in my story than 100 million believing the untruths in it.

A series of video responses made by people inspired by the original Kony 2012 video can be found in the post Uganda: Yes We Kony!.

Other examples of online activism:

Online activism continues in the following examples of stories posted during the month of March 2012:

In Puerto Rico, an organization is seeking to raise awareness on the dangers and risks of planning unnecessary C-sections on women expecting babies through a music video.

In Russia, sex and videos were used as a means for political support by Putin supporters and detractors during the Election season, and this article walks us through some different examples.

In Latin America, women who had breast surgery with faulty implants are taking to the web to get their stories out and gather support. Through blogs, online forums, Facebook groups and online videos [es], women are talking about the high incidence of cosmetic breast enhancements, on financial responsibility for the removal of faulty implants and on the legal aspects of dealing with medical procedures that go wrong.

Crowdsourcing

Nicaragua: Film on the Consequences of a Leaked Sex Video Seeks Crowdfunding

An award-winning team of producers and actors is coming together in rural Nicaragua to make a movie based on actual events exploring the consequences of a couple of young people in love who make an intimate video of themselves which then becomes public by mistake, and how they deal with the backlash of their actions. They are looking for extra funding to cover costs on location in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, and all the money raised will be spent locally.

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“Una bloguera es, ante todo, una mujer valiente, que se atreve y se compromete. ¿Por qué? Porque a través de su blog se expresa, dice lo que piensa, siente, lo que es. Si tiene miedo de hablar o darle cuerpo a sus ideas, enfrenta ese miedo y lo supera.”

- “¿Quién es una bloguera?”, Mujeres Construyendo

Women make up almost half of Latin America's Internet users. However, in spite of their high web-presence, women are mainly content consumers. Mujeres Construyendo [es], the first platform for female bloggers in Spanish, wants to transform Hispanic women into creators, not just consumers, of internet content.

Its founder, Claudia Calvin, answered some questions about this platform and community of Hispanic female bloggers.

Global Voices: How and when was Mujeres Construyendo created? 

Claudia Calvin: Mujeres Construyendo surge como proyecto en el 2008, después de un tiempo de haberme hecho bloguera. Su origen se encuentra principalmente en mis andares por internet y después de descubrir una realidad que llamó profundamente mi atención: que las mujeres de habla hispana que participamos en internet seguimos transmitiendo en este espacio una creencia profundamente arraigada en nuestra cultura. ¿Cuál es? Aquella que nos inculcaron de niñas y en la que nos decían que “calladitas nos veíamos más bonitas”. Descubrí que nuestra participación como blogueras era muy distinta a  la participación de las blogueras estadounidenses: ellas en la actualidad representan casi un 60% de los blogueros en su país y las blogueras en internet de habla hispana representamos un escaso 27%. Cuando inicié Mujeres Construyendo, la cifra era más desalentadora aún: 15%.

Busqué afanosamente un espacio de convergencia de mujeres blogueras, un espacio que no fuese un directorio, sino un lugar de convivencia, una comunidad como tal. Al no encontrarla, decidí hacerla, y así es como surge Mujeres Construyendo.

Hablé con unos amigos desarrolladores y lograron darle vida a esta idea que tenía en mi mente. La plataforma Mujeres Construyendo surge como tal en el 2009.

GV: What is Mujeres Construyendo's mission? What does it want to achieve with this female blogging platform?

CC: El objetivo de Mujeres Construyendo es que las mujeres aprendamos a hacer uso de las nuevas tecnologías y las herramientas que brinda internet para empoderarnos, crecer, desarrollarnos. Los blogs son una herramienta de empoderamiento para nosotras: nos permite comunicar lo que hacemos, pensamos, visualizamos y participar en un diálogo central en el nuevo espacio público, que es internet.

Hemos participado más como observadoras y consumidoras de contenido que como proveedoras y en este espacio vacío se está perdiendo una enorme oportunidad para construir una realidad que refleje nuestros intereses y manera de entender y participar en el mundo, tanto en el ámbito de lo social, como lo político y empresarial, y ni qué decir de lo personal y familiar.

Las mujeres vivimos muchos tipos de marginación en el mundo, no necesitamos sumar una más a las existentes: la digital.

GV: Why is it important for women to have a blog?

CC: Como mencionaba anteriormente, los blogs son una herramienta de empoderamiento en la medida en que posibilitan que las mujeres puedan comunicarse, expresar, proponer y dialogar en internet y con ello contribuir a la definición y construcción de una realidad que refleje sus intereses y visión. Las voces de mujeres en la blogósfera son importantes porque son el reflejo de la mitad de los habitantes del planeta y en el medida en que sean actores sociales, políticos, voten, consuman, tomen decisiones y vivan de manera cotidiana los diversos contextos de su entorno (desde violencia, hasta crisis económicas, pasando por desastres naturales o guerras) su voz es importante. Son actores de la vida cotidiana y su visión y mirada cuentan, valen, reflejan una circunstancia. Su silencio resulta -sin que ellas mismas los sepan- cómplices de realidades sexistas o que marginan y en la medida en que paulatinamente vayan apareciendo y expresando su voz…irá cambiando el entorno. El silencio jamás ha sido socio del empoderamiento.

GV: How many women have a blog on Mujeres Construyendo?

CC: La comunidad de Mujeres Construyendo está constituida por la plataforma Mujeres Construyendo (www.mujeresconstruyendo.com) y las redes sociales a través de las cuáles se conecta su comunidad. La suma de personas conectadas a esta propuesta y a este espacio suma hoy cerca de 9 mil personas.

GV: What is the profile of the women who blog on Mujeres Construyendo?

CC: Cabe decir que participan hombres y mujeres en nuestra plataforma. Somos un espacio incluyente y consideramos que no se puede hablar de equidad partiendo de un principio de exclusión, por ello, las voces masculinas son bien recibidas. La mayoría, estamos hablando de más del 96%, son mujeres. Su perfil es principalmente urbano, de entre 25 y 45 años, en su mayoría de México, España, Argentina, Venezuela y Estados Unidos. Quiero destacar a una de nuestras blogueras más activas, y que inclusive ha sido entrevistada en televisión: Bertha, una extraordinaria mujer de 82 años que nos enseña que no hay edad para seguir aprendiendo y que las herramientas digitales son poderosas y permiten a las personas seguirle dando sentido a su vida.

GV: What will 2012 bring for Mujeres Construyendo?

CC: Empezamos el año con el pie derecho, estrenando nueva casa y nuestro nuevo sitio nos permite interactuar mejor, conocernos y convivir de manera más cercana. Detrás de esto hay trabajo y compromiso y queremos consolidarnos como un espacio central para que las mujeres participen, tengan voz y con ello contribuir con nuestro grano de arena no sólo a su empoderamiento, sino al fortalecimiento de la democracia. Queremos incrementar el número de blogueras participando y vinculadas a nuestra comunidad, estamos trabajando en ofrecer herramientas a las blogueras que les permitan fortalecer su presencia y cumplir sus objetivos, sean estos personales, familiares, profesionales. Detrás de este trabajo hay alianzas y proyectos que podrán ver en un futuro muy cercano y del que con gusto les platicaremos en su momento.

Muchas gracias por su interés en conocernos y ojalá a través de Global Voices más mujeres se animen a sumar su voz a nuestra comunidad. Juntas podemos hacer una diferencia.

Claudia is also a blogger [es] and she tweets under @LaClau [es]. You can follow Mujeres Construyendo on Facebook [es], Twitter, [es] YouTube [es], and LinkedIn [es].

Written by Silvia Vinas · Translated by Kathryn Morgan · View original post [es] · comments (0)
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This was the case on Sunday, March 11th at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music where the traditional concert in commemoration of Salsa Day was held. Salsa devotees congregated in the Conservatory's Rafael Hernández Ampitheater to enjoy this cultural and musical expression. An expression that has gone around the world to become one of the most popular and most recognizable examples of Latin American and Caribbean music and dance.

This year the singer Cheo Feliciano and the singer and trumpet player Jerry Medina, two of the most important exponents of Salsa in Puerto Rico, joined the Conservatory students to celebrate the Day of Salsa.

Wilma Colón has shared some photos she shot of the event. All the photos are used with her consent.

Devotees of Salsa gathered together to enjoy the commerative concert for the National Salsa Day.

Trombone students from the Conservatory majoring in Caribbean Jazz & Music.

Jerry Medina

Percussion students majoring in Caribbean Jazz and Music.

The singer Cheo Feliciano. As well as being a salsa signer, he is also known for singing boleros.

Conservatory students sing the choruses along with the guest Salsa singers.

Written by Ángel Carrión · Translated by Greg Ahlswede · View original post [es] · comments (0)
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Written by Firuzeh Shokooh Valle · comments (0)
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