By: Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov Standing at the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios sanctuary built on top of the pre-hispanic Great Pyramid of Cholula I had a great view towards the sublime cone of the Popocatepetl. There was a smoke plume billowing from the volcano. However, it did not emanate from the crater. Someone had started a brush fire at the base of the mountain and what could have been a perfect view was thus, only a great one. It was late February during Carnival season … [Read more...]
Why Pablo Rodriguez Should be your New Latino Role Model
By: Ana Rodriguez If your upbringing was anything like mine, you’ll know that finding yourself represented in Canadian media, much less politics, was a feat rarely accomplished. Besides a couple of children’s cartoons and outdated stereotypes on sitcoms, there weren’t many Latino figures for us to look up to. By “us” I am referring to the thousands of Latino children growing up in Canada. Fortunately, thanks to the many movements across North America demanding visibility for people of colour, … [Read more...]
English Language Tour at Las Huacas del Sol y de la Luna
Trujillo is a northern coastal city in Peru. It is the center of the ancient culture Moche. There is an ancient Moche temple in Trujillo called Las Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (referred to as Las Huacas later in the text). Last December I paid a visit to Las Huacas. I was amazed by the magnificent murals and the unique structures of the temple. As a foreigner, I felt enlightened about the Moche culture at Las Huacas. Nevertheless, most overseas tourists are not so interested in Las Huacas as I … [Read more...]
#NotOneLess, You Touch One of Us, You Touch All of Us | #NiUnaMenos Tocas a Una, Tocas a Todas
Saturday 13th of August. The streets of Lima were flooded with people denouncing violence against women. This has been next in line after protests in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and other Latin American countries, all under the slogan #NiUnaMenos – Not One Less. But how did this phrase even start? And how did it become viral? AJ+ Video: Violence Against Women in Peru Tens of thousands of people are saying no to violence against women in Peru. Posted by AJ+ on Sunday, August 14, … [Read more...]
Indigenous Births at the aluCine Festival
Earlier this month, I attended the opening gala of the aluCine Latin Film + Media Arts Festival, the longest running Latinx film festival in Canada. [1] This year, aluCine highlighted indigenous voices from Latin America, as was apparent immediately from the opening, when an indigenous Maya woman came onto the stage to acknowledge the land on which the AGO was built. Her opening ceremony, which featured songs and ceremonies from both her own Maya people and Canada’s Anishinaabeg, was a … [Read more...]
Veinte Años de República, Diez Años de Estabilidad Política
La teoría económica plantea que, en última instancia, las instituciones son las principales generadoras de crecimiento económico de un país en el largo plazo. Ante la falta de un marco legal plenamente establecido, o en un ambiente de continua inestabilidad política, una mejora sostenida en las condiciones económicas de un país, es simplemente impensable. Cualquier ecuatoriano que haya vivido en la década de los noventa o en los primeros años de este siglo, recordara con tristeza una época … [Read more...]
International Development in Peru
Photo: Volunteers from the Program AguaSalud in a rural kindergarten classroom in Bagua Grande, Peru Development is far from glamorous. It's hard work, takes a lot of patience, and involves a lot more listening than doing. In 2015, a colleague and I worked in the Amazonas Region of Peru with Students for International Development (SID) on a community development project in the health sector. The project, AguaSalud, was piloted the year prior with the goal of improving hygiene practices like … [Read more...]
Complete Peace
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos stated on January 15th at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that there has been progress in peace negotiations between the Colombian government and Colombia's second largest and oldest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). The ELN, born in 1965 as an anti-imperialist political project was inspired by the Cuban Revolution. It currently has in its ranks some 1,500 insurgent fighters and according to Colombian … [Read more...]