Blogamole › Argentina

By Simone Hilliard

After a 27-year relationship, two men on Friday (July 30) became the first gay couple to wed under Argentina's historic same-sex marriage law — the first of its kind for a Latin American nation. Jose Luis Navarro, 54, and Miguel Angel Calefato, 65, tied the knot in provincial Santiago del Estero.

Lucky for them, Mexico City recently offered a free honeymoon to the first same-sex Argentine married couple, but Navarro said he and Calefato were reluctant to accept. "It seems superficial to think of marrying just to win a prize," Navarro said.

Jose Luis David Navarro, 54, left, and Miguel Angel Calefato, 65, show their marriage license
(AP Photo/Eugenio Adorni)

Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide on July 15, but Mexico City decreed the romantic act back in December of 2009. Amid all the press surrounding the South American country, la ciudad decided to capitalize on a bit of that fame by offering a free honeymoon to the first same-sex couple that marries in Argentina, further promoting gay-friendly tourism in Central America.  

Mexico City's tourism secretary Alejandro Rojas said the couple's all-expense paid vacation will include airfare, hotels, meals, and leisure activities.

Rojas told the Press Association:

"Mexico City will become a centre, where (gay) people from all over the world will be able to come and have their wedding, and then spend their honeymoon here.

"We are already in talks with some travel agencies that are planning to offer package tours that include flights, hotels, guides, and everything they need for the wedding, like banquets. We are going to become a city on par with Venice or San Francisco."

Whether this publicity stunt will do the trick is unknown, but one Argentine couple is certainly the recipient of a wonderful offer no matter the reason.

Source: [ABC News]

What do you think of Mexico's tourism tactics? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3!

Tags Argentina, Cultura, gay, Marriage, Mexico, Politics

By Sharmaine Jones

Argentina gets the official head nod from NBA San Antonia Spurs star Manu Ginobilli, who supports the decision to legalize gay marriage.

Ginobili, easily considered the best player to come out of the Latin American country, spent the early part of his basketball career in Argentina and Italy. In 2002 he joined the Spurs and has since earned three NBA Championships and a slew of individual awards, including NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2008.

The well respected NBA star shared this statement with the Mendoza based “El Sol” newspaper:

“I am all for marriage. I think we all have the same rights.”

Thumbs up to Ginobili for having the courage to openly support the bill. NBA players aren't usually the most publicly supportive people when it comes to homosexuality. Not to mention the fact that he runs the risk of pissing off fans in San Antonio, aka “The City of St. Anthony” — a storehouse of Catholic history.

Opponents of the bill have also strongly objected to the bill's inclusion of gay adoption. The shooting guard was mum on the issue of gays adopting children:

“Although in reality, with respect to adoption, I don't feel capable of giving an opinion.”

Source: [Guanabee]

Do you think Ginobili will receive backlash for his support of gay marriage? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3!

Tags Argentina, Manu Ginobili, NBA, San Antonio Spurs

By Sharmaine Jones

After a marathon debate of over 14 hours, its official: On Thursday (July 15), Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. The new law grants gays and lesbians all the legal rights, responsibilities, and protections that marriage brings to heterosexual couples.

So what does the passing of this law mean for Latin America?

By defying conservative Latin American traditions about marriage and standing up to the powerful Catholic leadership, Argentina has set a standard. Last year, Mexico City became the first jurisdiction in Latin America to legalize gay marriage but Uruguay, Colombia, and parts of Brazil are still limited to civil unions.

Argentina's decision could be the spark that lights an international movement to allow the freedom for all to marry – based on nothing other than love for one another.

"We're now a fairer, more democratic society. This is something we should all celebrate," Maria Rachid, a leading gay rights activist, said to Yahoo! News as supporters of the law hugged each other and jumped up and down after the vote.

"The law not only recognizes the rights of our families, but also the possibility of having access to health care, to leave a pension, to leave our assets to the people with whom we have shared many years of life, including our children," she continued.

According to the Associated Press, gay activists in neighboring Chile hope Argentina's milestone will improve chances for a gay-marriage law currently in committee in their own Congress.

"Argentina's political class has provided a lesson to the rest of Latin America," said Rolando Jimenez in the Chilean capital, Santiago. "We hope our own countries and political parties will learn that the human rights of sexual minorities are undeniable."

Gay marriage was strongly supported by Argentinian President Christina Fernandez and the Senate voted 33-27 (3 abstaining votes) on the matter, which will take effect within days.

A gay couple kisses outside Argentina's congress during a rally on July 14

Just don't expect everyone in Argentina to support upcoming wedding celebrations, as responses have been mixed.

The Roman Catholic Church fought the proposal tooth and nail, organizing a 60,000 person march on congress. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, leader of the campaign, rationalized his actions by saying “children need to have the right to be raised by a father and a mother.”

Other more “lenient” folks from the opposing side proposed a civil-union law that would have barred gays from adopting or undergoing in-vitro fertilization to have children, and enabled any civil servant to “conscientiously object” to register gay couples.

Despite this victory for gay couples in Argentina and their allies, the fight for equal rights still has a long way to go. There are at least 78 countries or territories in which homosexuality is illegal, 6 countries in which it is punishable by death (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Iran, Mauritania, Sudan).

Should the U.S. adopt same-sex marriage Sound off in the comments or @MTV3!

Tags Argentina, Christina Fernandez, Gay Marriage, Latin America, Latinos and Politics, Tr3s

By Sugey Palomares

There is no doubt that Wisin y Yandel’s “La Revolución” has become a world-wide phenomenon, but the Puerto Rican reggaetoneros proved their global victory once again by performing for a crowd of over 60,000 fans last week at the Estadio Andes Talleres in Mendoza, Argentina.

The “Sexy Movimiento” stars have currently wrapped up three out of the nine concerts in the second largest South American country and have also spread their revolution throughout Paraguay earlier this month.

The Dynamic Duo hyped up the fans with pyrotechnic sounds and crazy visuals, but the extra dose of musical euphoria was when W&Y Records signed artists, Franco “El Gorila” and Tico “El Inmigrante” took the stage to flex their musical goods.

In case you are lucky enough to snag tickets to the Wisin y Yandel’s Argentinean Concert Tour, be sure to check out their additional dates below the jump!

What would you do for a pair of tickets? Read more...

Tags Argentina, Gossip, Latin Gossip, Latin Music, Musica Latina, Reggaeton, W&Y, Wisin y Yandel

By Sandra Roldán

So, we all know who the big winners were at last night's Oscars, and quite frankly we're not too familiar with the movies that won, or even a lot of the ones that were nominated.  Okay, eso es mentira.  We loved 'Avatar' and a couple of the other nominees ('Up In The Air' and 'Precious'), but it looks like we'll have to add 'The Blind Side' and 'The Hurt Locker' to the ol' Netflix...

We were happy to see, though, that there were not one but TWO películas de Latino America nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category este año!  'El Secreto De Sus Ojos,' from Argentina, took home the prestigious award, beating out films from Peru, Israel, France and Germany.  Now that's one that's definitely going on Netflix!  La película, which is set in Buenos Aires, and stars Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil, tells the story of an unsolved murder mystery interspersed con una historia de amor.

Director Juan José Campanella accepted his golden trophy at last night's ceremony with a hilariously humble observation:

It is on behalf of a crew and cast that compromise mostly of people that I love and that are very close to my heart that I want to thank the Academy for not considering Na'vi a foreign language, first of all.

The director also spoke with The Wall Street Journal, to which he spoke about the impact of an Argentinean movie winning an Oscar:

For an Argentine movie, the bolster is incomparable. For the country's film making in general, I don't know if one prize means too much. But the sum of an Oscar, plus the recurring presence of various movies in important film festivals around the world, starts creating an interest to see films from our country. It’s not an isolated movie, but an entire cinematography that creates expectations.

Felicidades! Watch his Oscar "Thank You" speech here!

Photos via Getty Images; Google Images

Tags 82nd Annual Academy Awards, Argentina, El Secreto De Sus Ojos, Juan José Campanella, Oscars

While some of you may be too young to be avid Sandro fans, we're pretty sure todos nuestros padres are sad about this one!  Sandro, el gran cantante Argentino, passed away yesterday after a long and painful battle with lung cancer (smoking kills!).  Known as "el gitano," and the Argentinian Elvis, Sandro seduced an entire generation of "nenas" with his hip-shaking swagger and sexy voz.  Think we're kidding... pregúntale a tu mamá!

Pero Sandro's impact on la música latina runs deep.  As the first Latin artist to ever perform at New York's Madison Square Garden, Sandro's influence was felt across generations, con temas classicos como "Rosa Rosa," "Yo Te Amo" y "Penumbras."  En Argentina, el cantante was nothing short of an idol, with bandas como Los Fabulosos Cadillacs recording covers of his songs.

Nuestro pesame a su familia and all his fans en el mundo Latino!  R.I.P.

Photo via Google Images

Tags Argentina, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, muere, RIP, Rosa Rosa, Sandro, Yo Te Amo

Lydia Guevara is following in the footsteps of her legendary grandfather...

By joining otra revolución...the vegetarian one that is. She is partnering with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for their South American animal rights campaign set to launch this October in Argentina (Che's birthplace). PETA reached out to Lydia Guevara after finding out she was a vegetarian.

La bella Lydia will be plastered on posters reading "Join the vegetarian revolution" --  pretty nifty huh? The 24-year-old is featured in the ads wearing a beret and ammunition belts holding carrots instead of bullets, undoubtedly paying homage to Che. This is the org's first venture in South America - do you think it will be a successful one? [peta.org]

Que viva la revolución!

Photo via AP

Tags "join the vegetarian revolution", Argentina, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Lydia Guevara, Peta, politico, South America, Vegetarian

The life of iconic and super controversial revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara finally comes to life...

Thanks to the perseverance of Oscar winning actor Benicio Del Toro. The Boricua co-produced and starred in Che, the two-part biopic that has been a labor of love for the last seven years. The film chronicles his rise up to revolutionary icon from Argentina to fighting along side Fidel Castro. The script manages to unveil the mythical depictions of these historical figures by using a humanistic lense that doesn't fade-out until the very end.

MTV News caught-up with Benicio to talk about why Che (both film and the person) is still so relevant today. Check out what he and actor Rodrigo Santoro (Raul Castro) had to say in the video below. Not into history? Rodrigo and Benecio will change your mind. Watch the clip!

Photo via Getty Images

Tags Actores Latinos, Argentina, Benecio del Toro, Cuba, Fidel Castro, Latino Actors, Latinos, Movies, MTV NEws, MTV TRes, Tr3s

Kat Von D definitely knows how to turn ordinary cuerpos into walking canvases with her finely detailed, black & gray portraits, but have you ever wondered what inspires her sharp inked designs? Born in Mexico and raised by Argentinean parents, Kat honors her Latin American roots by adding cultural elements to her needled creations.

The 26-year-old reveals her true amor for Mexico:

Yeah, all the time. My mother, until recently, was living in Tijuana and I just moved her back to America to live with me. But we go there often, and one day I plan on retiring there. I love Mexico so much. It'll be nice to have a getaway house and eventually reside there.

Perhaps this will inspire a "Mexico Ink" spin-off in the future! We can just imagine abuelitas getting tatted-up by Ms. Von D. On second thought...we think "LA Ink" works just fine! [Latina]

Photos by Kat Von D and Lionel Deluy

Tags Argentina, Art, Entertainment, Kat Von D, Latina, Mexico, Tattoo