El Cinco De Mayo- 5 de Mayo

The 5 de Mayo of 1862 is not the Mexican Independance Day. The Mexican Independance Day is celebrated the15th of September of 1610.

According toMexican history the 5 de Mayo is about the French-Mexican War in which a poorly supplied and outnumbered Mexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeats a French army attempting to capture Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico. Victory at the Battle of Puebla represented a great moral victory for the Mexican government, symbolizing the country's ability to defend its sovereignty against threat by a powerful foreign nation.

In 1861, the liberal Mexican Benito Juarez became president of a country in financial ruin, and he was forced to default on his debts to European governments. In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to carve a dependent empire out of Mexican territory. Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large French force and driving President Juarez and his government into retreat.

Certain that French victory would come swiftly in Mexico, 6,000 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles. From his new headquarters in the north, Juarez rounded up a rag-tag force of loyal men and sent them to Puebla. Led by Texas-born General Zaragoza, the 2,000 Mexicans fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On the fifth of May, 1862, Lorencez drew his army, well-provisioned and supported by heavy artillery, before the city of Puebla and began their assault from the north. The battle lasted from daybreak to early evening, and when the French finally retreated they had lost nearly 500 soldiers to the fewer than 100 Mexicans killed.

Although not a major strategic victory in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza's victory at Puebla tightened Mexican resistance, and six years later France withdrew. The same year, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who had been installed as emperor of Mexico by Napoleon in 1864, was captured and executed by Juarez' forces. Puebla de Los Angeles, the site of Zaragoza's historic victory, was renamed Puebla de Zaragoza in honor of the general. Today, Mexicans celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday in Mexico.

It is not that mexicans in the United States believe that they are celebrating an independance day, but that they celebrate this day to honorof those who died defending Puebla de Los Angeles, and in doing so, ensure the continuation of the Mexican resistance against the French forces.
Here is a small clip I found in youtube:

Venezuela Today

Que Vivan Las Mujeres -Miguel Bosé

Que vivan las mujeres que no escuchan canciones románticas y las que lloran con ellas también. Que vivan las mujeres que sueñan con dormir... y duermen. Que vivan las mujeres que apagan sesenta velas porque cumplieron sesenta años. Que vivan las mujeres que dejaron de ordenar las cosas que los demás desordenaron. Que vivan las mujeres que tiene hijos y las que los perdieron también. Que vivan !
Que vivan las mujeres que saben que un panguito nunca superara un pedazo de chocolate. Que vivan las mujeres que se atreven a vivir... que se atreven a vivir... ¡Que vivan!"Que vivan las mujeres que dejaron de preocuparse por lo que piensa el resto y que sin embargo sigue preocupándose de los demás.¡Que vivan las mujeres!¡Que vivan las mujeres!

Listen to Venezuelan news in Spanish

Would you like to test your knowledge of Spanish? Would you like to be up-to-date in the developing history of Venezuela? Here is your opportunity to do both in Spanish:

La Universidad - Universities in Spanish Speaking Countries

In many Spanish speaking countries there are many good universities but getting into them is very difficult. In many countries, students have to take a test to be be admitted and only those students who are excellent are allowed to enter. In other countries, students are told what career to pursued depending on their grades. As a result, the students prepare many months in advance to take tests or follow whatever requirements the universities may have to be part of their student body. There are universities like the University of Complutense in Madrid where more than 120,000 students attend while there are many smaller universities where hundreds of students attend. The same is true in countries like Venezuela.
Like in the United States, there are private universities that are very expensive to attend and no scholarships available. There are also public universities where the majority of the students apply before graduating from High school. A disadvantage of the public universities is the size of the classes where there are so many students that there are no seats for everyone. Some universities are moderns and offer everything a student needs to prepare well while other universities are smaller and not equiped well enough to prepare the students for a good career.In Spain one of the oldest universities is la Universidad de Salamanca funded in the XIII Century. This university is famous not only for its architecture but for all the famous people who taught there. Like in many universities in the spanish speaking world, the length of time required to obtain a degree is five years-although many students take longer than that to finalize their studies. To adapt to the working world, students can attend classes in the morning,afternoon and evening depending on their work schedule. In the mayority of universities student are on their own when it is time to find a place to live since there are not dorms on campus as is the case of many universities in North America.
In a Spanish speaking country students are more likely to be more involved in the political movement by participating in marches and organizing protests against national and international injustice. So, when you have the opportunity to study abroad take into consideration that the students in the university you are attending might be very politically involved. Please do not allow this to prevent you from studying abroad and learning Spanish by living in a Spanish speaking country. Check with your embassy or government before traveling to be inform of the political climate present where you want to go.

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter and muralist born in Guanajuato City, Guanajuato. Studied painting in Mexico before going to Europe in 1907.
While in Europe he took up cubism and had exhibitions in Paris and Madrid in 1913; he then had a show in New York City in 1916. In 1921 he returned to Mexico, where he undertook government-sponsored murals that reflected his communist politics in historical contexts.

He married Frida Kahlo in 1929, and their tempestuous marriage got to be as famous as their art. In the 1930s and '40s Rivera worked in the United States and Mexico, and many of his paintings drew controversy. His 1933 mural for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan featured a portrait of Communist Party leader Lenin, the resulting uproar led to his dismissal and to the mural's official destruction in 1934.
Similarly, a 1948 mural for the Hotel de Prado in Mexico that included the words "God does not exist" was covered and held from public view for nine years.

His personal life was as dramatic as his artwork. In 1929, he married Kahlo who was roughly 20 years younger. The two had a passionate, but stormy relationship, divorcing once in 1939 only to remarry later. She died in 1954. He then married Emma Hurtado, his art dealer. Rivera died of heart failure on November 24, 1957, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Rivera's talent for historical murals and his tributes to earthy folk traditions made him one of the most influential artists in the Americas and one of Mexico's most beloved painters

El Festival Internacional Cervantino

Every year in the month of October the famous Festival Cervantino is held in honor of the illustrious author Miguel de Cervantes- the author of Don Quijote de La Mancha. There are musicians such as Banda Elastica, Banda de Guanajuato, Ramon Vargas, Susana Harp and many more. There are exhibitions, plays, concerts, cinema and all sorts of events, turning the city into a hotbed of culture.

Every year the festival invites a different country of honor, as well as a specific Mexican state, to bring traditional and contemporary performances from that region. The attendance is very wide, drawing spectators from throughout Mexico and the world and often tickets to performances (as well as local hotels) are booked months in advance.

Guanajuato is the capital of the state of the same name, birthplace of Mexico’s independence. El Festival Internacional Cervantino (The International Cervantes Festival) is the most important artistic and cultural event in Mexico. According to my mexican friends, this festival started when students at the University in Guanajato presented the entremeses (farces) of Cervantes in the city's plazas. Slowly these plays grew in importance, until the local government took interest. The first Festival Internacional Cervantino began September 29th, 1972. Today the festival is sponsored by the federal government of Mexico,Consejo Nacional Para La Cultura y Las Artes (the National Council on Culture and the Arts) and the government of the state of Guanajuato.


In its beginnings, the festival was devoted mainly to artistic creation in the Spanish language, in homage to Miguel de Cervantes. In the course of time, the universal scope of the influence of Cervantes gradually took the form of the vast variety of artistic and cultural expressions included in the festival today.

In recent years, the festival has become a magnet for a younger generation, more interested in the party atmosphere that accompanies the festival than in the performances themselves, and the streets are often jam-packed. In recent years, this young partying affluence affected in certain degree the festival reputation because many just went to excessively consume alcohol and some drugs. However, in 2007 edition, the Festival Internacional Cervantino was renewed and alcohol sale was regulated and making it illegal to consume it in the streets. In addition, the police increased its presence in the event, making its cultural sense to prevail.

This year's 36th edition of the International Cervantes Festival will bring together the most outstanding artists of Asia, Europe and America. Around 2,000 artists from 24 countries will be participating in this event, celebrated from October 8 - 26. The guests of honor for 2008 are the autonomous community of Catalonia and the Mexican State of Campeche.