Articles / Panama Tourist Guide / Video
Tags: acts_of_war, american_idol, common_goal, dollar_profits, Irving Saladino, latin_america, latin_american_idol, lethal_weapon, Margarita Henriquez, morbid_curiosity, Panama, panama-city, Panamanians, vocal_coaches, voting_system
October 10, 2008
The 3rd season of Latin American Idol ended Thursday night and in a barely surprising turn of events, Panamanian contestant Margarita Henriquez defeated Costa Rican Maria José Castillo thanks to the votes via chat messages from people in Panama and all of Latin America. Panama’s odds of winning were good from the start, with 3 Panamanians present out of the 10 finalists; Margarita has pipes and in the last three months she, surely with the help of vocal coaches and some of the most renowned Spanish-speaking performers in the world, has fine-tuned her instrument into a lethal weapon of song. She deserved to win the contest, and I’m glad that Latin America agreed with the notion. As black-and-white as Margarita’s indisputable win is though, what is truly fascinating is what she has managed to inspire in just a few short weeks simply by the raw power of her presence in LAI: Panama, as a whole, came together for a common goal in such a way that the I can only compare it to how a country deals with acts of war. In many ways (but by no means in the same scale), Margarita’s presence and win in Latin American Idol brought a country together in the same manner that 9/11 brought the U.S. to unity.
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Articles / Non-Fiction / Panama Tourist Guide / Video
Tags: aranda, Beijing, el_canguro, eyes_of_the_world, Franz Wever, fundamental_principle, gonorrhea, incredible_victory, international_contests, Irving Saladino, ismael-ortiz, jahir, long jump, lucid_dreams, Martin-Torrijos, olympic_committee, olympic_games, olympic_games_history, Panama, Panamanians, PANDEPORTES, pantheons, playing_at_home, saladino, tricky_issue
August 22, 2008
Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda, or “El Canguro” (Kangaroo for you kids playing at home), made history as he became the first Panamanian in Olympic Games history to win the gold medal in any discipline. As it almost always is with anything that could, in an off-chance, bring us closer to the pantheons of glory, his road to the gold medal was not without its hiccups and controversy; still, I’m relieved that none of it could taint the incredible victory this man brought for Panama as a country. It was really a sight to behold, and in the eyes of the world we’ll come off as a nation that’s proud of its athletes. Now, on to the goings-on behind the scenes that every Panamanian knows (or should know) about just as everyone out there interested in this feat should in the interest of explaining exactly why this is such an important landmark in our nation’s history.
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