News (Noticias) Tagged ‘Nicaragua’

Budweiser, sponsor of the American Nicaraguan Foundation’s (ANF) 8th annual gala on Oct. 4, will announce a $10,000 donation and the first donation to the newly formed ANF Scholarship Fund at the event. The Fund will provide higher education scholarships to students of Nicaraguan descent living in the United States and will be administered by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the nation’s largest Hispanic scholarship organization.

“Thanks to generous supporters like Anheuser-Busch, the ANF has been able to reach more than half a million people in Nicaragua through our education, health care and nutrition programs,” said F. Alfredo Pellas, Jr., president and co-founder, American Nicaraguan Foundation. “Anheuser-Busch is also one of the largest contributors to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, so we’re not surprised they joined with us to form the ANF Scholarship Fund.”

Earlier this year, Budweiser and the Anheuser-Busch distributors of South Florida donated 25 cents per case for every Budweiser, Bud Light and Budweiser Select 18-pack of bottles and cans sold at Navarro stores in June. The funds supported sustainable development in Nicaragua and the efforts of more than 2,000 local organizations established by ANF. ANF’s humanitarian efforts focus on housing, education, nutrition and health programs.

Anheuser-Busch is also a sponsor of the gala itself, which raises funds to cover the foundation’s yearly operating expenses.

“We’re proud to support the American Nicaraguan Foundation in their mission to end poverty in Nicaragua, and the formation of the ANF Scholarship Fund is the next step in providing opportunities to the Nicaraguan community both here in the United States and abroad,” said Paco Bendana, director of community relations, Anheuser-Busch, and a co-chair of the event. “We hope others who care about the Latino community will join us in supporting this effort.”

Anheuser-Busch’s support of the Latino community dates back more than a century. The company supports approximately 400 community-based, local and national Latino organizations with contributions totaling more than $58 million during the past two decades. Anheuser-Busch’s efforts in the Latino community focus on values such as education, leadership development, economic empowerment, public advocacy and arts and culture. The company has the No. 1 and No. 2 beer brands in the Latino market — Bud Light and Budweiser. To learn more about these efforts, please visit www.Latinobud.com .

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.5 percent share of U.S. beer sales. The company brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer, and a 27 percent share in China brewer Tsingtao, whose namesake beer brand is the country’s
best-selling premium beer. Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine’s Most Admired U.S. and Global Companies lists in 2008. Anheuser-Busch is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world’s largest recyclers of aluminum cans. For more information, visit
www.anheuser-busch.com .”

In the run-up to Sen. John McCain’s recent visit to Latin America, a chorus of doubters questioned the value of such a trip just four months before Election Day.  Media coverage suggested it was foolish for him to leave the domestic campaign trail at a time when gas prices and a weak economy are the most pressing issues on voters’ minds .

Such thinking ignores the fact that in recent years, President Bush has been widely criticized for neglecting Latin America, which critics argue has facilitated an Hugo Chavez-led expansion of leftist governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, in addition to razor-thin close calls in Mexico and Peru.

Marketwire, a full-service newswire and communications workflow solutions provider, today announces the debut of NoticiasDigitales, the newswire industry’s first real-time business-to-consumer digital news service to publish Spanish-language news on Latin American websites. An enhancement to its Spanish-language press release distribution circuits, Marketwire’s NoticiasDigitales displays press releases on more than 100 leading newspaper, financial and economic news, and media websites and portals that bring corporate news to millions of influential Spanish-speaking viewers across North America, Central America and South America.

“With the rapid growth of social media and ‘citizen journalism,’ the future of the newswire industry depends on leveraging new technologies to offer effective business-to-consumer news delivery solutions,” commented Marketwire Vice President of Emerging Markets Hector Botero. “Ethnic, emerging and international markets represent enormous, untapped opportunities for an online digital news distribution service, and we are extremely excited to launch an industry first to our clients who target Spanish-speaking audiences.”

Participants in the large web network at the core of Marketwire’s NoticiasDigitales include major news media, business, finance and technology websites published in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. Examples of participating websites are Caracol Radio, Clarín.com, Dinero.com, El Universal.com and Nacion.com.

A 30-day testing period revealed that between June 11 and July 11, 2008, Marketwire’s NoticiasDigitales received more than 4 million total impressions from visitors in 21 countries. Thirty percent, or 1.2 million of those impressions came from visitors in Colombia, an economy growing at 6.8 percent a year (two full points faster than the Latin American average); 29 percent, or 1.18 million of the impressions were from the United States; 13 percent, or 520,000 impressions, came from visitors in Argentina, a country that has experienced four consecutive years of more than 8 percent growth in GDP; and 11 percent, or 431,000 impressions, came from Mexico, a country counting the United States as its largest trading partner.

Now, by adding more than 100 websites and 3 million-plus monthly views to its comprehensive Latin America distribution circuits that, combined, reach more than 80,000 media points in Latin America, Marketwire reinforces its position as the leading Latin American market press release distributor. NoticiasDigitales is included in all of Marketwire’s Spanish-language press release distribution circuits: five Latin America/South America distribution packages; newslines to 17 Latin American countries; and its industry-leading North America Hispanic newsline that reaches more than 5,000 journalists and editors through Marketwire’s NoticiasFinancieras news syndicate generating news for print publications with combined circulation exceeding 3 million daily, and readership, including web properties, exceeding 10 million.

About Marketwire

The only fully integrated North America-based global newswire, Marketwire, Inc. is a full-service partner to IR, PR and MarCom professionals seeking top-tier news distribution, media management, multimedia and monitoring solutions. Marketwire’s customer-centric corporate philosophy focuses on being the best by infusing every aspect of its business with the following core attributes: precision, adaptability, innovation and simplicity.

Marketwire delivers its clients’ news to the world’s media and financial communities, fulfilling disclosure requirements in North America in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), and serving as Primary Information Provider (PIP) with the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA). With a reputation for technology leadership, Marketwire offers innovative products and services — including Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Dashboard Mobile Financial, News Dashboard coverage reports, exclusive access to networks such as the Canadian Press Wire Network, Easy IR and Easy PR workflow solutions, and more — that help communication professionals maximize their effectiveness while ensuring accuracy and best practices.

Having merged companies (Market Wire and CCNMatthews) in April 2006, and enjoying a combined history of 25 years of service, Marketwire is now majority-owned by OMERS Capital Partners, the private equity arm of one of Canada’s largest pension funds. Marketwire distributes the majority of press releases issued by publicly traded companies in Canada and serves more than 8,000 clients worldwide through 19 offices on four continents. For more information, visit us at www.marketwire.com. “*

After almost a year of arduous work, Oxfam America will be presenting in Guatemala the photo-publication titled Metal Mining in Central America: Pain and Resistance. The booklet features my photography and the format is based on the same formula used to produce the photo-essays published in MiMundo.org.

The negative impact produced by metal mining at industrial levels in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, as well as the many types of local resistance which have sprouted in the region, are documented visually and supported by investigative text throughout the publications’ 72 full-color pages. “*

The Univision Network’s primetime news magazine show, “Aqui y Ahora” (Here and Now), has been nominated for an Emmy(R) Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). The show has been nominated in the News and Documentary category, making Univision the only Spanish-language network to be recognized by the Academy this year.
Broadcast weekly on Tuesdays, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT (9 p.m. Central), and hosted by two of television’s most respected journalists, Teresa Rodriguez and Maria Elena Salinas, “Aqui y Ahora” features in-depth, behind-the-scenes coverage of some of the most compelling news and human interest stories. The news magazine show has been recognized in the category of “Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a News Magazine” for its reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Felix. In September of 2007, this deadly category five storm hit the “Mosquito Coast,” a remote region in Central America between Nicaragua and Honduras. Going beyond their journalistic duties, Univision “Aqui y Ahora” correspondent Victor Hugo Saavedra and photographer Jorge Solino were the first to arrive to this devastated region and not only gave a voice to the victims of this disaster known as “the forgotten ones,” but also transported injured civilians to safety when neither government officials nor humanitarian aide had yet to arrive.
“We are extremely honored to once again receive this recognition from The Academy,” said Alina Falcon, executive vice president and operating manager, Univision Network. “‘Aqui y Ahora’s’ first on-the-scene coverage of this devastating natural disaster not only exemplifies our commitment to excellence in journalism, but also our commitment to coverage of issues and events that are most important to our viewers.”
The News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards will be presented on Monday, September 22 at a ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City.
The 29th Annual News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards honors programming distributed during the calendar year 2007.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is a professional service organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy(R) Award for News & Documentary, Sports, Daytime Entertainment, Daytime Creative Arts & Entertainment, Public & Community Service, Technology & Engineering, and Business & Financial Reporting.
Univision Communications Inc. is the premier Spanish-language media company in the United States. Its operations include Univision Network, the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the U.S., reaching 97% of U.S. Hispanic Households; TeleFutura Network, a general-interest Spanish-language broadcast television network, which was launched in 2002 and now reaches 85% of U.S. Hispanic Households; Galavision, the country’s leading Spanish-language cable network; Univision Television Group, which owns and operates 63 television stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico; Univision Radio, the leading Spanish-language radio group which owns and/or operates 70 radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and 5 stations in Puerto Rico; and Univision Online, the premier Spanish-language Internet destination in the U.S. located at www.univision.com. Univision Communications also has a 50% interest in TuTv, a joint venture formed to broadcast Televisa’s pay television channels in the U.S. Univision Communications has television network operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in major cities throughout the United States.
For more information, please visit www.univision.net. “

Rick Sanchez is a Cuban-born correspondent and news anchor for CNN and CNN en Español. As one of the few Latino anchors on national news television, Sanchez has established himself as a seasoned journalist who has reported from war-torn Nicaragua, on the invasion of Grenada, and on the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s regime in Haiti. In addition, Sanchez was a major part of CNN’s Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina, during which he reported for eight continuous hours during live coverage. He received the distinguished journalist award from the American Medical Association and an Emmy for an autodocumentary series called Cuando salí de Cuba (When I left Cuba) chronicling his rise from Cuban immigrant to his position a major American news correspondent. Recently, he has joined with Latino organizations SiTV and Voto Latino to promote the Crash the Parties contest, which will allow two aspiring young Latino journalists to attend the Democratic and Republican national conventions while gaining valuable job-shadowing experience from Sanchez. “*

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In Chichigalpa, Chinandega, a company town in the hottest part of Nicaragua – former full-time cane workers have set up a permanent presence with tents and banners outside the entrance of the mill to draw attention to the prevalence of kidney disease among former workers, and to protest the Ingenio San Antonio sugar cane company’s refusal to acknowledge its responsibility. They’re there because they’ve been diagnosed with Chronic Renal Insufficiency (CRI), or because they’ve been widowed by it. “*

El día de hoy se dio a conocer que la Junta Directiva de la Cámara de Comercio Nicaragüense Americana de California (CACONACA™) ha confirmado la selección de la Congresista Norteamericana de origen nicaragüense Hilda Solís como GRAN MARISCAL de la 13va. Feria Agostina Internacional 2008.

Solís goza de gran simpatía entre la comunidad latinoamericana ha estado involucrada en diferentes proyectos y propuestas de ley que benefician grandemente a la Diáspora nicaragüense, razón por la que la Junta Directiva de CACONACA decidió otorgarle este honor.
/////////////////////

13va FERIA AGOSTINA INTERNACIONAL 2008
Los Nicaragüenses residentes en el oeste de los Estados Unidos conservan su cultura, su idiosincrasia y la raíz de sus tradiciones familiares; bajo la tradicional música de Marimba, el ballet folklórico, el famoso Palo de Mayo, su Salsa y el Rock en Español, durante la celebración de la Feria.

DONDE:  Dentro de las instalaciones del Industry Hills Expo Center, ubicado en: 16200 Temple Street. City of Industry, California y con capacidad de estacionar más de míl automóviles y recibir más de diez míl personas se realizará la 13va Feria Agostina Internacional 2008 en medio de la alegría y diversión familiar en un fresco ambiente campestre en donde la comunidad nicaragüense y los hispanos californianos podrán gozar de las tradicionales comidas y bebidas típicas como el vaho, el nacatamal, el indio viejo, la carne asada, la fritanga, el gallo pinto, la güirila, el vigorón, el chancho con yuca,  el cacao, la pitahaya, la cebada, la chicha, el pinolillo, la milca roja, cerveza toña y otros.

CUANDO: Domingo 3 de Agosto del 2008
A partir de las 10:00 a.m. y hasta las 09:00 p.m.

QUIEN:  La Cámara de Comercio Nicaragüense Americana de California (CACONACA™) http://www.Caconaca.com con el apoyo de las Cámaras de Comercio Centroamericanas, Ontario Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Abandoned Children in Nicaragua Foundation, Cámara De Comercio Argentina-California, Hispanic Business Network, Latin Business Asociation (LBA), California Mexican American Chamber of Commerce, Asociación Mundial De Nicaragüenses En El Exterior (AMNE), Asociación Mundial De Mexicanos En El Exterior (AMME), Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce/LA TRADE Office. Las empresas Taca, La Opinión, Nicas en el Exterior News, MundoLatino.com, Web Enterprises Inc, MTOM Tours, Universal Bank, Nutrilife, Goldmine Group Int., Liborio Market, Continental Airlines, Flor de Caña, Centro Hispano, C. Castro and Associates, Cerveza TONA, Instituto Nicaragüense de Turismo Nicaragüense (INTUR)

PORQUE: Para resaltar la importancia de la cultura hispana dentro de la vida y la sociedad de Estados Unidos y para mostrar a la comunidad hispana las tradiciones, artesanías y la alegría de la nación nicaragüense y otros países latinoamericanos.

VISUALES:       Niños disfrutando del día en los brinca-brinca, payasos, juegos mecánicos, zoológico, piñatas, artistas, la gigantona, músicos, danzantes folklóricos y concursantes en el tradicional Palo de Mayo.

CONTACTO:
Roger Martinez
Chairman 13va Feria Agostina
(213) 384-8430
(626) 671-4186

Tito Lagos-Bassett
Vice Presidente
CACONACA™
Cell:(626) 806-2938
Tito@FeriaAgostina.com

A famous Nicaraguan revolutionary singer-songwriter has asked the government to stop using his music.

Carlos Mejia Godoy, who penned the hymn of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, said in a letter published Saturday that President Daniel Ortega and his staff are not authorized to use his songs at government events.

He did not dispute the use of the party hymn he wrote, but he gave government-supported television and radio outlets a week to stop using a version that he recorded.”*

How do you parody a government that does such an outstanding job of parodying itself? That’s the daily challenge facing Nicaraguan cartoonists Pedro X. Molina and Manuel Guillen. Take the moment, three and a half years ago, when conservative former President Arnoldo Alemán and leftist current President Daniel Ortega, sworn political enemies with a similar fondness for power, agreed to divvy up their kingdom in an infamous power-sharing pact: Molina decided to lampoon the deal by drawing the two men seated at a banquet table being served Nicaragua on a plate. But the internationally acclaimed cartoonist for El Nuevo Diario was beaten to the punch by his subjects, who appeared together, in a leaked photograph, seated at the actual banquet table where they had forged their alliance.
…
But not everyone is laughing. As Nicaragua becomes increasingly polarized and the Sandinista government intensifies its crackdown on the independent press, cartoonists are suddenly in the firing line. Molina, known for being the more aggressive of the two, says his plume is no more barbed than before, but that the worsening political climate has changed the context of his work. “What has changed is how my role as a cartoonist is understood today, especially from the government’s viewpoint,” the long-haired cartoonist said. “Whatever I do is automatically called oligarchic, counterrevolutionary, or an instrument of the empire.”"*

A veteran guerrilla leader who helped spark a revolution here 30 years ago is again putting her life on the line to protest a government she claims is returning Nicaragua to its dark, dictatorial past.

Dora María Téllez, 52, started a hunger strike this week, plopping down in downtown Managua to ‘’sound the alarm bell” against what she says are President Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian intentions.

The former rebel leader and ex-minister of health under the first Sandinista government in the 1980s says her protest is a continuation of the revolutionary struggle she started three decades ago against the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship.”*

The Rev. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, an outspoken leftist critic of the United States and a former foreign minister in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

Mr. d’Escoto, 75, an American-born Roman Catholic priest, said he would not use his new position as a platform to disparage the United States, but wasted no time at taking a few oblique swipes at Washington.

In his inaugural speech, he said member states had to unite against “acts of aggression, such as those occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan.” And, without naming the United States, he said no countries should act as if collective agreements applied to all but them.”*

Last month, all anyone could talk about in the marketplace was the rising cost of food. Now that a violent transportation strike has paralyzed the country for two weeks and prevented deliveries from getting to market, the conversation has shifted to food shortages.

”Things are going from worse to more worst,” said veteran market vendor Manuel Ramírez, inventing a superlative to describe his frustration with the unraveling situation in Nicaragua. ”Even the [produce] baskets look like they are on strike,” he said, nodding to the large market bins that are empty except for a few rotting tomatoes and what appears to have been lettuce.

In the streets, several protests continued Wednesday while a tense calm prevailed throughout most of the country. Striking bus and truck drivers have clashed with riot police in recent days and the U.S. Embassy in Managua warned U.S. citizens to take precautions in the face of the strike, which began May 5.”*

May 5th marked the beginning of an intended thirty day strike, with more than 1.5 million public transport workers and truckers in Nicaragua protesting rising fuel costs and the lack of government impetus to do anything about it. (1) With road blockades in several places in Managua and almost no public intercity transport allowed whatsoever, Nicaragua is at an effective standstill. Containers full of goods sit stalled on the sides of highways, and even sports teams have cancelled weekend matches. When baseball is put on hold in Nicaragua, you know it is serious.

The focus of the strike centers on three unions’ demands for government subsidization at the fuel pump. The Federation of Taxi Drivers, National Transportation Coordinator and the Interurban Transportation Directorate demand that gas prices, currently at about US$4.70 per gallon, be reduced by more than US$2.00 per gallon and frozen. However, the government remains firm that such a policy would bankrupt them, and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has offered to reduce the price of gasoline by only US$0.30 cents a gallon. (2)

“*

What do superstar actor Will Smith, Miami’s Latino scene, The San Francisco Bay Area, Mortgages, Real Estate, Salsa Dancing, and Healthy Latino Cooking have in common?

Armando Tam.

At 32, Armando “Mando” Tam, of Concord, California has achieved much in his young business life. Originally from Rivas, Nicaragua, the son of Chinese and Nicaraguan parents, Mando arrived in America at age 3.

A few years ago, after spending several years in retail management and a few more in telecom and insurance, Armando Tam started teaching Salsa dancing and began singing with a Latino band. His dancing skills landed him a job with Will Smith in the Welcome to Miami Summer hit video. His lyrical skills got him his own record deal. More recently, he competed in a reality TV cooking show with a healthy Latino cooking cuisine.

“*

There is no shortage of good things to eat in the open-air Wholesale Market here in Nicaragua’s capital. Canvas sacks groan with rice and lentils. White eggs are stacked neatly, 30 to a box, fresh from the hens that laid them.

But talk to merchants and shoppers and they’ll tell you stories of want, not bounty. The fallout from exploding global prices for grains and fuel has landed hard on this impoverished Central American nation of 5.7 million people.”*

I saw them on the Tonight show last night and knew instantly that they were going to be one of my top stories for today. Awesome.

Dubbed the “First Family” of Taekwondo, siblings Jean, Steven, Mark and Diana Lopez are all bound for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China (to be broadcast exclusively on NBC Universal) — and with 100 days until Opening Ceremonies, they will take to the couch on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (Monday - Friday, 11:35 p.m. - 12:37 a.m. ET on NBC). On Tuesday, April 29, the Lopez family of Sugar Land, Texas will talk to Leno about their passion for the sport and how it feels to bring sibling rivalry to a whole new level.The Lopez family is already in the history books when they all won World Championship titles in 2005, a feat no other family has ever accomplished. Now they are making history again by becoming the first family to have three siblings competing on the same U.S. Olympic Team since 1904, plus being the first to also have four family members at the same Olympics in the same sport. Steven, Mark and Diana will be competing under the guidance of their older brother Jean Lopez who will be serving as the head coach of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Taekwondo team, a role he also served at the 2004 Olympic Game in Athens, Greece.

When his father enrolled him in a local Taekwondo school, little did Jean Lopez know that the sport would become a family passion. He was the first in the family to get involved with the sport and over the years, he has been a mentor and coach for his younger siblings.

Steven Lopez is the most recognizable athlete in the family and in the sport of Taekwondo. Not only was he the first person to win an Olympic gold medal for Taekwondo (the sport was not a full medal sport in the Olympics until 2000), he is now a consecutive Olympic gold medalist, taking home the prize again in 2004. He will be looking for his third straight this summer in Beijing.

The two youngest Lopez siblings are Mark, who began the sport when he was 5-years-old, and sister Diana, who sites brother Steven as her favorite athlete. They make the 2008 games a family affair and create another piece of history as they join their older brother on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

Other guests on the April 29 show include Dr. Phil McGraw and musical guest Natasha Bedingfield.

As previously announced, NBC Universal will present more than 3,600 hours of coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the most ambitious single media project in history and more than the combined total of every Summer Olympics ever televised in the United States. The Beijing Olympic Games will begin August 8, 2008, with unprecedented around-the-clock coverage and, for the first-time ever in the U.S., live streaming Olympic broadband video coverage on NBCOlympics.com.

“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” is from Big Dog Productions in association with Universal Media Studios. Debbie Vickers is the executive producer.

For artwork from “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” please visit the NBC press website at www.nbcumv.com.

CONTACTS:

Tracy St.Pierre, NBC Entertainment Publicity, (818) 840-3648, tracy.stpierre@nbc.com

Cecil Bleiker, Lopez Family Manager, (719) 330-2062, cbleiker@yahoo.com

Ann Bleiker, Lopez Family Manager, (719) 330-4293, ableiker@yahoo.com

Bill Kellick, USA Taekwondo, (719) 866-3626,

Appealing to the growing and established Hispanic markets in Houston and South Texas, the Houston Astros and television partner FSN Houston today announced that they have joined forces to produce and televise 15 Astros games in Spanish in 2008.

The Spanish-language broadcasts will be original productions separate from FSN Houston’s telecasts and will be carried on secondary FSN Plus channels on cable systems in Houston and South Texas markets. They also will be made available to DirecTV and Dish Network. Veteran announcer Rene Cardenas, who pioneered Astros Spanish-language radio broadcasts when the team debuted in 1962 and is considered the dean of Major League Baseball Spanish announcers, will team with Raul Saenz to call the games. Spanish graphics will supplement the broadcasts.

The first Astros Spanish-language telecasts are scheduled for May 7 and May 8 against the Washington Nationals. Spanish-language Astros games will be shown throughout the season with six in May, four in June, two in July, two in August and one in September.

In Houston, the games will be carried on Comcast Cable channel 76, which is available to digital cable customers (see schedule below for other markets).

“The Houston Astros are thrilled at the opportunity to provide Spanish-language broadcasts to markets all across Texas,” said Houston Astros Senior Vice President Communications Jay Lucas. “We will provide an excellent product to our Spanish-speaking fans by combining an outstanding broadcast team in Rene Cardenas and Raul Saenz with FSN Houston’s high-caliber production quality. We’re happy to be able to offer this product to fans that have been among the most passionate and devoted to our team throughout the history of our franchise.”

“The Houston Astros are one of the most aggressive teams in Major League Baseball to reach out and market to their Spanish-speaking fans and we’re excited to help them target their fan base,” said FSN Houston Senior Vice President/General Manager Steve Tello. “The Astros recognize the importance of the Hispanic community and have developed a plan that appeals to their growing Spanish audience.”

According to the most current U.S. Census figures, Houston is the fourth largest Hispanic market in the country with a population of 730,865. Hispanics make up 37.4 percent of the Houston market, while 1.1 million Hispanics live in surrounding Harris County. In the Astros’ extended fan base outside of Houston, Hispanics are the majority of the population in six markets, led by Laredo (94.1%), Brownsville (91.3%), McAllen (80.3%), El Paso (76.6%) San Antonio (58.7%) and Corpus Christi (54.3%). With a Hispanic population of 671,394, San Antonio ranks as the nation’s fifth largest Hispanic market.

Fans in those markets will be treated to one of the most prolific Spanish announcers in baseball as Cardenas returns to the Houston broadcast booth. The native of Nicaragua began his Major League Baseball career in 1958 when the Los Angeles Dodgers named him their first Spanish-radio announcer after the team moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Recognizing the success Cardenas achieved connecting with Spanish-speaking fans in Los Angeles, the Astros hired him in 1962 to direct their Spanish broadcasts when Houston was awarded a major league franchise. He spent 15 years with the Astros and eventually moved to Arlington in 1981 to become the Texas Rangers’ first Spanish broadcaster before returning to Los Angeles in 1982 to call Dodgers game in Spanish until 1998. In 2000 Cardenas was inducted into the Nicaraguan Baseball Hall of Fame. He currently writes a popular sports column for La Prensa and the Astros Spanish-language website and Astros magazine.

Cardenas will work with Saenz, a well-known Texas broadcaster who also serves as analyst on University of Texas football Spanish-radio broadcasts and the Dallas Mavericks Spanish radio network. Since 2004 he’s anchored sportscasts for Dallas-Fort Worth Univision affiliate KUVN where he won a Lone Star Emmy award for Best Sports Story in 2005. Saenz started the first Spanish play-by-play radio broadcasts for the San Antonio Missions Double A minor league baseball team in 2002, and has been sports director at Telemundo affiliates in Houston and San Antonio.

2008 FSN Houston Astros Spanish Language Television Schedule (All times listed are Central)
Day		Date		Opponent		Time
Wed.		May 7		Washington Nationals		7:00 p.m.
Thu.		May 8		Washington Nationals		7:00 p.m.
Tue.		May 20		Chicago Cubs		7:00 p.m.
Wed.		May 21		Chicago Cubs		7:00 p.m.
Thu.		May 22		Philadelphia Phillies		7:00 p.m.
Fri.		May 23		Philadelphia Phillies		7:00 p.m.
Fri.		June 13		New York Yankees		7:00 p.m.
Sat.		June 14		New York Yankees		6:00 p.m.
Fri.		June 27		Boston Red Sox		7:00 p.m.
Sat.		June 28		Boston Red Sox		6:00 p.m.
Fri.		July 18		Chicago Cubs		7:00 p.m.
Sat.		July 19		Chicago Cubs		6:00 p.m.
Fri.		Aug. 1		New York Mets		7:00 p.m.
Sat.		Aug. 2		New York Mets		6:00 p.m.
Fri.		Sept. 12		Chicago Cubs		7:00 p.m.

FSN Plus Astros Spanish Language TV Affiliates:
Market		Cable System		Channel
Aransas Pass		Cable One		20
Austin		Time Warner		77
Beaumont-Port Arthur		Time Warner		15
Brownsville		Time Warner		78
Bryan-College Station		Suddenlink		22
Columbus		Time Warner		79
Corpus Christi		Grande Communications		38
Corpus Christi		Time Warner		6
El Paso		Time Warner		24
Georgetown		Suddenlink		95
Gonzales		Time Warner		75
Harlingen		Time Warner		78
Houston		Comcast Cable		76 (digital basic)
Hilltop Lakes		DMS Cable		39
Kerrville		Time Warner		63
Lampassas		Suddenlink		2
Laredo		Time Warner		16
Lufkin		Suddenlink		15
McAllen		Time Warner		78
Nacogdoches		Suddenlink		14
Port Lavaca		Cable One		20
San Antonio		Time Warner		50
San Marcos		Grande Communications		80

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