Cyndi Lauper meets married couple Alex Freyre and José Di Bello in Argentina

Two of my favorite blogs out there - Towleroad and Joe.My.God. - picked up on a video that shows the great Cyndi Lauper entertaining a bunch of stranded passengers facing delayed flights out of Buenos Aires by singing "Girls Just Want To Have Fun".

Lauper was flying back to the United States from Argentina after performing in Buenos Aires Friday night.

That night, Lauper and her tour production team had invited two very special guests: José Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre, the first gay couple to marry in all of Latin America (they are all pictured right, with the husbands wearing red ribbon sashes).

I asked Alex to share his thoughts on meeting Lauper and here is what he wrote:

Cyndi wanted to meet us and we were invited to attend the show and meet her backstage.

We told her how we spent the night before we got married listening to her entire "True Colors" CD since it was the only one we had brought along!  And how we danced to it during our secret stay at the hotel.

She seemed surprised. I don't think she was aware that Argentina had passed a marriage law - at least that's what I understood - and [she was even more surprised] about our story. 

She said: "You are heroes!" and we told her that her inspiration had been very valuable to us; that she was an activist who had left her mark; and that we had always admired her for that and loved her for how she was.

José and Alex were among a number of same-sex couples who jumpstarted the push for marriage equality in Argentina by going to the courts and demanding the right to marry.  In November of 2009, in the first ruling of its kind, a court in Buenos Aires ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny them marriage rights and granted them the permission to marry.

As long-time HIV treatment and prevention advocates, they planned a marriage ceremony for December 1st, 2009, but mere hours before the ceremony a second court ordered a stay.

Realizing that the stay only applied to Buenos Aires - and with the assistance of a few legal advocates and a number of LGBT-rights organizations - the couple found out that the Governor of Tierra del Fuego, Fabiana Rios, was willing to officiate a civil marriage ceremony.

So, in utter secrecy, the couple made their way to the southernmost region in the Americas.  When Alex mentions the couple spent the night before the wedding dancing to "True Colors" during their secret stay at the hotel, it was because they told almost no one about their plan to marry in Tierra Del Fuego and people only found out about it after the ceremony had taken place.

That ceremony took place on December 28th, 2009.

Argentina, of course, would later become the first country in Latin America to pass a law granting all Argentinean gay couples the right to marry.

On Twitter, if you understand Spanish, you can follow the couple as follows: José Maria Di Bello tweets here and Alex Freyre tweets here.

Cyndi Lauper, by the way, tweets here.

Argentina: Bears attacked

On Tuesday, January 18th, three members of the Buenos Aires Bear Club in Argentina visited the offices of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) and filed a claim detailing a number of recent homophobic attacks against the club and its members.

Club coordinator Gabriel Sánchez tells Tiempo Argentino that on the night of January 15th, as club members and their friends began to arrive to a monthly grill-and-meet event, twenty or so individuals living in a nearby hotel started harassing them and asking them for money.

When members refused to give money, Sánchez says that some of the assailants began to shout "You getting together to fuck, fat faggots!"

As the tone got more aggressive, club members went inside the clubhouse and shut the door.  Outside, assailants pulled a discarded mattress and some trash bags against the door and set them on fire, as captured in this photo which was posted on the paper's website.

Club members were able to open the door and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. By then, Sánchez says, the police had arrived and kept guard preventing further violence.

"We are well aware of the different economic situation and the reality of living in an overcrowded hotel, but were never hostile to them," said Sánchez, "These people are enraged by sexual diversity, something that has never been a problem in the neighborhood."

Sánchez says that the problems began a month earlier when the hotel accepted a number of new residents a month before the latest incident.  Bear club members started to complain of being verbally harassed as they made their way to the clubhouse or that their vehicles were damaged after refusing to pay them a bogus parking fee.

AG Magazine says that, in their complaint to INADI, bear club members describe the assailants throwing rocks and glass bottles which left a few of their members hurt. They also say that while the police did eventually arrive, they treated the altercation as a minor problem between neighbors but refused to arrest anyone or to register a complaint.

Maria Rachid, a former president of the Argentinian LGBT Federation who was appointed as Vice President of INADI in December by Argentinean president Cristina Fernandes de Kirchner, said that the government-led agency would accompany the members of the bear club and help them to file criminal charges on the basis of any personal damages or injuries as well as attempted murder.  She also vowed to approach the local police department to address the way their officers responded to the attack.

Rachid was also instrumental in pushing and securing marriage equality rights for all gays and lesbians in Argentina.

• Related: Rex Wockner: Buenos Aires Bears clubhouse attacked (Bay Windows, Jan. 24, 2011)

Argentina: Lesbian couple's marriage ruled valid once again

OMG! Here we go again. Minutes after I wrote to my friend Ron Buckmire to say that Carlos Alvarez and Martin Canavaro were the only remaining legally married same-sex couple in Argentina, here comes word that an Argentinian judge has set aside this week's annulment of the first ever lesbian marriage in Buenos Aires.

From Chris Crain's Gay News Watch:

A judge in Buenos Aires today upheld the validity of the first civil marriage between two women, rejecting the decision of another judge, Martha Gomez Alsina, who had set aside as "null and non-existent" the marriage between the two women, the newspaper La Capital is reporting.

"Administrative Judge Elena Liberatori confirmed the validity of same-sex marriages, and today ordered the City Civil Registry of Buenos Aires to deliver the marriage certificate to the court" for the lesbian couple. The judge furthered ordered that the certificate be kept "in judicial custody for safekeeping."

The Argentinian LGBT Federation reiterated that the ruling confirmed that "no" marriage between persons of the same sex has actually been annulled in the country, the newspaper reported.

Judge Gomez Alsina had issued the order in the case of Norma Castillo and Ramona Arévalo, who married after 30 years together. Judge Liberatori declared null and void the ruling by Judge Gomez Alsina and warned that if she persists in interfering, the dispute would be submitted to the country's Supreme Court of Justice...

Who knows how long this will last but, for further information click here.

Previously:

• First and only Argentinean lesbian marriage has been annulled (April 16, 2010)

Argentina: Marriage equality whiplash as good developments follow bad

Movement on legislative marriage equality bill: Following yesterday's announcement that a Tierra del Fuego court had annulled the first ever same-sex marriage in Latin America, there were welcome news today about the increased chances of a marriage equality bill reaching the floor of the Argentinian congress.

Today, two legislative commissions - the General Legislation Commission and the Women, Children and Adolescence Commission - backed a full congressional debate of a bill that would amend Argentina's Civil Code to allow same-sex couples to marry.

La Nación reports today the recommendation has already drawn support from members representing a plurality of the political parties sitting in Congress (which doesn't mean all party representatives sitting in congress will vote in favor once it does come down for a floor vote).  It also noted that members of two conservative parties, including the Peronistas - Quick! Someone call Madonna - er - Evita! - were holding off and willing to endorse a "civil union-only" bill that did not define legal same-sex partnership recognition as "marriage".

Vilma Ibarra, the lead sponsor of the bill, said it would replace the words "man and a woman" in the Civil Code with "spouse". She also said that, considering the wide support that the bill received today, she expected a full debate in the next congressional session and passage of the bill.

How many same-sex couples remain married?: In the meantime, questions have been raised about the number of partners that remain legally married in light of yesterday's news - and there are good news on that front as well.  Here is what I have:

The courts have annulled the first two marriages - that of Alex Freyre & José Maria Di Bello which took place on December 28th (photo) and that of Damian Bernath & Jorge Esteban Salazar Capón (photo) which took place on February 23rd.

Florencia Kravetz, an attorney representing Bernath and Salazar Capón, said the set back was temporary and vowed that the marriage equality question would eventually be resolved by the courts in their clients' favor.

The third and fourth marriages are those of Carlos Alvarez & Martin Canavaro (above) which got the go-ahead on April 5th (photo) and Norma Castillo & Ramona Arevalo, the first lesbians to marry in the country, which got the go ahead on April 9th (photo).

Castillo and Arevalo, the lesbian couple, were able to marry almost immediately because the news didn't come out until the 12th when a judge had already officiated their wedding.  That judge was Elena Liberatori - the same judge who officiated the annulled marriage between Bernath and Salazar Capón - so it wouldn't be surprising if they also face a court repeal.

As for Alvarez and Canavaro (photo), they would have been able to marry last week as well if it wasn't for an appeal to the marriage decision.  That appeal was dropped this week and they were able to marry this morning (as shown the photo above).

So two same-sex couples remain married in Argentina tonight and there are signs that congress will take up a marriage equality measure in the near future.  Good signs, despite the bad news this week.

Photo credit: Clarin via AG Magazine.

Argentina: Tierra del Fuego court annulls first Latin American same-sex marriage

Late breaking news from Tierra Del Fuego this afternoon.

The judge of the city's Children and Family Court, Marcos Meillien, has determined that what was the first ever same-sex marriage in all of Latin America is "non-existent" under the constitution and has, in fact, annulled it.

According to today's Sur 54, the civil wedding between Alex Freyre and José Maria Di Bello was challenged by a local district attorney, Karina Echazú, on the grounds that the national constitution did not give gay couples the right to marry.

For years, Freyre and Di Bello (right) had fought an uphill battle to be able to marry until a Buenos Aires court gave them the go-ahead in November. Plans to marry on December 1st were placed on hold when local authorities stepped in and put a stay on the order (they had chosen December 1st as a symbolic date since they are both HIV positive and the date marks World AIDS Day).

Working behind the scenes, LGBT rights advocates sought a friendly government official with the power to perform a civil wedding and found her in the Governor of Tierra del Fuego, Fabiana Rios, who agreed to marry the men on December 28th, 2009.

As I wrote yesterday, there have been another three positive court rulings allowing gay couples to marry in Argentina since Freyre and Di Bello tied the knot. One of those, the ruling allowing Damian Bernath and Jorge Esteban Salazar Capon to marry, has also been annulled.

That leaves Martin Canevaro and Carlos Alvarez and Norman Castillo and Ramona Arevalo as the only two same-sex couples in Argentina with unrevoked marriage equality rulings.

LGBT advocates have been pressing the Argentinian legislature to act upon the rulings and pass a federal marriage equality law but it's unclear where these set backs leave those efforts.

Ultimately, it is expected that the Argentinian Supreme Court will take the issue later this year and perhaps rule in favor (Read: "Highest Court ready to back same-sex marriages, says justice, but there is one caveat").

Argentina: And the first lesbians to marry are...

The Santiago Times, based in Chile, has saved me the job of translating Spanish-language reports of the first ever marriage by two lesbians in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  From their April 12 article:

Two women that were exiled during the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976/1983) were married Friday in Buenos Aires, the first wedding among lesbians in the country, reported the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Federation of Argentina, or FALGBT.

Norma Castillo, from Uruguay, and Ramona Arevalo, Argentine, were married by Judge Elena Liberatori after having requested legal protection within the framework of the campaign “Same right, same names,” which the LGBT Argentine Federation has been carrying out for several months. They are both 67 years old and have been a couple for over 30 years.

“They asked for legal protection because they love each other and wanted their family to be recognized by the State,” said the Federation in an official release.

The two women are activists of organizations belonging to the Federation and theirs was the third homosexual marriage in Argentina. Norma is the head of the pensioners' center Open Door to Diversity, an organization which fights for the gay-lesbian rights.

While Buenos Aires enjoys the title of being the first city in any Spanish-speaking American country to adopt a same-sex civil union law back in 2003, none of Argentina's provinces nor the country has adopted a marriage equality law. The honor of adopting the first marriage equality law among countries in the hemisphere south of the United States goes to Mexico City, which saw its first marriages between same-sex couples on March 11th.

But marriage equality activists in Argentina have been in a prolonged legislative and judicial battle to have their country recognize their right to marry and, with a combination of luck, positive local court decisions and amicable civil court judges, they have actually managed to claim the title of the first same-sex marriage in the region.

That honor went to Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello who married in Tierra del Fuego on December 28, 2009 (photo).

A second couple, Damian Bernath and Jorge Esteban Salazar Capon, were granted the right to marry in a Buenos Aires court on February 23rd (photo).

And, on April 5th, a third couple, Martin Canevaro and Carlos Alvarez (right) received a go ahead as well.

In the case of Bernath and Salazar Capon, their wedding was annulled by a Buenos Aires judge.

In addition, there have been a couple of related stories about the lack of recognition in Argentina of same-sex marriages performed in other countries.

Cesar Cigliutti and Marcelo Suntheim, who happen to be the first couple to be granted civil marriage rights back in 2003 and are also the directors of the Argentinean Homosexual Community (CHA), one of the largest LGBT rights organizations on the country, got married in Spain in 2008 but were denied the right to get their marriage recognized back home.

At the same time, Diana Cordero, who is from Argentina, and her Spaniard partner C.P., are not only fighting for Argentina to recognize their 2008 Canadian marriage but also trying to keep Argentina from deporting C.P. back to Spain (photo).

Anyway, this makes Norma Castillo and Ramona Arevalo's marriage the third same-sex marriage in Argentina and the first between lesbians.  If their name sounds familiar it's because I have featured them before on this blog.

Last year, they were profiled by Argentinian newspaper La Nacion for their role in the launch of the first retirement home center for elderly gays and lesbians in Latin America.  At the time, I posted a YouTube video interview with them on which I added English-language subtitles.  I am re-posting it again tonight.

Argentina: Court authorizes the 2nd same-sex marriage in all of Latin America

A Buenos Aires court has given a gay Argentinean couple the green light to get married in what would be the second such marriage to occur in all of Latin America. From an AFP news brief posted this evening:

A judge on Tuesday authorized two men to marry in Buenos Aires in what would be the country's second same-sex marriage.

In December, two Argentine men, Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Bello, became the first homosexuals to legally marry in heavily Roman Catholic Latin America, after the governor of southernmost Tierra del Fuego province allowed them to wed in the provincial capital, Ushuaia.

Judge Elena Liberatori gave her approval to the second couple, two men whose names were not immediately released, to set a date to wed at the Civil Registry.

She said they were exercising their rights even if current laws "are not in line with the times."

Diario Digital, which offers the full 15-page ruling for download here (it's in Spanish), names the couple as Damián Bernath and Jorge Esteban Salazar. They also say that while the judge paved the way for the couple to get married, she stopped short of declaring current marriage laws as being unconstitutional (nevertheless, the country's Supreme Court is expected to take up the marriage equality issue at some point in the future).

When a court ruled in Freyre and Bello's favor back on November 11th, the men made plans to marry on December 1st in observance of World AIDS Day (both said they were HIV positive). They knew that theirs would be a historic marriage ceremony and they wanted to draw attention to to the plight of those living with HIV/AIDS.

That plan ran into trouble when another two city courts stepped in and asked for a stay on the proceedings at the very last minute and when the office of Buenos Aires Mayor Maurico Macri asked the Supreme Court to clarify if the city should follow the extraordinary court ruling.

That petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court and Freyre and Bello eventually were able to get married in a surprise wedding that took place on December 28th in Tierra Del Fuego, the southernmost region in the American continent.

This second time, Mayor Macri has announced that he will not appeal the ruling.

Mexican supreme court will determine constitutionality of Mexico City's marriage equality law: NY Times

On December 29th Alex Freyre and José Maria Di Bello shocked the world by becoming the first gay couple to be allowed to marry in all of Latin America. Their marriage victory in Argentina came after a protracted court battle which ended when a Buenos Aires judge ruled that it was discriminatory to deny them the right to marry. A Buenos Aires court placed a stay on that ruling but the couple circumvented that last obstacle by traveling to Tierra del Fuego, where that municipality's Governor's Office allowed the marriage to proceed, making Latin American history at the end of 2009.

By some accounts, more than a hundred same sex couples in Argentina have filed marriage claims following Freyre and Di Bello's historic wedding but, as of now, there are still no laws allowing same-sex couples to marry anywhere in Argentina and no marriage bureaus willing to grant marriage rights to other couples.

is no law allowing those marriages to take place or a marriage bureau willing to start processing additional marriages. The matter is to be decided later this year when the Supreme Court is expected to take up the matter and determine whether the Argentinian constitution is indeed discriminatory in not allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Buenos Aires already enjoyed the reputation of being the first city in Latin America to have granted limited civil union benefits to same-sex couples in the year 2003. In 2007, Uruguay became the first Latin American country to adopt a country-wide same-sex civil unions measure. In 2009, the Colombian constitutional court stopped short of calling for marriage equality but ruled that same-sex partners had the right to the same rights as heterosexual couples. Mexico City and other Mexican localities have also passed limited same-sex civil union statutes since 2006. Some municipalities in Brazil and Ecuador have also passed similar measures. But it wasn't until December that Mexico City became the first municipality in all of Latin America to approve a law allowing same-sex partners to marry. The law goes into effect on Thursday, March 4th, and hundreds of couples are expected to take advantage of the opportunity to marry.

As you would expect, the measure, which also allows same-sex couples to have the same adoption rights as heterosexual partners, has drawn the ire of right-wing political parties and conservative religious groups. Mexico's attorney general has filed a suit to block the law before the Mexican supreme court. The court recently announced that it will accept the suit and determine whether the law is constitutional. But the suit won't reach the court until possibly the end of the year and, by then, hundreds of couples might have already married.

Today's New York Times takes a look at the law and its repercussions. I believe it gives too much credence to the conservative parties that are trying to derail the law but it is a worthy read ["Gay marriage puts Mexico City at center of debate"]. It is also the only English-language coverage that I have seen covering the right-wing challenges that await the landmark law in months to come.

So, come March 4th, please join me in celebrating the same-sex marriages that will take place in Mexico City and rejoice in their historic nature. But also know that the law faces incredible challenges in the future and that the marriage equality fight in Mexico, as in the United States, is far from won.

Argentina: Recreational center for LGBT retirees opens in Buenos Aires, 1st in Latin America

I have always been weary of business ventures selling themselves as human interest stories to get free media promotion (see, for example, the hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles about LGBT travel, including all the ink spilled on Caribbean and Latin American LGBT sea cruises). It's the main reason, other than I haven't been blogging as much as of late, that I haven't written about what is being sold as the first-ever LGBT retirement recreational center in all of Latin America.

But then came the actual opening of the center last week in Buenos Aires and video posted online by La Nación ("First center for retired gays opens", Oct. 1, 2009). It moved me enough to write about it today.

The center was the idea of a lesbian couple who happen to be psychologists, Graciela Palestra and Silvina Tealdi. They founded the LGBT-rights organization Puerta Abierta ten years ago and have now decided to open el Centro Puerta Abierta a la Diversidad (The Open Door to Diversity Center).

The Center, described as having bright white walls, several large social rooms, smaller therapy and one-on-one counseling rooms, a kitchen, a balcony and a grilling area, was designed to make it a fun space, according to the founders. They also say they have received over fifty inquiries from people interested in becoming members.

On the video posted online, La Nación interviews Dr. Palestra and also talk to two members: Norma Castillo and her partner of 30 years Ramona Arévalo. Other members were encouraged to talk to media, they say, but none were willing to speak openly about their sexuality to a reporter or in front of a camera. Ms. Castillo, who is the president of the Center, says "it's not easy to get riled up to talk about their sexuality; society judges".

Here is a translated transcript of the interview:

NORMA CASTILLO: I was 35 years old...
REPORTER: And did you have a boyfriend before...?
NC: I was married... I was married. And so was she... I was homophobic! And later, when I went to a psychologist and began to look back, and see myself and to see things, that's when I realized that I was burying it all up. That my... Honestly, I thought I was heterosexual...
RAMONA ARÉVALO: I was married, I have a son, male, but I didn't know this, that I'd be attracted to a woman as the years passed by, no?
REPORTER: When did you discover that you liked women?
RA: [Laughs] When I saw her... [the couple laugh]
REPORTER: Did you know she was the love of your life? [NC laughs]
RA: Possibly, I didn't know at the moment, but we both began to build it, no? [...]
RA: When they are much older, it's harder for them to say that they are gay.
NC: So they go to a regular retirement home and, when a woman who is single arrives, they look for a boyfriend [laughs] and so, she cannot say 'No, I don't want to have a boyfriend" [laughs].
GRACIELA BALESTRA: "Puerta Abierta a La Diversidad" [Open Door to Diversity] is the first center for pensioned and retired lesbians and gays in the Republic of Argentina, and - we also believe - in Latin America. The mission is to have a place, indeed, for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender seniors, so they can have their own place, get together as couples, get out of a solitary life. There is a lot of loneliness among older people. [...]
REPORTER to RA: How was telling your son...
RA: No. There was no problem. I told him, "I have a relationship with her". He told me: "Well, mommy, it was you; Perhaps it could have been my dad; So I won't make it an problem", he said. He didn't have any problems.
GB: We offer psychotherapy specializing on homosexuality and we are welcoming to family members: Sons, fathers, mothers, also, of gays and lesbians. Couples...
NC: I told you, it is very difficukt for older people, because one drags behind many taboos, a lot of fear about what people will say. Plus, you also have to have a bit of courage because, to go against the current, in whatever it is, is always difficult.
GB: One tries to help in constructing this path to coming out of the closet, and to be increasingly authentic everywhere they go. It's not easy. Really, there is a lot of help needed.

Advance word: Epitafios II on HBO

A ruthless serial killer. A series of increasingly gruesome murders. Jaded dectectives on the edge. Unrelenting darkness and dread.

David Fincher's "Seven"? "CSI: Miami"? Not quite.

When "Epitafios" debuted on HBO Latino in 2005 as a 13-episode series, it was promoted as the network's biggest push into developing original programming for is HBO Latino off-shoot.

Filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in its entirety, I was drawn by it's lush cinematography, its stellar cast, and the promise of unrelenting suspense.

Ultimately, when I wrote about it, I remarked that, while I thought the series was OK, I was disappointed by glaring continuity lapses, a laughable subplot in which a lead character willingly participates in an underground Russian-roulette betting group, and, worst of all, that the serial killer turned out to be a gay man who cross-dressed at night and posed as a street walker to befriend one of the lead detectives. In other words, as stereotypical and homophobic a character as I had seen in quite a while.

The series was apparently a hit and can be found on DVD. It certainly gets better reviews than mine by people who have left comments left at Amazon.com.

Now comes "Epitafios: The End Now Has Two Faces" beginning tonight at 10pm on HBO Latino and Tuesdays at 11pm - with English subtitles - on HBO2.

I have received a promotional DVD with the first two episodes of the season. Here are my first reactions.

The first series was shot in 2003 and the intervening years certainly seem to show on actor Julio Chávez' face. Chávez, one of the best thing about the series, continues to play Detective Renzo Marquez as an eternally dour and short-tempered man who seems to trust no one but Detective Marina Segal, his partner. Segal, played by renown actress Cecilia Roth, is just as dour and haunted a detective and, on her off time, sometimes participates in clandestine meetings where two or more people sit around a table placing bets on their lives. Each takes a turn at putting a gun in their mouth, hoping that there is no bullet in the chamber when they pull the trigger.

"Epitaphs", in the first series, referred to cryptic messages left on make-shift grave stones next to the serial killer's victims. In the new series, they refer to the names of future victims as written on pieces of paper by a man who scratches and digs his way out of a makeshift grave in the first episode. The man, known as XL for the size of the clothes he is wearing when he is found wondering the streets, is the victim of a serial killer who has a thing for recreating gruesome murders from the past and keeping photographic records of each gruesome detail.

Some problems remain with the writing. In episode two, for example, with XL providing key leads to the detectives, Renzo blows his secret weapon by asking media to run images of the man to see if anyone can identify him. This, of course, alerts the serial killer to the fact that his first victim did not die and might potentially be able to identify him to police. Renzo's frequent blow-ups at superiors and his flash-anger, as in the first series, strains the credibility that any police department would hire him as a detective. And then there's the Russian-roulette storyline, which I mention once again because, it's stupid (an in the new series, implausibly, features Detective Segal going against a teenager boy at the betting table).

But, all in all, the pacing of the show seems to be much better than in the original and the main story grabs you from the start. It's as if the producers were able to relax now that the series was picked up for a second season and decided to focus on improving the show.

There are new interesting characters, including Detective Mariano Lagos*, played by Juan Minujín, who uses his developed sense of smell to identify substances others might miss. He ads a welcome touch of levity to the dire proceedings.

And for those of you for whom it may matter, a major gay storyline is revealed at the end of episode 2. It might be that the writers wanted to address charges that the first series was homophobic. Then again, I have a feeling that the storyline will meet a gruesome end sooner than later, if I'm right about some big clues that have been given so far.

The star of the show, though, remains the city of Buenos Aires, lovingly shot from above and on the ground by Directors of Photography Guillermo Zapinno and Miguel Abal. The city looks gorgeous, even as it sometimes is shot to look dark and menacing. If you have some time on your hands, it's definitely worth a look.

*An in-joke? One of the funniest things about the series is that one of the new characters is named Mariano Lagos. I am sure that my friend Mariano Lago, who is a well-known entertainment reporter in Buenos Aires and has a great personal blog at Lake Blog, is having a big laugh over this. Is it a coincidence? Or...

What others are saying:

"As I watched this gruesome, tense and beautifully filmed (in Buenos Aries) series, the same sick feeling of foreboding crept into my stomach that I felt while watching the film "Seven" for the first time. Thankfully, the graphic images did not make me pass out this time" - Show Patrol who gives it 4 out of 4 stars.

"Epitafios: El Final Ahora Tiene Dos Caras" Trailer...