Colombia: A mother's love

Dr. Maria Lucia Cuellar and her gay son Arturo San Juan grace the front page of today's Colombian newspaper El Espectador after she became an online sensation for comments she made defending her sons right to marry on the Senate floor on Thursday (photo courtesy of Manuel M. Sanabria)

I wish I could have better news about the marriage equality battle in my country of birth, Colombia. On Thursday the Senate was supposed to vote on a marriage equality bill but the vote was postponed until Tuesday, April 23rd, following hours of debate.

Unfortunately the outcome seems predetermined as a coalition of conservative senators led by the "La U" political party have indicated they have enough votes to sink the bill.

J. Lester Feder has full details over at BuzzFeed ("Colombian marriage bill appears likely to fail").

The upshot is that Congress is acting on orders from the Constitutional Court which gave Congress an ultimatum to pass legislation granting same-sex couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples before June 20th of this year. If Congress fails to act same-sex couples could potentially register their partnership in a notary and get all the rights of a married heterosexual couple whether or not it is called a "marriage".  From BuzzFeed:

The first test will be with the notaries, who are empowered by the court's 2011 ruling to start solemnizing same-sex unions on June 20. LGBT activists will demand that these be recognized as full marriages, and then they will have to go to court to establish that this truly is what the court intended in 2011. This will be a battle, since the superintendent of notaries Jorge Enrique Vélez has already declared that they will not. The conflict nonetheless would open another opportunity for the court to weigh in, and the institution has a long history of expanding LGBT rights over the objections of conservative politicians and religious leaders.

The sudden decision to postpone a vote on Thursday came after opponents of the marriage equality bill tried to block testimony from people defending marriage equality and then found themselves in the embarrassing position of trying to pull one of their experts off the floor when his statements became too embarrassing even for them.

Among the arguments made by self-described theologian Mario Cely Quintero:

• "It has been proven that when two men have the same cerebral structure they are incapable of loving each other... and are always seeking to replace the affection they never received as a child by seeking orgasmic discharges."
• "Demographers have proven that in Northern Europe, in Canada, in the United States in the zones of San Francisco and Los Angeles where there are the highest number of homosexuals that when you allow a direct process of legalization of homophilia - be it by law or the Constitution - heterosexual families begin rapidly disintegrating. You can look it up through Norwegian demographer Kathrine Hillman (sp?) who proved this in countries such as Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland."
• "What will they ask for next! The organized homosexual movement - the gays - will they ask as is being done by NAMBLA in the United States for the legalization of love between an old man and a child?  We will then hear calls for Colombian society to lower the consensual age to 10 or 8 years of age."
• "Have you thought about the medical consequences of homosexuality? It's been demonstrated that homosexuality lowers longevity... there is a lot of illness as a result of anal cancer and AIDS and a number of other diseases which endanger society, our adolescents and our youth."

This from one of only two "experts" allowed by the Senate President to speak against marriage equality on the floor of the Senate.  No wonder Mr. Quintero was publicly asked to refrain from making such insulting statements and pulled off the floor suddenly marking an end to the debate.

Compared to that vitriolic hatefulness, the highlight of the day was a presentation by one two persons allowed to speak in support of marriage equality, psychologist Martha Lucia Cuellar.

In a video that has now gone viral Dr. Cuellar forcefully defends the right to marry for same-sex couples in light of the discrimination she has seen her son suffer (full translated transcript of her speech at the bottom of this post):

The speech and the viral nature of the Senate video posted last week on YouTube has made Dr. Cuellar an overnight star in Colombia with her son Arturo San Juan taking to twitter to joke about it.

No soporto que mi mamá sea más famosa que yo, igual el tuiter de ella es @martulanga, para sus seguidores.
— Arturo Sanjuán (@el_rey_arturo) April 17, 2013

"I can't stand my mother being more famous than I am," he writes,"nevertheless her Twitter handle is @martulanga, for her followers"

Understandably, her Twitter follow count has gone from 300 on Thursday to 1,500 at the moment. After being flooded with thank you messages, Dr. Cuellar thanked everyone who wrote to her in gratitude.

Gracias, gracias a todas y todos por los hermosos mensajes. La comunidad LGBT se merece esta defensa, porque la sociedad está en deuda.
— Martha Lucía Cuéllar (@Martulanga) April 19, 2013

"Thank you. Thank you all for all your beautiful messages," she writes, "The LGBT community deserves being defended because society owes them."

News that there were enough votes to sink the bill came before the Senate debate on Thursday and I expect that's where Dr. Cuellar's simmering but respectful anger during her speech comes from. But it's difficult to believe any Senator who votes against marriage equality on Tuesday won't remember her searing words or feel no small degree of shame when casting that vote.

On Tuesday every Senator will decide whether to stand for a man who claims gays are deviants bent on destroying every single heterosexual marriage on earth and who exist only for the purpose of spreading anal cancer while trying to find their next orgasmic discharge.

Or they will decide to stand for a mother and her love for her gay son.

A side note: A few stars from the Colombian entertainment industry have come out for marriage equality but not, as far as I know, those who are international super stars including Shakira and Juanes (please correct me on that if I am wrong).

I was particularly disappointed earlier this month when Sofia Vergara visited the Colombian city of Barranquilla and a reporter asked her whether she supported the marriage equality bill.

Vergara, star of one of the most gay-friendly shows on U.S. television ("Modern Family") seems caught between a rock and a hard place and, if you pay close attention to the clip below, she manages to escape the interview without actually saying if she supports marriage equality.

From the clip:

Well, the truth is that it's a very delicate thing. I don't like... Everyone has their own opinion and the beautiful thing about this world is that each person can have their own opinion.  I believe people should truly do what makes them happy and if that's what makes a couple happy then, God willing, they'll be able to find happiness... I believe that - inevitably - this IS modern life. It's what's happening around the world today and I think it's absurd to try to hide it or to continue doing things the same way we have always done. I think we should keep our minds open and be tolerant of everything.

It's a nifty hat trick and she has used before. When she was asked last year about Obama's "evolution" on the subject she said "It's important to accept everyone and not to judge anybody" which sounds just as non-committal about marriage equality as the statements she made in Colombia.

It's confounding.

In 2010 Vergara shot a Spanish language PSA inviting people to become members of GLAAD and, speaking to The Advocate in 2011 about the ad she said the following:

Most of us are raised in a very Catholic environment, and the macho figure is very strong in our culture, so it’s still more taboo and a million times more dramatic to come out. Many gay friends have told me how hard it was for them to be open in the Latin community. Nothing’s going to change from one day to the other, so it’s a matter of doing things little by little. 

Perhaps that's what is holding off Vergara from saying the words "I support marriage equality in Colombia." She still thinks it's a step too far and that our rights should wait.

If that's the case, that's bullshit. The time for Vergara and stars like Shakira and Juanes to stand firm on the side of equality is right now.

---  FULL TRANSLATED TRANSCRIPT  ---

Dr. Martha Lucia Cuéllar's statements before the Colombian Senate on Thursday, April 18th, 2013.

Thank you and good afternoon.

My name is Martha Lucia Cuéllar de San Juan. Happily married for thirty-five years, openly heterosexual, in love with my husband Carlos Arturo San Juan, profoundly devout - profoundly devout - and I have a gay son.

And twelve years ago, dear viewers and Senators, I stood here in this same building demanding equal rights for my son as his mother.  At the time he'd been with his partner for three years, more or less, and I was here because of the pain I felt as a mother when I witnessed several instances of discrimination in a different number of settings.

And here I was thinking that since society is so dynamic and those who draft legislation should know better, with all due respect, Senators, today after twelve years we still continue to think as if we lived in the 19th Century.

Those rights achived by the LGBT community have been earned without your support - Without your support! - So I wanted to let you know that my son spent a little more than eleven years together in a relationship with this man. Unfortunately, his partner died. They were an exemplary couple. They promised they would take care of each other. They promised each other solidarity. They promised each other a life together.

And I wanted to say - and it is my understanding as a psychologist - to people from the LGBT community including those watching us from the stands: You are not ill! You are not crazy! And you are not criminals! It has to do with dignity.

Or perhaps - and I apologize to the person who spoke beforehand, Dr. Henao - is dignity attached to one's genitals?  I am sorry to tell you that dignity lies here [points at her head] and here [points at her heart] and my son is being denied rights and they are being denied in this setting.

And I am sorry to tell Dr. Henao that it's an affront for him to say "How dare the Constitutional Court change the constitution" when the Constitutional Court IS the body that protects the constitution and frames the manner in which we conduct ourselves.

And I also wanted to tell you: That person died. My son's partner died. And he died two and a half years ago. And to this date his partner's life insurance company has yet to recognize [my son's] rights because he is gay and because there had never been anyone in this country  willing to claim life insurance rights as a gay person.

It turns out if they'd ever been recognized as a married couple he would have automatically been granted those rights. So I do not understand what it is that you fear so much. Where are your ghosts. What ghosts are you battling against. The fact is they exist. They are real. They have a life in common. The are out in the streets. We see them every day.

The only thing that WILL happen if you don't agree they have the same marriage rights is that you'll be cutting off their rights. You are clearly cutting off their rights.  And whether it's with you - and I am trying show you uttermost respect despite the anger I feel as a mother - with or without you this will go on. This will go on because the LGBT community will not budge. And I, as a mother, won't either. And how many mothers and how many fathers will follow suit.

I wanted to share this and it's apparent that all of you - and pardon the expression because I love them dearly and I couldn't live without my hairdresser - all of you appear to believe that if someone is from the LGBT community they can only be hairdressers. Excuse me. My son is a mathematician, he has a master's degree and he is finishing a PhD in Mathematics. That's not something done by an unworthy person. It shows a man who is absolutely and totally responsible for his actions.

I wanted to say that it might be better for all of us to get with the times and what society asks of us. Because I think it's terrible that my father - who passed away - and my mother - who is still alive and will soon be 80 years of age - were able to understand my son and his partner and the LGBT community while there are still those who are thirty or forty years of age who behave as if they were one hundred and five.

Things have changed. The model has been broken. And it's broken because - even if we do not want to recognize other family models - we have gotten to the point where I personally I have three friends who are married to their husbands who have decided not to have children. So... are they unworthy?

I also wanted to say that if you are associating belonging to the LGBT community with someone who is depraved you are mistaken. And I invite you to take a look at the data from Bienestar Familiar to see who the real rapists are: Parents, brothers, friends, cousins, those who are the closet and identify as heterosexual. So let's start from the fact that we have to break up the paradigm because we either break up the paradigm or the paradigm will break you.

So from this moment on - with all due respect but with all the force I have - this will change with or without your support.

And I wanted to tell you as someone who is a professor that the new generations - and I have taught at the Sabana U., the Piloto U., the San Toto U., the Military Academy, online universities, I have been a professor at the Todeo U. for the past thirteen years - the new generations are demanding more. You better wake up because the new generations will demand their due. You know how? By voting.

Thank you so much.

Related: 

• A group of LGBT advocates from Pereira, Colombia has set up an amazing Facebook page on which they are posting a number of videos by people who support marriage equality in Colombia. Appropriately the page is titled "150 Voices from Pereira in Favor of Marriage Equality".
• On Twitter, Colombian LGBT advocates and allies have been using the hashtag #MatrimonioIgualitarioYa (marriage equality now) to organize. You can follow it here, particularly when debate on the marriage equality bill resumes on Tuesday.
• The Spanish-language cover page story from Sunday's El Espectador titled "Mom of the gays" can be read here.
• Apparently as the marriage equality debate riles France this week, French superstars are just as hesitant to get involved in the marriage equality battle as Colombian superstars.

Loving this: Ay Haiti

So I am on Shakira's Twitter feed (don't ask, and certainly, don't tell) and this came through a few minutes ago. I clicked through and found myself moved by a new musician-led effort to raise funds for disaster relief in Haiti following the devastating January 12th earthquake.

The song, featuring some of the best singers from Spain as well as a few worldwide superstars, has been playing on the radio since March 27th but the video was just launched today.  It features superstars Shakira, Miguel Bosé, Alejandro Sanz and Juanes. Other participants include actress Paz Vega, soccer players Kaká, Andrés Iniesta, "Kun" Agüero, Diego Forlán and Sergio Ramos and singers Bebe, La Oreja de Van Gogh, Aleks Syntek, Anni B. Sweet, Macaco, La Mala Rodriguez, Belinda, OBK, Hombres G, Daddy Jean, Wally López, Zahara, Sandra Carrasco, José Mercé, David Otero, Enrique Iglesias, Marta Sánchez and Najwa Nimiri. 

In a Madrid press conference yesterday to launch the video, producer David Summers - who also is the lead singer of Hombres G - said that the artists had hoped to be able to sell the song through iTunes but charged that Apple insisted on charging a 30% commission on sales instead of waving the fee and allowing all funds raised through the sale of the single to go towards the effort.

I'm not sure if there is an international fundraising effort through the sale of the song but all proceeds will go to Intermón OxFam. If you like the song, you might want to make a donation here.

In my humble opinion, this rocks! It beats those awful English-language and Spanish-language "We Are The World" remakes anytime (ok, the only thing all three share in lameness is the rap interludes and, if one thing jumps out from this new effort, it's just how white the pool of artists is. I mean, the rapper wearing black gloves? Huh?). Anyway, some of the lyrics are beautiful:

There are lands that don't have any dreams
There are lands that tremble in fear
There are lands that want peace
Haiti only wants to be normal

There is still time to be reborn
Of horse-riding above the hunger and the iron
There is a time to give out love
To erase the hunger and the destruction

CHORUS:
There is love, there is you, and in my voice, there's Haiti
There is love, there is you, and in my voice, there's Haiti

A life comes to a stop, desolation behind his back
It's a child with a lost view
Who, from the dust, illuminates with his own light

Seriously, it made me tear up. Oh, and I simply love Bebe (she is the one with the ring through her lower lip). And Alejandro Sanz? That voice! *melts* Damn! Enjoy. And donate.

Related: The "making of" video here

The coming out of Ricky Martin: Reactions

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD) has released a statement on Ricky Martin's coming out.  It's a statement from Jarret T. Barrios, the agency's Executive Director:

When someone like Ricky Martin comes out, hundreds of millions of people now have a cultural connection with an artist, a celebrity and, perhaps most importantly, a father who happens to be gay; His decision to model this kind of openness and honesty can lead to greater acceptance for countless gay people in U.S., in Latin America and worldwide.

Yay!

In the meantime, I did take a gentle swipe at GLAAD's language usage policies when it came to Ricky Martin describing himself as "homosexual" in my previous post.  That's because I have long held that the usage of the word "homosexual" is common-place in Latin America: When people use it, they don't intend it to have a negative connotation.

The word "homosexual" is certainly there in the Spanish-language version of his coming out statement and was probably left intact when someone translated it for the English-language statement to Spanish. They probably didn't know that it wasn't kosher to leave it there (I must confess I sometimes translate 'homosexual' to 'gay' when I do translations from Spanish language articles just as I translate 'travesti' to 'transgender').

But, as the news broke on Twitterlandia - and elsewhere - I was struck by a certainly understandable divide.

There were those in the United States who only knew the singer for his "Living La Vida Loca" cross-over attempts and his vagueness about his sexuality over the years. For the most part, today, they were dismissive and quick to say that it was too late for him to come out. Not a comprehensive survey here by any means, but they included openly gay US Representative Jared Polis, and bloggers like DListed and AmericaBlogGay,

On the other hand, there were those of us Latinos who knew that Ricky Martin had never defined himself by his cross-over attempts or had lost any stature in Latin America just because he had failed to sustain his cross-over moment in the United States.  Those of us who knew about his longstanding efforts to eradicate child abuse throughout the world (click on: The Ricky Martin Foundation).  Those of us who, like everyone else, suspected he was gay but didn't think he would ever come out. Those of us who thought that he would nevertheless make a huge impact if he ever did. Particularly among queer youth who looked up to him and were struggling to come to terms with their sexuality.

So, let me go against the grain and congratulate Ricky Martin for coming out today. I, too, would have liked it to have happened sooner, but I do not feel I can properly express just how huge this is when it comes to Latin America.

For proof of the immediate impact, you might want to go to the outpouring of support from fellow stars that followed Ricky's coming out announcement on Twitter.

Those include:

• Mexican singer Christian Chavez, who might as well be called the first Latino super-star to come out. On his Twitter account he wrote "Ricky Martin, I am so proud of you. Wow! United, things will change! With liberty! With love! Out with face masks! Let's love each other as we are."
• Colombian singer Juanes who Tweeted "all my respect and love for you Ricky, you are a gentleman"
• Venezuelan singer Ricardo Montaner who Tweeted "the Ricky Martin of yesterday is the same Ricky Martin of always. And he is my friend!"
• Mexican singer - and longtime ally Gloria Trevi -who Tweeted "Ricky Martin, illuminated and with a sincere heart."
• Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, long rumored to be gay himself, who Tweeted "a strong embrace and all my friendship for Ricky Martin. You are loved and respected. So good that you are at peace with yourself. Kiss your babies" (you might know Alejandro from this Shakira video).
• Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria, who just Tweeted "You are inspiring and beautiful, I love you so much!"
• And the amazing (and most popular current Puerto Rican artist) René Pérez Joglar, also known as Calle 13's "El Residente" who Tweeted "Ricky Martin: Being a man doesn't have to do with your sexual preference, but with the honesty with which you sustain your words" and "Ricky Martin is much more of a man than many a man who says they are a man."
• And, OMfuckin'G, even Veronica Castro - who would not go lesbian for a Mexican TV show - deems is necessary to jump into the fray and say "You are a wonderful human being and an unstoppable artist; My support for you in everything you do, I send you a kiss."

And just by those, tonight, you will have an inkling of just how many barriers Ricky Martin broke tonight. Yes, it might have come late in his career. Yes, you might make light of it if you want. But, in some ways, the earth moved today in Latin America when it comes to LGBT rights.

Related:

• Ricky Martin comes out - Oriol's POZ Blog, March 30, 2010

Homophobia in the promotion of Latino singers for a wider market

The career of Colombian mega-superstar singer Juanes was the topic of discussion at a recent music festival panel that took place in Bogota, Colombia (that's an older pic of him on the right; he now sports shorter hair).

A transcript of the panel discussion was posted on the Facebook page of Alejandro Marín, a Colombian journalist, and re-posted in its entirety by online site Aliado Digital (Part 1 here and Part 2 here).

The panel consisted Roberto Andrade, who manages Colombian rock band The Mills, interviewing Fernán Martinez, the singer's long-time manager, on the topic of the music industry and how to make it big in the business (he has also represented Julio Iglesias and his son Enrique, among others).

As Aliado Digital says, the interview offers a candid look at the music management business, particularly in the Latino market. It's in Spanish so apologies for those of you who don't understand the language.

There are actually two passages of note that I have translated bellow. In the first one, Martinez talks about meeting Juanes and turning him into a super star. In the second he talks about former boy-band singer Eduardo Verástegui and the reason Matinez dropped him as a client. In both instances, Martinez argues that singers who want to reach the top must sacrifice certain idiosyncrasies to be made more palatable to a mainstream audience.

He doesn't only imply that Juanes should butch it up by doing away with an earring he used to wear, but explicitly use the word 'fag' to discuss rumors about Verástegui's sexuality and jokes that the Mexican actor didn't really want to become the next Enrique Iglesias but, instead, wanted to become the next Sofia Vergara (a Colombian actress that has found some success in the English-language market). He does say that he dropped Verastégui because he wouldn't follow his lead and not as a result of the gay rumors [NOTE: Verástegui, it must be said, has since become a born-again Christian who has advocated against abortion in the United States and was the Latino face of the anti-gay Prop. 8 effort in California which banned marriage equality in the state back in November - see more below].

On Juanes: In this first excerpt from the interview Martinez describes his reaction upon meeting Juanes for the first time and the process of making him a super star. It's a long excerpt but telling in how the industry shapes its superstars. As the excerpt begins, Martinez - who has lived in the United States since the 1980's - has been asked by a Colombian record company to meet a young talent from Medellin who sings for a band called Ekhymosis.

Juanes arrives with all his hair sticking up and his arms sporting tattoos, walking around with his head down, speaking slowly and I thought to myself: 'What am I going to do with this boy? To whom am I going to sell this boy? Where will I put him?'

And he put on his music. And the music was weirder than a green dog. He had the song "Fíjate Bien" and I thought: 'How am I going to put this on in Los Angeles?'. And I begin to talk with him and see a good guy, a very good musician, very orthodox, very into rock. I tell him: 'Brother, let me listen to the music. And I'll call you.'

The man left, with his pants turned to shit, with his used shoes, but he gave a good vibe as a person. I get home, and my wife, who is totally 'fashion', totally 'pop', who is into clothes, and everything else, deep into the superficiality of beauty, and in superficiality-that-is-a-beauty comes and tells me: 'You know what? I am going to get a tattoo.' 'Fuck no,' I said. My daughter had just been born and I was thinking 'the mother of my daughter does not have tattoos'. And she'd say: 'Don't be so old guard, if even my sister in law did it.'

And I'm left thinking 'of course. Tattoo goes 'mainstream.' This man with tattoos is what I need. We are up to here seeing Enrique Iglesias, and Chayanne, and Ricky Martin, and all those pretty and clean-cut guys. The trend is going there. Music has to have that image, it has to be dirtier. The kids are there. People are dressing up with torn jeans. This is the guy I need. I am going to become rich with this fucker.

Juanes is a guy who is, fundamentally, a musician. An honest, good person, who has talent, who is modest, sufficiently handsome for women to like him and sufficiently ugly so that other guys won't think that he's going to take away their broads. He wasn't a heart breaker, he wasn't an Enrique Iglesias, so I told him: 'Brother, we have to fix you up a little bit. What about the earring?' 'No brother, there's no fucking way I will take it of.'

He came from the Medellín rock scene, his perception was totally rock and he was afraid of what his rocker friends might think, and his bands, because he had grown with metal.

'Juanes, we have to be more, we have to see ho to move you to the other side.' And he was totally in denial. But a manager can't blame an artist. Because that's not how an artist works. He is the one who has to decide. Who has to get dressed, the one who knows how to feel the best, the one who sends the message, the one who has to put his little face.

Little by little, we began to do it. Little by little Juanes begins to understand that shirts from 'Urban Shop' are cool, but that there are other shirts that are just as cool that allow him to communicate better. He removes the piercing. And he begins to show his tattoos, something that begins to create an impact.

When I take him to Univisón for the first time, it was very difficult to present him in the "Wake Up America" show. For me it was very easy because I have been a Univisión producer and all my friends are there. My wife works there.

I take him to the show's 'booker' and he says: 'No, no, no, please, the man cannot come in with tennis shoes.' 'But, if he doesn't have other [shoes]!!!', I said. 'And he can't show the tattoos.' 'But if he doesn't have any other shirt, what can we do?'. We went in, in the middle of a fight, but we sneaked in the first tattooed person to appear in the morning show on Univisión.

On Verástegui: As I mentioned above, the latest reincarnation of Eduardo Verástegui has been as a born-again Christian, an anti-abortion advocate (he starred in an anti-abortion dramatic film called "Bella" last year and has toured the country with the film), and was tapped by Prop.8 proponents in California to become the Latino face of the anti-marriage equality movement in the United States:

I had planned to write a post about how the incessant industry rumors about Verástegui's alleged homosexuality might have actually driven him to embrace his new role as an anti-gay spokesperson and might still do it on a later date.

Here, though, for now, are Martinez very candid thoughts on his former client:

...and a very important thing: When the manager is a knowledgeable and correct person, the manager has to have total and absolute control of the artist. That doesn't mean that he has to tell him what to do. It means that he has to know EVERYTHING that is happening with the artist. The artist cannot be doing things on the outside, things that the manager does not know he is doing. They are accomplices in that business. They have to keep informed about everything: From business transactions, to their activities and interviews, and about their personal life. This is a very close relationship and no short cuts are allowed.

Something that happened to me, for example: I had in my hands who I thought would be the next pop star: Eduardo Verástegui. He is the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life. My wife would say to me 'they say he's a fag.' And I told her: 'OK, so tomorrow I will confront him.' 'And if he tells you he is a fag, what will you do?' 'To give me a little kiss because he has a perfect look.'

Verástegui had a perfect look. Very well established. He wanted to be a singer. Back thenI was selling a pure 'pop' product, retail, Mexican, well-known, with all his spectacular image that even Madonna would take a look at him and fall in love, I said: 'with this image and a fairly good product I can do a lot.'

So I'd say: 'Eduardo: Let's make you a singer, let's make people look at you as a singer.'??

And the record worked perfectly. Songs from Estefano. Marvelously produced. Support from radio. Possibilities of performing at summer festivals. But there was a problem with Eduardo: Every time he did an interview, he'd take his clothes off. He wanted to show his body to the journalist. But it was an obsession.

Finally I said to him, after a serious fight with him: "I cannot work with you, because I want you to be the next Enrique Iglesias, and you want to be the next Sofía Vergara. I left him because he did not understand my strategies. He always took short-cuts. I did one thing and he did another. I fight a lot. I have a big temper. But nowadays we meet and he knows he was totally wrong. It's an example of a bad artist-manager relationship.

Finally, note the terms he uses for women, calling them broads, or his initial reaction when his wife tells him she wants a tattoo: "Fuck no." Interestingly, in some of the passages that I didn't translate, Martinez seems intent on badmouthing Colombia's best known singer, Shakira, belittling her rock credentials and saying that she is not even among the top 50 best loved singers in her home country.

Sadly, I have a feeling that this level of misogyny and homophobic sentiment is not the exception to the rule when it comes to the Latino music industry.