| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
|
 Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:50 am Post subject: Hotel mistakes Nobel laureate for bag lady |
 |
|
| Quote: |
Hotel mistakes Nobel laureate for bag lady
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
Friday August 17, 2007
She was wearing a Mayan dress, the traditional attire of indigenous people in central America, and the hotel's response was also traditional: throw her out.
Staff at Cancun's five-star Hotel Coral Beach appear to have assumed this was another street vendor or beggar, so without asking questions they ordered her to leave. Except the woman was Rigoberta Mench�, the Nobel peace prizewinner, Unesco goodwill ambassador, Guatemalan presidential candidate and figurehead for indigenous rights.
The attempted eviction, an example of discrimination against indigenous people common in central and south America, backfired when other guests recognised Ms Mench� and interceded on her behalf.
The human rights activist was in the Mexican coastal resort at the request of President Felipe Calder�n to participate in a conference on drinking water and sanitation and was due to give interviews at the hotel.
David Romero, a journalist and newsreader who was due to interview her for state radio Quintana Roo, told local media that hotel security tried to eject Ms Mench� from the lobby. They relented when told who she was. It was said not to be the first time a hotel has tried to throw her out.
Ms Mench�, 48, was awarded the 1992 Nobel peace prize for protesting against human rights abuses during Guatemala's brutal civil war.
Commentators noted the irony of upmarket resorts discriminating against real Maya while trying to attract tourists with fake Mayan architecture and spectacles. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
That's appalling!
I wonder what the hotel would do if someone showed up in traditional Korean garb, complete with those funny broad brimmed black hats?
Say, does Korea have any Nobel laureates, alive? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Say, does Korea have any Nobel laureates, alive? |
Korea has one Nobel laureate, total, and yes, he (Kim DJ) is still alive. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TexasPete
Joined: 24 May 2006
Location: Koreatown
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Cudos to TexasPete. It's moments like this that perusing Dave's actually pays off.
Then again, I only read about it because I peruse Dave's. But you get the idea.
That David Romero Vara should use this clip to get a job with Weekly World News. Their moto: "Don't let the facts get in the way of making up a totally preposterous story."
Too bad that hurricane is hours away from wiping out the hotel and the neighboring Mayan ruins. Hope God hears about the correction in time. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TexasPete
Joined: 24 May 2006
Location: Koreatown
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mosley
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Even if the story were true: We're supposed to get our shyte in a knot because a millionaire Marxist, who lied her way to a Nobel prize, couldn't get a hotel room?!
http://www.boundless.org/1999/departments/isms/a0000074.html
Why wasn't she out sleeping with "her" peasants, anyway...sharing their hardships and dangers? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
