Rafael Román Martel

It’s a 4th of July Women’s Final at The Championships!

Rafael Martel — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:26:14 +0000

¡Ingrid se reune con sus hijos!¡Viva La Libertad!¡Viva La Democracia!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:57:27 +0000

¡Nos solidarizamos con nuestros hermanos colombianos en este día tan especial para este gran país!¡Alvaro Uribe muestra su linaje humano: qué gran presidente!¡George W. Bush, Nicolas Sarcozy, y los líderes democráticos del mundo se solidarizan con el pueblo colombiano mientras que los extremistas de este mundo guardan tenebroso silencio!

Write a prayer for the many man and women kidnapped by FARC in Colombia and for Freedom and Democracy at:

The Dog Days of Boxing!

Frances Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:46:35 +0000

Frances Martel
Union City, NJ- Don’t steal or murder in August—it’s an old journalistic mantra that has kept many uninitiated to it in the wrong kind of limelight for many a summer (Gary Condit and OJ Simpson merely the tip of the iceberg). While the same applies to the boxing world, the news drought season tends to last a bit longer, starting in the dog days of July. Fans are only satiated of their thirst at the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito oasis, a fabrication of the latter’s avid fans that serves as an inadequate substitute for a fight against retiree Floyd Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs), but beggars can’t be choosers.

INDIVIDUALISM DRIVES THE SPORT

Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that the boxing world is so mum at the moment (save for some unwarranted shrieks coming out of somewhere in the South Pacific) and the rest of the sports world so comparatively exciting—a dirty end to the Euro Cup, an upset-laden Wimbledon and the Olympics to still ponder. It gives us time to reflect on the recent past and make sense of the chapters behind us, and to promoters gives the chance to improve upon the sport in the future, or at least make it more profitable. As boxing’s beauty is in its individualism and not team play, unlike many sports—in the power that any single boxer can have at a given time to revolutionize the sport’s position on the grander stage—the place to begin any evaluation is directly with the players.

THE CULTURAL BIG THREE

To such individualism, subjectivity is indispensable; pound-for-pound lists are often as influenced by aesthetic, racial, or other arbitrary human preferences as by personal skill or raw talent. They are useless save to evaluate the critics that create them, not the sport they intend to portray. Yet taking into consideration all of these factors and every possible preference a viewer, fighter, or boxing businessman could employ, as of this January, three fighters have kept boxing culture wrapped around their fingers. Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs), the aforementioned Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao (47-3-2, 36 KOs) are the lens through which we experience the sport’s zeitgeist.

For the complete article, please visit Ringtalk.com.

Ingrid Betancourt describes Rescue!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:10:14 +0000

Welcome Home!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:42:42 +0000

U.S. contractors Keith Stansell (L), Marc Gonsalves (2nd L) and Thomas Howes (3rd L) listen to U.S. ambassador to Colombia William R. Brownfield in an aircraft in Colombia after being rescued by army forces July 2, 2008.

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Three American defense contractors landed late on Wednesday in Texas, hours after they were freed from years of captivity in the jungles of Colombia.

A plane carrying Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes touched down at around 11:15 p.m./0415 GMT at an air force base in San Antonio. The three were then whisked by helicopter to a military medical facility at Fort Sam Houston, an Army post in San Antonio.

Two helicopters landed minutes later at Fort Sam Houston and the three men and several others climbed out of them into the warm Texas night. They then walked briskly onto a waiting bus that took them to the medical facility.

None appeared to need any assistance and no comments were made to the waiting media.

Commenting on CNN as the men got off the helicopter, Amanda Howes said her uncle looked good.

“He looks healthy. He looks tired. He looks just as I remember him,” she said. “I can’t wait to see him.”

George Gonsalves, the father of Marc Gonsalves, added: “Marc looks, he looks pretty thin. Not to mention he looks completely exhausted. But he’s alive.”

French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, the three Americans and 11 other hostages were freed on Wednesday in a bold rescue from leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC.

The Americans all worked for U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman and were captured in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in the jungles while on a counternarcotics operation.

Amanda Howes said the return of the three showed “there’s always hope. There’s always hope for everyone.”

The Democratic World-99% of the Whole World-in solidarity with Colombia!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:35:19 +0000

If you followed the news for the last 10 hours you can see that most of the people interviewed in the streets from Paris to Buenos Aires, from New York to Tokyo have reacted with joy to the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt by the Colombian Armed Forces. That’s the best poll results you can get-and free-which reveal that the FARC’s method of kidnapping as a political tool is rejected by an overwhelming majority of people. It also reveals that Ingrid Betancourt has become an international icon, a representative of all victims of this kind of violence. Most of the players that a few months ago were on center stage trying to negotiate with the terrorists Ingrid’s release, are now in an involuntary reflexive mood. Alvaro Uribe has taken care of all pretenders and impostors with swift and effective action. Some of whom, like French President, Nicolas Zarcozy, acted out of genuine human interest. President Uribe could very well be the only statesman in the Pachanga Marathon of colorful actors playing presidents in the always amusing and tragic South of our beloved Americas. This time the Colombian leader has sent a clear and strong message: “we can solve our problems, thanks anyway.”

As we celebrate the birth of the greatest country in the world let us rejoice and say a Thank You prayer for the hostages released and congratulate the Colombian people in this great 3rd of July, 2008.

Yes, Michael Wolff is definitely an IDIOT….

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:56:04 +0000

a year ago he predicted on national TV that Al Jazeera USA was going to take over the news in this country and the best of America’s journalists would work for them! Watch him being a spokesman for Al Jazeera!

Betancourt, symbol of Colombia’s lost hostages! Three American Citizens arrive home after being liberated!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:52:12 +0000

Three Americans who were kidnapped by FARC for years are arriving home just in time to celebrate their freedom with America’s Birthday!

On early Wednesday morning, in a press conference televised live by CNN Español and Colombian TV former hostages of FARC showed great patriotism. Inspiring and courageous words from all the former hostages who spoke eloquently denouncing their former captors in very strong terms, thanking Colombia’s President, Alvaro Uribe, and the Colombian Arms Forces for today’s operative.

Colombia gains Significant Victory for the Forces of Democracy against International Terrorism!

“It was a Miracle. The Hand of God was with us today”

Ingrid Betancourt

BOGOTA (Reuters) - In more than six years as a captive of Colombian guerrillas, Ingrid Betancourt was transformed from a slim, combative lawmaker to a gaunt prisoner waiting despondently for freedom in the dense jungle.

Betancourt became an international symbol of suffering of guerrilla hostages as her dual French-Colombian citizenship helped draw worldwide attention to the plight of those held for years in secret rebel camps.

Betancourt, who the government said was rescued by Colombian troops on Wednesday, was the highest profile captive held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, Latin America’s oldest surviving left-wing insurgency.

The government said she and 14 other rescued hostages, including three American defense contractors, were in reasonably good health.

“In all these years, I thought that as long as I was alive, as long as I continued to breathe, I must continue to hope,” she wrote in a letter released at the end of 2007. “I don’t have the strength I used to have.”

The last images of her in captivity showed Betancourt, 46, frail and despondent sitting in a hidden jungle camp. Former hostages said she was often chained up and forced to walk barefoot as punishment for her stubborn attempts to escape.

The Classics: Heaven 17!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:56:42 +0000

Maria Sharapova’s International Tennis Federation Photo!

Rafael Martel — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:16:40 +0000