The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (December 2007)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

Nacional is a Croatian weekly newsmagazine published in Zagreb.

History[link]

Nacional was started in 1995 by Denis Kuljiš, Ivo Pukanić and other journalists dissatisfied with the editorial policies of Croatian weekly newspaper Globus. Both publications were hostile to the ruling HDZ government. Soon, a bitter competition developed between the two magazines, as they tried to grab the same readership using the same techniques of investigative journalism. Both magazines became renowned for publishing sensational articles against political opponents often based on the alleged testimonies of anonymous or fictional witnesses.

In late 1990s Nacional’s circulations plummeted following the launch of Jutarnji list. At the end of 2000, Ivo Pukanić borrowed a loan from the Hypo bank and launched the Republika daily. Critics immediately accused the bank of influencing editorial policy and complaints of excessive advertising soon flooded in. Readers couldn’t distinguish between news articles and advertisements. It shut down after just six months with a reported loss of DM 600,000 per month. On September 5, 2001, Zagreb’s Foreign Press Bureau reported Republika: "Promised to be a respectable political newspaper. However, its profile quickly swung this paper close to being considered a tabloid. Namely, its CEO, Ivo Pukanić, is known to advocate publishing unconfirmed news, which frequently led to unfounded accusations and even litigation. Pukanić's reason for closing down the newspaper was its low readership, i.e. inadequate sales."

Pukanić then intensified Nacional’s editorial policy against leading figures in the ruling HDZ. He was the first journalist to attack Croatian general Ante Gotovina with accusations of criminality (Nacional 204. 10.13.1999). These attacks continued between 1999-2000 in the run-up to a crucial governmental election where the HDZ was replaced. The articles bore a familiar pattern: Croatian war veterans were liberally denounced as drunkards, war profiteers, arms fixers and drug barons. Some verged on the farcical. Unidentified senior officers of the Croatian Ministry of Defence were accused of arms dealing with the IRA and ETA. This was clearly intended to signify General Gotovina whom Pukanić had previously accused as being the chief collaborator in an alleged presidential coup. The allegations were later discovered to have been fabricated in order to boost Nacional’s sales.

In 2001, General Gotovina was indicted by the ICTY and went into hiding. The general enjoys widespread support amongst the Croatian public. Pukanić claims to be the only journalist to have interviewed Gotovina since his disappearance and Nacional has published a number of articles apparently supportive to him. Gotovina supporters view Nacional’s motives with suspicion however and many consider it as commercial exploitation. Suspicions are also abound due to Pukanić’s self-confessed close relationship with Croatian police chiefs working alongside MI6 agents in Operation Cash - the undercover operation to catch Gotovina.

Political stance[link]

After the year 2000, Nacional shifted its editorial policies to include more business and entertainment oriented content. Today's Nacional is similar in format and content to German language newsweeklies.

Nacional is owned by its editors and journalists, Ivo Pukanić being the majority shareholder.

Vienna Capital Partners had a stake in the company.^[1]

Ivo Pukanić[link]

Ivo Pukanić was assassinated by car bomb at 18:20 CET on 23 October 2008 outside the offices of Nacional. Niko Franić, marketing director at Nacional also died in the explosion. Two others were injured.

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2008)

• http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=548
• http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/WestEurope_NEXUS.pdf
• http://archiv2.medienhilfe.ch/News/2002/CRO/MOL0422.htm

External links[link]

• Official website (Croatian)

Look up nacional in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Nacional is the Portuguese and Spanish word for national.

Nacional may also refer to:

Airlines[link]

• Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002
• Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961

Bank[link]

• Banco Nacional, a former Brazilian bank

Music[link]

• Discos Nacional (Nacional-Glücksmann, later Nacional-Odeon), an Argentine record label run by Max Glücksmann
• Nacional Records, a record label

Newspapers[link]

• Nacional (newspaper), a defunct Serbian newspaper published 2001–2003
• Nacional (weekly), a Croatian current affairs weekly established in 1995

Sports[link]

• Clube Desportivo Nacional popularly known as "Nacional da Madeira", a football club from Madeira, Portugal
• Club Nacional de Football, from Montevideo, Uruguay
• Atlético Nacional, the football club from Medellín, Colombia
• Club Deportivo El Nacional, a football club from Quito, the capital of Ecuador
• Club Nacional, a Paraguayan football club
• Nacional, a football club from Guadalajara, Mexico
• Nacional Fast Clube, a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Futebol Clube, a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Futebol Clube (MG), a Brazilian football club from Uberaba, Minas Gerais
• Nacional Atlético Clube (MG), a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Atlético Clube (SP), a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Atlético Clube Sociedade Civil Ltda., a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Atlético Clube (Cabedelo), a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Atlético Clube (Patos), a Brazilian football club
• Nacional Esporte Clube (GO), a Brazilian football club from Itumbiara, Goiás.
• Nacional Esporte Clube (MG), a Brazilian football club from Nova Serrana
• Esporte Clube Nacional, a Brazilian football club
• Sociedade Esportiva Nacional, a Brazilian football club
• FCS Nacional, a Surinamese football club
• Nacional championship, one of the tournaments in Primera División Argentina from 1967–1985

See also[link]

• National (disambiguation)
• Nacional Atlético Clube (disambiguation)
• El Nacional (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Gloria Estefan
Background information
Birth name	Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García
Born	(1957-09-01) September 1, 1957 (age 54) Havana, Cuba
Origin	Miami, Florida, United States
Genres	Latin pop, dance-pop, pop, dance, EDM
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress, hotelier, restauranteur, writer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, percussion
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Epic (1977–2006) Burgundy (2007–2010) Crescent Moon / Verve Forecast (2011–present)
Associated acts	Emilio Estefan Miami Sound Machine Jon Secada Celia Cruz Lili Estefan
Website	gloriaestefan.com

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan, known professionally as Gloria Estefan (born September 1, 1957) is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop",^[1][2][3] she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide,^[4][5] 31.5 million of those in the United States alone.^[6] She has won three Grammy Awards, and 4 Latin Grammys, and is the most successful crossover performer in Latin music to date.

Early life[link]

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo was born September 1, 1957 in Havana, Cuba, to Jose and Gloria Fajardo. Her maternal grandfather, Leonardo Garcia, immigrated to Cuba from Pola de Siero, Asturias, Spain, where he married Gloria's maternal grandmother, originally from Logroño, Spain.^[7][8] Prior to the Cuban Revolution, her father was a Cuban soldier and a bodyguard to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The Fajardo family fled to Miami, Florida as a result of the Cuban Revolution and settled down there. Shortly after they moved to the United States, Gloria's father joined the US military and fought in the Vietnam War and moved to Houston, Texas, also having participated in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Gloria attended St. Michael-Archangel School^[9] and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami. Her father became ill after returning from Vietnam and Gloria helped her mother, Gloria Fajardo, care for him. Her mother worked as a school teacher for the Dade County Public School system. Gloria Estefan graduated from college in 1979 with a B.A. in psychology, with a minor in French, from the University of Miami.^[10][11] When she was studying at the university, she worked as an English/Spanish/French translator at Miami International Airport Customs Department and, because of her language abilities, was once approached by the CIA as a possible employee.^[12][13] Estefan was raised Catholic.^[14]

Marriage[link]

Gloria Estefan receiving flowers for her birthday at her show in the Ahoy Rotterdam, September 1, 2008

Gloria became romantically involved with the Miami Sound Machine's band leader, Emilio Estefan, in 1976. As she later revealed, "he was my first and only boyfriend." She and Emilio married on September 1, 1978.^[15][16] They have a son, Nayib (born September 2, 1980) and a daughter, Emily Marie (born December 5, 1994). The family lives in the Star Island section of Miami Beach, Florida.^[16][17][18]

Career in singing[link]

Mid-1970s through the 1980s[link]

Starting in 1977, the Miami Sound Machine, (the Miami Latin Boys with Gloria Estefan), began recording and releasing various albums, 45s, and 12"s on the Audiofon Records label in Miami. The first album from 1977 was entitled Live Again Renacer and was released with two different covers. After several more releases on the Audiofon label as well as the RCA Victor label and Miami Sound Machine's own label MSM Records, the band was signed to Discos CBS International and released several albums, 45s, and 12"s beginning with 1980s self-titled album Miami Sound Machine. Growing in popularity in both the United States and around the world, the group would continue recording and issuing various works for Discos CBS International through 1985. In 1984, Miami Sound Machine released their first Epic/Columbia album, Eyes of Innocence, which contained the dance hit "Dr. Beat" as well as the ballad "I Need Your Love". Their more successful follow-up album Primitive Love was released in 1985 launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get In The Way" (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow up hits in the U.S. and around the world. "Words Get in the Way" reached #1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the film Top Gun.

Their next album, 1987's Let It Loose, went multi-platinum, with six million copies sold in the US. It featured the following hits: "Anything for You" (#1 Hot 100), "1-2-3" (#3 Hot 100), "Betcha Say That" (#36 Hot 100), "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (#5 Hot 100), and "Can't Stay Away From You" (#6 Hot 100). "Can't Stay Away From You", "Anything for You" and "1-2-3" were all #1 Adult Contemporary hits as well.

In 1988, Estefan took top billing and the band's name changed to Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Beginning in 1989, the group's name was dropped altogether. Estefan was credited as a solo artist, though the ever-changing line-up of Miami Sound Machine continues as her backing band to this day.^{[citation needed]}

In 1988, after the worldwide chart success of single "Anything for You", her Let it Loose album was repackaged as Anything for You. It became the band's first UK #1 album, selling over a million copies.^{[citation needed]} It was the biggest selling album of the year in The Netherlands, staying at #1 for 22 weeks.^{[citation needed]} The album also took top honors in Australia and Canada, launching Estefan to superstar status.^{[citation needed]}

1990s[link]

[edit] 1990: Cuts Both Ways, tour bus accident and surgery

In late 1989, she released her best-selling album to date, Cuts Both Ways. The album included the hit singles "Don't Wanna Lose You" (a Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit), "Oye mi Canto (Hear my Voice)", "Here We Are", "Cuts Both Ways" (#1 on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart) and "Get on Your Feet".

While touring in support of Cuts Both Ways on March 20, 1990, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, Estefan was critically injured, suffering a fractured spine when a speeding semi-truck crashed into the tour bus she was in during a snowstorm. She was taken to Community Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit and the next day was flown by helicopter to New York City, where surgeons at the Hospital for Joint Diseases ^[19] at NYU Langone Medical Center permanently implanted two titanium rods to stabilize her vertebral column. Her rehabilitation required almost a year of intensive physical therapy by Michael Klepper^{[citation needed]}, but she achieved a complete recovery. She returned to an international tour ten months after the accident.

[edit] 1991–1992: Into The Light and The Greatest Hits

Estefan returned to the charts with a concept album, Into the Light, in 1991. She performed "Coming Out of the Dark" for the first time on the American Music Awards in January 1991, receiving a standing ovation as she took the stage. "Coming Out of the Dark" reached #1 in the U.S. as a single a few months later. Other popular singles were "Seal Our Fate" and "Live for Loving You". The album peaked at number five on the Billboard album chart, becoming her highest debut; it also peaked at number two on the British albums chart. Eventually the album went platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. The Into the Light World Tour covered 100 cities in five countries and was seen by more than 10 million people worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

She followed up Into the Light with her first greatest-hits album, Gloria Estefan Greatest Hits. It was released in 1992, and included the U.S. hit ballads "Always Tomorrow" and "I See Your Smile" along with the international hit dance track "Go Away". Also in 1992, Estefan sang backup on fellow Cuban-American singer-songwriter Jon Secada's breakthrough single "Just Another Day". She spent much of 1992 in Miami, helping relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Andrew.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1993: Mi Tierra and Christmas Through Your Eyes

In 1993, Estefan released the album Mi Tierra, her first Spanish-language album. It peaked at number twenty-seven on the Billboard album chart and number eleven on the British album chart. The singles "Mi Tierra" and the romantic-tropical ballad "Con Los Años Que Me Quedan" and "Mi Buen Amor", climbed to number-one on the "Hot Latin Tracks" chart in the United States. The album sold over eight million copies worldwide, went multiplatinum in Spain (10×) and in the United States (16× Platinum - Latin field), platinum in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and gold in Switzerland and Australia, and won a Grammy Award for "Best Tropical Latin Album".^[20] That same year, Estefan released her first Christmas album, Christmas Through Your Eyes, the first album from Estefan to not be produced by her husband Emilio Estefan Jr. The collection included the singles "This Christmas" and "Silent Night".The album went Platinum in the United States.

Also in 1993, Estefan collaborated with Frank Sinatra on his album Duets with the song "Come Rain or Come Shine".

[edit] 1994–1995: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me and Abriendo Puertas

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, a cover album of some of Estefan's favorite songs from the 1960s and 1970s, was released in 1994. "Turn the Beat Around", the first single and a remake of Vicki Sue Robinson's 1976 disco classic, became another international hit, certified gold in the US. It also was used in the Sharon Stone film The Specialist.

1995's Spanish-language album Abriendo Puertas earned Estefan her second Grammy Award for "Best Tropical Latin Album". It spun off two #1 dance hits, "Abriendo Puertas" and "Tres Deseos", and two #1 Latin singles, "Abriendo Puertas" and "Más Allá".

In January 1995, the Miami Sound Machine performed at the Super Bowl XXIX halftime show, with Tony Bennett, Patti LaBelle, and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, in a program entitled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye", to promote the upcoming Disney theme park attraction.^[21]

[edit] 1996–1997: Summer Olympics and Destiny

The platinum-selling album Destiny, released in 1996, featured "Reach", the official theme of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. Estefan performed in the Summer Olympics closing ceremony, in front of an audience of two billion people worldwide, during which she performed the songs "Reach" and "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)".^{[citation needed]}

On July 18, 1996, Estefan embarked on her Evolution World Tour (her first tour in five years), which covered the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, South Africa and Asia.

[edit] 1998: Back to dance: gloria!

Estefan rode the wave of the Disco revival in the U.S. during the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]} On June 2, 1998, she released her eighth solo album, (twenty-first overall), gloria!. The album is highly influenced by Disco music,^{[citation needed]} blended with Salsa music percussion and Latin flavour. To promote gloria!, she performed at the famed New York City discoteque Studio 54.^{[citation needed]}

The album peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200. The album reached Gold certification. The single "Oye!" peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and the Hot Latin Tracks charts, and was featured in the 1998 Eddie Murphy film Holy Man. The other major hit single releases were "Don't Let This Moment End", which peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Heaven's What I Feel", which peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1999: "Music of My Heart"[link]

In 1999, Estefan performed a duet with *NSYNC on the single "Music Of My Heart", which was featured in a film in which she also appeared, Music of the Heart. The song reached #2 on the Billboard chart and was nominated for an Academy Award.^[22] She also released a Latin hit with the Brazilian group So Pra Contrariar called "Santo Santo", sang with Luciano Pavarotti in Pavarotti and Friends for Guatemala and Kosovo, and released the benefit album A Rosie Christmas..

She also made a couple of sporting event appearances. The first event was a performance with Stevie Wonder at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami. She also sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at game three of the 2003 World Series in Miami between the Florida Marlins and New York Yankees.^[23]

2000s[link]

The next album Alma Caribeña (Caribbean Soul) was released in 2000. It was her third Spanish language album with a focus on caribbean rhythms. The album featured several Latin Hits as "No me dejes de querer", "Como me duele perderte", "Por un beso". The album features duets with José Feliciano and the late Celia Cruz. The album earned Estefan another Grammy Music Award in the cathegorie Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album in 2001. Greatest Hits Vol. II was released in 2001. It contained hits from 1993 to 2000, as well as three new songs and a remix of her first hit "Conga", retitled "Y-Tu-Conga". The song "Out of Nowhere" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category for Best Dance Recording; another song from the album, "You Can't Walk Away from Love", was featured in the film Original Sin.

[edit] 2003–2004: Unwrapped

In 2003, Estefan released Unwrapped, her first English-language CD in five years. To promote the CD, she toured Europe, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States. The video for the single "Hoy", had been filmed in Machu Picchu, Peru.^{[citation needed]} "Hoy" and "Tu Fotografía" both reached #1 on Billboard's Latin chart, and "I Wish You" reached the AC^{[clarification needed]} top 20.

On July 28, 2004, at the Trump Tower building, in a press conference hosted by Donald Trump, Estefan announced that her then-upcoming tour would be her final one.^{[citation needed]} The Live & Re-Wrapped Tour, was produced by Clear Channel Entertainment. It began in Hidalgo, Texas on July 30, 2004, and played in 26 cities; it featured Estefan's greatest hits, along with new material from Unwrapped.^{[citation needed]} The final concert of the tour took place in Estefan's hometown of Miami on the weekend of October 9 and 10, in front of a sold-out crowd, despite having been delayed for two weeks by a hurricane.^{[citation needed]}

2005: Mash-up hit with Mylo and the tributes[link]

On April 7, 2005, Estefan participated in "Selena ¡VIVE!", the tribute concert for Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the "Queen of Tejano", who was murdered in March 1995 on the brink of her attempt to cross over as an English-language performer. Gloria performed "I Could Fall in Love", one of Selena's posthumously released crossover hits. Also that year, Estefan appeared on the soundtrack for the television series Desperate Housewives, singing a song titled "Young Hearts Run Free".

In late 2005, the club mash-up "Dr. Pressure" was released, which combined Mylo's Number 19 hit "Drop The Pressure" with the Miami Sound Machine's "Dr. Beat". It reached #3 on the UK singles chart and #1 on the Australian dance chart, providing Estefan with her first top 40 hit and commercial radio airplay since 1996.^{[citation needed]}

2006: Compilations and the UK promo tour[link]

Gloria Estefan performs at an event to celebrate the United Through Reading program aboard the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), September 14, 2006

In early 2006, Estefan performed in Los Angeles at a tribute to singer Dionne Warwick. Estefan sang "Walk On By", one of Warwick's signature songs.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2006, Sony released a 2-CD compilation The Essential Gloria Estefan, featuring her hits from 1984 to 2003, Estefan made several radio and television appearances to promote The Essential Gloria Estefan including a December 9, 2006 appearance on ITV's The X Factor.^{[citation needed]}

Estefan also released two additional similar compilation albums that year for other markets. The Very Best of Gloria Estefan was released in Europe and Mexico, and was similar to The Essential Gloria Estefan, but also included as a bonus track "Dr. Pressure". This compilation was certified GOLD in Ireland.^[24] Oye Mi Canto!: Los Grandes Exitos, a collection of her Spanish-language hits was released in Spain. It included a bonus DVD, which included various music videos and television performances.^{[citation needed]}

2008–2009 highlights[link]

In 2008, Gloria appeared during the seventh season of American Idol, in the special charity episode "Idol Gives Back", performing her song "Get on Your Feet" along with Sheila E.. The performance was recorded and was released at the American iTunes store; the video of the performance reached the number twenty of the store's Top 100 videos, and the song became the most downloaded.^{[citation needed]} Estefan became the headliner of the new venue of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino. Her three-day shows were sold out.^{[citation needed]} She then headed to Canada to perform at the Casino Rama. In August, she started her "90 Millas World Tour". Gloria played concerts in London, Rotterdam, Belfast and Aruba. Gloria performed several concerts in Spain, specifically Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Tenerife. Two of these concerts, in Las Ventas, Spain,^[25] and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, were free to the public.

Back in the states, Gloria performed a special concert at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to raise funds for the Education of South Florida.^[26] Gloria was a headliner for Bette Midler's "Annual Hulaween Gala" along with other special guests such as Kathy Griffin and a costume contest judged by Michael Kors. The event benefited the New York Restoration Project.^[27]

During the Thanksgiving season, Gloria Estefan appeared on Rosie O' Donnell's television special Rosie Live! singing a duet with O'Donnell titled "Gonna Eat For Thanksgiving", an alternate version of "Gonna Eat For Christmas" from on O'Donnell's album A Rosie Christmas.

In 2009, Estefan announced plans for her "farewell tour" of Latin America and South America.^[28] Estefan also completed a three-night concert series with Carole King entitled "She's Got a Friend" at the Foxwoods Resort Casino.^{[citation needed]}

The tour continued with a concert at Guadalajara in Mexico, as part of a program designed to improve tourism in Mexico,^{[29][clarification needed]} and a series of appearances at music festivals throughout Europe, including headlining at the Summer Pops Music Festival in Liverpool on July 27, 2009.^[30]

The same year, Gloria opened the "In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina 2009" with "No Llores". Also, at the end, Estefan together with Jennifer Lopez, Thalía, Marc Anthony, José Feliciano, performed a rendition of her Spanish-language classic, "Mi Tierra".^[31]

2010[link]

Gloria began 2010 with a charity single: she and her husband, producer Emilio Estefan, Jr., invited artists to record "Somos El Mundo", a Spanish-language version of Michael Jackson's song "We Are The World". The song, written by Estefan and approved by Quincy Jones, was recorded, and premiered during El Show de Cristina on March 1, 2010.^[32] All of the money from sales of the song went to Haitian relief.^[33][34]

On March 24, 2010, Gloria led a march down Miami's Calle Ocho in support of Cuba's Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White).^{[35][dead link]} Las Damas de Blanco is an opposition movement in Cuba that consists of wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents. Since 2003, the women have protested the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets in white clothing.

Late in the year, Gloria took part in Broadway's "24 Hour Plays" in which actors, writers, and directors collaborate to produce and perform six one-act plays within 24 hours to benefit the Urban Arts Partnership. She performed alongside actors Elijah Wood, Diane Neal, and Alicia Witt in the play I Think You'll Love This One, written by the 20-year-old winner of the Montblanc writers' project, Elizabeth Cruz Cortes.^[36]

[edit] 2011 Miss Little Havana

On April 7, 2011, Estefan made an unannounced appearance at auditions for The X Factor in Miami, and gave encouragement to the 7,500 participants gathered outside the Bank United Center for auditions.^[37]

In 2011, Estefan was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame along with Grammy and Emmy award winner Harry Connick Jr. Both singers performed at a special concert on June 17, 2011, with Thomas Wilkins as musical conductor. Proceeds from this event went to benefit the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute's education programs.^[38]

Estefan's new dance-oriented studio album, Miss Little Havana, was released in the United States on September 27, 2011, with the physical CD available exclusively at Target.^[39][40] Early on, Estefan had described the album as a project in the vein of her 1998 hit album gloria! Collaborating with her on the album were producers Pharrell Williams, Motiff, Emilio Estefan, and Drop Dead Beats.^[41]

One song from the album, "Wepa", premiered on May 31, 2011 at AmericanAirlines Arena in a special music video of the song for the Miami Heat. The Heat video was released on YouTube on June 1.^[42][43] The song went on sale for digital downloading at the iTunes music store on July 24.^[44]

Both "Wepa" and "Hotel Nacional" achieved number one on Billboard Latin Songs.

In the fall of 2011, Estefan began hosting Gloria Estefan's Latin Beat, a seven-part series for BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom that explores the history of Latin music.^[45]

Career outside of singing[link]

Film and television appearances[link]

Estefan has appeared in two films, Music of the Heart (1999) and For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). Estefan made a cameo appearance with her husband in Marley & Me in 2008.

Estefan was cast to star as Connie Francis, a U.S. pop singer of the 1950s and early 1960s, in Who's Sorry Now?, based on Francis' life. Filming supposedly began in late 2008, according to Parade Magazine (March 23, 2008). Estefan, in an interview with www.allheadlinenews.com, stated the film would be released in 2009. As of December 2009, the film has been dropped as Connie Francis had irreconcilable differences with Estefan over the film's writer. Francis wanted to hire writer Robert L. Freedman, who had written the Emmy Award winning mini-series Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Estefan refused to consider him, which according to Francis ended the project collaboration.^[46]

Estefan appeared in the ABC television special Elmopalooza, which aired February 20, 1998, in which she sang the song "Mambo, I, I, I". In April 2004, Estefan appeared on the Fox Broadcasting Company's program, American Idol as a guest mentor for the contestants' Latin week.^[47]

She recently confirmed that she would guest star on the Fox television series Glee, as the mother of cheerleader Santana Lopez.^[48]

Books[link]

Estefan has written two children's books: The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) and Noelle's Treasure Tale (2006). The latter book spent a week at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list for children's books.^[49]

She also collaborated on a cookbook with her husband entitled Estefan Kitchen, which was published in 2008. It contains 60 traditional Cuban recipes.^[50]

Other business ventures[link]

The Cardozo hotel on Ocean Drive, in Miami Beach, Florida.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan own a number of business establishments, including seven Cuban-themed restaurants (Bongos Cuban Café). The restaurants are located in Miami; Miami Beach, Downtown Miami, part of the American Airlines Arena; Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida; Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney in Orlando; Mexico City; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They also own two hotels: the Costa d'Este in Vero Beach which opened in 2008,^[51] and The Cardozo in Miami Beach.

Gloria Estefan was appointed to the board of directors for Univision Communications Inc. in 2007, according to Hispanic Market Weekly. The Estefans' estimated net worth as of 2011 was approximately $700 million, according to an article in People en Español magazine.

In June 2009, Gloria Estefan and her husband bought a "very small" ownership stake in the Miami Dolphins.^[52][53][54]

Awards[link]

In addition to her seven Grammys, Estefan has received a number of other awards. In May 1993, she received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest award that can be given to a naturalized U.S. citizen.^[55] She has won the Hispanic Heritage Award, an MTV Video Music Award, two cable television ACE Awards and the 1993 National Music Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award. The singer is the recipient of the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her husband, Emilio, a world-renowned music impresario, received a star adjacent to his wife's on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.^[56]

Estefan holds an honorary doctoral degree in music from the University of Miami, awarded in 1993.^[57] She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami.^[58] In 2002, Barry University in Miami bestowed upon her an honorary law degree.^[59] Along with her husband, Estefan received an honorary doctoral degree in music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2007.^[60] She also delivered the commencement address to the 2007 graduating class.^[60]

In 2002, she received the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Medallion of Excellence for Community Service. The singer was Musicares Person of the Year in 1994. Gloria also founded the Gloria Estefan Foundation whose goal is to help those with spinal cord injuries.

She has been honored twice by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1992, she served as a public member of the United States Delegation to the 47th General Assembly to the United Nations.^[61]

Estefan received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year award at the Latin Grammy Awards in November 2008 in recognition of her twenty-five year singing career. She is the first female singer to receive this award.^[62] She also received a Latin Grammy for "Best Traditional Tropical Album" for 90 Millas, and a Latin Grammy for "Best Tropical Song" for her single, "Píntame De Colores". This marked the first occasion for Estefan to ever win a Grammy award for a song (either Latin or non-Latin).^[63] On March 12, 2009, Estefan was honored as a BMI Icon at the 16th annual BMI Latin Awards. Her catalog boasts 22 BMI Latin and Pop Awards, along with 11 BMI Million-Air Awards.^[64]

In April 2010, Estefan and her husband received a star in the "Walk Of Stars" in Las Vegas for their contribution to music industry.^[65] On April 28, 2011, at the Latin Billboard Awards, Estefan was honored with the Billboard Spirit of Hope Award for her philanthropic work.^[66]

Discography[link]

Albums discography[link]

Studio albums

Singles discography[link]

Filmography[link]

Videography[link]

• Video Exitos (1986) L.D.L Enterprises
• Homecoming Concert (1989) CMV
• Evolution (1990) CMV
• Coming Out Of The Dark (1991) SMV
• Into The Light World Tour (1992) SMV
• Everlasting Gloria! (1995) EMV
• The Evolution Tour Live In Miami (1996) EMV
• Don't Stop (1998) EMV
• Que siga la tradición (2001) EMV
• Live In Atlantis (2002) EMV
• Famous (2003) (Video journal about making-of Unwrapped LP; included in CD package)
• Live & Unwrapped (2004) EMV

Books[link]

• The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) ISBN 0-06-082623-1.
• Noelle's Treasure Tale: A New Magically Mysterious Adventure (2006)
• Estefan's Kitchen (2008)

Tours[link]

See also[link]

	Book: Gloria Estefan
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Best selling music artists
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• Pop Latino

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Gloria Estefan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gloria Estefan

• Gloria Estefan Official Web Site
• Gloria Estefan at MySpace
• Gloria Estefan Mexico Official Site
• Gloria Estefan 90 MILLAS Spanish Forum
• Gloria Estefan receives her honorary Doctorate of Music along side her husband Emilio from Berklee
• Gloria Estefan at bmi.com

Lázaro Cárdenas
44th President of Mexico
In office 1 December 1934 – 30 November 1940
Preceded by	Abelardo L. Rodríguez
Succeeded by	Manuel Ávila Camacho
Governor of Michoacán
In office 1928–1932
Preceded by	Luis Méndez
Succeeded by	Dámaso Cárdenas
Personal details
Born	(1895-05-21)21 May 1895 Jiquilpan, Michoacán
Died	19 October 1970(1970-10-19) (aged 75) Mexico DF
Nationality	Mexican
Political party	Party of the Mexican Revolution
Spouse(s)	Amalia Solórzano

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.

Early life[link]

Lázaro Cárdenas was born on 21 May 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family (including his mother and seven younger siblings) from age 16 after the death of his father. By the age of 18 he had worked as a tax collector, a printer's devil, and a jailkeeper. Although he left school at the age of eleven, he used every opportunity to educate himself and read widely throughout his life, especially works of history.

Cárdenas set his sights on becoming a teacher, but was drawn into politics and the military during the Mexican Revolution after Victoriano Huerta overthrew President Francisco Madero. He backed Plutarco Elías Calles, and after Calles became president, Cárdenas became governor of Michoacán in 1928. During his four years as governor, Cárdenas initiated a modest re-distribution of land at the state level, encouraged the growth of peasant and labour organisations, and made improvements to education at a time when it was neglected by the federal government. Cárdenas ensured that teachers were paid on time, made personal inspections of many classrooms, and opened a hundred new rural schools. His grassroots style of governing was such that during his time as governor, Cárdenas made important policy decisions based on direct information received from the public rather than on the advice of his confidants.^[1]

Presidential career[link]

Calles continued to dominate Mexico after his presidency with administrations that were his puppets. After having two of his hand-picked men put into the position, the PNR balked at his first choice, Manuel Pérez Treviño, in 1932. Instead they selected Cárdenas to be the ruling party's presidential candidate, and Calles went along with it, thinking he could control him as he had the previous two. This however, was not so. Cárdenas's first move once he took office late in 1934 was to have his presidential salary cut in half. Even more surprising moves would follow. After establishing himself in the presidency, Cárdenas and the Mexican Congress turned on Calles and condemned his continued war-like persecution of the Catholic Church.^[2] In 1936, Cárdenas had Calles and twenty of his corrupt associates arrested and deported to the United States,^[3] a decision that was greeted with great enthusiasm by the majority of the Mexican public. During the course of his presidency, Cardenas became known for his progressive program of building roads and schools and promoting education, with twice as much federal money allocated to rural education than all his predecessors combined.^[1] He also promoted land reform and social security.

During his time in office, Cárdenas openly sought the National Revolutionary Party's six-year plan of social and political reform.^[3] The plan called for 1) restoration of the system of ejidos (common lands) through a strong agrarian program to combat the domination of the large haciendas; 2) modern secular schools that would teach rationalist doctrines and combat the "fanaticism" of the Church; 3) workers' cooperatives to oppose the excesses of industrial capitalism.^[3] Cárdenas subsequently decreed the end of the use of capital punishment (in Mexico, usually in the form of a firing squad). Capital punishment has been banned in Mexico since that time. The control of the republic by Cárdenas and the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) predecessor Partido de la Revolución Mexicana without widespread bloodshed effectively signalled the end of rebellions that began with the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Despite the fact that Cardenas enforced a policy of socialist education, relations with the church also improved greatly during his time in office.^[4]

Cárdenas was perhaps the only Mexican President who never employed armored cars or bodyguards to protect himself. In the presidential campaign of 1934, he travelled through much of the republic that was not accessible by train, by auto and horseback, accompanied only by a chauffeur and an aide-de-camp. This fearlessness generated widespread respect for Cárdenas by the electorate. He became the first occupant of the current official presidential residence of Los Pinos, and converted the previous residence, the ostentatious viceregal and Mexican imperial palace, Chapultepec Castle, into the National Museum of History.

Russian exile Leon Trotsky was welcomed into Mexico by Cárdenas, reportedly to counter accusations that Cárdenas was a Stalinist. Cárdenas, like his 1920s predecessor Álvaro Obregón, understood that left wing and labor union support was critical to maintain control of the republic. The bloated and corrupt CROM union of Luis Morones was marginalized as Cárdenas promoted the "purified" Confederation of Mexican Workers of socialist Vicente Lombardo Toledano. The CTM and Toledano in turn supported Cárdenas' deportation of ex-President Calles. Cárdenas was not as left-wing as Leon Trotsky and other socialists would wish, but still Trotsky described the Cárdenas's government as the only honest government in the world.

Cárdenas sought to actively help the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, but those efforts were largely thwarted by the Roosevelt administration. After the war ended with the defeat of the loyalist Republicans, Cárdenas gave specific instructions to his ambassador and envoys in Europe to give safe haven and protection to all exiles, including President Manuel Azaña, actively sought for deportation by the Spanish fascist government and by French collaborationist authorities. Azaña died in France under Mexican diplomatic protection, but Cárdenas was able to bring to Mexico tens of thousands of refugees, among them distinguished intellectuals who left a lasting imprint in Mexican cultural life. But not only intellectuals were granted asylum in Mexico: from the 4,559 passengers who arrive to Mexico in 1939 on board the ships Sinaia, "Ipanema and Mexique, for example, the largest groups were formed by technicians and qualified workers (32%), farmers and ranchers (20%), along with professionals, technicians, workers, business people students and merchants – this last group representing 43% of the total.^[5]

Cárdenas is considered by many historians to be the creator of a political system that lasted in Mexico until the end of the 1980s. Central to this project was the organization of corporatist structures for trade unions, campesino (peasant) organizations, and middle-class professionals and office workers within the reorganized ruling party, now re-named the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM). During Cárdenas's presidency, the government enacted a great deal of the land reform that Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata had envisioned and redistributed 45 million acres (180,000 km²) of hacienda land to peasants.^[6] Additionally, urban and industrial workers gained unprecedented unionization rights and wage increases. The railway Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México was nationalized in 1938 and put under a "workers administration." However, Cárdenas and subsequent presidents also used the PRM and its successor, the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, to maintain political control; leaders of the worker and campesino organizations delivered votes and suppressed protests in exchange for personal favors and concessions to their constituencies.

At first, the oil nationalization policy earned Cardenas great respect among Mexicans and in many other Latin America countries.^[4] In later years, however, Cardenas's oil policy proved to be unpopular.^[7] Vincente Lombardo Toledano took advantage of Cardenas' unpopularity and organized pro-Communist militias.^[7] This move by Lombardo would lead to the rise of ring-wing militias lead by General Juan Andreu as well.^[8]

In the elections of 1940, Cárdenas, with hopes of preventing another uprising in the country, surprised people and endorsed the PRM nominee Manuel Ávila Camacho,^[8] a moderate conservative^[9] whom he hoped would salvage some of his liberal policies^[8] and act as a compromise candidate between liberals and conservatives in the country against Ávila's opponent, Juan Andreu. Open and free campaigning was anticipated. The elections, however, did not follow the pattern Cárdenas wished. The campaign was peppered with violent incidents and, on election day, the opposing parties hijacked numerous polling places and each issued their own "election results." After "official" results declared Ávila as winner, Andreu threatened revolt and then attempted to set up a parallel government and congress. Nevertheless, Ávila crushed Almazan's forces^[7] and assumed office.^[7] His inauguration was attended by US Vice President-elect Henry A. Wallace,^[7] who was appointed by the US as a "special representative with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary" for Mexico.^[7]

Oil expropriation[link]

Also central to Cárdenas's project were nationalistic economic policies involving Mexico's vast oil production, which had soared following strikes in 1910 in the area known as the "Golden Lane," near Tampico, and which made Mexico the world's second-largest oil producer by 1921, supplying approximately 20 percent of domestic demand in the United States.

Cárdenas's efforts to negotiate with Mexican Eagle, in the managerial control of Royal Dutch/Shell and Standard Oil of New Jersey, were unavailing, and the companies rejected a solution proposed by a presidential commission. So at 9:45 pm on the evening of 18 March 1938, Cárdenas nationalized Mexico's petroleum reserves and expropriated the equipment of the foreign oil companies in Mexico. The announcement inspired a spontaneous six-hour parade in Mexico City; it was followed by a national fund-raising campaign to compensate the companies.

Even though compensation for the expropriated assets was included in this legislation, the act angered the international business community and vexed Western governments, especially the United Kingdom. The government was more worried about the lack of the technical knowledge required to run the refineries. Before leaving, the oil companies had made sure they did not leave behind anything of value to the Mexican government, hoping to force Cárdenas to accept their conditions. Although Mexico was eventually able to restart the oilfields and refineries, production did not rise to pre-takover levels until after the entry of the United States into World War II, when technical advisers were sent by the United States as part of the over-all Allied war effort.

The British severed diplomatic relations with Cárdenas's government, and Mexican oil and other goods were boycotted, despite an international ruling in favor of Mexico's government. However, with the outbreak of World War II, oil became a highly sought-after commodity. Mexico began to export oil to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.^[10]

The company that Cárdenas founded, Petróleos Mexicanos (or Pemex), would later be a model for other nations seeking greater control over their own oil and natural gas resources and, 70 years later, it remains the most important source of income for the country, despite weakening finances. Seeing the need to assure the technical expertise needed to run it, Cárdenas founded the National Polytechnic Institute.

Post-presidential career[link]

After his presidential term, Cárdenas served as Mexico's secretary of defense until 1945.

It is often said that Lázaro Cárdenas was the only president associated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who did not use the office to make himself wealthy. He retired to a modest home by Lake Pátzcuaro and worked the rest of his life supervising irrigation projects and promoting free medical clinics and education for the nation's poor. He also continued to speak out about international political issues and in favor of greater democracy and human rights in Latin America and elsewhere. For example, he was one of the participants in the Russell Tribunal for investigating war crimes in Vietnam.

Lázaro Cárdenas died of cancer in Mexico City on 19 October 1970 at the age of 75. His son Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and his grandson Lázaro Cárdenas Batel have been prominent Mexican politicians.

In his honor, his name was given to a number of cities, towns, and a municipality in Mexico, including Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas, Quintana Roo and other smaller communities. There are also many streets that have been named after him, including the Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico City, and highways in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexicali. Šetalište Lazaro Kardenasa (Lázaro Cárdenas promenade) in Belgrade, Serbia, is also named after him, as is a street in Barcelona, Spain, and a monument in a park in Madrid dedicated to his memory for his role in admitting defeated Spanish Republicans to Mexico after the Civil War in that country.

In 1955 Lázaro Cárdenas was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize, which was later renamed for Lenin as part of de-Stalinization.

Legacy[link]

President Cárdenas and his administration are given credit by socialists for expanding the distribution of land to the peasants, establishing new welfare programs for the poor, and nationalizing the railroad and petroleum industries, including the oil company that Cárdenas founded, Petróleos Mexicanos. Toward the end of his presidency, unhappy landowners and foreign capitalists began to challenge his programs and his power.

Cárdenas's party, the PRI, continued in power until 2000. This is attributed by some to electoral fraud and coercion. This legacy led his son, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, to form the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) to contest the 1988 presidential election. Since that year, the PRD has become one of the three major parties in Mexico, gaining working class support that was previously enjoyed by the PRI.

In his Political Testament, written the year before his death and published posthumously, he acknowledged that his regime had failed to make the changes in political distribution and corruption that were the basis for his presidency and the revolution. He expressed his dismay in the fact that some people and groups were making themselves rich to the detriment of the mainly poor majority. It was said about Cárdenas at his eulogy that, “he was the greatest figure produced by the revolution… an authentic revolutionary who aspired to the greatness of his country, not personal aggrandizement.”

Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay patterned his people–oriented government on the principles which he found in the 1952 edition of the biography of past President Lázaro Cárdenas, which was written by William Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL International).

See also[link]

• History of Mexico

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Riding, Alan Distant Neighbors. New York City: Vintage Books – Random House, 1986.

• Becker, Marjorie. Setting the Virgin on Fire Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan peasants, and the redemption of the Mexican Revolution. Berkelely: University of California P, 1995.

• Leonard, John; Rankin, Monica; Smith, Joesph et el. (September 2006), Latin America during World War II, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0-7425-3741-2 

• La Cultura de Mexico, quoted in Manual Suarez Valles, Lazaro Cardenas: una vida fecunda al servicio de Mexico (Mexico City, 1971) p. 25.

• Jeffrey Kent Lucas. The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010.

• The Political Legacy of Lázaro Cárdenas Author(s): Charles H. Weston, Jr. Source: The Americas, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Jan., 1983), pp. 383–405 Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/981231 Accessed: February 26, 2009 14:16

• Becker, Marjorie. Setting the Virgin on Fire Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan peasants, and the redemption of the Mexican Revolution. Berkelely: University of California P, 1995.

• Smith, Peter H. (April 1996), Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S. – Latin American Relations (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-508303-2 

v t e Presidents of the United Mexican States Guadalupe Victoria Vicente Guerrero José María Bocanegra Pedro Vélez Anastasio Bustamante Melchor Múzquiz Manuel Gómez Pedraza Valentín Gómez Farías Antonio López de Santa Anna Miguel Barragán José Justo Corro Nicolás Bravo Francisco Javier Echeverría Valentín Canalizo José Joaquín de Herrera Mariano Paredes José Mariano Salas Pedro María de Anaya Manuel de la Peña Mariano Arista Juan Bautista Ceballos Manuel María Lombardini Martín Carrera Rómulo Díaz Juan Álvarez Hurtado Ignacio Comonfort Félix María Zuloaga Manuel Robles Pezuela Miguel Miramón José Ignacio Pavón Benito Juárez Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada José María Iglesias Juan N. Méndez Porfirio Díaz Manuel González Flores Francisco León de la Barra Francisco I. Madero Pedro Lascuráin Victoriano Huerta Francisco S. Carvajal Venustiano Carranza Eulalio Gutiérrez Roque González Garza Francisco Lagos Cházaro Adolfo de la Huerta Álvaro Obregón Plutarco Elías Calles Emilio Portes Gil Pascual Ortiz Rubio Abelardo Luján Rodríguez Lázaro Cárdenas Manuel Ávila Camacho Miguel Alemán Valdés Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Adolfo López Mateos Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Luis Echeverría José López Portillo Miguel de la Madrid Carlos Salinas de Gortari Ernesto Zedillo Vicente Fox Felipe Calderón Vice President of Mexico

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lázaro Cárdenas