Word: el
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...country's economy may be plummeting and its ethnic and linguistic unity cracking, but Spain's athletes head to the Beijing Olympics with newfound pride and self-assurance. "We're seeing a moment in which the country has overcome its longstanding self-perception in sports," says El País sportswriter Juan José Paradinas. "Before, Spaniards didn't see themselves as winners, but as they've won, they've gained confidence. The Spanish athlete - now he believes he's a champion...
...recognize that Satan once came to him disguised as the Archangel Gabriel; another wife, Aisha, was the source for many of the sayings and deeds of Muhammad, who trusted her wisdom and integrity. "For centuries, women have been distanced from religion, from the pillars of Islam," says Rajaa Naji El Makaoui, a law professor in Rabat who, in 2003, was the first woman ever invited to give a speech at the royal palace during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. It is time, she adds, for women to assume their equal role once more. Or, at least, almost equal...
Mohammed VI predicted that the terrorist attacks in Casablanca would be the last to jolt the country. But that forecast proved overly optimistic, despite the jailing of more than 500 suspected Islamists. Moreover, says Hakim El Rissai, a senior researcher at the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, the police crackdown has only fueled resentment against the regime: "The police here aren't very methodical. They arrest 200 people to catch one terrorist." This repression, adds El Rissai, "is turning the jihadis into martyrs...
...Outgunned and underfunded local police forces are overwhelmed by this lethal American export. Tiny El Salvador has over 55,000 gang members, including some 10,000 deportees. San Pedro Sula, a city of half a million Hondurans, has over 35,000 - and only one police officer who handles gangs. "About all I can do," says Magdalenys Centeno, "is see who shows up at the gang funerals and take their photos." According to Centeno, almost all the leaders of local gangs Control Machete, The Junk, Poison, Crezi Kids, MS and 18 are deportees from the U.S. "They're much more violent...
...inability of the police to tackle the gangs has spawned vigilante groups such as El Salvador's Sombra Negra (Black Shadow), which has been gunning down deported youths since 1994. Death squads have caught on in Honduras, too, where human rights workers say they've killed over 180 gang members over the past two years. Suspected of being off-duty cops and soldiers hired by local businessmen, these groups are not particularly discriminating. "Any kid who has a tattoo is fair game," says Human Rights Commission member Hugo Maldonado. Sociologist Ernesto Bordales concurs. "The general feeling here is that...