Ana Barbara Accuses Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Of Discrimination

Mexican singer Ana Barbara was asked, along with 34 other Mexicans, to leave her Royal Caribbean cruise ship before it docked in Singapore. The company cited Singapore’s strong measures against the Hiney Bacon Flu as the reason for their throwing all these Mexicans overboard. 

Mexican director Carlos Cuaron (the man responsible for giving us this) has also come forward saying he has been the victim of discrimination, alleging that an airport official, upon finding out that Cuaron is Mexican, covered his mouth and asked Cuaron to open his passport himself so that he, the official, would not have to touch it. 

BREAKING: Discrimination against Mexicans exist! Perhaps people will pay attention now that there’s a hot, famous person on the losing side of xenophobia.

Ana Barbara recounted how she dealt with the hassles she faced thanks to Royal Caribbean. Apparently, the passengers were informed that they would not be permitted to continue to the cruise’s final destination just as they slid into Thailand:

We went though a lot of difficulties. We went two days without sleep thanks to having to come up with a decision and because there was real discrimination going on. But we tried to handle all this by remaining as calm as possible.

They told us to leave the boat wherever and whenever we could. Some left, some stayed, some cried, some panicked.

She says that 22 of  Mexican passengers disembarked in Thailand and Cambodia, while she, her husband, and eleven others elected to contact the Mexican Embassy in Singapore. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has made public statements condemning and asking for a cessation of discrimination against Mexicans overseas and the Mexican government and, just today, the Mexican government organized a flight to bring 165 Mexicans home from China, where the group alleges they’ve been persecuted and alienated. 

We hope that the fact that someone well-known, conventionally attractive (we won’t try and kid ourselves that this doesn’t make a difference), and relatively apolitical has spoken out about their own experiences with being mistreated as Mexican amidst all this paranoia surrounding the H1NI flu will help people realize that there is a difference between being cautious and being needlessly cruel and bureaucratic.  

Eh, do you think Ana Barbara’s decision to speak out about her experience will make a difference in the public’s view on Mexicans and cochino flu?

La cantante mexicana Ana Bárbara denuncia discriminación en un crucero por Asia [Yahoo]