Lin-Manuel Miranda Among the Honorees at the Maestro Cares Foundation’s Gala

Lin-Manuel Mirandais real maestro

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, playwright, singer, and actorhas been named by Marc Anthony and Henry Cárdenas as one of the honorees for the Maestro Cares Foundation‘s sixth annual “Changing Lives, Building Dreams” gala.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

In addition to Miranda, the foundation—which has helped provide housing, nutrition and education to more than 500 children in the Caribbean and Latin America since 2012—will also honor Vicente Fox, founder of Centro Foxand former president of Mexico; and actor, producer and film director Vin Diesel.

Miranda will receive the Community Hero Award, Fox will receive the Maestro Cares Humanitarian Award, and Diesel will be honored with the Voice of Change of Award.

The gala fundraiser, hosted March 14 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, includes a cocktail hour, formal dinner, a live and silent auction, and a special musical performance by Marc Anthony

In addition to the gala and black-and-white tie masquerade, the Maestro Cares Foundation will initiate projects in El Salvador, Chile and the U.S. in 2019. 

Currently, there are two additional homes under construction in Cali, Colombia, and another project in Guatemala.

Fox Brings Special Trump-Inspired Boots on Conan O’Brien’s “Made in Mexico” Episode of His TBS Late-Night Show

Vicente Fox is giving Donald Trump the boot…

One year after the 74-year-old former president of Mexico told the then-presidential candidate, in an interview with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos, “I’m not going to pay for that f*cking wall,” Fox taped another such message to Trump via Conan O’Brien’s upcoming “Made in Mexico” episode of his TBS late-night show.

Vicente Fox & Conan O'Brien

In January, the always-on-point Fox tweeted to Trump, “When will you understand that I am not paying for that f*cken wall. Be clear with US taxpayers. They will pay for it.”

And, to make sure his position was perfectly clear, Fox also presented O’Brien with a pair of boots on which were decorated the words “No F*cking Wall.”

Turning to the camera, Fox told Trump, “Don’t mess around with us … because if you look for it, you’re going to find it.”

“President Fox, I appreciate that you keep talking to Trump, but I think he switched channels very early in this program,” the host quipped.

In a previously released clip of Wednesday night’s “Conan Without Borders: Made in Mexico” special, O’Brien held a Border Wall Pledge Drive to collect cash to build the wall.

O’Brien announced in January that he was heading back to the eye of a political storm for his next road trip. The announcement came just hours after the current president of Mexico cancelled plans to meet with newly sworn in President Trump, after Trump signed an executive order expediting construction of the wall and again insisted Mexico is going to pay for it.

Derbez Signs with Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

Eugenio Derbez is one step closer to taking over America…

Following the success of his comedy-drama film Instructions Not Included in the United States, the 52-year-old Mexican actor has signed with Creative Artists Agency.

Eugenio Derbez

Derbez is hailed as one of the top Latino filmmakers/actors in the business; and he’s one of the most recognizable Latino faces in the world.

He’s the creator and star of one of Mexico’s most popular sitcoms La Familia P. Luche (The Plush Family), which ran for 10 years on Univision. He also created the Televisa produced sketch-show XHDRbZ, which aired for two seasons.

Both programs not only appeared in the U.S. but also ran in Europe and Latin America. He had very recognizeable names in the Latino market on his sketch show, including the Mexican president Vicente Fox.

Derbez also wrote, directed and starred in last year’s Instructions Not Included, which is touted as the highest-grossing Spanish-language film in the U.S., earning $44.4M in the U.S. and $41M internationally for a total of $85.5 million worldwide.

He was also the voice of Donkey in the Spanish-language version of Shrek and lent his voice to one of the characters in Guillermo Del Toro’s animated comedy Book of Life.

U.S. audiences may remember him from Liongate’s Girl in Progress starring opposite Eva Mendes (2012) or in Fox Searchlight’s sleeper hit Under the Same Moon.

Medina-Mora Named Mexico’s Ambassador to the United States

Eduardo Medina-Mora is heading to our nation’s capital…

The 55-year-old Mexican politician has been appointed as Mexico’s ambassador to the United States by the country’s newly inaugurated  president Enrique Peña Nieto, a move approved by the Mexican Congress.

Eduardo Medina-Mora

Medina-Mora, who will replace the current ambassador in Washington, Arturo Sarukhán, has been praised by Mexican lawmakers as having all the characteristics needed to become the country’s representative to its neighbor to the north, according to the Mexican daily El Universal.

Some Washington insiders have also expressed their support for the Medina-Mora appointment, stating that it his previous work with the U.S. on the Mérida Initiative, the U.S. aid program that hopes to restore Mexican government authority in areas challenged by drug traffickers, is a sign that he knows how to work with the U.S. and will have the ear of Peña Nieto.

“It’s likely that the U.S.-Mexico relationship will be run by Medina-Mora out of Washington and straight back to Los Pinos,” said a senior U.S. official, referring to the Mexican president’s residence, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Medina-Mora began his career as a lawyer before being appointed Mexico’s Secretary of Public Safety under former President Vicente Fox and then taking over the PGR former Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s administration. Since 2009, Medina-Mora has served as Mexico’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, where he dealt with the controversy over derogatory comments made about Mexicans on the BBC show Top Gear.

Upon his arrival in the beltway, Medina-Mora will be faced with two issues that have plagued relations between the neighboring nations for years: Mexico’s drug war and immigration.

“Medina-Mora comes with much more experience than his predecessor and has done a lot in Mexico…His appointment shows that they took the post seriously… they put someone in the position who has directly dealt with the main issue to the U.S., the drug issue,” said Peter Hakim, the president emeritus and senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue.