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Chicago Tribune
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
At the 2025 Sueños Music Festival, Chicago artists get their moments alongside Shakira and Peso Pluma
In the heart of Chicago's Grant Park, the Sueños Music Festival celebrated Latinos over Memorial Day weekend. Thousands flocked downtown Chicago for the fourth edition of the festival that has brought world-renowned names of the Latin music scene to the Windy City and uplifted the culture and identity of many. This time, Shakira and Peso Pluma headlined Day One. Peso Pluma returned after an abrupt cancellation last year due to weather conditions, and Shakira delivered a two-hour set that concluded with a fireworks over the city's skyline. But amid the headliners, there was a new stage that featured some of Chicago's local talent. By featuring local talent alongside international headliners like Shakira and Peso Pluma, Sueños aims to bridge the gap between global fame and local artistry, offering attendees a rich tapestry of musical experiences. For the artists, many young and full of dreams, performing at Sueños lifts up their name and the Chicago music scene. Last year, Ramiro Medina, lead singer of the band Lemanz, attended the festival to see Peso Pluma. This year, Medina said, he was part of the lineup. 'It's unbelievable. It's a blessing,' he said as he got ready to perform. Lemanz, a norteño band that emerged in the Chicago music scene over the last two years, was one of the many local regional Mexican bands that performed on the La Plaza stage. The band started out as a hobby, he said, just some friends hanging out and sharing their love for their Mexican heritage through music about five years ago. They started to perform at family parties and smaller venues. Eventually, Medina said, it became his career. For Medina and his band mates, the opportunity means that more doors will open for them. 'I'm excited and grateful. I feel blessed,' said Alexis Villalobos, the accordion player for the band. 'It's been five years since we picked up this project and it's finally picking up.' As young Mexican-Americans, forming a part of a regional Mexican music band goes beyond music. It is about embracing the culture they love and how much they want others to also appreciate it. 'My parents are very happy, they're more excited than me to be here,' Medina said. Some of his siblings, he said, were there to see the band perform. Though Medina was born and raised in Chicago's South Side, his family migrated from Puebla, Mexico. Efren Vasquez, 34, a founder member of Vanguardia, one of Chicago's most renowned bands, has witnessed the pride for Mexican culture that perhaps was not there before. 'Not only are they no longer ashamed of their roots, there's a whole festival that celebrates us,' Vasquez said. He added that he is proud to see younger generations of Latinos following their love for music. Vanguardia started about seven years ago and quickly rose to the top of the music scene in Chicago because of its unique style. Vasquez said that the new stage gives an opportunity for people to see Chicago's rising talent. Vanguardia performed Saturday to a crowd that slowly started to build up at La Plaza stage, followed by Lemanz and other local DJs. On Sunday, Los K-bros and Grupo Sekta joined the show. This inclusion not only enriched the festival lineup but also underscored the importance of supporting homegrown artists, according to festival organizers. 'Supporting and uplifting Latin culture has always been at the core of Sueños. That's why we're proud to feature the La Plaza Stage this year, fully dedicated to Latino bands and DJs from Chicago,' said Aaron Ampudia, one of the co-founders of the festival. 'The response has been incredible. These artists deserve a spotlight, and we're honored to offer them a platform to connect with new audiences and be part of something that's bigger than just a performance — it's a cultural movement.' In 2024, the festival generated roughly $243.7 million in economic impact and grew from 80,000 to 130,000 attendees. This year, the festival expects to again see 130,000 people over the two-day festival. At Sueños, the next generation of mainstage headliners could get their start on the La Plaza stage.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
Arrest made in killing of Colombian trans woman Sara Millerey González that was caught on video
Police in Colombia have arrested a suspect in the killing of Sara Millerey González, a transgender woman who was raped, beaten, and had her legs, hands, and arms broken before she was tossed into a ravine. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Juan Camilo Muñoz Gaviria, alias Teta, and a reputed member of the El Mesa drug trafficking gang, was arrested Wednesday, the Spanish-language Vanguardia reports. He was captured by a special task force created by the country's national police and prosecutors in response to the outrage over the crime. Millerey González, 32, was raped, had her hands, arms, and legs broken, then was thrown into a stream in a deep ravine to drown in Colombia on April 4, LawyerMonthly reports. Rather than helping, some witnesses recorded her on video trying in vain to escape the ravine and stream, which they later posted to social media. She was killed in Bello, Antioquia, a high-crime area that was once the turf of the late drug trafficker and narco terrorist Pablo Escobar. Police said they were able to track Muñoz Gaviria's movements from the scene of the crime to his eventual arrest. They have released little further information about the suspect and the crime as the investigation is ongoing. Police are reportedly looking for at least one other man as a possible suspect but believe up to five men may be implicated in the Millerey González's death. 'In an investigative action coordinated by the Attorney General's Office, CTI personnel and the police arrested one of the alleged perpetrators of the murder of a trans woman, whose given name was Sara Millerey González, in Bello, Antioquia, on April 5," Colombian prosecutors announced on social media. "In the coming hours, he will be brought before a judge, and a local prosecutor will charge him with aggravated homicide and torture.' Millerey González's mother, Sandra, told the Spanish-language news El País, last month that she saw many people watching and filming her daughter, but nobody was trying to save her. Sandra also said she was prevented from entering the fast-moving stream. Millerey González was eventually rescued by first responders and taken to a local hospital. "Mom, I'm going to die,' Sandra said her daughter told her after she was pulled from the stream. Although Millerey González suffered a punctured lung as well as her broken bones during the attack, Sandra said the hospital didn't consider her an emergency because she wasn't shot. 'I knelt down and hugged her and told her that I loved her very much," Sandra recalled. "I told her she was going to be with God because no one in heaven was going to humiliate or discriminate against her for being her.' Millerey González suffered two cardiac arrests the following morning, with the second proving fatal. She asked her mother to bury her in a white dress, but the mortician said a closed-casket funeral was more appropriate due to the severity of injuries to her face and extremities. The public, activists, and politicians quickly responded to news of the attack. 'What happened in Bello is fascism,' President Gustavo Petro said in a post to X. 'Fascism is the violent erasure of human difference — be it political, religious, ethnic, or sexual. There are Nazis in Colombia.' Bello Mayor Lorena González Ospina also issued a post to social media, expressing outrage and a resolve to bring her killers to justice. 'I raise my voice as mayor but above all as a human being to reject with total forcefulness the murder of Sara Millerey, a trans woman victim of a heinous and hateful act,' González Ospina said in a post to social media. 'Sara was violated, her arms and legs were broken, and she was thrown into the river.' Authorities are still offering a reward of 50m pesos (around $11,000) for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of Sara Millerey González.
