Oh yes. I've only known a couple folks from the locale, but they're both great, and the country as a whole *seems* like it could be fun, though damned if I can make any sense of the current government (one friend in particular is very anti-Chavez, though I'm not sure whether it's because of his seemingly totalitarian moves or the general bent of his politics). They also get plus marks for being baseball fanatics and still being able to field a football team, and I hear that Polar is the beer to try from their neck of the woods. Anyone else have thoughts?
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
one month passes...
three years pass...
Apparently, Chavez is the Dr. Gene Scott of Venezuela. Who knew?
On the reality show that Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, stages at irregular but frequent intervals for the benefit of his nation, he is the only star. Most Sundays, he can be seen on the all-day program Aló Presidente, which is obligatory viewing for anyone who might be interested in knowing what will be on the political agenda the following week, but there are also unscheduled interruptions to the evening newscasts and telenovelas, when the President takes over the networks to discuss whatever might be on his mind.
Television is his natural medium: articulate, artless, more than a little hefty, completely at his ease, open-faced and just-folksy even when he is denouncing the press or a laggard member of his own cabinet, Chávez is indisputably fascinating, and often even endearing, when he takes over the airwaves. On Aló Presidente, which tends to start around 11 AM, he might reminisce about an episode of his past life, like the failed military golpe, or coup, that first brought him to public attention back in 1992, when he was an idealistic lieutenant colonel. (At times like this, he is likely to recite a poem, or sing.)
The President also briefly shares the screen with the studio guests. He asks beneficiaries of a particular government program to describe their part in it. Visiting intellectuals and ambassadors are asked to greet the crowd. Members of his cabinet give an accounting of themselves. Front-row guests listen and applaud, and also, perhaps, think longingly about supper and the bathroom—for once admitted to a performance that lasts much longer than the Oscars, guests cannot leave—while Chávez discourses on politics, Jesus Christ, history, the week's events, baseball, and, at great length, himself. The Chávez show goes on forever, but, like any reality program, it never lasts quite long enough: Who will he rebuke, or dismiss, on the air? What will he say to his wife on the eve of Valentine's Day? (The correct answer is: "Marisabel, tomorrow I'm giving you yours.") And, since he has already persuaded the aging world-famous crooner Julio Iglesias to warble "O Sole Mio" along with Jiang Zemin, then president of the People's Republic of China, and himself, who will he sing with next?
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18302
― o. nate (onate), Monday, 26 September 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)