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A Big Laugh in Venezuela

Iria Puyosa · 20:00 · Americas

Venezuelans will be holding the funniest elections in the country history. Entertainer Benjamin Rausseo, better known as Er’ Conde del Guacharo (Count of Guacharo), announced this week that he will run for President. Rausseo is Venezuela’s most popular comedian, and he has no political background. His character is a working-class man from the northeastern part of the country (by the Caribbean Sea), bearing stereotypical traits such as being a lazy deadbeat and womanizer; he talks in coarse language, and doesn’t care much about either public affairs or family values. Originally, the character satirized negative traits associated to Venezuelan folks, but surprisingly the audience found the character quite affable, and most people liked him.

Rausseo got extensive TV coverage for his announcement to run for President, much more than any other presidential candidate so far. His campaign is taking advantage of the Internet, and includes a weblog, an online forum, and a network of bloggers for Er’ Conde.

Chorro de Escape highlights the Conde’s efforts devoted to gain support from internet users, especially from bloggers, and the “tsunami” in favor of the comedian aspirations.

No se si me equivoco, pero primera vez que un candidato presidencial se ocupa tanto de la gente que esta en internet, especialmente de nosostros los blogeros y la respuesta que ha recibido ha sido “un tsunami” como dijo el, muchisimos blogs ya se estan uniendo, los medios lo estan apoyando muchisimo, porque el Conde ahora tiene mucho que decir.

I don't know if I'm mistaken, but this is the first time a presidential candidate has cared so much for reaching people on the internet, especially bloggers, and the response he has received has been “a tsunami,” like he said. Tons of blogs are already uniting and the media is giving a lot of support because “the Count” now has a lot to say.

Topochoblog compiled a large list of bloggers’ reactions to Rausseo’s Presidential aspirations.

Many bloggers show enthusiasm with Er’Conde, like Lilibeth who says,

Entre tanto desbarajuste político yo prefiero morir de Risa que morir de hambre y miseria!

Among so much political chaos, I prefer to die of laughter rather die of hunger and misery!

Not without some embarrassment, some bloggers say that they may end up voting for Rausseo. Regardless, Venezuelan politics has become a slapstick comedy.

The second most popular reaction is cynicism.

los políticos venezolanos, sin haber estado jamás en un escenario, suelen dar más risa que er Conde, aunque es una risa agria.

Venezuelan politicians, without having been in a skit, are often more laughable than er Conde, although it is a bitter laugh.

On the contrary, Chavista bloggers are having a big laugh, like Alex who says, “this is the funniest episode of Venezuelan political history.”

Lobo Hombre gave another twist to the case. He argues that Rausseo is unraveling the absurdity of VEnezuelan politics.

Lo que el conde está haciendo acá (repito: genialmente) es poner de manifiesto en nuestra propia cara lo ridículas, viscerales e irreflexivas que son nuestras posturas políticas

What “the Count” is doing here (I repeat: brilliantly) is putting in front of our faces just how ridiculous, visceral, and unwise our political positions are.

Maybe, Lobohombre is right.

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The Week That Was in Bahrain

Amira Al Hussaini · 02:28 · Middle East & North Africa

With the Middle East literally on fire, Bahrain bloggers have naturally turned their attention to reporting and commenting on the latest tensions in the region.

The most comprehensive and ‘juicy' stories, backed with videos and voice clips, are found at Haitham Sabbah's blog, who is battling two fronts, reporting to us the latest atrocities on civilians in both Palestine and Lebanon.

A cleverly compiled post entitled “Did you know“, gives us a chilling insight to issues, one never imagined could happen in this day and age.

“Did you know that 87 percent of Lebanese support Hizbullah’s fight with Israel, a rise of 29 percent on a similar poll conducted in February. More striking, however, is the level of support for Hizbullah’s resistance from non-Shiite communities. Eighty percent of Christians polled supported Hizbullah along with 80 percent of Druze and 89 percent of Sunnis,” writes Sabbah.

Well, if you didn't, now you know!

In another post this week, Sabbah shows us how Hizbullah not only has the Lebanese rallying behind it today, but also British MP George Galloway, who announced to a cheering crowd, that Hizbullah was “never a terrorist organisation.”

For the faint of heart, the blog is flagged with a slide show, featuring graphic photographs of this war's latest victims - innocent children whose lives were snatched before their parents' very eyes, with most of the ‘civilised' world sitting back and watching the terror without even lifting a finger.

Like it or not, this gruesome presentation of maimed bodies, speaks volumes at a ‘visually-prejuidiced' age where a photograph speaks a 1,000 words.

And why are all those children dying, you may ask? Silly Bahraini Girl found the answer in an article she posted on her blog entitled Blood in Beirut: $75.05 a Barrel.

That is cheap.. but not as cheap as the Saudi donation to Lebanon, which Mohammed Al Maskati describes as pocket change.

“Saudi Arabia on Sunday donated $50 million to Lebanon….Let’s carry out some math here, since the Lebanese-Israeli conflict raised earlier the past oil prices sky-rocketed the per barrel intra-day for September delivery hit a new high of $78.18 on the ICE Futures Exchange in London yesterday (I came across reports that expected oil touching the barrier of the $85 by the end of summer) from an earlier $74 this pass week, multiply that by the Saudi crude oil production capacity of around 10.5-11.0 million bbl/d,” writes Al Maskati.

In another post, Al Maskati aptly sums up his feelings of disgust at the state of sudden “dumbness” which has gripped the Arab world:

“The Arabian Silence: Not surprisingly the Arab coward regimes stood still to witness the butchery of the Lebanese people, the amazing silence still manages to capture my attention. Hezbolla doesn’t need money or artillery but we Arabs still fail to even support them sensitively,” he writes.

To shed light on Al Maskati's state of confusion, Manama Republic explains:

“Turning-in the other cheek is best left to Arabs.

“Speaking of which, one chosen newspaper of the chosen people may have been truthful in reporting that a leading Arab leader had called a Chosen Prime Minister to urge him to keep up the good work. The speed by which the normally lethargic Larger Kingdom reacted to the break of hostilities is both bewildering and suggestive. It is either a new found Washingtonian efficiency -in the person of Prince Bandar- has inched closer to the ears of his uncles than originally thought, or that the text was readied a long time beforehand.”

Food for thought??

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