So, everyone looked at Chavez’ bald head when he talked about his “New Look”, but everything about Chavez’ image is carefully calculated and designed. From left to right:
1) Flag behind him, not always present.
2) Glasses, more likely due to the chemotherapy, which means he used to wear contact lenses for vanity reasons, but now can’t.
3) Nice, businessman-like new suit. Gone is the red shirt, only the red tie remains true to form.
4) Well appointed guard behind him, making him look Presidential.
5) Bald head, some spots begin to show up, particularly on the right side of the head. Cut before it becomes noticeable.
6) Little Venezuelan flag substitutes jackets and other implements.
7) Nice gold non-socialist Patek Phillipe watch, model 5119J, retails for close to $20,000 but you can get it for about 15K if you are a careful shopper. I wonder who coughed up the money for this present. And where did the Panerai go?
So, we are back to the soft, serious image. The lovable Hugo, I just wonder how long it will last. We have seen “new” looks before.
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March 13, 2013 at 1:12 pm
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August 8, 2011 at 1:52 pm
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August 3, 2011 at 1:16 pm
The wolf changes his hair, but the tricks
August 3, 2011 at 7:36 am
I have a friend who loves watches, I sent him the pic and within a minute he knew it was one of two models, he checked the website and identified it for me. No tricks, just look for experts, something you know who does not know how to do.
August 3, 2011 at 7:50 am
Ok, OK, OK. 🙂 We just wanted to know
August 3, 2011 at 7:20 am
A Dior pen? I have a fake one that looks like that one.
August 3, 2011 at 6:01 am
Haha Point 7. It is always nice to see that somehow dictators always need to show of their wealth. And they really think: “Well nobody will notice..”.
Good one
August 3, 2011 at 5:27 am
If I see a guy looking like that at a baker’s shop paying counter, I let him go first. I try not to mix with the rabble. Castro is many things (including gallego, which is not his fault ), but not chusma. In his case I just run away from the bakers’.
August 3, 2011 at 2:28 am
CarlosElio-
I don’t think HC knows how to negotiate in good faith, meaning whatever he agreed to would be only to gain time and then whoever forced him into negotiating and losing face would be stabbed in the back. Who doesn’t know this?
What will happen with the new renting law? People will simply let their rental properties sit empty, as Miguel said. There will be nothing to rent, and that will demonstrate the failure of the false robolution even further, turning more against him and his incompetent sycophants.
What will happen with the price controls? Some foolish parasites will try to use it to extort money from any private business, anytime, anywhere. They will demand bribes from the sellers of perros calientes. Same effect, turning more people off through sheer greed.
There is no will or system to enforce the rental law, and no system in place to rein in the bribe seekers or enforce price controls.
These new laws make no sense at the present time; they could only be enforced from a position of strength and solid control, not from a position of uncertainty. I suspect they may be desperation moves invented by the senile Castros, along with the new suit and tie.
One line I recall well from 100 Years of Solitude: “Never give an order that won’t be followed”.
August 3, 2011 at 8:58 am
Don’t recall that line in One hundred years, and I have read that novel 3 times (every time gets better). But I recall a funny king in Saint Exupéry’s Little Prince that ordered the sun to rise every morning, and when the little prince asks him why give such silly orders the king answered that he only gave orders he knew would be obeyed.
August 3, 2011 at 12:20 pm
I thought I remembered it from somewhere in the first 50 or 100 pages. I’m working from memory, and from the English translation which I don’t have here. Maybe I’m thinking of Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle”, another island dictator novel?
August 3, 2011 at 2:43 pm
m_astera, I was not referring to Hugo’s trust rating. I know it is low, approaches zero rather quickly. My point was about the leadership of the opposition. Is this an opportunity to unmask a charlatan using an event that triggers a lot of rejection even among his supporters. Imagine that the opposition is able to articulate a great response. Not a communique or a press conference, but a mass response with town halls, local press conferences, polls, Web 2.0 initiatives, and the like. Hesitate to make the comparison, but something like the tea party revolt against the Washington establishment. A real mass movement, not for a vote, but for a cause. Something that would not depend on Hugo’s honor or credibility, but on the strength of the mass movement.
No one would like to lose their house, and no one would like to be evicted if his rent payment is in good order. There you have the solid fuel for lift off. What you need is the engine to get it in motion.
August 3, 2011 at 6:10 pm
Carlos, I think if they try to enforce the new laws, either or both, they are for sure asking for trouble. But who is going to enforce them? Are prospective renters going to go to some government agency because the landlord asked for a deposit, or didn’t want to rent the place with a 3-year lease? Maybe a few might do that, but those who want a place to live probably won’t. And I’d guess that if very many cases like that happened, pretty soon nothing would be for rent. Then what? Is the government going to force people to rent their property? Who will enforce it? I think it’s impossible to enforce, but in the meantime people who own places that are usually for rent will take them off the market.
As for the price controls, if they do that for everything, who is going to go around checking every price at every store? If the government tries to do that, the stores will quit stocking anything that they lose money on, the producers will quit producing it, the importers will quit importing. Why bother if you are losing money?
All in all, I don’t think the opposition needs to do anything. Either the new laws won’t be enforced, which would make the government look weak and foolish, or they will be enforced, which would result in a worse housing crises and empty store shelves. These laws put the government in a situation where they cannot win.
August 3, 2011 at 1:38 am
Is there an opening for negotiations here? I also believe what we are seeing is a facade, but is it pure facade like a clown’s mask in Halloween without any grace behind the mask?
One opening may be the new dwelling leasing law. Aporrea published a strong rebuttal to the law http://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/a123570.html and I have heard disappointment and frustration among chavistas. He hold special powers given under the pretense of solving the home crisis. The law is an admission that the crisis has no solution short-term. There you have a reason to negotiate: either abrogate the special powers or abrogate the law or both. The opposition should take this as a matter of utmost concern, and seek a compromise. If he wants to wear the mask of a rational man, let’s see how far his “new” rationality goes.
But I am afraid that the opposition has lost (or rather has never developed) the ability to negotiate with this man. The people looking for a new leadership has never been shown that one exists. Maybe this is the time.
August 3, 2011 at 5:39 am
Even if the MUD wanted to negotiate, Chavez would never do it.
Negotiation is the signal of weakness. He rather left things keep falling apart. He must keep the image of power and strength.
I don’t need to point an example. We’re living in it.
August 3, 2011 at 12:27 am
Doesn’t matter. He will return to red jackets in no time.
August 3, 2011 at 12:16 am
Seems to me that whatever weight was lost has been gained back.
August 2, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Looks like a Boligarca ™ to me. I’m wondering how his core supporters in the barrios are going to relate to this.
A friend has had two fake Rolexes taken from him at gunpoint here on Margarita. Easy come, easy go.
August 3, 2011 at 9:38 am
m_astera,
What do you mean “I’m wondering how his core supporters in the barrios are going to relate to this.”?
You know HC has a supporter’s base of between 20 to 30% of the entire population (even MO has posted about this more than once). No matter what he says or does (or how he looks, what he wears, Patek Phillipe included) his base will always support him.
BTW, I think the opposition took an extremely long time to understand this.
August 2, 2011 at 11:35 pm
Is it me, or has he started to look like an old (and bald) Adeco? He’s almost the exact middle point between Betancourt and Lusinchi.
August 2, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Forget rants. I bet he does not let a single political prisoner out of jail. El mismo musiú con diferent braga. It’s play acting, nothing more.
August 2, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Almost looks like a normal politician, which was probably the goal. No more Castro-esque rantings in uniform? Time will tell.
August 2, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Agree with gweh. No matter what he wears, how he changes his hairstyle, he is a very ugly gorilla (Sorry King Kong, didn’t mean to insult you!!!)
August 2, 2011 at 7:57 pm
he’s one ugly mofo
August 2, 2011 at 7:25 pm
excellent post. concise but full of umph! Sorry for my curiosity, but it is killing me, how on earth did you identify the watch? Perhaps there is a dictator’s catalogue out there I don’t know about?
Maybe I’ve been living in Ven for too long… I wouldn’t even wear a buhonero ‘Casino’ here. Anyone accept the challenge to identify the price on those rimless glasses or pen or cufflinks?
August 3, 2011 at 6:21 am
…maybe Miguel has a passion for watches? 😉
August 3, 2011 at 6:51 am
I also want to know, like Capitankan, how oyou can identify the watch.
August 2, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Just trying to look Reaganesque like his buddy Obama is trying. Except Obama won’t be able to cheat at the polls. Chavez will once again steal the elections.