From Bolivar to Superus, through Hugo Chavez: the cult of the leader in Venezuela

“Indestructible!”: in the rhythm of classical salsa, episodes “super mustache and his steel arm”, a cartoon dedicated to the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, who, like Clark Kent, turns into a superhero to confront the enemies of Venezuela.

Nothing is left to chance. “SB” on the chest for Super Mustache… or for a hero Simon Bolivar. A red suit, cape and blue Superman underpants, with a construction helmet with the national flag and a steel arm and forearm.

Ten years after the death of a charismatic populist former president Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), Maduro, the anointed one of his predecessor, follows a strategy of propaganda and a cult of personality to inflate his popularity.

super mustache it was in fact commissioned by the Venezuelan president himself in 2021, according to a source close to the creative process. The idea was to turn the president into a hero who fights “in the war against imperialism” and the problems of the country.

The villain in this story is a masked blonde in the White House. super mustache fight a mechanical mole that deprives the country of electricity, or a monster that prevents the arrival of vaccines against COVID-19. There is a Frankenstein, a CIA-created or infiltrated aliens, all with the complicity of familiar faces of the opposition, cartoonishly mocking.

The character is very often present in caps, T-shirts, on murals in squares in Caracas, Valencia or other cities, he is sold as a doll for $ 15, which is almost three times the minimum wage. And during the carnival, children and adults used it as an occasion for a costume.

Super Mustache “doesn’t improvise”

Own Ripe calls himself as super mustache and his wife, Cilia Flores, as Super Silita, ostensibly in a humorous fashion, but historian Elias Pino Iturrieta, a university professor and personality cult specialist, believes that “this is not an improvisation.”

“It has to be very well thought out and very well supported,” he explained to AFP.

The author of “El Divino Bolivar” Pino claims that the character already has the support of the government party and the military, Maduro’s main support. The inflatable copy was present at the military parade in honor of the Independence Day, which, by the way, Maduro did not attend.

“Chavez he would never show up in a raincoat super mustache to save, as if it were Chapulin Colorado, these elements are not connected to Chavez,” noted political scientist Luis Vicente León told AFP.

Pino thinks it’s about “looking for a magnet, something that attracts attention, something that distracts, something that says you’re not living in hell.” “It’s a circus stunt, great as marketing but bad as disrespectful to people.”

Although the country showed signs of recovery in 2022, nine years earlier, Venezuela entered a severe economic crisis that caused an 80% reduction in GDP and hyperinflation that weakened purchasing power and forced about 7 of the country’s 30 million people to migrate in search of a better life. living conditions. The government usually blames the United States for the current situation.

“Central place”

Venezuelan politics is “completely personalistic,” says Daniel Varnaghi, Ph.D. in political science. “The Venezuelan needs to make a name that would become a symbol.”

And the main symbol, almost religious, is Bolivar.

cult of personality in Venezuela in fact it goes back to the birth of the Republic with over-apologies for the Liberator.

Presidents such as José Antonio Páez (1830-35, 1860-63), Antonio Guzmán Blanco (1870-77, 1870-84), Eleasar López Contreras (1935-1941) and Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1952-58) used the hero figure for political purposes.

Chavez It even added the term “Bolivariana” to the name of the country, adding to everything that already bears the name of the hero: central squares, the airport, schools and most recently a new stadium for 40,000 spectators … sort of Bolivar He will play baseball, ironically Pino.

After his death on March 5, 2013 Chavez he became a “virtually magical religious” referent, Varnagy says. But over time, “its scope and importance begin to change.”

This is wrong Chavez will disappear, “can’t,” Pino assures. “But the centerpiece is Maduro. Less Chavez and more Ripe… plus Super Mustache.” (AFP)