WonderFidel and the Fantastic 4
No this is not the latest Marvel Inc. release but, the “Fantastic 4” movie may have more to do with South American politics and could even have a hidden story line with seemingly invincible do-gooders overwhelming evil. In many ways Chavez, Morales, Ortega, Correa and Fidel Castro are, for some, “The Fantastic 4” with “WonderFidel” as one of the older characters from the 50´s, overcoming feats of amazing political stamina, opposition and embargos. In Chavez´s eyes, interference from the US, EU and other pseudo democratic nations, he says.
Conversely, for some onlookers, “Pirates of the Caribbean” would be a more fitting representation of their joint views on national policies. From whichever side of the fence you view things; there are many aspects of both sides’ policies that create insurmountable doubts. From the Fantastic 4+1 side you have the apparent failure of free markets and post war democratic ideals. From those with views of the 5 more akin to the latest Pirates saga, their views are antiquated unfathomable power plays to create and maintain perpetuity of government, often refereed to by detractors as dictatorship. It is nonetheless the views of those living in these nations which must triumph and in Cuba´s case, over the past 50 years, there have been no uprisings to speak of which, may be a telling sign of things to come in the 5´s region.
Venezuela’s referendum this weekend has shown the amount of national support that exists for Chavez´s “new” and Fidel´s “old” ideals, much to the chagrin of international onlookers, one of which, Luis Herrero, who represents the right-wing Spanish Partido Popular (Popular Party) in the European Parliament was deported from Venezuela with “one way ticket” for calling Chavez “a dictator” on Venezuelan TV a day before the referendum on February 15th.
Some would also have us believe that similarities exist when analyzing the apparent superhuman powers of Marvel characters with Mr. F Castro. Take a look at snippets of the last 12 months news on a google search if you don´t believe us. From sure death, terminal illness, press absence, secretly deceased, national cover ups regarding his absence… to today´s image of the ex president looking quite jovial alongside Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean President. Yes the 12 month time line reads like the best Hollywood screen play, however, without an Oscar nomination this weekend.
Somehow and, some would say for the first time, South American politics are becoming mainstream. Chavez´s sometimes humorous Letterman style statements concerning his international counterparts seem to be on the news with more frequency. Whenever Fidel appears the world looks on with unabated surprise thinking “hey he looks OK to me…”. Correa´s Chavez copycat referendum which failed in Guayaquil Ecuador´s largest province, was also world news last year. I sort of wonder where all this is leading. Will the Fantastic 5 be a box office hit this year or disappear into the obscurity of immediate DVD release? In the absence of any blockbuster releases from Obama´s government or the EU the 5 may just have a 2009 hit on their hands.
As in the past, we may look back in a few years and compare all of the 2009 release´s with the same skepticism we do now with improbable 80´s hit “Back to the Future”.
