Mexican Comic Icon "Chesprito" Dies

Famed Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños passed away on Friday at the age of eighty-five at his home in Cancún.

Prior to becoming an actor, Bolaños was an amateur boxer, studied engineering in college and wrote scripts for film and TV.  He short stature and prolific writing earned him a nickname that was a play on words from "Little Shakespeare" and would remain with him throughout his life: "Chespirito".

His big break came in 1968 with a sketch comedy show that allowed him to develop numerous comic characters over the years including wacky medic "Dr. Chapatín", petty crook "El Chompiras" and bumbling superhero "El Chapulín Colorado". Yet he was best known for his role as "El Chavo del Ocho", an orphan who resided in a barrel located inside a lower-class Mexico city neighborhood.  An episode of El Chavo often showed his good-nature hijinks with his child friends and adult neighbors though his penchant for wordplay sometimes masked social commentary.

"El Chavo interprets every word in the literal sense and, thus, suffers the injustice of the world.  He questions society and our relations of power and friendship by emphasizing the significance of language," noted Colombian television critic Omar Rincón.

Bolaños' humor made him a superstar across the Spanish-speaking world where numerous countries still show his programs even though he stopped recording TV material roughly twenty-five years ago.  El Chavo-themed restaurants in Puerto Rico and Colombia have dishes named in honor of the characters from the program homage while visitors can travel to an official Chavo theme park in Venezuela. Bolaños himself claimed in a 1999 interview "this may sound blasphemous in Mexico but in Peru I'm seen as the most important Latin American comic of the millennium. And I believe it."

Nuestro Cine: Battle of the Vampires

What happens when the Cuban musician nephew of Dracula finds a secret potion that allows vampires to be able to live under the sun's rays?  The answer to this can be seen in the 1985 animated movie ¡Vampiros en La Habana! (Vampires in Havana).  The film provides a satirical look at both capitalism and Communism when competing factions of vampires - a Chicago mob and a European cartel - seek to get their claws on the "Vampisol" concoction from Joseph Amadeus von Dracula.  Featuring trumpet playing by the legendary Arturo Sandoval, ¡Vampiros is not your usual scary Halloween flick but is instead a funny spoof of horror and gangster films.

¡Vampiros can be seen in the following video in Spanish and with English subtitles.  (Note that the movie has some adult themes; hence, it's NSFW and probably not recommended for young children).
Video Source - YouTube user R Delgado

Online Source - imdb.com

 

Sobredosis de TV – Fiction or Racism?

Sobredosis de TV is our occasional look at television shows in the Americas.  It is also the name of a song from famed Argentine rock music group Soda Stereo.
A Peruvian television show that showcases the misadventures of an indigenous woman in the big city has not sat well with some people in the Andean country including one politician who spoke out this week.

Hilaria Supa, a Peruvian member of the Andean Parliament, sent a letter to local television channel Frecuencia Latina requesting that the La Paisana Jacinta program get taken off the air.

“It is outrageous that in the middle of the twenty first century, when we believe that we are advancing, you can see racist attitudes in stadiums, public places, schools, and on the media with Frecuencia Latina which offends us as citizens when it reprograms like ‘El Negro Mama’ or ‘La Paisana Jacinta’”, said Supa who is of indigenous background.

“These programs defame us, they make us seem like stupid, unkempt people, and that has to stop,” she added against the program that retuned to the airwaves in mid-February.

Other critics of the program have used the hashtag #NoalaPaisanaJacinta to organize protests such as one scheduled to take place outside of the Frecuencia Latina studios in Lima today.   

Not everyone sees eye-to-eye with Supa including several Twitter users who responded by launching racist insults against her. 

“Hilaria Supa, learn to read and write,” “Go back to your hometown and plant potatoes” and “Shitty Chola” were just some of the messages issued against the legislator. 

A more measured reply was provided by actress Magaly Solier who said that La Paisana Jacinta “is fiction and acting because Andean women are not like that.”

Jorge Benavides, the male comic who portrays the protagonist of La Paisana Jacinta, is no stranger to controversy.  Last year he defended his portrayal of “Negro Mama,” a blackface character with a prosthetic wide nose and thick lips as “a character with an established name. Therefore, you can’t accuse us of generalizing and saying that all black people are thieves.” Peru’s television regulatory body did not agree and fined Frecuencia Latina over $26,000 for airing sketches with “Negro Mama.”

Should La Paisana Jacinta be yanked off the air permanently?  Judge for yourself below the page break by watching an episode where Jacinta becomes a construction worker:

Remembering Jaime Garzon

The following post reflecting on the assassination of Colombian comedian and satirist Jaime Garzon was first published on August 15, 2011.

We are reprinting it today since it's the fourteenth anniversary of Garzon's untimely death.

Imagine the public reaction in the U.S. if Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert were to be gunned down in cold blood. Now picture that in the subsequent years impunity surrounds the murder and investigations into the crime have yielded few results. Such is the case of Jaime Garzon, Colombia’s top political humorist who was assassinated just over twelve years ago.

Garzon was best known for his sharp satire against the Colombian political establishment in TV programs such as “Zoociedad” and "Quac, El Noticiero". (In this clip, for instance, Garzon pokes fun at then-Governor and eventual president Alvaro Uribe as “the dictator Colombia needs!”) His most famous character was Heriberto de la Calle (roughly translated as “Heriberto of the streets”), a shoeshine man who grilled celebrities and political leaders. (In this clip, Heriberto asks ex-U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette if it’s true that the U.S. “doesn’t pursue guerillas since the rebels send cocaine to the U.S. and they receive arms in return?”)

Aside from his humor, Garzon was also a lawyer and peace activist who involved himself in the liberating of hostages from the FARC as well as the failed peace negotiations with the rebels. Paramilitary leaders allegedly viewed him not as an intermediary but instead as a guerilla collaborator and he reportedly received death threats from them. It’s believed that paramilitary chief Carlos Castaño ordered Garzon to be killed, a tragedy that would occur in Bogota on August 13, 1999.

In 2000, Castaño was convicted in absentia of the murder of Garzon and sentenced to 38 years in prison. The purported mastermind behind the assassination never spent a day behind bars for his crime and he himself would be killed under mysterious circumstances in 2004.

Taking a Break

We are going on a brief hiatus for a few days and hopefully we will return to publish a few posts over the weekend.

In the meantime we'll leave you with a video that we've previously highlighted - the Mystery Science Theater 3000 poking fun at a short film on Venezuela:

Enjoy!

Video Source - YouTube via Ekit357

Mexican Car Breaks Land Speed Record

A Mexican auto manufacturer may be having the last laugh over a year after presenters of the British TV program “Top Gear” came under fire for  making disparaging remarks about Mexicans.

On Sunday the Mexican-made Mastretta MXT became the world’s fastest production car with a top speed of exactly 268 miles per hour. The Mastretta thus beat by nearly 0.2 miles per hour the previous record set by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in 2010.

Argentine Maradona “Church” Followers Defect to Messi

It may not be a schism as profound as the Protestant Reformation but followers of one Argentine “church” are debating over whether to stay or join a breakaway “sect”.

The loyalty of members of the Maradonian Church (named after World Cup-winning soccer legend Diego Maradona) is facing a serious challenge from a group of dissidents. A statement was issued in the name of two hundred former Maradona followers who announced that they have seen the light in the form of Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi.

Mexican TV Clown Apologizes for Jokes Against Dead Kids

Mexican comedian Sergio Verduzco, better known as Platanito the Clown, apologized after joking about a fire that killed nearly fifty children in 2009.

“I am a clown that wants to create laughter rather than cause pain,” said Verduzco in a video statement via YouTube. He added “It was not my intention nor that of my show to hurt the memory of the children” either killed or injured as a result of the deadly Guardería ABC (ABC Nursery) blaze in Sonora state.

Despite his apparent contrition Verduzco nonetheless claimed that his TV show is for adults and that jokes shown came from his live and unedited stage show. “Making negative comments about me…will not solve the nation’s problems,” said Verduzco in response to the fierce backlash against his insensitive humor.

The controversy emerged after a video clip of was posted on YouTube from one of his stage performances. (Translated text below):

“Do you know why Michael Jackson died? Out of desperation because they torched a nursery up in Sonora…Besides, now there is no nursery. They opened a joint called ‘Kentucky Fried Children’”.

Verduzco has faced a mountain of criticisms since the video was posted on Monday. “As a father it made me cry,” said Julio César Márquez, head of a group representing victims’ families. Twitter users using the #FueraDelAirePlatanitoShow called on people to boycott Platanito’s stage show and TV program. Sonora governor Guillermo Padrés Elías said that he would do “whatever is at my reach so that (TV network) Televisa can feel our indignation.”

The June 2009 Guarderia ABC fire killed forty-nine children and left over one hundred injured. A subsequent investigation concluded that numerous safety faults led to such a high death toll including “poor infrastructure of the daycare…and a lack of employees to carry out an appropriate emergency response.”

President Felipe Calderon signed into law last October a measure aimed at preventing tragedies like the Guarderia ABC blaze. The “Ley de Guarderías” (Nursery Law) establishes new safety regulations for all day care centers and provides additional federal oversight of these facilities.

Video Source – YouTube via SinEmbargoMX

Online Sources – Univision.com, El Universal, El Colombiano, The Latin Americanist, Latin American News Dispatch, Global Voices Online

Today’s Video: "Doc" in Buenos Aires

We hope to be back over the weekend in order to look at some news stories from recent days that have caught out attention. Hopefully we'll also be posting on Monday if the oncoming Hurricane Irene doesn't cause too many problems.

In the meantime we'll leave you with this question: why is Emmett "Doc" Brown in Argentina?

The answer, according to the local press, is that the above video is part of an ad campaign for the local electronics store that the DeLorean "crashed" into.

(Hat tip: Huffington Post).

Online Sources - NY1, Huffington Post, lanacion.com
Video Source - YouTube

Today’s Video: Jaime Garzon – humor and impunity

Imagine the public reaction in the U.S. if Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert were to be gunned down in cold blood. Now picture that in the subsequent years impunity surrounds the murder and investigations into the crime have yielded few results. Such is the case of Jaime Garzon, Colombia’s top political humorist who was assassinated just over twelve years ago.

Garzon was best known for his sharp satire against the Colombian political establishment in TV programs such as “Zoociedad” and "Quac, El Noticiero". (In this clip, for instance, Garzon pokes fun at then-Governor and eventual president Alvaro Uribe as “the dictator Colombia needs!”) His most famous character was Heriberto de la Calle (roughly translated as “Heriberto of the streets”), a shoeshine man who grilled celebrities and political leaders. (In this clip, Heriberto asks ex-U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette if it’s true that the U.S. “doesn’t pursue guerillas since the rebels send cocaine to the U.S. and they receive arms in return?”)

Aside from his humor, Garzon was also a lawyer and peace activist who involved himself in the liberating of hostages from the FARC as well as the failed peace negotiations with the rebels. Paramilitary leaders allegedly viewed him not as an intermediary but instead as a guerilla collaborator and he reportedly received death threats from them. It’s believed that paramilitary chief Carlos Castaño ordered Garzon to be killed, a tragedy that would occur in Bogota on August 13, 1999.

In 2000, Castaño was convicted in absentia of the murder of Garzon and sentenced to 38 years in prison. The purported mastermind behind the assassination never spent a day behind bars for his crime and he himself would be killed under mysterious circumstances in 2004.

After years of weak investigations in Colombia, Garzon’s family last week sought the intervention of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In the meantime, one cannot help but wonder how Garzon would’ve skewered the Colombian political landscape of the past few years and if the country is still without a “national identity” as he jokingly refers to in this 1993 interview:

(Hat tip for the video: Colombia Reports).

Online Sources- El Heraldo, Colombia Reports
Video Source - YouTube

Brazil: Did "Autism House" go too far?

Humor is subjective and what may be funny to some can also be offensive to others. It's a lesson that the cast and crew of one Brazilian TV show seem to be learning the hard way.

An episode of "Comedia MTV" that originally aired on March 22nd came under fire for a sketch parodying the reality series "Big Brother." The sketch entitled "Casa dos Autistas” ("Autism House") depicted mentally disabled individuals (as played by the show's cast) punching a piano and scratching the paint off the walls while trapped in a house.

Numerous public reactions regarding "Casa dos Autistas” included an online petition signed by several thousand people calling the sketch "disrespectful and immoral." Legislator Paulo Pimenta called for a government investigation based on his view that the show "reinforced the notion of segregating those who are not 'normal'." "If they knew what it's like (to have an autistic son) they never would've depicted them that way," said the member of a Brazilian disability rights group to the local press.

The uproar led MTV Brasil to issue a formal apology including a mea culpa that aired at the start of last week's episode of "Comedia MTV". "Autism is a serious issue that should be treated respectfully," read part of the apology to "those who were offended" by the sketch in question.

A recent Folha.com article noted that numerous Brazilian TV comedians disagreed with the uproar over the "Casa dos Autistas” sketch. Several humorists observed that the main problem was the execution of the sketch rather than the joke itself:

(Member of the"Casseta & Planeta" comedian team Marcelo Madureira said) the problem with 'Comedia MTV' was the length of the joke. Overstretched and lacking grace"...

"I think the great fun of an autistic house is that nothing happens. The problem was the interpretation was too real. People would understand if the tone of the sketch was more jocular" (said Gregorio Duvivier, a member of the comedy series Z.É. (Zenas Emprovisadas).)

The controversy over the "Comedia MTV" troupe comes three years after an uproar in Australia over a "Chaser's War on Everything" sketch satirizing the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But did the "Casa dos Autistas” cross the line between humor and insult. Judge for yourself via the following TV Globo report on the controversy that includes clips from the "Casa dos Autistas” sketch:

Video Source - YouTube
Online Source - Terra Brasil, MS Aqui, MTV Brasil, Folha.com, ABC News

Daily Headlines: November 1, 2010

* Caribbean: Haiti and the Dominican Republic are bracing for a Tropical Storm Tomas that swept through eastern parts of the Caribbean over the weekend.

* Peru: Some Peruvians are not too happy with Sofia Vergara's "offensive and discriminatory" joke poking fun at the Andean country during a recent episode of "Modern Family."

* Honduras: Soccer may be nicknamed as "the beautiful game" but it was quite the opposite on Saturday when gunmen killed fourteen people at a San Pedro Sula field.

* Latin America: Venezuela and Paraguay are the most corrupt countries in Latin America while Chile and Uruguay were rated the least corrupt in the region according to Transparency International.

Image - CBC ("A woman walks by damaged power lines and infrastructure after the storm hit St. James Parish, Barbados, on Saturday. (Chris Brandis/Associated Press).")
Online Sources - Transparency International, CBC, Xinhua, Voice of America

Yes Men prank Chevron

It looks like back to the drawing board for the ad staff representing Chevron after their latest campaign backfired.

Last week the oil giant launched the “We Agree” ad campaign touting “the company’s plans in producing energy responsibly and in supporting the communities in which it operates.” A new website was launched trying to put a positive spin on the company and press releases were sent to media outlets including (apparently) to this blog's e-mail address.

Before the launch of Chevron’s campaign, however, the ads became targets for “activist-performers” The Yes Men. Along with the Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, a fake campaign with the “We Agree” tagline was released along with a legitimate-looking website. One of the faux ads (similar to the above image) read, "Oil companies should fix the problems they create" next to a stamp reading "We agree". The pranksters even sent a fake reaction from a Chevron attorney who deemed the stunt as "environmentalist subterfuge."

What does Chevron’s campaign have to do with Latin America? As Reuters reported:

Chevron is currently fighting a $27 billion lawsuit in Ecuador dating back 18 years that contends Texaco, which Chevron bought, caused significant environmental damage in the Amazon through faulty drilling techniques.

Chevron has said Texaco repaired damage in all areas of the jungle for which it was responsible, that the courts in Ecuador have been biased and that plaintiffs lawyers have engaged in misconduct. A verdict in the case could come in the next few months.

Adam Werbach in The Atlantic compared Chevron’s “failed” campaign to other ad blunders such as Kentucky Fried Chicken donating a fraction of their sales to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation while also launching their grease-laden “Double-Down” sandwich. (“It's hard to sell a sandwich with 32 grams of fat and be a respected voice in the fight against breast cancer.”)

In April The Yes Men falsely represented Royal Dutch Shell and issued a faux apology to “all inhabitants of Nigeria’s Niger Delta for the many years of human rights violations, for which Shell takes full responsibility.” The group’s most famous hoax, however, was in 2004 when one of their members appeared live on the BBC while pretending to be a Union Carbide exec and subsequently “apologized” for the Bhopal chemical disaster.

Image- unEARTHED (“The Yes Men's latest victim is Chevron's "We Agree" ad campaign. Image courtesy of theyesmen.org.”)
Online Sources- Stock Briefings, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Museum of Hoaxes, Consumerist, AFP, Reuters

Daily Headlines: September 30, 2010

* U.S.: Rest in peace Greg Giraldo; the comedian of Spanish and Colombian decent died yesterday possibly from an accidental overdose of prescription medicine.

* Venezuela: Two inmates could soon be freed after they were elected to the Venezuelan legislature in Sunday’s elections.

* Nicaragua: A representative of President Daniel Ortega received a petition with 37,000 signatures advocating for the decriminalization of Nicaragua’s strict anti-abortion laws.

* Chile: Three jailed Mapuches joined 35 of their fellow companions in a hunger strike against alleged government repression.

Image – New York Daily News
Online Sources- Sify, El Universal, LAHT, CBS News, The Latin Americanist

Today's Video: Caw!

We'll be back on Friday with posts on stories like Brazil's latest soccer triumph and why Lori Berenson is again behind bars. For now we'll leave you with a bit of satire via The Onion:

Guatemalan Flight's Data-Recording Parrot Holds Clues To Crash

A new holiday in Argentina?

Some stories speak for themselves:

Political activist Luis D’Elia proposed Wednesday that Argentines begin marking Aug. 2, the birthday of former military dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, as “Son of a B---- Day.”



“In Argentina, above all in the decade of the 1990s, there was a pile of SOBs: (presidents Carlos) Menem, (Eduardo) Duhalde and (Fernando) de la Rua, the former (economy) minister Domingo Cavallo,” D’Elia said on television. “One could name 150, 200 SOBs.”

“But we choose Aug. 2 because it’s the day another SOB who preceded them, Jorge Rafael Videla, was born,” the outspoken activist said.

In the Not Safe For Work video below, D’Elia also gave his ongoing support of ex-president Nestor Kirchner who he called “our bastard”:

D’Elia is no stranger to controversy; in 2009 he was in a war of words with well-known TV variety show host Mauricio Tinelli whose programs he called “brothel shows.”

Videla, meanwhile, took to the stands this week at a trial accusing him of human rights abuses during his “Dirty War” presidency.

Online Sources- LAHT, YouTube, The Latin Americanist

Today's Video: Oligarchs vs. Bolivarians

The latest chapter in the brilliant animated satirical series "La Isla Presidencial" ("The Island of the Presidents") came out recently. See how the lost Latin American leaders plan to get off the island (presumably) once and for all:

Online Source - YouTube

Today’s Video: "Dwight Eisenhower colors Easter eggs"

Similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000, Josh Way pokes fun at short movies on subjects like grooming, classroom discipline, and safety against nuclear attacks. In the video below as part of his "Fun with Shorts" series Way pours over (ha!) a dull 1960s film from the Coffee Brewing Institute:

(Hat tip: Metafilter).

Online Sources - Metafilter, The Latin Americanist, YouTube

Today’s Video: Alex Reymundo on madres

I don't mean to sound like a shill but a tipster recently e-mailed me about Latino comedian Alex Reymundo:

Best known as one of the “Original Latin Kings of Comedy” alongside George Lopez, Cheech Marin, Paul Rodriguez and Joey Medina, Reymundo has seen a whirlwind of success in the past few years. Alex Reymundo delivers his second one hour stand-up special before a live audience in the Heartland of America, St. Jo, MO. Rocking the house with his uniquely branded style of comedy (half-Latino, half-Hillbilly and all Hick-Spanic) Reymundo shares his perspective wit from growing up as an immigrant in a large Mexican family in Texas to marrying a blonde-haired, blue-eyed southern belle from Kentucky.

Reymundo's latest special- "Red-nexican" premieres tonight on Showtime. In the meantime (and with Mother's Day coming up) here's Reymundo's take on overprotective mamis:


Online Source- YouTube

Today’s Video: Even the fish become bored

The second episode of "La Isla Presidencial"- an animated series described by BBC Mundo as the "Venezuelan version of 'South Park'"- was recently released. Watch as Hugo Chavez laments for George W. Bush to be back in power and keep a sharp eye out for a surprise intruder to the island:

"La Isla Presidencial" (first episode here) is the brainchild of several people who contribute to a satirical Venezuelan website called El Chigüire Bipolar. Though Chavez serves as the site's primary target, no sectors of Venezuelan politics are safe from El Chigüire's crosshairs:

(Site co-founder Oswaldo) Graziani said going after Mr. Chávez’s critics, in addition to the president himself, and critiquing certain aspects of Venezuelan society were also priorities. For instance, Chigüire Bipolar has lampooned the student movement here by showing students more interested in swilling beer on the beach than in protests...

“We make it a principle that no one is immune, not even ourselves,” said Mr. Graziani, noting that their motto is “Partial, unfounded news from a rodent with psychological issues.”

Online Sources- El Chigüire Bipolar, BBC Mundo, YouTube, The Latin Americanist, New York Times