After saying that Hugo Chavez made Jesus choose an Argentinian Pope and later turned into a bird (Chavez, not Jesus or the Pope), now Maduro’s placed an oath on “anyone voting against” him.
He wore a funny hat for the occasion:
Wearing a local indigenous hat at a rally in Amazonas state, a largely jungle territory on the borders of Brazil and Colombia, Mr Maduro said: “If anyone among the people votes against Nicolas Maduro, he is voting against himself, and the curse of Maracapana is falling on him.”
He was referring to a 16th Century battle when Spanish colonial fighters defeated indigenous fighters decisively.
“If the bourgeoisie win, they are going to privatise health and education, they are going to take land from the Indians, the curse of Maracapana would come on you,” the candidate continued.
While he was at it, he claimed to be “the grandson of enslaved indian women.” Venezuela abolished slavery in 1854. Colombia abolished slavery in 1851. His mother was born in Colombia in 1929 and his father graduated from high school, also in Colombia, in 1947, so it is a physical impossibility for Maduro (born in 1960) to have had a grandmother at least 106 years old.
Either Maduro’s nuts, or he has such a void of ideas that the only things he’s got left to campaign on are ignorance and superstition.
You take your pick.
You would think the Cuban propaganda machine would have come up with something better, but then, they don’t do elections in Cuba, they only do “elections”.
But back to the curse, I’m not sure what the hey he’s talking about, either. The battle of Maracapana took place in 1567, when the Spanish army massacred thousands of indians. Unlike the legends around King Tut, there have been (as far as I could find as of the writing of this post), no legends associated with that specific massacre. This website says “the bourgeoisie is the curse”.
Which makes sense if you’re a Communist.
Whatever.
Getting under Maduro’s skin is the very clear-minded Puerto Rican musician Willie Colon, who has extensive ties to Venezuela and has become an indefatigable twitterer.
Para Capriles y Venezuela aqui te estoy mandando. ATACA FLACO! soundcloud.com/mentirafresca/… #mentirafresca
— Willie Colón (@williecolon) April 6, 2013
Willie’s written a song for Capriles’s campaign, where he calls Maduro “Fresh Lie”,
Hard-hitting, and you can dance to it, too!
I dedicate this post to Willie Colon. ¡Te dedico este post, Willie!
Perhaps Maduro is a closet Monty Python fan.
LOL Pat!!