Venezuela, Despite Troubles, Proudly Seizes on a Hat

[Zorro]

Venezuela seems to lurch from one crisis to another. President Hugo Chávez has virtually disappeared since going to Cuba for cancer surgery more than eight weeks ago. Last month, 58 people were killed in a prison when inmates clashed with soldiers. Inflation is spiking, the government just announced a currency devaluation and lurid murders are the stuff of daily headlines.

But high on the list of government priorities last week was an unexpected item: baseball caps.

Even in a country where political theater of the absurd is commonplace, the great cap kerfuffle took many Venezuelans by surprise.

It all started over the summer, when a young state governor, Henrique Capriles, ran for president against Mr. Chávez. Mr. Capriles started wearing a baseball cap decorated with the national colors — yellow, blue and red — and the stars of the Venezuelan flag.

More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/world/americas/venezuela-despite-myriad-problems-seizes-on-a-hat.html

[naaman fletcher]

1. Here's the video

Political propaganda directed at Capriles. the government forced every TV channel to air this:

[dlwickham]

2. are they saying that Capriles ripped off Chavez

[naaman fletcher]

3. My spanish is not very good...

I just started learning formally last month, but basically they are saying "hey, the tri-color hat has always been a revolutionary hat.. see all the times Chavez wore it in the past?"

They are doing this because it became a symbol of Capirles.

The point here though, is that they are using government resources for blatantly political propaganda.

[MADem]

4. They're arguing about caps because telling the population the truth

about their incapacitated leader is just too hard.

ABC in Spain recently reported the guy has lost his voice, cannot walk, and the cancer is raging. He's done for, they say.

[Marksman_91]

5. It's really sad to see so many problems plaguing the country...

And all the chavistas care about is the stupid-ass ownership of a baseball cap. I never could truly believe that this government would reach deeper levels of absurdity, but every day, it seems I'm proven wrong.

[Bacchus4.0]

6. they really have their priorities in order don't they? n/t

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