Wednesday, September 07, 2011

¡Con Fabio!

This is Fabio Gadea, a 79-year-old radio businessman campaigning against the incumbent Daniel Ortega to be the next president of Nicaragua:


Running on the ticket of a splinter conservative political party, Gadea's odds of winning are rather slim, especially in light of the FSLN's huge institutional advantage -- the country is decked out in the Sandinista's red and black flag (co-opted, interestingly enough, from the anarcho-syndicalists) -- and the fact a former president and fellow conservative is also running, splitting the opposition vote. Given this stark reality, how can a man nearly eight decades old appeal to voters in a country with one of the youngest populations in the Western Hemisphere?

With this, his official campaign song. It might sound familiar:



I've never been a fan of the Black Eyed Peas, but even I didn't believe they could cause so much harm -- not just to music, but to global politics.

Photo Credit: Tico Times

8 comments:

  1. The FSLN have turned rather neoliberal in the past 20 or some years:http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj74/gonzalez

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  2. Yeah, they're garbage. The same neoliberal policies with a cooler flag.

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  3. Anonymous8:09 PM

    Still, for old times:

    Como un chilotito tierno fulgurante bajo el sol,
    Nace el Frente Sandinista, mazorca y espiga de liberación ...

    - Adrian

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  4. Are you bein sarcastic, Charlie?

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  5. No. They're not very good, the party having largely devolved into a Daniel Ortega personality cult.

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  6. I was in Leon for a couple of weeks in 1994, just after college. It was a typical leftie-sponsored visit with work and meeting people during the day, staying with a family at night. The mom had fought against the contras. I got a FSLN pin and thought I was the badest mofo in the world. Bused through to Costa Rica and had the worst culture shock I've ever had. Good times. Hope to go back someday.

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  7. PS your location is no longer undisclosed. Make sure you check the blogger category for your town, you just missed Ali.

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  8. Granted too, At least Ortega's maintained support for agriculture:
    http://www.tortillaconsal.com/hunger_nicaragua.html

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