Yesterday was a busy, festive day in Latin America. In Peru, a progressive finally got himself inaugurated president:
Ollanta Humala is in the sash! That’s his wife, Nadine Heredia, applauding behind him. Radio Rebelde has more on what Peru can expect of an Ollanta presidency. Sounds like more international unity is on tap, and that’s a good thing.
Meanwhile, look who didn’t show up to hand over the sash (which, I’m sure, had to be retailored to fit Ollanta’s much slighter physique):
“Just so nobody says I had too much of an ego, I decided to come to the ceremony.”
Guess Twobreakfasts “Julius Caesar” García knows he won’t be missed — except, maybe, by foreign mining company execs, who are all crying in their Pisco Sours still this fine morning. I doubt Ollanta is going to be quite as quick with the rubber stamp as his vendepatria predecessor; hence the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And while a certain somebody from Venezuela couldn’t make it either (both he and his Paraguayan counterpart, Fernando Lugo, had to absent themselves for health reasons, not ego), there was still plenty of celebrating going on in Caracas:
Yes, the big birthday boy is 57 as of yesterday. And he vows he’s good for 57 more! I can well believe it; he’s looking plump and healthy, which is always a good sign. He looks just about as youthful as his lovely daughters and cute little grandsons, actually, thanks to plenty of rest, good food, exercise and the assiduous care of those excellent Cuban doctors. (Jack Layton, on the other hand, worries me; at his press conference this past week, he looked painfully thin.)
Definitely no worries about Chavecito, he’s not going anywhere:
He was in great spirits, wishing Ollanta (who’s already visited with him) all the best, and thanking his amigo, El Ecuadorable, for the spiffy sunglasses the latter gave him for his birthday (he even models them briefly in the video. Very sharp!) And of course, Fidel, Raúl, and the Cuban medical team that looked after him on his last stay in Havana. With friends like those, another 57 years are easily in the bag.
Pa’lante, Comandante.
Hugo will definitely go out swinging, leaving a mark, when/if he does exit the stage. That time can be alluded to, intimated–not ‘fated’, determined into a neat narrative that has functional utility for the folks that loath Hugo Chavez (and the idea of ‘democracy’, the rule of the people).
Indeed, he appears vivacious and in good, strong, form, at this moment, and as usual.
This man has an effervescent quality to his being, his becoming. One in a thousand million, and an inspiration.
You go Hugo!