The body of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez may not have been embalmed and put on display for eternity, but on the arms, legs and breasts of devoted Venezuelans, El Comandante will live on forever.
As Venezuela prepares to elect Chavez’s successor today, the booming personality cult surrounding Chavez is best reflected in the roaring trade of the country’s tattoo parlors.
Tattoo artists throughout Caracas are reporting a surge in requests for Chavez-related body art, ranging from copies of the former president’s signature to more detailed portraits of his face.
One group of artists set up stalls throughout the Venezuelan capital shortly after Chavez’s death on March 5, offering free tattoos for those wanting a permanent reminder of El Comandante.
“We thought there would be a few people, but on the first day we got more than 200,” 39-year-old tattoo artist Uncas Montilla said.
Montilla’s group offers free tattoos of Chavez’s signature, a symbol that can be seen adorning the facades of public buildings throughout Caracas.
“The signature of El Comandante carries a symbolic value, because he used that to sign into law all of the programs which helped the poor,” Montilla said.
The offer of a free tattoo honoring the charismatic Venezuelan strongman was too good to pass up for one student.
Yusdeigris Mercado, a petite 21-year-old, opted to have Chavez’s autograph inked above her left breast, where it runs up to her shoulder.
“I think of Chavez as a father,” Mercado said.
“I wanted to see his signature on me,” she added, proudly showing off her inky memento.
Housewife Yereth Zunigo had never been tattooed before, but was similarly determined to opt for Chavez body art.
“The day Chavez died, I told myself I would get a tattoo,” Zunigo said, admitting she had surprised even herself by her decision.
“I never thought I’d get a tattoo of him. I remember the day when my husband came home with tattoos on his arms — I started to cry. But I’m extremely motivated — Chavez is not only on my skin but in my heart,” she said.
Zunigo’s husband, 26-year-old musician Kleyver Escobar, already had the names of his children stamped on his forearms and has now added Chavez.
“A tattoo should have great meaning because it is for life,” he said. “Chavez is a leader, a one-off.”
Would he consider getting a tattoo of Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s anointed successor, who is running against opposition leader Henrique Capriles, in today’s election?
“No,” Escobar laughed. “He still has a long way to go.”
The craze for Chavez tattoos has left veterans of the Venezuelan body art industry shaking their heads in disbelief.
John Etnico, 30, who works at the upmarket Mythos Tattoos shop in the commercial heart of Caracas, reported a surge in demand.
“Since the death of Chavez it’s been crazy,” he said.
Many potential customers are deterred by the higher prices of tattoos at shops like Mythos — averaging between 2,000 and 3,000 bolivars (US$317 and US$476) — and simply choose the cheaper option of a roadside tattoo artist, Etnico said.
However, Gabriela Tejo refused to be put off by the price tag. In the Mythos workshop, Tejo, a 31-year-old who works in advertising, proudly displayed a left thigh bearing a large picture of Chavez.
“His face will age and wrinkle at the same time as me. Chavez has left his mark on Latin America and I’m leaving his mark on my body,” said Tejo, the niece of a former Venezuelan guerrilla.
“People have insulted me and asked me how I could do something so horrible ... I don’t care. For me, it’s beautiful. It’s El Comandante,” he said.
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee is to gather in July for a key meeting known as a plenum, the third since the body of elite decisionmakers was elected in 2022, focusing on reforms amid “challenges” at home and complexities broad. Plenums are important events on China’s political calendar that require the attendance of all of the Central Committee, comprising 205 members and 171 alternate members with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the helm. The Central Committee typically holds seven plenums between party congresses, which are held once every five years. The current central committee members were elected at the
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other
CODIFYING DISCRIMINATION: Transgender people would be sentenced to three years in prison, while same-sex relations could land a person in jail for more than a decade Iraq’s parliament on Saturday passed a bill criminalizing same-sex relations, which would receive a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, in a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.” Transgender people would be sentenced to three years’ jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 of 329 lawmakers. A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations, in what campaigners had called a “dangerous” escalation. The new amendments enable courts to sentence people engaging in same-sex relations to 10 to 15 years in prison, according to the