Friday, January 14, 2011

Telenovela Trouble!

More than love on the screen.
The on-again off-again conflicts between Colombia and Venezuela have hit a new arena: The telenovelas!

Telenovelas, high-octane soap operas, are popular in both countries and all across the continent. In this case, a Colombian telenovela named Chepe Fortuna was declared obscene by Venezuela's telecom authority, Conatel. That may very well be true. But, what the soap also has are characters named 'Colombia' and 'Venezuela' and a pet dog named 'Huguito.' I haven't seen this soap opera (or any others). But in all likelihood, it lacks any literary interest or even a discernable plot. But it's also most likely that the Venezuelan government didn't ban it for any of those reasons, but because of a perceived disrespect for Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez, who has repeatedly charged that forces in Colombia want to overthrow him. In fact, a character in the show asks: "What will Venezuela do without Huguito?"

So much for the Venezuelan revolution's sense of humor.

Perhaps in the next episode Colombia and Venezuela will fall in love.

By Mike Ceaser of Bogotá Bike Tours

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