Comic to run against Venezuela's Chavez

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 29th, 2006

Jorge Rueda, writing for the AP, (found in the Washington Post):

Benjamin Rausseo, better known as the “Count of Guacharo,” announced his presidential bid in the capital of Caracas on Friday as he registered his new party, PIEDRA, which means “rock” in Spanish.

Is the Count of Guacharo, or “el Conde del Guacharo,” his country’s Pat Paulsen? Or is he serious? We go for serious, because, if you run for president of Venezuela, you had better be serious.

We found two editorials ripping into Rausseo on a site called Vheadline.com, which is a bizarre Venezuelan news website that, according to the front page, “remains 100% independent of all political factions in Venezuela.” (Sample headline: “My bestest birthday wish on this day I share with President Hugo Chavez”)

If “el Conde” was merely a clown, why would they get all exercised like this? In an editorial by Elio Cequea (with the overheated title “Do not ask who is behind “El Conde”! An outsider with testicular insolvency!”), the following appears:

“El Conde” not only lacks votes to defeat Hugo Chavez … obviously, he is also lacking cojones for coming up with the outsider scheme is another irrefutable sign that desperation is catching up with the Venezuelan opposition.

We’re just happy to have stumbled upon the delightful concept of testicular solvency/insolvency. We’re going to work it into as many conversations as we can.


That’s el Conde, third from left, chillin’ with “mid-to-upper class, whiter skinned snobs” (Vheadline.com’s description, not ours!)

(Photo from Gentiuno.com)