The Bolivarian answer to Big Brother

Hugo Chavez had a very hard defeat on 2nd of December of 2007. He called it in front of the cameras "a Pyrrhic victory" for the opposition, "shit, shit, shit" (sic) and a "victory of courage" for him, but it is was a defeat for him. I think that even Hugo himself thought after he had made that pathetic appearance on TV insulting people that he had made a fool of himself.

After that and after several rows with several political figures around the world (we probably do not need to explain what Por qué no te callas means even if you do not speak Spanish), after
Uribe told him he did not want Chavez any longer to be active as mediator in the hostage crisis,
after the Gucci episode and many other things, Hugo of Sabaneta (more on the Chavez clan here) decided to revamp his image abroad.

He is well known for his cheap shows to gain popularity with the gullible: the UN show about Bush, his assistance to the parallel forums, his hugging of Iran's president and so on.

But now he needed a real big doses of attention so he created the Bolivarian answer to Big Brother: El Gran Hugo.

In this programme you will be able to watch him 24 hours a day fighting for the liberation of 3 (or something like that) hostages.

Yeah...Hugo and the FARC announced 3 hostages in the hands of the Colombian narco-guerrilla were going to be liberated...to him. One of the hostages is the son of one of the other hostages and a guerrilla. I wonder what we need to consider as hostages here.

Anyway, Chavez needed some additional drama. Although the FARC had previously released many hostages in their kidnapping business without making too much of a fuss around it (just getting some cash and the liberation of some of their accomplices), now they apparently need all the attention they can get. Everything can fail, Hugo tells us. This is a delicate mission. The Red (funny, this is very red) Cross is there. Commissions from France and Colombia's opposition. He relishes in showing time after time on a map to all journalists allowed within his entourage how he will proceed. Other people who also want to profit from the cheap publicity are:

• Evo Morales and Nestor Kirchner, both heavily financed by Chavez
  

• Oliver Stone, who is making a film of the Liberator II and who might get some needed support from Hugo as well
  

How low can these people go to look for some publicity?

The vast majority of Colombians and Venezuelans are very annoyed with the whole issue. They wonder why the international media and figures like Sarkozy have failed to ask why there are political prisoners in Venezuela, why Chavez is not mentioning the Venezuelan hostages of the FARC, why Chavez never condemned the criminal activities carried out by the FARC, why he is doing nothing to decrease a murder rate in Venezuela that is over 100% higher than when assumed power 9 years ago.

Some questions we have:

• How long can this show last?
• Are there other invited guests to GranHugo's show?
• Which of these guests are going to fall out of grace to the international viewers?
• What new shows will follow after the Colombian episode is not enough to distract from the mess in Venezuela, from the Antonini cases in the States and Bolivia and all other issues?