Venezuelan TV spot shows Chávez meeting Che and Simón Bolívar in heaven

When Peter Wilson wrote in Foreign Policy that Hugo Chávez is still casting a shadow over Venezuela’s upcoming presidential election, he wasn’t kidding. Annointed successor Nicolás Maduro has already suggested that the deceased comandante persuaded Jesus Christ to tap a South American pope, and that the country’s Election Day in April will be the "Sunday ...

When Peter Wilson wrote in Foreign Policy that Hugo Chávez is still casting a shadow over Venezuela's upcoming presidential election, he wasn't kidding. Annointed successor Nicolás Maduro has already suggested that the deceased comandante persuaded Jesus Christ to tap a South American pope, and that the country's Election Day in April will be the "Sunday of a resurrection."

When Peter Wilson wrote in Foreign Policy that Hugo Chávez is still casting a shadow over Venezuela’s upcoming presidential election, he wasn’t kidding. Annointed successor Nicolás Maduro has already suggested that the deceased comandante persuaded Jesus Christ to tap a South American pope, and that the country’s Election Day in April will be the "Sunday of a resurrection."

Now the state-run television network ViVe is running an animated spot showing a downtrodden Chávez walking through a Venezuelan savanna in his trademark Venezuelan-flag sweatsuit, and then breaking into a smile when he spots a phalanx of fellow revolutionaries and Latin American icons who influenced his Bolivarian Revolution. Here’s the commercial, which is entitled, "Goodbye Forever Commander":

The group includes Cuban Revolution leader Che Guevara, Latin American liberator Simón Bolívar, Argentine first lady Eva Perón, Chilean President Salvador Allende, Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto César Sandino, and indigenous Venezuelan chief Guaicaipuro, according to Venezuela’s Agencia Venezolana de Noticias. But the most high-profile role goes to someone less famous: Chávez’s grandmother Rosa Inés, who beckons the Venezuelan leader closer. According to the news agency, she helped inspire Chávez’s "humanitarian values."

h/t: Miami Herald

Uri Friedman is deputy managing editor at Foreign Policy. Before joining FP, he reported for the Christian Science Monitor, worked on corporate strategy for Atlantic Media, helped launch the Atlantic Wire, and covered international affairs for the site. A proud native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he studied European history at the University of Pennsylvania and has lived in Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland. Twitter: @UriLF

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