Maduro’s presidential campaign has its ‘American Idol’

A duo sings and dances among flickering, colored lights and flames of fire in a reality show in the style of ‘American Idol’ on a state television station in Venezuela. The award? Participate in the campaign Nicolas Maduro for re-election.

“We are on the right side of history / and together, with the truth, we are heading towards victory”, sings Osiys Aranzazu to the rhythm of merengue. “Nicolás Maduro, our president / Solidarity man who sets precedents / Loyal and brave, social and consistent, giving immediate response to all the people”, counterpoints, with rap verses, José Rebolledo.

They compete with the song ‘Rumbo a la Victoria’ in the Factor M program (the ‘M’ refers to Maduro), launched on April 28 on the state television signal TVES, one of the channels of the media machinery. public communication, put at the service of the president’s campaign ahead of the presidential elections on July 28.

The show presents musical songs every Sunday in support of Maduro, who is seeking a new mandate that would project him to 18 years in power. Six of the 35 songs in competition will be chosen in a final, on June 15, to be ‘jingles’ for his campaign.

“More and more artists want to show their support for our president”cries the host of Factor M, Winston Vallenilla.

The presentation by Osiys and José – activists of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) – is evaluated by a jury made up of artists linked to Maduro and officials.

“I see you arriving on July 28 with President Nicolás Maduro”says Antonio ‘El Potro’ Álvarez, former baseball player, reggaeton singer and former Minister of Sports, one of the members of the jury, in which special guests such as the Dominican singer Bonny Cepeda rotate.

There are no criticisms: there is no Simon Cowell, the typical one, on the jury “villain” reality show that lets out a comment full of irony for a bad performance. It’s all praise for the contestants… and for Maduro.

It is the tone of the show, with songs with titles like ‘Mature is the future’ and rhythms that range from Caribbean dance genres such as salsa or merengue to Venezuelan folk music.

“Monopoly”

The campaign formally begins on July 4, but Maduro is always in electoral mode. The state-run Venezuelan Television (VTV) broadcasts each of the president’s meetings live and in their news broadcasts they announce it with fanfare, with a “Come on Nico!” -used in old campaigns- as background music. In the commercial breaks, it also presents episodes of Superbigote, a propaganda cartoon that shows Maduro as a superhero with a Superman cape who fights monsters sent by the United States.

“The serious thing here is that one doesn’t even wonder anymore, no matter how crazy it may seem,” Ignacio Ávalos, director of the NGO Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, dedicated to monitoring elections in this country, tells AFP. “There is a monopoly on the use of public media, with programming where there is no room for anything that is not in favor of the government.”

More than 400 private newspapers, radio and television stations have closed, meanwhile, in more than two decades of Chavista governments, including the emblematic television station RCTV, whose signal was replaced by TVES in 2007.

A large part of the surviving national media outlets have been bought by businessmen close to Chavismo or opted for self-censorship to avoid reprisals, while foreign networks such as CNN en Español or Deutsche Welle (DW) went off the air on cable operators.

The state propaganda apparatus shows a jovial, talkative Maduro, “protector of the people”while his administration is the target of accusations of human rights violations and of creating obstacles for the opposition to participate in the elections.

Factor M is produced by Italian Camila Fabri, wife of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, a government contractor released by the United States in a prisoner exchange with Venezuela, when he was on trial in Florida on money laundering charges.

The contestants, one day after the episode in which they participate, appear on Maduro’s program on VTV. “Good artist, good singer, good dancer (…), I congratulate you,” the president says to one of them. “Don’t miss Factor M!”

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