Chávez’s daughter angers Venezuelans and unleashes photo craze
President Hugo Chávez’s daughter, Rosines, angered Venezuelans by posting this picture of herself on the web. (Instagram)
By MANUEL RUEDA
Channel: Latin American Affairs, Economics
Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto is not the only politician who must cope with a controversial daughter.
This week, Hugo Chávez’s 14-year-old daughter, Rosines, angered Venezuelans and embarrassed her father, by posting the above picture of herself on the web.
The greenbacks in the picture are of small denomination as you can see, but the picture caused outrage in Venezuela. The Chávez government has tightly controlled the sale of U.S dollars in that country for almost a decade, limiting the annual amount of dollars Venezuelans can buy, those who need more foreign currency for business or for travel, must dig deep into their pockets to buy dollars at exorbitant prices in the country’s black market.
Obviously, the teenage Rosines had no say in this unpopular policy, which was imposed by Chávez in a -– relatively unsuccessful — effort to stop investors from taking their assets out of the country, and is now seen by some as a way for the government to exert its influence on the private sector.
But the irony of the picture was not lost on Venezuelans, who have previously seen El Comandante’s daughter post photos of her comfortable, and some say, capitalist lifestyle on Twitter and other social networks.
Currently on her Twitter profile, Rosines boasts a picture of herself posing with Canadian pop idol Justin Bieber, whom she met while he was on tour in Venezuela, thanks to her father’s influence.
Her dollar picture however has been Roisines’ most popular by far. It has inspired a new verb in Venezuelan slang “rosinesing,” and prompted Twitter users in Venezuela and elsewhere to post their own versions of the Rosines picture.
Here is a selection of some of the pictures gathered by political site, Lapatilla.com.
“Here’s some comptetion for Rosines” said Twitter user @BatLancry
@MASHINEGRITO uploaded a rosinesing picture from Ecuador. “Chavez tell the brat to send some cash over here, looks like she’s got plenty of it,” he wrote.
“Rosinesing, because doing it with cash, is not ‘revolutionary’ enough” wrote @juancho21
“Here are my greens” tweeted @rubenprez, displaying some old 20 Bolivar notes, which have been out of circulation for years.
“I’m still waiting for my dollars from Cadivi (the government’s foreign exchange control agency)” said Twitter user @angelicapuertas
