#Rosinesing goes global as Chávez’s daughter becomes Twitter celebrity
On Tuesday, Hugo Chávez’s daughter, Rosines, posted a picture (left) of herself on the web holding a handful of American dollars. The photo angered Venezuelans and inspired dozens of Twitter users in Venezuela and elsewhere to post their own version of the pic.
By MANUEL RUEDA and CONZ PRETI
Channel: Latin American Affairs, Media
Hugo Chávez’s daughter Rosines, angered her fellow Venezuelans this week, by posting the above picture on the web. Since then she has become an international Twitter celebrity, with dozens of people replicating her picture in an act which is now known as, “Rosinesing.” (see #Rosinesing)
Below we gathered some of this weeks best #Rosinesing pictures, as well as some of the most insightful comments made by our readers on the incident, which highlights the contradictions of Hugo Chávez’s “socialist” government.
But first here are some of this week’s Rosines headlines:
“Hugo Chávez’s daughter Rosines sets off furor of social media mockery” Washington Post.
“Chávez’s daughter goads fury, poses with dollars” Newstrack India
The incident was even reported on a website in Brunei, an oil rich kingdom in South East Asia. Although this website had some confusion as to where Rosines and her family came from:
According to NPR’s news blog, President Chávez, who has made it extremely complicated for Venezuelans to buy foreign currency for almost a decade,has not spoken out yet about his daughter’s U.S. dollar picture.
NPR also noted that the incident is not likely to damage the President’s standing amongst his loyal base of Chavistas.
Nevertheless, the Rosines craze also spread to Tumblr as well with this new site dedicated just to Rosinesing pictures.
And in case you’re still wondering why many people are angry at the picture, here’s a comment from Tumblr user Ronstormer, one of our Venezuelan readers:
“About five years ago, I went to visit family in Venezuela. My Grandmother had passed away having left some property that belonged to the family sold as inheritance. She sold the property to a buyer in dollars because they held better value than the Bolivar…We knew, however, that leaving Venezuela with dollars was almost impossible and illegal. The money was mine but according to the local law, it wouldn’t matter.
“I was stopped in the airport after customs by agents, who brought me and my grandfather (Who was travelling with me) into a small interrogation room and strip searched me. When they found the money, they went haywire. They screamed and called us traitors, they had their armed guards manhandle me. Of course, this was all for show. At the end, they took $1,500 for themselves and let us walk in shame.
“This is the Venezuela of Chavez. That picture represents so much of why I am a self-exiled Venezuelan and why I cherish the limited liberties I can experience now.”
And last but not least, a storify selection of the latest Rosinesing pics.
