“You know ( Bachelet ) she is the Chilean Obama”

On Tuesday, minutes after Obama dodged a question about US culpability for the 1973 coup in Chile, the Chilean press pool asks for a photo opportunity with Obama after his press conference and meeting with President Bachelet. They ask him for a photo, he stammers, seemingly in disbelief.  They then proceed to walk outside, almost forget about their own President Bachelet, the Chilean Obama, according to one of great little video by Fox news White House reporter and blogger Anna Siegfriedt.

The assorted prensurri clamored to be around Obama, and say something, anything, like, for example, “You know she is the Chilean Obama,” said one, who I believe is Constanza Santa Maria, from Canal 13 (immediately left of Obama, with short brown hair.”

The comment by the Chilean reporter set off a wave of Twitter comparisons in self-deprecating, and highly revealing irony, and a blog post by Miguel Paz.

“En Estados Unidos se acostumbra que el Presidente se retrate con los periodistas. En Chile, no tanto. En Estados Unidos los periodistas acostumbran a hacerle preguntas difíciles al Presidente. En Chile, no. Esperemos que esta foto sirva de precedente en ambos aspectos,” said Paz in a Gchat today.

SQP is the Chilean E! The Soup Hospital de Talca is the chilean “Hostel” La Torre Entel is the chilean Statue of Liberty

3:44 PMRafa Araneda is the chilean Ryan Seacrest.

Ponerse en 20 uñas is the chilean Doggy Style

and so and so

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%22is+the+chilean%22

El PC armado is the chilean DELL

Comparisons ranged from the historical:

Combate Naval de Iquique is the chilean Pearl Harbor

to the culinary:

Randomfull: Sopaipa is the chilean pretzel.

to the political:

dlazo: Lily Pérez is the chilean Sarah Palin.

dennistobar: Pinochet is the chilean ¿Saddam Hussein?

(with Pinochet I only found two references making him equivalent to Hitler, and a handful to Franco. Pinochet is noticeably absent in this grand conversation.)

to the entreprenuerial:

Daniel Undurraga @eldani is the chilean Mark Zuckerberg jaja! | cierto

to the cultural trends again:

dlandsk: RT @drblood: ¿Pirata is the chilean blockbuster? <- JAJAJ y no es chiste

to the insulting and funny:

tinchocalderon: Paty Maldonado is the Chilean Susan Boyle

to the insightful commentary about Chilean class aspirations:

sophiekitt: Celular de palo is the chilean iPhone

to the geo-political/immigrant commentary:

Outhen: @Contu Jajajaja alunos muy buenoos..pero gusto el “peru is the chilean mexico” xD!

to the cultural again:

Catherine Orellana is the chilean Rihanna

oscarcubillos: Aplaplac is the Chilean Harvard University

natryst: Puente Pio Nono is the chilean Brooklyn Bridge xd

diegovb: “Lanzaso” is the chilean stealing style

dlandsk: callate culiao is the chilean STFU

It goes on and on, independent, spontaneous and unique transmogrifications of Chilean cultural icons to American ones. I don’t know if it an exercise that strengthens Chilean cultural icons, or dilutes them by pairing them with an American counterpart.

But, it does function as an incredibly useful cultural dictionary and a guide, because I would argue if the comparisons are not primarily earnest and a reasonable approximation, they are ironic and contradictory and thus reflective of how the consistently wry Chilean humor deals with the often infuriating experience of living in Chile, as a Chilean or otherwise.

Gen. (ret.) Hector Guillermo Letelier Skinner (FOP) may go to jail.

I will reprint the AP story here. Letelier Skinner got busted, aka an economic mastermind of the Pinochet transition from socialized Chile state to Milton Friedman heaven. See my post on Consorcio Internacional Financiero San Nicolas. Letelier has always walked a fine line, dabbling in fantastic economic ventures, from Croatia, to Germany, to the British Virgin Islands and Panama. He is mentioned in this NYT article.

See in spanish this article in La Nación.

Now he faces prison. He will appeal. Will he serve?

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Two retired Chilean generals have been sentenced to prison for shipping arms to Croatia at the time of its battle for independence from Yugoslavia.

A Chilean court has sentenced Army Gen. Guillermo Letelier and Air Force Gen. Vicente Rodriguez to three years in prison for illegal arms sales. Letelier also was sentenced to 541 days for falsifying documents.

Hungarian officials discovered 11 tons of rocket launchers and automatic weapons being loaded on trucks headed for Croatia in 1991 in violation of a U.N. arms embargo. They had been labeled as Chilean humanitarian aid for Sri Lanka.

The former head of the army’s weapons factory was killed shortly after he was questioned about the case.

The ruling was announced Tuesday.