The Connection Between Olegario Perez and Leaders Outside Venezuela

          Chapter 9, "Venezuela's telenovela: Polarization and political discourse in Cosita Rica", from the book Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy: Participation, Politics, and Culture under Chavez highlights one of Venezuela's most monumental telenovelas, Cosita Rica, and how it was able to connect the fictional world of telenovelas to reality. In particular it highlights the political discourse Venezuela underwent under the rule of President Chavez through the use of a metaphorical Venezuela, a makeup company by the name of Consorcio Lujan, in which main character Olegario Perez ruled over as president after his father, the previous president's, passing. In doing so, Perez's main goal as president really did not have much to do with policy. Instead he was extremely narcissistic in which he was mainly concerned with his own wants and not the actual needs of the companies. He would even fire those who he gave him any sort of criticism and was obsessed with the idea of being liked by everyone. Even though Perez is to be seen as a direct metaphor to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, some could say he also has similarities of leaders of today, such as, the current president of the United States, Donald Trump. Based on reports from credible news outlets. such as, CNN, on the actions of Preident Trump, one could conclude for himself/herself that President Trump also has tendencies similar to that of Perez in the Cosita Rica telenovela. Similar to Perez, President Trump, over his four year tenure, has fired many notable members of his cabinet based on their inability to agree with him on everything. Moreover, President Trump, just like Perez, can be seen as a narcissist who is obsessed with the idea of putting on a great show and photo-ops for his base and carrying out policies for his own reasons instead of considering the needs of the country as a whole. Some even say that he strikes down certain older policies that were implemented by the previous president, Barack Obama, for his own vengeful reasons, the same revenge Perez was seeking against his father who had abandoned him as a child. 

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