Political Humour: friend or foe in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

The use of political humour in political campaigns in both Nicaragua and Costa Rica is testimony as to how political humor functions as a means of connecting with the people. Cristian and Giovanni Bulgarelli are Costa Rican brothers who work in advertising and for the last few years have used humour in political campaigns both in Costa Rica and in Nicaragua. Their most memorable work is their work with the Otton Solís of PAC (Partido Acción Ciudadana) campaign against the popular presidential candidate and winner of a noble peace prize, Oscar Arias. Initially, there was no doubt that Arias would win as he had been in power for many years and had 80 percent of the country's support three months before the election. The first thing that Cristian and Giovanni did was to challenge the perception that Arias would be sure victor and there was no competition. So they presented a boxing match between Oscar and Otton (yes I'm on a first name basis with them) with Otton pummeling Oscar and ending each advertisement with: Are you sure Oscar is going to win? (Then the symbol of Otton Solis) Vote/Rock the vote! Soon after this they presented cartoons of Oscar reading the publication of Otton's party in his bedroom or in the shower or in his kitchen. Their campaign became popular in only a matter of days and soon the polls were listing Otton Solis as an equally popular candidate.

Perhaps the most compelling advertisements in the Otton Solis campaign were those that dealt with gender and race. Costa Rica was shocked when Otton Solis listed Epsy Campbell, a dark-skinned, woman from Limon (the African Atlantic side of Costa Rica) as his would be vice-president. The party was of the view that given that women make up over half of the population and that there is a distinct need to connect with the people of Jamaican and African descent living on the Atlantic/Caribbean coast, the party and the electoral campaign must cater to their needs and their voices must be heard. They therefore referred to their party in the campaign as the "gobierno de las madres" (government of the mothers) to demonstrate the importance of the female vote and that the party had poor, single mother's interest at heart. To demonstrate this, the Bulgarelli brothers had urban and rural women wearing a cartoon mask of Otton Solis and removing it saying that this is the government of the mothers. Women, your vote counts too---Otton Solis--Rock the vote!”

Use of language has probably been the best way of using humour in electoral campaigns. Two days before the election between Solis and Arias, they had two ads of two puppets of a famous Costa Rican ventriloquist using a popular phrase among rural Costa Ricans: "El domingo es por la madre"” This phrase is a pun and translates to something like: sunday is the day of the throw down, its the day for the mothers." The two puppets were a rural young boy dressed as a hip hop artist and the second was a grandmother saying the slang and then saying "Did I say it right? Are we gonna win YIPPEE!!" Rock the vote! This advertisement was equally popular two days before the election and although Oscar Arias won 41 percent of the vote with Solis with 39 percent of the vote, the campaign allowed for both afro-Costa Ricans and women to be represented in congress. (Below is a photo of Epsy Cambell, for more information in spanishplease see:ttp://www.pac.or.cr/sitio1/paginas/noticias.php?id=627&seccid=1®istrar=1




Their work in Nicaragua has also received equal attention due to their use of humour. They started out working with Herty an opposition candidate of the MRS party. Herty's campaign was a controversial one because his catch line as an anti-corruption statement was: "vamos a acabar con toda esta mierda...We're going to end all this sh*t! This slogan was a direct criticism of the other candidates who had made a pact with the governing party to prohibit the formation of new political parties so that power would remain among the traditional established ones. He represented these parties as a big fat fly coming out of a limosine being interviewed by the press. Soon after, Herty died/was assasinated (please see footnote) and the Bulgarelli brothers had ten days to come up with a whole new campaign for the new candidate. Edmundo Jarquin had worked outside of Nicaragua for almost 15 years and only 11 percent of the population had ever heard of him. So three months before the election, the Bulgarelli brothers needed a catchy line to make the new candidate as popular as Herty and even more popular than Ortega, the Sandinista candidate. Hence, the beginning of the campaign of el Feo que quiere una Nicaragua Linda...the ugly dude who wants a pretty Nicaragua. The first advertisement was a breaking news report with interviews of ordinary people asking whether or not the new candidate Edmundo Jarquin was ugly, the overwhelming response was "affirmative." In ten days 93 percent of the country was talking about the ugly dude and now he does indeed have a shot at winning the election scheduled in early November.

This story is important because there is a huge debate in the political humourist circle as to whether or not institutions of power should use humour. The criticism by many cartoonists and comedians is that these campaigns disallow the people from engaging in real issues and that humour is simply an escape mechanism. A second criticism is that it is an absolute and total insult to the people to have a candidate run as the ugly dude and it delegimitises the authority of the candidate himself. Thirdly, in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, there was real resistance to the use of language which they thought was too vulgar or just too ‘common folk.’

Political humour as any other tool, is in danger of commercialisation and cooptation by institutions of power. However, both the PAC and MRS as political parties have the most progressive social views in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua in regards to women's rights, race and poverty. They are both centro-izquierda, left wing parties, unlike the right-wing conservative parties in Honduras who pay cartoonists to silence them. This does not mean that they would never misuse political humour; rather, given their connection to the people and the progressive policies that both propose and implement to the benefit of people of African descent, women and poor people, the use of political humour is a positive way of reaching and representing these different groups of people. For instance, el gobierno de las madres campaign in Costa Rica, the "Vamos a acabar con toda esa mierda" campaign in Nicaragua and "El domingo es por la Madre" lines are only funny because the use of language is that of the 'common folk.' Both parties have also been radically criticised by religious and conservative groups because of their incorporation of women in leadership positions and their views on abortion, gay rights, as well as housing and education in rural areas. To place the image and the talk of the common folk in the mouth of those in power as they appear in the campaigns allow ordinary people to be visible in such a way that their identity and culture are reclaimed as part of the nation.
At any rate, the people most upset by the use of language both in Costa Rica and Nicaragua were people of the upper and middle class...how interesting is that? Well here are a couple theories: some say they just couldn't relate to the El domingo es por la madre while others say they didn't feel comfortable with politicians speaking like common folk. Their rejection or reaction to these campaigns are really reactions to and rejections of what they believe their national identity ought to be; and that identity is not rural, nor urban lower class, not african and not the single mother with five children. Campaigns like those of MRS and PAC force us to rethink who is the ordinary Costa Rican/ Nicaraguan and leave the people to decide whether the cartoon character on t.v is me/us or him/them.

Sali a Votar...Rock the Vote!

Footnote
Herty died when he went for a minor ten minute operation. The doctor who performed the operation is the doctor of the head of the Sandinista movement Daniel Ortega. This doctor did not close the wound properly after the operation and Herty bled to death. There is still a controversy as to whether or not his death was just tragic or if it was indeed murder.
©Danielle Roper