arts

These effigies have gone up in smoke by now. They are muñecos, a form of folk art from Panama's Interior, wherein effigies of prominent figures from the outgoing year are burned in New Year bonfires. It's a threatened art form, but legislator Arturo Araúz (Liberal Nacional, Chame-San Carlos) is helping to keep it alive by sponsoring an annual contest. None of the muñecos shown on this page won prizes --- this is the "typical" rather than the "excellent." The presidential candidates shown here are all the work of Bejuco's Manuel Gallardo, who posted the effigies and a ballot box at the entrance to town.

Above we see front-runner Martín Torrijos. The "11" in PRD symbolism, of course, refers to the October 11, 1968 coup by which his father, General Omar Torrijos, seized control of the Panamanian government.

Here we have Guillermo "Sweet Bread" Endara, the former president and the only candidate with a realistic chance to defeat Torrijos on May 2. Endara says that he's laying off the sweets these days, lamenting that his failure to do so when he had the presidential pantry at his disposal means that he has to take two insulin shots per day now.

This is Gallardo's depiction of Mireyista candidate José Miguel Alemán. The horse is a reference to Alemán's infamous appearance at the 2002 David Fair --- then the foreign minister, he rode in from Dolega on a horse, carrying a Chiriqui flag. A few minutes after his grand entry to the fairgrounds, the horse keeled over and died.

Then there's the fourth presidential candidate, Ricardo Martinelli, who owns the Super 99 grocery store chain.

Another folk artist had nice things to say about legialator and contest sponsor Arturo Araúz.

Not all was politics, though. Here we have Señor y Señora Juan Q. Público, she in her pollera and he in his guayabera.

Usually television is the inspiration for a lot of muñecos, but unlike in recent years, in 2003 there was no telenovela that really grabbed the public imagination. Ciudad Desnuda is a "tabloid" TV news show which, despite its name, does not feature nudity. Here, for some reason, they're not even showing anchorwoman Susan Castillo with her clothes on.

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