Maduro promotes reality show to select campaign jingle

The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, decided to promote a musical reality show to choose his campaign theme song in his bid for reelection on July 28. Named “Factor M”, the 1st of 8 episodes was released on April 28 on the state TV YouTube channel TVES. The 2nd episode was broadcast live last Sunday (May 5, 2024).

Aiming to increase popularity mainly among young audiences, the “Factor M” (M in reference to Maduro), simulates the format of famoso reality musical britânico “The X Factor”. During the episodes, 35 varied contestants, selected from auditions in the city of Caracas, will compete until the final, just before the official start of the presidential campaign.

According to information from the Spanish newspaper The countrythe winner will be rewarded with the professional recording of their song and the “privilege” of accompanying Maduro during the campaign.

Watch (2:14:06):

The program’s jury brings together a group of musicians who regularly participate in Chavista events (a left-wing political ideology based on the ideas and government style of the former Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez). Some have public positions and connections with government officials, including:

Latin music singer, former baseball player and former Sports Minister Antonio Potro Álvarez; the artist Xuxo, who interpreted the campaign theme do referendum of I will do it in December 2023 and singer and music producer Omar Acedo, son-in-law of the vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello.

The program also has an international representative, the Dominican artist Bonny Cepeda, country’s deputy minister of culture.

At the end of each presentation, the presenter Winston Vallen’s “invites” participants to send messages of encouragement and support to the president.

Tiny audience

The first episode of the series, lasting more than 2 hours, had just 4.6 thousand views on YouTube. The channel has 157 thousand subscribers. The 2nd episode performed even worse: 2.4 thousand views. On the same channel, videos of horse racing and other sporting competitions had better results.

Here is the link to the reality show playlist on the channel TVES no YouTube.

Nicolas Maduro

The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, 61 years old, heads an autocratic regime with no guarantees of fundamental freedoms. He keeps, for example, people imprisoned for what he considers “political crimes”.

There are also restrictions described in reports from the OAS (Organization of American States), on “illegitimate appointment” from the National Electoral Council for an illegitimate National Assembly, and from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – from October 2022, November 2022 and March 2023).

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