The other day I got an invitation to a do called ‘For Now and Forever – a reception and photo exhibition celebrating the life of Hugo Chávez’, with speeches by various left-wing notables, including the one and only Len McCluskey. It’s been a year since Venezuela’s cuddly comandante passed away, and supporters of his Bolivarian revolution want you to know it.
Attracted by the prospect of a free glass of wine and the comedy value of hearing somebody say ‘¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!’ unironically, it was a no-brainer. And so I found myself in Fitzrovia’s Bolívar Hall, surrounded by the most 70s crowd this side of a Van der Graaf Generator revival. There were a few Latin American indignados, hundreds of nice Home Counties undergrads in Ché berets and a handful of Ken Loach lookalikes, all wearing slogan T-shirts. Viva la Revolución.
The selection of images on display took a fair few liberties with the word ‘exhibition’; a half dozen laminated posters with laminated borders bore widely-reproduced photos of El Comandante as a young paratrooper; El Comandante kissing children; El Comandante driving a train; El Comandante pointing at a map with a stick (seriously).
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