Venezuela’s leader will risk his moustache in the name of socialism

Source: Washington Post

The socialist government of Venezuela is not known for Swiss-like efficiency or discipline. But when President Nicolas Maduro promised to deliver public housing unit No. 1,000,000 on his weekly television program last night, he upped the ante a bit.

"I'll make a bet," he said. "If we don't deliver 1 million homes by December 31, I'll cut off my moustache."

Now this is no ordinary moustache. The lustrous, jet-black, Selleck-esque strip crowded onto the president's upper lip is easily the most recognizable feature of a man who has struggled mightily in the shadow of the late leader Hugo Chavez.

Maduro's facial hair is a big part of his Joe-Plumber blue-collar image. He often touts his former career as a bus driver and union leader in his effort to identify with Venezuela's poor. Grainy photos of him purportedly playing bass guitar in a rock band in the early 1980s show a hirsute young Maduro with a droopy Fu Manchu on his face.



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/04/venezuelas-leader-will-risk-his-moustache-in-the-name-of-socialism/