Mexicans Needle Candidates With 'Voodoo' Dolls
 Reuters
| | A saleswoman holds up dolls of Mexican President Vicente Fox and first lady Martha Sahagun in Mexico City May 26, 2006. Sick of politicians who fail to keep promises, Mexicans are sticking pins in voodoo-style dolls of presidential candidates to needle them into becoming better public servants. (Reuters/Daniel Aguilar) |
Mexico City – Sick of politicians who fail to keep promises, Mexicans are sticking pins in voodoo-style dolls of presidential candidates to needle them into becoming better public servants.
A Mexican firm is selling dolls of the main candidates in the July election, along with needles and a guide on where to prick the effigies.
To improve transparency in governance, you might prick the doll in the left eye, in the heart for honesty, in the right hand for good sense or even in the crotch, for courage.
“It is like acupuncture from a distance,” said Alberto Nava, a publicist and creator of the hand-size dolls, branded as “Vuducratas,” a mix of the words voodoo and bureaucrat in Spanish.
The dolls, sold for $13 online and in a few novelty stores, were “political teaching tools” and not voodoo religious objects, Nava said.
The doll of “El Peje,” the nickname for leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is the most popular. Lopez Obrador, who critics say would ruin Mexico's finances, is second in the opinion polls, slightly behind conservative candidate Felipe Calderon.
“El Peje is sold out,” said Monica Gutierrez, manager of a store that sells about a dozen of the dolls per week. “If people were not afraid (of voodoo), I would sell hundreds,” she said.
The dolls have raised eyebrows among Catholic customers who are scared by voodoo, Nava said.
There are also dolls for main opposition party candidate Roberto Madrazo and first lady Marta Sahagun, who is not a candidate.
Gutierrez said many store customers touch the dolls and play with them. At the end of the day, she often finds the dolls pricked in the heart and in the left eye.
“But most of them have the pin you know where,” she said pointing between one doll's legs. |
Vallarta Weddings
News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2006 
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