Riveted by Rossi (and Tohá)

South American politics are pretty darned interesting. From the charismatic "Lula" Da Silva in Brazil to the plastic surgery-enhanced Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Argentina to the controversial Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the cast of Latin political characters keeps their respective populations if not always happy, then, at least, entertained.

Chile too has had some very interesting political figures, one of the most recent being former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. A child of middle class parents who'd been involved in leftist politics in the early 1970s, Bachelet was imprisoned and tortured during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. She lived in exile in Australia and Germany before returning to Chile in 1979, finishing her medical degree, and beginning her political career in the 1990s.

One of the more interesting things about Bachelet however was actually her election as Latin America's first female president in 2006. In a still very patriarchal society, where a husband still calls his wife "mi mujer" (or, "my woman"), this election was novel, and paved the way for the election of other Latin female presidents, such as Mrs. de Kirschner.

Despite having a personal public approval rating of 84 percent, Bachelet's party lost the most recent election in January of this year, to rightist millionare Sebastián Piñera (a character who's had his own interesting history and is keeping Chileans in (unintended) stitches with his public verbal gaffes). Many blame the leftist political coalition Bachelet represented for the loss... and this is where Fulvio Rossi and Carolina Tohá come in.

Fulvio Rossi, 39, also a former physician with movie star looks, is a senator with Chile's Socialist Party (PS); Carolina Tohá, 45, who has a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Milan and is the daughter of a former minister in Salvador Allende's government, is a leading figure with the Party for Democracy (PPD).

Both the PS and PPD are part of the leftist coalition mentioned previously (and which includes a couple of other leftist parties as well). Since 2005, Rossi and Tohá have also been husband and wife (after Tohá allegedly left an eight-year relationship that had borne two daughters, to be with Rossi, one of Chile's most eligible bachelors at the time). Here are their pics:

The couple has been the toast of Chile's left, with both of them pursuing higher political aspirations and being seen as possible presidential candidates, down the road. Despite one very public, political spat in 2007, the couple seems to have been relatively happy and supported each other's political careers.... until very recently, that is.

It all started March 30 when Tohá announced her candidacy for the PPD's presidency, a move supported by Bachelet herself. Just a few days later, Rossi announced his own candidacy for the presidency of his party, the PS.

All good... until April 9 when Tohá suddenly (and apparently without Rossi's knowledge) held a news conference to withdraw her PPD candidacy, saying that while Rossi did not believe that their respective candidacies within their common coalition constituted a conflict of interest, she did, so she was bowing out to allow him to pursue his candidacy. A barrage of very public political attacks then ensued against Rossi, who was accused of ordering his wife to step down, looking out only for himself and being a typical Latin "machista."

Three days later, on April 12, Rossi held his own news conference, to withdraw his candidacy for the PS, and to "defend his honour," by saying he'd never pressured his wife to withdraw; that she never consulted him or asked for his permission in any political matters, as it should be; that he had always supported her and as such, that it would have been nice if she'd actually defended him against the machista charges, because that's something he is not.

After adding he was extremely disillutioned with politics, he retreated to his constituency in Chile's north (and apparently Tohá moved out of their family home, even though Chilean newspapers have not reported that.) He reappeared this week, at a news conference marking the 77th anniversary of Chile's Socialist Party... and also to announce that Piñera can count on him, as the new president takes steps to rebuild Chile following the Feb. 27 eartquake. (In other words, Piñera has a friend in Rossi, when Rossi has been one of Piñera's biggest critics in the past.)

Tohá, meanwhile, is said to be considering the PPD's request that she re-declare her candidacy for the party's presidency, but has not decided yet. She also reappeared this week, to meet with Ena Von Baer, Piñera's spokeswoman, likely to thank Von Baer for her recent support (which came via Twitter), and to maybe impart some wisdom, as Tohá was Bachelet's spokeswoman.

I'm not sure about most Chileans but as for me, I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this juicy saga. Here is another version of what I've just told you:
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18617:chilean-political-party-elections-cause-marital-problems-for-concertacion-candidates&catid=19:other&Itemid=142

In the meantime, however, today I took a picture of a statue of one of my all-time political heroes:

If you haven't heard of him, he too was a pretty interesting guy.....