President Solís-screenshot
On December 19th, president Luis Guillermo Solís invited Costa Ricans to an open Facebook talk to discuss the governments’ achievements and challenges during 2016.
The conversation started with a pleasant walk through the presidential office in Zapote: the President showed La Sele t-shirt on a wall, as well as a Maleku mask and drawings that he have received from children during the tours.
The serious part hadn’t started when a distractor, impossible to ignore, ruined the President’s intention.
The bottom button of his shirt was undone and a comment war started on Facebook Live, despite the president ‘s natural attempt to hide the failure of his wardrobe.
These were some of the comments:
– How many tamales, Presi?
-What a disrespect for Mr. President, why are you commenting on his shirt and his physique?
-Beware of that button!
-People! There are more important things than the tummy and button.
-“Stop it! From meeting to meeting, the President cannot exercise.
-The shirt… Mr. President… that button… who is your image advisor?
-Presi, no more tamales for you this Christmas, you will have a stroke.
In politics, not only words communicate. The image is important. The gestures, the stages and even the dress are important and many talked about the lack of presidential advisors’ intervention in this particular moment. Some president’s defenders argued that the situation could have been prevented.
Constantino Urcuyo, a political scientist, thinks that the “botonazo” is not important, but he warned the president about the risks of media exposure.
The President’s chat exceeds 29,000 views, 590 comments and 788 likes. Among the most recurrent issues, in addition to the one mentioned, there were traffic jams, the construction of public works, corruption and unfulfilled promises.
The recent crisis caused by Hurricane Otto improved the President’s image. That’s why Urcuyo recommends Solís keeps a low profile.