500 programs from the Mazo! “Diosdado Cabello continues to do magic”

Published at: 23/10/2024 10:00 AM

There are already 500 programs of Con El Mazo Dando, a space for Chavistas, created by Chavistas and directed, hosted and produced by Captain Diosdado Cabello every Wednesday .

As President Nicolás Maduro said during his participation in the ninth anniversary of the program: “The first great battle that El Mazo won was the battle against the guarimba, the terrorist violence of 2014”, the Venezuelan president summarized the scenarios faced in recent years: “attempted coups d'etat, attempts to assassination, mercenary invasion attempts, brutal economic war, political war, elections, electoral victories in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, and in the face of these events, always with the truth, because the Mazo has had the characteristic of showing the true face of the enemies of the Fatherland, bare the intentions, the tricks, the traps, the plot and the conspiracies of what is hidden behind the Venezuelan right”.

And it seems that everyone is watching the Wednesday program, since every comment, every letter they send him and every video destroy all the plans of the Venezuelan right.

There are more than four hours of television that mark the agenda of Venezuelan politics for the coming days. Everyone sees it, no matter if they are Chavistas or opponents. El Mazo, as they say colloquially to the program, releases exclusives, analyzes news and highlights opposition politicians.

What is El Mazo like?

The beginning of the Mazo is a classic, after saying hello and editing the program, the captain announces the label that will set the tone for the night and on which the news he will analyze in the program will be based. The space begins and Diosdado appears as a pop star, greets and reviews his script made exclusively by him.

The first block is dedicated to the review of different anniversaries and to the newspaper archive, in which it recalls the things that happened in the governments before the Revolution, so that the struggles waged by the People and the advances we have made in these 24 years are not forgotten.

It is more than three hours of programming, but it is in the block dedicated to the billboard, that its oriental origin is revealed. “With the billboard, we describe the intentionality of the news.” Diosdado himself says that this comes from a military custom: “I am a soldier and when I was in the army there was always an officer who got up very early in the morning and posted on the barracks the news that he considered most relevant to make up for the lack of newspapers. I could have done something more technical but I preferred this more artisanal thing and I think people like it,” he said in an interview.

During the billboard segment , he unleashes his ruthless bitterness, while he denies one after another press publications that attack the management of the Venezuelan government and the messages published by members and analysts of the opposition.

He also combines his comments on opposition publications with videos that respond alone to the statements that his supposedly make against the Revolution. The videos called “Cara 'e Tabla” are tremendously ironic and they expose the inconsistencies, fights and errors of the national and international right.

Remembering the legacy of Chávez is an essential issue. During the program, several videos of the former president are broadcast at memorable moments in his political career, which Cabello has also personally chosen . The adrenaline is impressive.

Almost all opponents have their own nickname in El Mazo and have already become classics. Many say that the opponents themselves like to be mentioned in the program, because of “imminent fame”. And maybe that's why the program is so successful. Because he is Diosdado without hesitation, in a setting that could be his living room, a patio or a terrace, he says things clearly and in a colloquial way, showing that he is just another soldier of the Bolivarian Revolution.

What do the people think of the program?

Everyone wants to go to the Diosdado program. In an article published by BBC Mundo, written by journalist Guillermo D. Olmo, called “With the deck giving, the most controversial show on Venezuelan television”, he says that “Cabello's program has become one of the most outstanding spaces in the audiovisual scene and one of the main communication tools for supporters of the ruling party”.

Laura Marrero, 44, told BBC Mundo that “the key to the show 's triumph is that it tells the truth” and explains that what she admires most about Cabello is “his forcefulness, because he speaks clearly to everyone, it's what Chávez was like, where he puts his eye he puts the bullet”.

Cabello presents himself as just another Venezuelan, aware of his responsibility within the Revolution, without the strictures typical of politicians who always wear suits and ties, without the poses or egos that we see in any Latin American politician. Like Chávez, his style and use of plain and direct language are often seen as an extravagance outside of Venezuela, but the show's audience seems to be thrilled.

The laughter of the audience celebrates each batch of sayings, sayings and colloquial phrases. Cabello's critics are not amused, but rather annoyed by what they hear on the show, since it leaves them without arguments.

In a publication made by the Sputnik portal in 2019, when the space reached 5 years of broadcasting and entitled “This is the most famous TV program in Venezuela: the Diosdado Cabello show that raises passions”, they explained that “Diosdado Cabello continues to do magic. His television program, Con El Mazo Dando, has become the most famous television show in the country, in which he analyzes the news of the week in a rustic but tremendously magnetic format and his fans number in the millions inside and outside the country.”

They add in the article that “the Diosdado phenomenon goes beyond politics. It arouses male passions in them and the air of hero in them; their history of struggle in the Revolution, their habits as military personnel, their successes and setbacks and the aura of mystery surrounding an overwhelming personality have created a book character who lives to tell his own story, breaks cultural norms, making a tremendously atypical program with issues that concern the idiosyncrasy of the country, but breaking the barriers of expectation”.

Sanctioned by the US, Diosdado Cabello goes on the air wearing a green military jacket, blue jean pants, revolutionary t-shirt, and oversees everything from the stage. Analysts explain that “success is its own personality, you see it in the program and it's the same everywhere, that's why people feel identified, because their way of being is like that of any guy who was born in a town in the interior of Venezuela and is telling you anecdotes. His success has been to show counter-propaganda without hate and in the key of humor”.

There are already 500 programs in which Diosdado Cabello reveals the plans of the national and international fascist right and, in addition, he keeps in mind the words and teachings of Commander Chávez , who is, together with the People, the real protagonist of every Wednesday.

Mazo News Team