Saving the Mucuchies
by digby
The other day I wrote about Glenn Greenwald's Rio dog pack and the story of one sweet dog named Mabel and her adorable pups. There must be something in the water down there in Latin America that turns certain political types into dog saviors.
The Soviets made space dog Laika a national hero and Americans have fallen for presidential pets from Checkers to Bo. In Venezuela, a rare breed of shaggy sheepdog has come to symbolize the patriotic legacy of the late Hugo Chavez.
Venezuela’s former president rescued the mucuchies, named for this Andean town where the breed originated 400 years ago, from near-extinction in 2008 by providing funding to breed the remaining 23 purebreds, and he used to delight in recalling how one early tail-wagger called Nevado fought at the side of his idol, 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar.
‘‘Every time Chavez hosted a foreign leader the president’s office would call me up and make sure I brought the dogs,’’ said Walter Demendoza, president of the Nevado Foundation, which works to rescue the breed. ‘‘He wanted the dog to be known around the world as a symbol of our country.’’
Chavez died from cancer last March, but interest in the dog in Latin America surged after ally Argentine President Cristina Fernandez reappeared in public in November after brain surgery doting on a fluffy, white puppy given to her by Chavez’s brother.
Overnight the dog Simon, named after Bolivar, became a social media sensation. This month, Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, named a government campaign to rescue street dogs in honor of the The Liberator’s best friend.
Here you go:
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