Three Propaganda Videos From Venezuela's Chavista Girl-Next-Door, Daniella Cabello

With colorful videos, simple devotional lyrics, and a girl-next-door look, it’s no surprise that Daniella Cabello is a YouTube musical star. Yet her work does hold a few surprises. Those devotional lyrics might have the monotony of Christian rock, but they’re mostly about patriotism and Venezuela’s fallen “father” Hugo Chavez. Despite looking and sounding a bit like Venezuela’s own version of Rebecca Black, Daniella is not-entirely-ignored political voice among the Chavistas among the joventud in Venezuela.

She's a mouthpiece in a country where the domestic press has been censored, shut down, and consolidated into the hands of leftist supporters. Rumors in the freelance journalism world are that honest writers will be booted after a few months. Recent government claims of a coup, for example, have been presented but not thoroughly vetted by journalists. Meanwhile, the U.S. has it’s own biases. When violence broke out in Venezuela in 2014, the American press was quick to point out harsh police tactics, but it largely ignored misdeeds by the right wing “fascists” organizing protests.

That’s why I was a bit skeptical in January when a Venezuelan bodyguard defected to the U.S., claiming to have information proving that his boss, Diosdado Cabello (Daniella’s father) ran a drug ring. Among the most dubious claims is the existence of an entire military unit--ostensibly run by Cabello--called the Soldiers of the Sun. The military unit has never been proved to exist, let alone oversee drug-running operations.

The incident did make me take notice a few days later, when Daniella released a PSA touting Venezuela’s “revolution” and denouncing detractors through dry invective. In the video, she reminds viewers how bad Venezuela was before Hugo Chavez. While it didn't mention her fater directly, it seemed to support an idea of infalability that plagues the Venezuelan left, the kind of mythologizing that can't be a good sign for democracy.

“That food that is scarce today was always scarce, but for the poor people. [...] A privileged minority ignored by choice what was going on.” As the title of the video states, the poster believes that she's just "covering up" for her father. That's unlikly. In interviews (see below), she appears to me more of daddy’s little girl -- spouting jingoistic slogans in lieu of intellectual analysis.

From there I watched "Invinsible" a sort of vaguely epic Chavista pop song. Venezuelan gossip mags are full of speculation on Daniela's relationship with this singer, Omar Acebo.

With other successful state projects, a video for a recent tourism convention, and a spate of spots on talk show programs, Daniella has carved out a bit of a niche. If internet B-list celebrities have a role to play in Bolivarian Revolutions, Venezuela has found theirs.