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The viral soundtrack to a crisis
Last Friday, tens of thousands of Paraguayans were glued to a TV and radio livestream as the president, Santiago Peña, was impeached.
Peña stood accused of directing hundreds of millions of dollars of government money towards Ueno, an overmighty bank that went bust and was seized by regulators early last week, locking half the country out of their accounts.
The president, who held shares in the bank’s holding company, was removed from office and arrested. He faces up to 15 years in jail.
Most small savers have started to get their money back. More than $1bn in public funds somehow need to be recouped: a near-impossible task for Paraguay’s new president, Pedro Alliana.
But as senators spoke of grave damage to the republic, and Peña’s lawyers hit back, the impeachment broadcast was punctuated by a cheerful, reverb-laden refrain:
“CARDINAL!”
The falsetto jingle — an audio watermark used by Radio ABC Cardinal — soon went viral.
A nightclub DJ peppered his EDM tracks with a sample. A techno-reggaeton version is doing the rounds.
Jumping on the trend, ABC unveiled a limited-edition coffee mug and baseball cap featuring a meme-ified, screeching seagull with laser eyes (don’t ask).
Even as lawmakers made grave allegations against Paraguay’s head of state, someone in the chamber filled a portentous silence with a well-placed “Cardinal!”
In a video posted to social media, ABC producer Osvaldo “Ovi” Cáceres said the overnight popularity of the obscure audio was “completely unexpected”.
Cáceres described how — when Radio Guaraní was rebranded Radio Cardinal in 1991 — station execs commissioned the jingle from the United States.
He also admitted he may have pressed the relevant sound-deck button a few too many times as Peña’s lawyers were fighting for the president’s political survival.
“Despite the difficult moment we’re living through as a society,” Cáceres reflected, “people know how to see the funny side.”
The Paraguay Post asked friends and colleagues for theories as to why “Cardinal!” touched a collective nerve.
“It’s something that anyone who grew up in Paraguay over the last 30 years has heard,” said journalist Maxi Manzoni.
The “aggressive” audio watermark feels “strange and familiar” at the same time, he added.
Asunción city councillor Mauri Maluff simply suggested this was “the first time” Gen Z had ever paid attention to the radio.
Others said there was no rhyme or reason: “It’s not that deep, bro,” laughed environmentalist Maria Gracia Gauto.
My hunch is that — amid depressing headlines of breathtaking sleaze and injustice — the retro earworm has provided some much-needed relief.
Misfortune long ago fell in love with Paraguay, according to national bard Roa Bastos.
But where Brits might have a stiff upper lip, Paraguayans are known for making light of reversals that would crush a lesser nation.
Maureen Montania, a psychology researcher, paraphrases the writer Helio Vera: “Humour is the fallback of the Paraguayan people.”
Don’t get me wrong: the righteous rage felt by many over Ueno-gate remains very raw and real.
Last night, hundreds gathered in the plaza de la democracia to demand justice and jail time for every single guilty official. If seen through to the end — a big if — that could take years.
But as they take a break from marching, posting, and supporting those blindsided by the crisis, black humour is providing some solace.
It’s a philosophy encapsulated by the everyday Guaraní phrase japuka mb’ae.
Roughly translated: what else can we do but laugh?
The Paraguay Post is Paraguay’s only independent news source in English. Staffed by local reporters, we’re covering this crisis on the ground.
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Also in this issue:
Seizing Santi’s Sanber summer house · Wall Street, Panama, Buenos Aires, Luxembourg: Ueno-Gate goes global · Ueno execs caught destroying documents · The megaproject “poisoning” northern Paraguay · Alliana’s austerity drive · Peña’s family implicated
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