Chavez Slams Quinceañera Implants

Venezuelan prez hates popular sweet-15 gift of enlargements

By Jonas Oransky

Posted Sep 26, 2007 1:07 PM CDT

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Chavez Slams Quinceañera Implants — President Hugo Chavez, foreground in shadow, talks to a supporter as he drives a SUV in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela, June 10, 2007. His message, as he takes a road trip accompanied by an AP reporter, is clear (Associated Press)

Hugo Chavez has aimed his anti-consumerist wrath at one of Venezuela’s bustiest trends. In a record eight-hour TV address Sunday, the barn-storming president assaulted his countrymen for giving breast implants as presents to girls celebrating their quinceañeras, the traditional 15th-birthday coming-of-age party.

Chavez blamed Western icons such as Barbie for what he termed “the ultimate degeneration,” Reuters reports. But there’s much for cosmetic surgery critics to rail against in the Latin American nation itself—Venezuelan TV advertises breast enlargements and banks offer special surgery credit lines.

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