''El Comandante'', is a Colombian

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

created by

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainme ...

. It is based on the life of the late

Venezuelan President The president of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de Venezuela), officially known as the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is the head of state and head of government in Ven ...

, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias. It stars

Andrés Parra Andrés Parra Medina (born 18 September 1977) is a Colombian film and television actor. He is best known for portraying the drug lord Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug ...

as the titular character.

Plot summary

''El Comandante'' is a story inspired by the life of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

, a man of humble origin who, at only 44 years old and against all odds, became the most powerful and controversial

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...

leader of his time. During his rule he controlled at will the largest oil reserves on the planet, challenged the First World and managed to shake the continent as nobody else. The production narrates the fictional story of a man and a country, inspired by real events, incorporating elements and characters of fiction as his comrades fighting, the spies who wanted to kill him, the women who accompanied him in his career and the members of the opposition, to offer an account of suspense and action, of politics and romance.

Cast

as Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias *

Gabriela Vergara Gabriela Vergara Aranguren (born May 29, 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela) is an actress and model. She is best known as the 3rd runner-up in Miss Venezuela 1996. In 1997, she started acting in many telenovelas like '' Destino de Mujer'' as ''Vaness ...

as Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez *

Stephanie Cayo Stephanie Cristina Cayo Sanguinetti (born April 8, 1988) is a Peruvian actress, singer and songwriter. Early life When she was 10 years old, she appeared in Peruvian telenovela ''Travesuras del Corazón''. She later appeared as a primary char ...

as Mónica Zabaleta *

Julián Román Julián Edgardo Román Rey (born November 23, 1977) is a Colombian actor, has been involved in theater, film and television. Biography His father, actor José Edgardo Román (1950–2022), played Mario Arboleda, the equivalent of Mike Ehrema ...

as Carlos Uzcátegui * César Manzano as Manuel Centeno * Sheila Monterola as Antonia Salcedo * Jimmy Vásquez as Willy Manzanares *

Albi De Abreu Albi De Abreu (born as Albino de Abreu Do Nascimiento on 31 May 1975) is a Venezuelan theater and television actor. Biography Albi began his television career at the age of 14 when he began appearing in several TV commercials. He got his first ...

as Cristóbal Iturbe *

Marianela González Marianela González (born 23 July 1978 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan actress and model. Now lives in Colombia. Her parents are María del Carmen Álvarez "Carmenchu" and José Rafael González. She has one sister named María Alejandra. S ...

as Daniela Vásquez * Paulina Dávila as Isabel Manrique * Natalia Reyes as Carolina Jiménez * Vicente Peña as Ángel Saavedra * José Narváez as Iván Fonseca * Viña Machado as Carmen Rondón * Jorge Rengifo as Yuckson * Duban Prado as Máikel * Jeanette Lehr as Adelaida de Chávez "Mamá Laida" * Jimmy Vásquez as Willy Manzanares *

Francisco Denis Francisco Denis (born 1961) is a Venezuelan actor and director. Denis runs his own theater company in Venezuela, and has acted in about 20 films there. Selected filmography * DEMONICA (TBA) *Takari de Chivo ( TBA) Also director and writer *Benig ...

as Fernando Brizuela * Franártur Duque as Ángel Saavedra, young

Production

The production is based on an original idea by the Venezuelan writer and columnist Moisés Naím and the direction is by Felipe Cano (''

Lady, la vendedora de rosas ''Lady, la vendedora de rosas'', is a Colombian telenovela produced by Teleset for Sony Pictures Television and RCN Televisión RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN (''Radio Cadena Nacional'') is a Colombian free-to-air television network. I ...

'', ''El laberinto de Alicia'') and Henry Rivero (film ''En coma''). The librettos are by José Luis González, Juan Andrés Granados and Versalia Cordero. The series is produced by Andrea Marulanda and Luis Eduardo Jiménez as executive producers, series production is scheduled for the summer of 2016. The first advance of the series was revealed on October 25, 2016, showing scenes that marked the life of the

Venezuelan president The president of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de Venezuela), officially known as the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is the head of state and head of government in Ven ...

, such as episodes of his childhood in

Sabaneta, Barinas Sabaneta is a town in Venezuela's Barinas state. It is known to be the birthplace of the late President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was pre ...

state, until the coup attempt he led in 1992.

Casting

In May 2016,

published in his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account a promotional image of the series next to the phrase "The power of passion and the passion for power". To interpret Chavez, Parra had to practice the Venezuelan accent, and cut his hair to interpret the stage where Chavez suffered from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. For the personage of Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez several Venezuelan actresses made casting such as

Wanda D'Isidoro Wanda Catherine D’Isidoro Arcolín (born October 20, 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a Venezuelan actress. D'Isidoro was born to an American mother and a Sicilian father, who met when her mother was an actress. They married and moved to Ven ...

Eileen Abad Eileen Abad (born November 15, 1973 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan actress and model who has acted in several telenovelas and films. Biography Abad studied drama at the Escuela de Artes Escénicas Juana Sujo. Her work in Venezuelan as ...

Gaby Spanic Gabriela Elena Španić Utrera (born December 10, 1973), known simply as Gabriela Spanic, is a Venezuelan actress and singer. She's known for her roles in several Latin telenovelas, most notably her portrayal of twins in '' La usurpadora'' (1998 ...

and

Sonya Smith Sonya Smith ( born April 23, 1972) is an American actress best known for her roles in telenovelas. Biography Sonya was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is the daughter of German-born Venezuelan actress Ileana Jacquet and Frederick S ...

, later she was chosen

to interpret the character. More than 50% of the cast are Venezuelan actors.

Reception

Following heavy promotion of the series in Colombia, ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso'' as well as ''

Colombia's Next Top Model ''Colombia's Next Top Model'' is a Colombian reality television series, based on Tyra Banks' ''America's Next Top Model''. It is the third franchise in Latin America after '' Brazil's Next Top Model'' and ''Mexico's Next Top Model''. The series ...

'' and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

’s ''Las Vega's''".

Controversy

In May 2016,

Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...

was completely opposed to the production of the series, because he would only lend to defaming the former president of Venezuela, thus asking the executives of

to stop the production process and show evidence that the Chavez family agreed with such a series. Later,

clarified that Asdrúbal Chávez had authorized the production of the series. Actress

received several negative comments towards her character in the series, because Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez is accused of complicity and robbery during the Chávez government. In October 2016,

Cabello The spider genus ''Cabello'' consists of only one species, ''Cabello eugeni'', found in Venezuela. It is a small yellow-white spider, with females 2 mm long, and males 1.6 mm. The eye region is reddish with a dusky median longitudinal ...

warned to take legal action against the production company

to continue with the production of the series. Moisés Naím clarified that the series is a series of fiction and not a biography so it will have nothing to do with the reality of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. In Venezuela, CONATEL, an institution that regulates airing and broadcasting in the country, ordered to withdraw the signal from RCN Television to prohibit the viewing of the series.

Broadcast

The series will be released on January 30, 2017 in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

RCN Televisión RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN (''Radio Cadena Nacional'') is a Colombian free-to-air television network. It is a Colombian open television channel, belonging to the Ardila Lülle Organization. It was founded as a television content produ ...

, while in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

it will premiere on January 31, 2017 on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

. In the United States, it will be transmitted by the network

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Comandante (TV series) Spanish-language American telenovelas Sony Pictures Television telenovelas 2017 telenovelas American telenovelas Colombian telenovelas 2017 American television series debuts 2017 Colombian television series debuts 2017 Colombian television series endings 2017 American television series endings Television shows set in Venezuela Works about Hugo Chávez