Here in the United States no one stampedes for tickets to a telethon. Hell does anyone even watch the telethon? In Chile, however, the annual Teletón for disabled children is a cultural phenomenon. Stores all over the capital transform into collection spots for donations. Families make homemade banners to hang in their front window to tell everyone that they are supporting the Teletón and they mean it. Families sit in front of the television, not that there is anything else to watch if your don’t have cable or satellite tv. There is even a nationwide tour, featuring everyone’s favorite dirty old man, Don Francisco and if you think that people don’t pack the streets and the seats, you are very wrong.

I won’t even get into the politics of a once a year celebration of disability while the rest of the year the issue and the people are ignored. What the Teletón has become since it started in 1978 (under the Pinochet dictatorship) is an extension of nationalism. If you don’t support the Teleton, you must hate Chile is the message. Pero in recent years, in order to keep it’s popularity, the Teletón is using sex and Ricans.

Last year we told you about a sex worker who worked in solidarity with Mario Kreutzberger’s pet project.

This year the lure is simulated sex a la reggaeton which apparently is still the rage in Chile. Yesterday at el Estadio Nacional de Santiago, at least 8 people were injured when a stampede ensued as people tried to score free tickets to a Teletón event that includes Daddy Yankee and Wisin y Yandel.