Carlos Loiseau

Carlos Loiseau (November 9, 1948 – May 8, 2012) was a prolific Argentine cartoonist and humorist. He was popularly known in Argentina by his byline, ''Caloi''.

Life and work

Loiseau was born in Salta, and he was raised in Adrogué and Buenos Aires from age six. Adopting a portmanteau pseudonym based on his full name ("Caloi"), his caricatures first appeared in the popular current events weekly, ''Tía Vicenta'', in 1966, and his first comic strip appeared in ''María Belén'' in 1967; both were satirical weeklies published by a fellow cartoonist, Juan Carlos Colombres.

Loiseau's first marriage, at age 19, ended after two years. His first book, ''El libro largo de Caloi'' (''Caloi's Long Book''), was published in 1968, and in his first animated short, ''Las Invasiones Inglesas'' (''The British Invasions''), in 1970. Caloi was the chief political cartoonist for the news weekly ''Análisis'' between 1968 and 1971. He later became a regular contributor to the satirical magazines ''Satyricón'' (1972–74) and ''Mengano'' (1974-76), to the sports weekly '' El Gráfico'' (1976–82), and numerous other periodicals.

His most enduring association, however, would be with the nation's leading news daily, '' Clarín''. His work first appeared in the daily in 1968 as part of his ''Caloidoscopio'' series, and in 1973 he introduced readers to what became his signature brainchild: "Clemente." The adoptive, flightless bird of a Buenos Aires tram conductor, Clemente became known for his fondness for football, irony, olives, and women (particularly "la mulatóna," a voluptuous but staid Afro-Cuban character of his same species). Another recurring character in the series - Clemente's observant son Jacinto - was patterned after one of Caloi's own sons. A fixture comic strip on the back page of ''Clarín'' for decades, Clemente also followed ongoing current events and at times created controversy.

The most memorable of these was a storyline around the 1978 FIFA World Cup (hosted by Argentina) that led to a well publicized dispute with a leading sportscaster at the time, José María Muñoz, and indirectly with the dictatorship itself. Throwing large quantities of paper confetti is an Argentine custom at the beginning of football matches and at other celebrations, such as New Year's Day. Muñoz and government officials sought to discourage this custom (which they saw as littering) during the event, however, while Caloi conspicuously supported it through Clemente. The fans' preference - and that of Caloi - prevailed when with the support of FIFA officials, scoreboard operators programmed a digital Clemente exhorting fans to "throw confetti, guys!" (''Tiren papelitos, muchachos!''). Authorities responded by instructing police officers stationed at stadium entrances to sequester newsprint from spectators or any other paper items that could be made into confetti; the fans' ingenuity ultimately made the remaining World Cup matches in which the Argentine team played some of the most confetti-strewn in local football history.

Caloi would find himself at odds with figures from the same dictatorship even after the return of democracy. An episode of his popular Channel 13 children's show, ''Clemente'', was banned in 1983 by judicial injunction. The episode featured a storyline in which la mulatóna was kidnapped by a bat-wing eared vampire resembling former Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz (who sued for defamation); the vampire's ransom - 40 billion dollars, "plus interest" - referred to the foreign debt amassed during the conservative Economy Minister's tenure. Spun off from an animated special aired during the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the show introduced Clemente fans to other characters, notably the " Cameroonian fan" and his signature ditty: ''Burum-boom-boom''. Co-written by Alejandro Dolina

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