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Tía Pikachu

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Grandón and the second or maternal family name is Caro.

Giovanna Grandón
Giovanna Grandón in 2021.
Member of the Constitutional Convention
In office
4 July 2021 – 4 July 2022
Constituency12th District
Personal details
Born
Giovanna Jazmín Grandón Caro

(1975-05-06) 6 May 1975 (age 49)
Santiago, Chile
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		The List of the People
Websitewww.giovannagrandon.cl
NicknameAunt Pikachu

Giovanna Jazmín Grandón Caro (born 6 May 1975), also known as Tía Pikachu (Auntie Pikachu) or Baila Pikachu (Dancing Pikachu) is a Chilean preschool teacher, political activist, and politician. She obtained great attention during the 2019 Chilean protests, mostly due to her wearing a costume of the character Pikachu from the Japanese media franchise Pokémon. On 16 May 2021, she was elected as a member of the assembly that will write the new Chilean constitution as a response to the 2019 protests.

Early life

Giovanna Grandón was born in Santiago de Chile as the eldest of four sisters. From an early age, she helped her single mother with housework and taking care of her younger sisters. In her adolescence, she met Jorge Millán Abarzua, with whom she married in 1993 and had a daughter and three sons.[1]

She worked as a vendor and a door-to-door saleswoman and later studied a technical career in early education, which she began to practice in 1996 at the National Board of Kindergartens, where her work consisted largely of educating and caring for children at social risk in their early childhood. In 2020, Grandón said in a YouTube live video that working as an educator was a difficult period in which the educators witnessed crude stories and experiences of their young students, who were at social risk.[2]

Grandón began working as a school bus driver in 2015, providing services for a school in the Peñalolén commune.[3] Before the social outburst, she lived at Lo Hermida neighborhood in the same commune, where she and her family were preparing to move to Piriápolis in Uruguay to look for new opportunities.[4]

Political career

Giovanna Grandón as "Aunt Pikachu" during a 2020 protest.

In mid-2019, Grandón's son, who was 7 years old at the time, had picked out his father's credit card and bought 600,000 Chilean pesos' (about 800 USD) worth of Detective Pikachu merchandise through a phone call. Seeing how they were unable to get a refund, Grandón and her husband planned to sell the items, but kept an inflatable Pikachu costume to use for Halloween.[5] They later attended what is now considered to be the largest march in Chilean history, where 1.2 million people protested, with Grandón wearing the Pikachu costume. She became known as "Tía Pikachu" due to a series of viral videos of her dancing during the protest.

The viralization of the videos led one of her daughters to create an Instagram account for the character; in 24 hours, the account already had more than 24,000 followers.[6] Her participation made her one of the symbolic characters of the large-scale demonstrations in which she continued to actively participate between October 2019 and March 2020.[7]

Grandón performing with Kramer in 2020.

On 23 February 2020, she participated in a routine of the impersonator and comedian Stefan Kramer at the 2020 Viña del Mar festival.[8] By February 2020, she had made a national tour visiting the cities of Concepción, Valdivia, and Osorno, among others. As of March, she had participated in charity concerts with Anita Tijoux and the 31 Minutos characters.[2]

On 8 March, during a commemoration of International Women's Day, Grandón was shot with a rubber bullet in the foot during clashes with Carabineros police forces.[9] During the following months of 2020, she continued to participate in public social activities and demonstrations.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile, the protests ceased. However, she continued to be a voice of criticism towards the Chilean state and how the pandemic exposed the weaknesses of the public and private systems.[10][11]

With the announcement of the national plebiscite, with which the option of a new constitution would be voted, Grandón participated in the campaign activities for its approval.[12]

On 31 October 2020, she was attacked by the Carabineros while she was participating in a demonstration on the side of the Pío Nono bridge. During the conflict, her suit was ripped open, she was punched in the face by a Carabineros officer and was doused with pepper spray.[13]

As of May 2021, she has used seven Pikachu suits, since "the chemicals in the water from the riot trucks deteriorate the fabric with which it is made."[4]

Constitutional Convention

As the mobilizations continued and demanded a change of the constitution, Grandón's supporters began to ask her to formalize her possible candidacy as a member of the Constitutional Convention which will write the new constitution. With the results of the national plebiscite, on 26 October of the same year she announced her interest in being a constituent candidate.[14] She also pointed out that she rejected many offers from political parties to have her as a candidate.[15]

With the creation of The List of the People pact, she joined it as a pre-candidate in November. Later, she obtained the sponsorships and signatures to make her candidacy official.[16]

On 16 May 2021, she was elected as member of the Constitutional Convention for the 12th district with 20,935 (5.64%) votes in her favor.[17][18]

References

  1. ^ "El 18-O de la Tía Pikachu". La Crisis Puertas Adentro (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b Guzmán, Andrea (20 March 2020). "Así baila Tía Pikachu, símbolo del estallido social chileno". Vice (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  3. ^ Arros, Fernanda (29 October 2019). "¿Quién está detrás de Baila Pikachu?". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b Caminos, Mauricio (12 May 2021). "Reforma constitucional en Chile: la historia de la "Tía Pikachu", de fenómeno viral a candidata". La Nación (in Spanish). ISSN 0325-0946. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  5. ^ Crzu Giraldo, Juan (30 October 2019). "La historia tras "Baila Pikachú"". The Clinic (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  6. ^ Debowicz, Maia (2 November 2019). "¿Quién es "Baila Pikachu"? La historia detrás del muñeco inflable que se volvió viral en las protestas de Chile". Infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  7. ^ Gajarado, Luc (29 October 2019). "Hablamos con la tía Pikachu: "Hay que seguir manifestándose, con fuerza, amor y empatía"". POUSTA (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  8. ^ "[Fotos] Kramer sorprendió invitando a Viña al Sensual Spiderman, Pareman y la tía Baila Pikachu". Radio Cooperativa (in Spanish). 24 February 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  9. ^ ""Carabineros estaban reprimiendo bien fuerte": Tía Pikachu asegura haber recibido un perdigón en medio de la marcha del 8M". Chilevisión (in Spanish). 3 August 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  10. ^ Jure, Fernanda (23 June 2021). "Así sobrevive la Tía Pikachu a la pandemia desde Lo Hermida". Chilevisión (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  11. ^ Iván, Rimassa (25 May 2020). "Tía Pikachu: "Teníamos créditos para comprar autos, celulares y televisores y ahora da lo mismo… no hay comida"". Futuro (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  12. ^ "VIDEO: Caravana del APRUEBO recorrió Santiago y fue aplaudida por todo el pueblo, la Tía Pikachu arriba de un tren causó sensación". Gamba (in Spanish). 3 September 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  13. ^ "'Tía Pikachu' relata violento intento de detención: "Un carabinero me pegó un combo en la cara"". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). 31 October 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  14. ^ "La "tía Pikachu" se prepara para ser constituyente: "Nadie dice que nos regalen todo o nos den todo fácil. El tema son las oportunidades"". ADN (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Tía Pikachu asegura que rechazó apoyos de partidos políticos para ser constituyente: "Que la gente decida"". Chilevisión (in Spanish). 15 November 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Elecciones 2021: Un día de campaña con "Tía Pikachú"". Teletrece (in Spanish). 24 March 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  17. ^ Puebla, Diego (17 May 2021). ""Tía Pikachu" se proclamó como constituyente: "Quiero agradecer a los que nunca soltaron la calle"". ADN (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  18. ^ Anglesey, Anders (17 May 2021). ""Aunt Pikachu" triumphs in Chile election to draft new constitution". Newsweek. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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