The private lives of dictators` families

In 1986, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife fled to Hawaii after being stunned by their people`s rebellion. When Philippine protesters entered the presidential mansion of Malacanang Palace in Manila, they found some 3,000 pairs of shoes belonging to Marcos` wife Imelda. On her huge shoe collection, she said to collect shoes is human nature. When she opened the Footwear Museum in Marikina City, she made the provocative statement that whenever she wears shoes, she feels as if her husband is still president.

Despite her country’s per-capita income of a mere 300 dollars, Grace Mugabe, the wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the African country with an iron fist for three decades, owns real estate worth hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in Hong Kong, China and other countries. Grace Mugabe, who is 45 years younger than her husband, was disgraced last year after news broke of her affairs with Zimbabwe`s central bank governor Gideon Gono. She is also a shopaholic who has been seen buying a handbag costing 12,825 dollars in Singapore. After Elena Ceausescu was executed in 1989 together with her husband, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, a huge collection of fur coats and jewelry was found in her room.

The Jasmine Revolution, which touched off a wave of pro-democracy movements in North Africa, was caused in a sense by the corruption and greed of the dictators’ families. After Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled after a 23-year rule, about 2 kilograms of narcotics and 27 million U.S. dollars in cash were found in his palace. His second wife Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser who is 22 years younger than her husband, was known for her extravagant lifestyle and involvement in all kinds of corruption. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s wife Asma was highlighted in a Vogue magazine for her glamorous look and chic fashion.

A golden mermaid couch found at the Tripoli home of Moammar Gadhafi’s daughter Aisha has become the talk of the town. The Libyan capital is nicknamed the “mermaid of the Mediterranean” because of the city’s harmony of the blue sea, white buildings and dazzling sunlight. Operation Mermaid Dawn was the codename for the Libyan rebels’ raid on the capital. The mermaid couch’s face was reportedly modeled after Aisha. The daughter of a dictator was seemingly narcissistic on her couch. Was she happy on it? It seems to be a matter of days before the mermaid couch, which has become the symbol of a dictator’s fall, will be sent to a museum.

Editorial Writer Chung Sung-hee (shchung@donga.com)