This made me laugh, even though I hadn’t eaten yet.

It’s a quote attributed to Mexican comic and actor Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, or simply Mario Moreno or Cantinflas, who Charlie Chaplin once called the greatest comedian alive. Likewise, others called him the Charlie Chaplin of Mexican cinema.

He often portrayed poor campesinos, roles which according to his wiki biography, left observers somewhat confused about his role in Mexico’s politics:

In addition to being a business leader, he also became involved in Mexico’s complex labor politics. His reputation as a spokesperson for the working class gave his actions authenticity and became important in the early struggle against charrismo, the ruling PRI’s practice of co-opting and controlling trade unions.

Moreover, his character Cantinflas, whose identity became enmeshed with his own, was examined by media critics, philosophers, and linguists, who saw him variously as a danger to Mexican society, a bourgeois puppet, a verbal innovator, and a picaresque underdog.

He died in 1993 at 81, after leaving an indelible mark in much of Latin America. Including at this small bakery and cafe in Armenia, Colombia.

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Armenia, Colombia, 20 June 2015