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.

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, , 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 and Jorge Palacio ("Faruk"), the show was a success and remained on the air until 1989. The program had a more cultural focus and featured animated shorts from around the world, as well as his own work and those of other Argentine illustrators. Airing on the state-owned ATC from 1990, the show received little support from the network despite earning a Martín Fierro Award in 1993 and was eventually withdrawn by the Loiseaus themselves in 1999. He had 40 books published between 1968 and 2008, of which 17 were Clemente compilations. as well as the Yomiuri Prize (Tokyo, 1984), and at the International Festival of the Humor of Bordighera (1994) among others. He was named an Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires in 2009. Caloi died five days later in a Buenos Aires clinic; he was 63.