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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 4 noveMber 2019

Flamboyant Puerto Rican astrologer Walter Mercado dies at 88

By DÁNICA COTO ed to meet him and take lots of love."
Associated Press pictures, and he agreed to Mercado never publicly
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) it all. stated his sexuality, but
— Walter Mercado, a flam- "It's not easy at the age of he was an icon in the gay
boyant astrologer and tele- 88 to face 500 people try- community as someone
vision personality whose ing to take pictures. He who challenged the con-
daily TV appearances en- never lost his cool," Levitan servative television culture
tertained many across Lat- recalled in a phone inter- in Latin America.
in America and the U.S. for view with the AP. "He used "He endows the drag
more than a decade, has all his gifts and talents for queen with papal author-
died. He was 88. the good of mankind and ity," Diana Taylor, a New
Hospital spokeswoman that's what makes him so York University Tisch School
Sofía Luquis told The Associ- appealing." of Performing Arts profes-
ated Press on Sunday that Mercado was born in sor, wrote in a 2003 critique.
Mercado died from kidney Ponce, one of Puerto Rico's Alex Fumero, a Los Angeles- In this Feb. 14, 2012 file photo, Puerto Rican astrologer Walter
failure at the Auxilio Mutuo largest cities. He worked based filmmaker who has Mercado, also known as Shanti Ananda, gives a press
Hospital in San Juan late briefly for TV stations based spent two years working on conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Saturday. He had been in the U.S. Caribbean ter- a documentary about Mer- Associated Press
living in the suburb of Cu- ritory before moving to cado, said the astrologer Mercado's large collection later sentenced to 14 years
pey and had spent several South Florida. was an unlikely icon in the of books in his home. in prison for defrauding
days in the hospital before There, he gained fame for Latino community. Mercado, however, also 16,000 people in a $90 mil-
his death. his daily horoscope seg- "This is a culture that's been faced some legal battles. lion scam.
"He is one of those people ment on Spanish-language dominated by machismo In 1998, he got in trouble for In October 2010, Mercado
who used his celebrity and TV, delivered in a dramatic and homophobia for a endorsing alleged health announced he was chang-
power to reach millions in fashion with an exagger- very long time. and beauty products and ing his name to "Shanti
order to inspire people with ated trilling of the "r'' sound. For someone who so bra- was named in a class-ac- Ananda." That same year,
good messages," said Aida He favored long and col- zenly played with gender tion lawsuit that accused he stopped shooting his
Levitan, who helped orga- orful brocades and huge and sexuality and always him of misleading people segment for the Univision
nize an exhibition in August gemstone rings, which he remained something of into buying beads with sup- Spanish-language TV chan-
at the HistoryMiami muse- flashed while pointing to a mystery...he was really posed special powers. nel. Months later, he began
um to honor Mercado. viewers. brave," Fumero said in a The president of the jewelry to deliver daily horoscopes
She said hundreds of peo- His catch phrase to his au- phone interview. company, Unique Gems through El Nuevo Herald
ple showed up and want- dience: "Above all, lots and He recalled being struck by International Corp., was newspaper in Miami.q