The Venezuelan series "Cassandra" was so popular in the Balkans that songs were sung to her, children were named after her, but it also affected the security situation - this is the story of a unique telenovela "peacemaker".
The saga of a girl, who was traded as a baby and given to poor Roma chergars to live in a circus, and then at the age of 18 returned to her hometown where her millionaire real family is and discovered the truth about her own origins, riveted people to watch all 150 episodes. .
The multi-year war in the former Yugoslavia had just ended, but political and social turmoil continued and the conflict was not resolved.
"It was a very tumultuous time and I actually found that this series was like a sedative for the whole area," says Antonio Paez, the company's deputy executive producer. Coral Pictures.
"Regardless of what people were experiencing, at least for an hour they could detach themselves from the harsh, cruel and bloody reality they lived in to immerse themselves in Cassandra's love story," he told BBC Mundo.
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War, Fragile Peace and the series
In 1997, Kassandra's fate also kept viewers in the Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in suspense.
A bloody conflict replaced the fragile peace.
From the war years until 1997, the Republika Srpska was led by opposing political factions of President Radovan Karadžić and his successor Biljana Plavšić, which threatened stability.
The post-war capital of Republika Srpska became Banjaluka, the second largest city in BiH, and Karadzic had his own stronghold in Pale, near Sarajevo.
Karadžić was already accused of war crimes while Biljana Plavšić enjoyed the support of America.
The state television SRT, the most influential among the residents, was located in Pale and was controlled by Karadzic, and it had repeaters throughout the territory of Republika Srpska.
Through this channel, Karadzic and his allies sent messages to the Bosnian Serbs against the NATO peacekeeping forces and spread negative propaganda about America, Europe and the Dayton Agreement.
And then one day in August 1997, supporters of Biljana Plavšić took control of the SRT transmitters in Banja Luka and cut off the signal.
When the broadcast of the program started again, this time from the control of Plavšić, Pal was no longer in the game.
However, a problem arose very quickly - there were no episodes of "Cassandra" that the audience was eagerly waiting for.
Not only SRT editors were concerned, but also the US Government.
American intervention
The State Department at the time of President Clinton feared that the suspension of the popular soap opera could cause dissatisfaction and even internal conflicts that would threaten the government of Biljana Plavšić in the Republic of Srpska.
Producer Antonio Paez was invited by a State Department official.
"The secretary told me that someone from the US State Department was calling me. 'Please?'" Paez asked her in disbelief.
"I started talking to a guy who said, 'Look, I can't even tell you my name right now. You sold the series to a public service. It has been discontinued, and we want to keep it on the air. The situation has escalated, so we need your help to continue broadcasting,'" he recounts.
Paez tried several times to call the editors of the television and finally reached the director.
"Yes, we want the series back too, how can you help us?" the TV man asked him.
However, Paez searched the company's contracts Coral Pictures and revealed that SRT was never sold the rights to broadcast "Cassandra".
That's why he called Banja Luka again and was told that the channel from Pala had pirated episodes from the TV station in Belgrade, but that they couldn't buy them because they didn't have the money.
Paez then tried to get the US State Department to pay for the telenovela, as they were interested in seeing it rebroadcast.
But he didn't succeed.
"No, it cannot be known that we are participating in this in any way," the American official answered him.
In the end, he is the CEO of the company Coral Pictures decided that they would give away the series, if it was that important to them.
"There, the series was an absolutely huge success and everything calmed down. It was great then to be a part of that huge power that telenovelas had around the world," he said.
Rock stars
"Cassandra" returned to the air, and due to its popularity, Koraima Torres and her colleagues traveled to the Balkans in 1998, where they were welcomed as rock stars, especially in what was then Macedonia, now North Macedonia.
"It's hard to compare, but it was like The Beatles came to town. Everyone went crazy and it really happened that fans passed out or screamed at the shows.
"Many girls born at that time were named Cassandra. And that's how it was many years later," Paez told the BBC.
Koraima Torres greeted thousands of fans at the soccer stadium and took to the stage in an open-top car with music and fireworks.
The event was broadcast in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"My agent tells me: we are invited. What to do? I'm not a singer. There were people everywhere, of all generations. All together, in the streets. Euphoria, noise and music reigned. All around was joy, screaming, fireworks, balloons and I felt all that love. It was a unique moment for me," the actress recalled.
In 1997, Koraima Torres visited and Serbia - Belgrade and Novi Sad and Nis, along with co-star Enri Soto, who portrayed the character of Randu.
The legendary singer of Romani music Šaban Bajramović also performed in the festive program in their honor, who also dedicated a song to Kassandra.
The telenovela star also visited the Home for neglected children in Zvečanska, the newspaper wrote.
Torres told the BBC radio program "Witnesses of History" that she could not have guessed that her life would change when, at the age of 17, she and her sister, since she was a minor, went to meet the screenwriters.
"It was a big challenge. I wanted to prove myself when she told me the role was mine. I also had nervousness, but I was glad that I got that opportunity," said Torres.
A hit all over the world
During the nineties, there was a craze for soap operas all over the world.
Melodramatic Latin American fictions, with exaggerated and heartbreaking love stories, along with the old dream - from thorns to stars, have become a global phenomenon.
In a short time, telenovelas became an export product to other Spanish-speaking countries, but also beyond those borders, reaching more than 100 countries.
The company Coral Pictures had representative offices in Caracas and Miami and was a distributor of telenovelas for the world market.
"All series were very popular at that time, I even opened several new markets, such as Russian and Chinese. Later, telenovelas were a hit in, for example, Israel. We were popular all over the world," says Paez.
"We knew there were those who would travel to the countries that had our broadcast licences, just to hear or find out what was going on or to sneak in and watch some episodes," says the former producer.
when in October 1992 the Venezuelan channel RC TV premiered the telenovela "Cassandra" in the afternoon, the success was immediate.
It was the third story of the Cuban Delia Fialo, the "mother of Latin American telenovelas", the author of hits like "Crystal" and "Esmeralda" that reached the small screen.
Giselle was first played by Rebecca Gonzalez in the original version from 1973, "Peregrine", then Katrin Fulop Raizu in "Circus Girl" in 1988, and finally the character of Cassandra was played by Coraima Torres.
The series was also broadcast in the United States of America, Romania, Greece, Italy and Russia.
Antonio Paez is happy to have been part of this euphoria.
"People fell in love with the story and I think it brought them peace and a sense of normalcy.
"The story of the poor getting rich always touches people, because they see a girl like Koraima who first had a hard life and was treated badly, and then she resurrected and became a queen, and at the same time she is beautiful - all this gives people hope." , says Paez.
He feels honored that their series has also helped save lives.
“I've never heard of a TV show that was so popular that it helped bring about peace, and it did. It really contributed to peace in the region," he says.
Additional reporting by Jonathan l'Anson.
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