GET READY FOR MORE "ELECTED DICTATORS" - LA EPIDEMIA DE LOS PODERES ESPECIALES
The most troubling thing about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's takeover of absolute powers last week is not that he has become a narcissist-Leninist elected dictator, but that his example is taking hold in a growing number of Latin American countries. Just two decades after democracy took hold in the region, we're seeing a rapidly growing trend to expand presidential powers in countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Colombia and Argentina. Some of them are also creating ''people's organizations'' to intimidate and silence opponents, much like Benito Mussolini did in Italy or Fidel Castro in Cuba. Read the full column here, and let us know what YOU think.
posted by Andres Oppenheimer at 9:22 AM
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33 Comments:
People in Latin America follow "caudillos" and " caciques." It was the custom we inherited from Spain: STRONGMEN rule. Look at Franco! And the ignorant, the idiots, the fools, the disenchanted, the non-chalant ones, the "damn if I care" people get caught by the commie conspiracies. Look at Venezuela: it couldn't happen there, they would say to Cubans in Miami who warned them. Well, it's happened. I warned people from Venezuela as far back as 1999 that Chavez was a commie. He had already visited Cuba and spoke wonders of Fidel. Anybody who speaks wonders of Fidel, communism, or the deadly Cuban regime of Linisms (as in Stalinisms, Fidelisms, Leninisms) is again, an idiot, stupid, a commie, or an aprovechao. It happened in the most unlikely place, Cuba, in 1959!!! Cuba had the strongest middle class, and the country produced and had a high standard of living, much higher than all but one or two Latin American countries. Fidel went in there and fooled everyone with deception and advice from communists. Che Guevara was a murderer, but he acted like Macho Man and killed right and left, for no reason, just because it was (in his own words) expeditious. Commies are on a power trip. They have no desire to help anyone but themselves. The doctrine is a failure, and its application a horrible nightmare. For those who keep dreaming of a communist world as the solution to everything I say: Keep Dreaming!!!!
brickbradford:
What do you think about Bush? Could you tell me if he has also acted like a Macho Man?
Populism is not only a Latinamerican problem.
I say: Wake up!!! Americans have the same populist dream!!!
Oppenheimer resides in the US- a country which probably has killed more civilians than all of the world's despots combined.
800,000 Iraqi civilians have died under the American administration of Iraq in the last 3 yrs - that kind of puts things in perspective whenever reading Oppenheimer's pieces complaining about Venezuela or Bolivia taking a majority control of its own oilfields....
I'm sitting here typing this post from Bolivia where the local cable TV channel carries FOXNEWS, CNN,CNN International as well as countless other international news networks. Somehow such enormous variety of American and international newshows doesn't square with Oppenheimer's vision of "elected dictatorships"in Latin America - anybody in Bolivia for instance can watch Bill O'Reilly or the Oppenheimer show and their daily drivels about evil regimes and despots in Latin America etc - in short democracy is vibrant in Bolivia just as it is in Venezuela where 90% of the TV networks are anti Chavez and some of them even collaborated in the coup against Chavez..
Maybe Oppenheimer can tell his readers wether the local Miami Cable TV operators carry the Telesur network ? Mr. Oppenheimer: is there a single cable operator in Miami which carries the TELESUR channel ?
Should American viewers not have the same access to foreign networks just like their counterparts throughout Latin America ?
Mr. Oppenheimer: How many American citizens have access instance to France's TV5, France24, Deutsche Welle, BBC,TVE, RAI etc ?
Personally I think every cable operator in Latin America and the US and Europe should broadcast the Telesur channel- I've seen both FOXNEWS and Telesur and I can tell you that Telesur is definitely far more professional and balanced in its newscasts.
Oppenheimer resides in the US- a country which probably has killed more civilians than all of the world's despots combined.
800,000 Iraqi civilians have died under the American administration of Iraq in the last 3 yrs - that kind of puts things in perspective whenever reading Oppenheimer's pieces complaining about Venezuela or Bolivia taking a majority control of its own oilfields....
I'm sitting here typing this post from Bolivia where the local cable TV channel carries FOXNEWS, CNN,CNN International as well as countless other international news networks. Somehow such enormous variety of American and international newshows doesn't square with Oppenheimer's vision of "elected dictatorships"in Latin America - anybody in Bolivia for instance can watch Bill O'Reilly or the Oppenheimer show and their daily drivels about evil regimes and despots in Latin America etc - in short democracy is vibrant in Bolivia just as it is in Venezuela where 90% of the TV networks are anti Chavez and some of them even collaborated in the coup against Chavez..
Maybe Oppenheimer can tell his readers wether the local Miami Cable TV operators carry the Telesur network ? Mr. Oppenheimer: is there a single cable operator in Miami which carries the TELESUR channel ?
Should American viewers not have the same access to foreign networks just like their counterparts throughout Latin America ?
Mr. Oppenheimer: How many American citizens have access instance to France's TV5, France24, Deutsche Welle, BBC,TVE, RAI etc ?
Personally I think every cable operator in Latin America and the US and Europe should broadcast the Telesur channel- I've seen both FOXNEWS and Telesur and I can tell you that Telesur is definitely far more professional and balanced in its newscasts.
According to the the United Nations, 800,000 deaths in Iraq is not accurate, the total amount of deaths is actually around 14,000 for three years. Period. Interestingly, that number is about the same as the number of murders in one year in the Capital of Caracas, Venezuela.
Telesur is available through satelite, but the quality of the channel, visually, feels like you are watching tv from the 1950's. It would only be appealing to someone who had never seen color tv before. As for being "balanced", have you ever watched it?
Anyone who believes that Venezuela has a "vibrant democracy" needs to come here and visit. The poverty is unimagineable and growing, not shrinking. 21st socialism isn't very beautiful or helpful.
The Ecuadorians were able to get rid of 7 presidents in 8 years...hmmm
In Colombia...
Oppenheimer's TV show in Argentina is broadcast on Channel 9 - "Canal 9" which was recently sold to the very strange media mogul "Remigio Angel González". It was sold by Daniel Hadad- another very dark strange character whose financial backers has never been very clear....
Argentina has a law against foreigners owning Argentine newchannels however this very strange media mogul which carries Oppenheimer's TV show was able to get around Argentine legislation due to a clause from Carlos Menem's time which exempts American citizens such as "Remigio Angel Gonzalez" from this Argentine law.
Oppenheimer can maybe give us some more background details of "Remigio Angel Gonzalez" : Mr. Oppenheimer: who is this very strange man who holds a monopoly in Guatemala of all newschannels there and was accused of blatantly intervening in Guatemalan politics (you cannot get elected in Guatemala without the support of "Remigio Angel Gonzalez's" monopolized TV channels ?
So I wonder what Oppenheimer has to say about that very dark character- should Latin America allow such foreign media moguls to monopolize TV news media in Latin America ?
Who is financing "Remigio Angel González" ?
Bush was elected. There is a constitution of over 100 years in the USA. There is a division of powers. There is the Judiciary, the Legislative, and the Executive Branch. The Armed Forces don't act as secret police or police of any kind. People come to the States for freedom of expression, freedom of press, freedom to travel from NY to Los Angeles or any other place, whenever they want. And Bush simply declared war, and rightfully so, after the crappy, cowardly attack on the Twin Towers only to be accused by terrorists, communists, and idiots that he had ordered the attack on the Towers. BS my friend "anonymous." There is great difference between the USA and how it attracts people, and a place like Cuba, or Venezuela, where people only want to get out fast, and where a one-man rule prevails. The rest is BS.
I meant to say that the US Constitution has over 200 years, not 100. Makes my point even stronger. The problem with many "latinos" is not only their stupid, servile attitude towards dictators for the sole purpose of gaining favors so they can join the corruption. Period. Communists are the most corrupt people in the world. Many Latin Americans are the most envious people in the world. They couldn't achieve real democracies precisely because of their lack of organization and because of the damned legacy of idolatry towards caudillo that Spain left us. Period. Period. Period.
Andres this I wrote a few days ago:
Negroponte's assessment is wrong on a number of accounts, but crucially, it seems to me, on his understanding of the specific perils that dictator Hugo Chavez exports. Certainly radical populism isn't one of them. The single most dangerous export of Castro's mini me is the National Constituent Assembly. This little subterfuge is THE principal cause of Venezuela's current institutional void for it allowed Chavez to subvert democracy with a pseudo democratic mechanism that wasn't even part of the constitution. Shrouded in 'popular support' it effectively replaced in one fell swoop the powers that were with lackeys in charge of totally dysfunctional institutions: a truly 'democratic' coup. Today we learn that Venezuela's Congress, as predicted, granted Chavez the ultimate weapon: the ability to rule by decree.
Chavez has successfully convinced his claque of regional suckers that the National Constituent Assembly is the way forward. However none of them appears to have realised that the conditions under which the experiment was implemented in Venezuela in 1999 are non existent at present in Bolivia, Peru or Ecuador. For that reason, as already seen in Bolivia and soon to dawn on Correa, it will be impossible to replicate the model irrespective of how loud supporting mobs shout 'kill them all.'
National Constituent Assemblies, National Constituent Assemblies, National Constituent Assemblies, National Constituent Assemblies....
Lili,
Replacing the elites with other, communist elites doesn't work. If the example of Cuba isn't enough for you, or Eastern Europe, then go ahead and join the communists in effecting CHANGE. That change will bring poverty to all, lack of staples, lack of imports, chivatos,jailed people that have committed no crimes, murders, and firing squads (official or non official). Yes, there's a need for change in the whole human race, but Communism isn't it, and that IS INDEED what's very much regurgitating itself in Latin America, spearheaded first by Fidel, and now by Chavez, and those who follow are not the poor. The poor just want to eat and have a roof. It's the elitists, the aprovechaos, and Chavez doesn't do a damn thing for them.
As to the simplistic statement concerning why people come to the States and why people leave Cuba and Venezuela, I beg you to tell me why there are thousands of drowned people in the Florida Straits. Is that simplistic? Maybe to the sharks it is, but how about those poor, those repressed, those seeking liberty? Did they IMAGINE that the USA offers more opportunities for advancement than any other place in the world?
Yes, it's simplistic to think in communist terms. We take over and the people be damned, no matter what they want. We tell them we know best, a la Fidel, and a la Chavez. It is all very simple, and the fools and the idiots get taken for the worst ride in Castroland, and in Chavezworld.
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from: Paul Thørsen
PThørsen240@aol.com
Hey Brick Bradford, I hate to break this to you, but it's ALL of Spanish speaking Latin America that risks their lives to get the hell out of their countries and to force their way into Anglolandia, not just Cubans and Venezuelans.
It's a legacy of Spanish colonies. It has nothing to do with Communism.
The absolute rule of thumb is: the more Spanish surnames any society has, the more likely it is to fail. A direct consequence of Spain dumping its criminals and other derelicts onto their colonies in the Americas.
Look no further than Spanish speaking Latin Americas most stable countries, Chili and Arhentina. They both have many non-Spanish people. Arhentina is like 40% Italian and has many other non-Spaniard Europeans and Jews. Chili has many ethnic German people.
Where Hispanics get into trouble is how after they have rendered unlivable every society they have ever settled, they have the nerve to force their way into the USA and dictate to Anglos how the USA will be run and dictating we are going to use Spanish as our language. In effect, replicating the same situations they risked their lives to get the hell away from. Oh, and if any Americans calls them on it, they just call you a "racist". That term coming from a people who can see no good in any other people/culture in the world.
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Re "anonymous" entry about Canal 9 of Argentina, for the record, my tv show does not air on Canal 9 in Argentina since 2005.
Thorsen,
True, the other Latin Americans do not flee communism because they don't even know what it is. What they do know is that they're hungry, which is why the USA is working on closing borders tighter and deporting illegal aliens. Now, that has nothing to do with having Hispanic surnames, but with finding a better life. The problem is that the USA is then expected, by communists and those who hope to destroy its constitution and its system of government and economics, to share the wealth and become a welfare state, and that is simply unacceptable. Now, Thorsen, surely there must be some gray matter in your brain. Just remember that hatred for races or a people is called racism, and racists are usually swollen egos who have an inferiority complex, a la Hitler, Castro (he hates his own Cubans), and Chavez (He thinks he's the only intelligent being in Venezuela). As to Argentina, do you really want to say that that is a stable country? Its history is cluttered with bigotry, racism, corrupt politics, Perones, Evitas, and liars, other than the arrogance with which they think they're Parisians in the Pampas. As to Chile, well, Allende was leading them down the path of communism, and the present president is putting up a facade of being a reasonable socialist (if there's such a thing), but look at the riots in the streets, the people who get out of control. It's not that they have Hispanic or English or German surnames, it's just that the Spanish legacy of corruption, nepotism, me-first, etc., together with the very same corruption of spirit in the Nazis they welcomed after WWII have created another example of how all of humanity is all screwed up and wants to screw up the one country that still has some sanity: the USA. Your Thorsen, if that is your name, with your Scandinavian background (if that is really where you're from) come from Vikings who ate people like cannibals. The North is a land of savagery as well as any other. Just ask the Anglos, Saxons, Visigoths, Huns, etc. Still, there's a tiny bit of truth in what you say: If the illegal aliens from Latin America and Islamic countries are allowed in the USA indiscriminately, and if they get to demand to change the personality and way of life of the USA because of political correctness idiocy, then the USA will be doomed by it and the world will turn into chaos. Just ask the Chinese. Oh by the way, how soon before India and China start belting each other in their economic competition?
As to climate warming, it's not the USA that does all the petrol burning. China and India are big, guilty parties, and so is Brazil. So they get exemptions in the Kyoto Treaty and then ask the USA to accept it.
I know Canziani, Oppenheimer. He's a bureaucrat not a climatologist. A bureaucrat of the WMO. Nothing else. Global Warming is part of normaly cycles of the Earth, just like the changes in the magnetic poles. The North Atlantic engine, the Gulf Stream, is what controls hurricanes and what dictates what happens to the climate and the currents in most oceans and seas. None of this is the result of automobile emissions. I know the subject well. Those so-called scientists of the WMO are quacks backed up by corrupt governments and more bureacrats, and scientists looking for grants to live on.
If the Earth changes climate it will, no matter what we do with our automobiles.
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