South of the Border
I just finished a documentary called South of the Border, by Oliver Stone. The documentary records Oliver traveling to various South American to interview anti-imperialist leaders.
I have always been interested in South America, but I guess until watching this I wasn't truly aware of the impressive wave of left-leaning, anti-U.S.-imperialist movements in South America. Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Cuba are all in this boat. I had no idea that it was truly the majority of South America!
How ironic that the country most “buddy buddy” with the U.S. govt (at this point) is Colombia! Ha! What a shocker!
The film does not capture the “negative” things these leaders have done, nor does it seek to get an idea of what the people think/feel. It is pretty much just him interviewing the various presidents. I really liked it. It spawned a new interest in me and I began to research Latin American politics a little more deeply.
Some interesting things:
“We are brothers and sisters. That’s one of the reasons for the wrath of the empire. You know that Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world. And the biggest gas reserves in this hemisphere, the eighth in the world. Up until seven years ago, Venezuela was a U.S. oil colony. All of our oil was going up to the north, and the gas was being used by the U.S. and not by us. Now we are diversifying. Our oil is helping the poor. We are selling to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, some Central American countries, Uruguay, Argentina.”
Kristina Kirchner, president of Argentina-
Q:Is there a chance, then, that you could serve as an interlocutor between the U.S. and the so-called Chavez bloc?
“I think America has more than enough maturity and intelligence to start exercising its world leadership responsibly. And we need that from the U.S. But there also needs to be a spirit of multilateralism in the hemisphere for once. I don't know if the U.S. and Chavez require an interlocutor; but the only advice I can give is to engage countries with regard for their popular sovereignty. When you look at Chavez and Lula and Bolivian President Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, you realize that perhaps for the first time in [Latin America's] history, those who govern actually look like those being governed.”
“I think America has more than enough maturity and intelligence to start exercising its world leadership responsibly. And we need that from the U.S. But there also needs to be a spirit of multilateralism in the hemisphere for once. I don't know if the U.S. and Chavez require an interlocutor; but the only advice I can give is to engage countries with regard for their popular sovereignty. When you look at Chavez and Lula and Bolivian President Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, you realize that perhaps for the first time in [Latin America's] history, those who govern actually look like those being governed.”
Q: Many American and European holders of tens of billions of dollars in Argentine debt are still insisting on restructuring terms that leave them with less heavy losses.
Our restructuring plan isn't something capricious. In fact, it's based on economic and, more important, capitalist rationality, because we've determined it's the only way we can sustain the economic growth that the IMF, which was the original devil in this whole situation, had always insisted on from the beginning. There is always risk involved. You can't be a capitalist only when there are investment profits but then a socialist when you experience losses.
Our restructuring plan isn't something capricious. In fact, it's based on economic and, more important, capitalist rationality, because we've determined it's the only way we can sustain the economic growth that the IMF, which was the original devil in this whole situation, had always insisted on from the beginning. There is always risk involved. You can't be a capitalist only when there are investment profits but then a socialist when you experience losses.
Chávez, notes The Wall Street Journal, has become a “tropical IMF.” And indeed, as the Venezuelan president told me, he wants to abolish the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, with its brutal free-market diktats, and replace it with an “International Humanitarian Fund,” an IHF, or more accurately, an International Hugo Fund. In addition, Chávez wants OPEC to officially recognize Venezuela as the cartel’s reserve leader, which neither the Saudis nor Bush will take kindly to.
“Morales' unorthodox behavior contrasts with the usual manners of dignitaries and other political leaders in Latin America. For example, on January 28, 2006 he cut his salary by 57% to $1,875 a month. He is single and, before the election, he shared a flat with other MAS officers. Consequently, his older sister, Esther Morales Ayma, fulfills the role of First Lady. He has two children from different mothers, Eva Liz Morales Alvarado and Álvaro Morales Paredes...He also aroused much interest in his casual choice of dress after being pictured often in his striped sweater with world leaders during his world tour. Some speculated that he would wear it to the official inauguration, where he actually dressed in a white collared dress shirt without a necktie (itself unheard of in Latin America in modern times for a head of state at their own inauguration) and a black suit jacket that was not a part of a conventional suit or tuxedo. He never dresses formally in any type of business suit. The sweater he often wears (in Bolivian Spanish, a chompa, a Quechua word) became his unofficial symbol and copies of it sold widely throughout Bolivia. Some accounts described Morales's signature sweater as alpaca-wool; others reported that it was actually made of common acrylic, because native materials had become too expensive for most Bolivians and were sold mostly in the tourist trade."
“Morales was first elected President of Bolivia on December 18, 2005, with 53.7% of the popular vote. Two and a half years later he substantially increased this majority; in a recall referendum on August 14, 2008, more than two thirds of voters voted to keep him in office.[2][3] Morales won presidential elections again in December 2009 with 63% and continued to his second term of presidency”
“For Americans it is hard to believe but lots of Venezuelans like Chavez because of some of his social programs---previous governments did virtually nothing for the poor majority of the population and Chavez has done quite a bit (whether his programs are sustainable is another issue).”
“For all this the women credit Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the first Brazilian president whose background is as humble as theirs. Accordingly, they will vote for him on October 1st, in the first round of Brazil's general election. And so will many others like them. The man who proclaims the poor to be “every cell” of his body is backed by 57% of the voters who earn up to 700 reais a month, according to Datafolha, a polling firm. Against this bearded Evita, Geraldo Alckmin, a former governor of São Paulo, Brazil's most populous state, has been struggling.”
“...what’s going on now is that some rightwing movements are transforming me into a pawn in the domestic politics of their countries, by making statements that are groundless. About candidates like Morales [of Bolivia], for example. They said I financed the candidacy of President Lula [of Brazil], which is totally false. They said I financed the candidacy of Kirchner [of Argentina], which is totally false. In Mexico, recently, the rightwing party has used my image for its own profit. What’s happened is that in Latin America there is a turn to the left. Latin Americans have gotten tired of the Washington consensus—a neoliberalism that has aggravated misery and poverty.”
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