Reply #17: This guy (Steve Chapman) doesn't know diddle about South America, does he?

[Peace Patriot]

"That was the story in much of the world this year, where the movement toward democracy often stalled or yielded unpromising outcomes...."

Not true in South America! Early this year, Bolivia's first indigenous Andes Indian president, socialist Evo Morales, was inaugurated (elected in late 2005)--a tremendous victory for leftist (majorityist) government and democracy, and we ended 2006 with another remarkable election, of Rafael Correa, a young leftist economist, as president of Ecuador, with nearly 60% of the vote--a major blow to the Bush Junta and global corporate predators--and, also, with the re-election of Hugo Chavez, as president of Venezuela, with over 60% of the vote--yet another blow to fascists and corporatists. South America now has leftist (majorityist) governments in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador--and, in the next election cycles, Peru and Paraguay will likely join them, making it a near total leftist revolution in South America (Colombia will be the only dinosaur left--bribed as they are by $1.5 billion in military aid from the Bush Junta over several years). In addition, leftist Daniel Ortega (leader of the Sandinista revolution) was elected president in Nicaragua. And a huge leftist movement is in progress in southern Mexico and Mexico City.

I'd say it was a very good year, indeed, for democracy in Latin America. Despite the setback of a corporatist stolen election in Mexico, and brutal repression of the peaceful, democratic uprising in Oaxaca (in Mexico), this trend toward democracy and truly representative government in Latin America is here to say. It cannot be decapitated. It is a groundswell--coming from the grass roots, and taking advantage of great work by the OAS, the Carter Center, EU election monitoring groups and local civic groups on TRANSPARENT elections. It is unstoppable. And it represents the coming to political power, at last, of the vast poor, often indigenous population, so long neglected, repressed and brutalized by US-backed dictators.

And they have an agenda--best summed up by the opening of talks among these new leftist leaders in South America of a South American "Common Market," with its own currency, like the euro (to get off the US dollar). Other common themes are economic justice, the use of the region's rich natural resources to benefit the people who live there, self-determination, regional political and economic cooperation in many spheres, and opposition to exploitative US-style "free trade" (global corporate predation), and to World Bank/IMF enslavement.

The excitement in South American politics is palpable. It is the result of a great increase in participation in politics and government, by people who were previously excluded--and new leaders arising who are in sympathy with the poor and believe that government should serve everyone. The elections of Evo Morales and Rafael Correa solidified this great revolution in the Andes region. Both of them were actively opposed by the Bush regime. They are friends with Chavez. (In fact, Correa repeated Chavez's UN remark that Bush is "the devil" during his campaign, and it obviously gained him votes). Chavez was expected to win. What was remarkable in his win was how big it was, and also that everything went peacefully--no more disruptions and coup attempts by the rightwing opposition.