General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: No progressives should be demanding new elections in Venezuela due to Chavez' health... [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Rumors about Obama's health aren't going to help instigate a bloodsoaked coup...rumors about Chavez' health, by adding to the uncertainty and giving the right-wing there a chance to call for a "man on horseback", could very do that.
That is the difference.
After all we have done in Latin American history...none of it ever positive...we have a moral obligation to do no further harm there. We have an obligation to leave the Latin Americans alone and let them sort out their problems by themselves, on their own terms.
It's about not being imperialist...it's about letting go of the whole McKinley/Teddy Roosevelt-on up to JFK/Johnson/Nixon/Reagan legacy of assuming that WE have the right to determine the hemisphere's destiny.
That's the legacy we HAVE to totally abandon.
Latin America belongs to the Latin Americans.