Friends, kudos to the good people of Colombia, who have had enough of leftist misrule and have decided to move in a decidedly Trumpier direction. A very wise choice! This cements a wide-ranging trend in Latin America, much of which has moved rightward in recent years. No wonder Trump adores Hispanics so much!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: This event and the tendency of which it is a part is very good news. I wonder if at some point it might manifest a decisive effort to destroy the quasi governmental drug cartels, an effort we might do well to support.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteColumbia is an especially interesting country when it comes to drugs (mainly cocaine), in that there are four forces constantly battling each other: The quasi-military militias, the communist militias, the Drug Cartels, and the National Army attempting to get rid of all three of them.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Columbia reminds me that on the eve of our U.S. 250th Birthday, South America also had to win independence from Spain. With that said, there is a book on that subject (on my shelf, and read by me at least twice), titled "Liberators, Latin America's Struggle for Independence" by Robert Harvey (pub, 2000).
On that note, it is equally interesting and exciting to read about a huge Army crossing the Andes Mountains to fight the Spanish, as it is to read about Washington crossing the Delaware to fight British mercenaries.
Wishing the best for the nation of Columbia on the continent of South America.
Ray, I know shockingly little about Latin America's struggles for independence from Spain, but I'm sure you're right that they included plenty of high drama worthy of retrospective admiration. Like our own War of Independence, my sense is that in Latin America's case it was largely a case of one (local) elite throwing off the burdens of overlordship from another (imperial) elite, but that doesn't necessarily make the enterprise ignoble. Then again, my sympathies are usually with mighty empires, so I reserve judgement!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Colombia is a depressingly typical case study of drug money fueling (and even inventing) supposedly political/ideological conflict. Marxism, as Jack could tell us, wears many hats!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy and Ray et al from Jack: The various Latin American Spanish colonies never united as ours did. And Latin America has never approached our level of prosperity and governmental stability or that of most English speaking peoples.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious differences in Spanish and English civilization may be the major reason for this. But Spain itself can probably now be considered first world and you have pointed out notable Latin American progress toward the political maturity which fosters prosperity. So Spanish culture may not be the only major reason.
How about American domination of the Western hemisphere?On one hand , the amply demonstrated Monroe Doctrine kept Spain from coming back , kept Napoleon III from investing Mexico (who can say what consequences a 20th century French Mexico might have had ; Nazi Uboat and bomber bases ?), drove Spain from Cuba and Puerto Rico, built the Panama Canal which enabled the two ocean naval power of the U.S. against both Germany and Pacific expansionist Japan, quarantined Castro and may soon help deliver that "imprisoned isle" from his hellish legacy , may be delivering oil rich Venezuela from its bumbling quasi Marxist gangster regime and has warned China against getting too close Plenty of "pros" there.What are the cons, which, on balance , obtain? Our hunger for toxic drugs must be admitted together with the understandable attraction drugs have for impoverished Latin American peoples.
Jack, it's not my area of expertise, but I think you'd find that the per capita income of the U.S. and Latin America weren't that different 200 years ago. And even 100 years ago Argentina was among the world's most prosperous societies. So yes, we've outdone our neighbors to the south economically, but this hasn't always been the case, and it may not be Spanish culture, per se, that's to blame.
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