They are using parts of an ideology just like a sexual abuser uses parts of their victims.
Latin-America: The Big Carpet that Holds it All...Until it Doesn't
Sweeping under the carpet seems to be the favorite hobby of every politician in the world (there might be honorable exceptions. Let me know if you know one).
In the case of the current electoral events in Latin America, the victory of Lula Da Silva in Brazil adds up to the pressure of the recently elected president of Colombia. The whole continent is now under the “legitimate” control of the left with all the implications of that scenario. That “legitimacy” is just one of the results of national and international under-carpet sweeping. Time will prove how naïve or cynical the apologists who sold these electoral options and beneficial were.
It is not simply a matter of ideology. These leaders are far from ideologues; they are not married to one; they are not even engaged. They are just using parts of an ideology just like a sexual abuser uses parts of their victims. More than fifty years of Castros/Canel and more than twenty years of Chavez/Maduro should teach the international community a thing or two about what these movements actually stand for. Corruption, inefficiency, poverty, backwardness, organized crime, human rights violations, money laundering, environmental crimes, among other issues are inexorably associated with these presidents and other movements that are on their way to consolidate control in other countries in the region. Argentina is another great example. Chile is flirting with radical changes, but it may take a bit longer.
Even if these so-called leftist leaders do not cause their peoples the same amount of damage caused to Cubans and Venezuelans, the geopolitical implications of their actions will sooner or later bill the first world countries who keep sweeping under carpets hoping they will not step on them and stumble. Maybe the current first-world leaders will not have to deal with the consequences of their inactions and even encouragements, but their peoples will.
When the carpet is finally lifted people will find all kinds of trash there, some of which will be hard to link to its rightful owners. It will be obviously too late for those who thought that reputation, actions, and associations meant something in politics. Sure as hell it means everything for the average citizen and sometimes the stigma follows their future generations. It would be nice if the same principles could be applied to those who can do so much harm to so many people around the world.
Thanks for your reading
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