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| Sunday, 22 January 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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More Americans turn Left by Jayatilleke de Silva
It is a wind not a storm or even a gale. If the universal law of passage of quantity into quality that is found in nature, society and thought holds true the onslaught of the storm can no longer be ruled out or artificially delayed. It was only a month ago we witnessed the election of Evo Morales first native American Indian as the President of Bolivia. Who are his idols? Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. He has not studied at Harvard or Oxford. No does he belong to the elite that ruled Bolivia for ages. He is a simple campesino, a coca farmer. The plight of the downtrodden is not alien to him. He was preceded by Tabes Vasques of Peru, a committed socialist who became President. He, in turn was preceded by Lula da Silva, a worker's leader who took charge of Brazil, the biggest country in South America.
The have in practice changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of the poor in the continent who have been able to assert themselves for the first time in history. Now another socialist Michelle Bachelet, a 54-year-old a paediatrician, a former political prisoner under Pinochet and a single mother has been elected President of Chile last Sunday. Country of contrasts She has vowed to change Chile. Though the Centre-Left coalition Concertacion that ruled Chile since the restoration of democracy in 1990 has been able to witness economic growth the lot of the poor is still poor. Though nearly 12 times as big as Sri Lanka, it has a population of only 16 million. In spite of being rich in copper, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals and hydropower resources it depends heavily on imported gas and petroleum that is a strain on the economy. Geographically it is a country of contrasts. Andes, the longest mountain range occupies much of the land. Incidentally, it has over 50 active volcanoes and the most arid desert in the world-Atacama. Edged between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean Chile is bordered on the North by Peru, on the East by Bolivia and Argentina. The Pacific coast is its western border. In Sri Lanka as in many countries of the world Chile attracted attention due to the unique feat of experimenting a revolutionary change over to socialism through elections as opposed to armed revolution. That was in early 1970s when socialism was on the ascent. We witnessed how capitalism took revenge by overthrowing the government of President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. Compared to the 9/11 terror in Santiago in 1973, the 9/11 terror in New York in 2001 seems child's play. Michelle Bachelet's father, an Air Force Brigadier was tortured and killed by Pinochet's fascist regime and Michelle herself, a medical student then, was put in prison and tortured together with her mother. Fraud Now the wheel of history has turned 360 degrees with Michelle elected President and Pinochet indicted for human rights violations and fraud. Incidentally Michelle Bachelet becomes the first South American woman not connected to a former politician who was elected as President of a country. Four south American women preceded her as Presidents - Janet Jagan of Guyana who was elected leader after the death of her husband Cheddy Jagan in 1997. Lida Gueiler Tejada who served as interim President following a military coup in Bolivia in 1979 - 80, Isabelle Martinez de Peron, who was sworn in as interim President of Argentina after her husband President Juan Peron died in 1974 and Rosalie Ortega who briefly acted as President of Ecuador in 1997. In July Mexico will elect its next President where Leftist candidate, Mexico City Mayor Lopez Obrador is tipped to win bringing a Left-leaning regime to the border of the United States. In Nicaragua the Sandinistas are preparing for a comeback, this time through the ballot. It should be recalled here that the Sandinista government was brought down by Washington through subversive funding of the Contras and other means, which were found to be illegal by international jurisdiction. The Monroe Doctrine as well as its Roosevelt Corollary is being thrown to the dustbin of history by the people in the continent of America. The Free Trade Area of the Americas so much marketed by Washington has so far failed to materialise and may have to be abandoned. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
A discernible Leftward political wind is blowing across America. Don't be
amazed. It is a fact. I am referring to the Continent of America, to the
America we learnt in geography textbooks and not to the United States of
America which is after all just one country in the Continent of America,
however big and strong it is. 
Argentina after long upheavals chose Nestor Kirchner as President who has
now almost erased the huge debt to the World Bank. Coupled with Cuba, the
lonely socialist country in America all these countries form a formidable
bloc that is opposed to the neo-conservative ideology of Washington. It's
not passive opposition. 
