« Democrat's Victory? Pffft. | Babalu Blog - Main Page | Rumsfeld resigning? »

I'm afraid it may be too late, no matter how people vote. Chavez has too much control and money, and absolutely no intention of being voted out, ever. He cheated before and will do so again if need be, just as he'll do anything else it takes to stay in power.

He's not the real problem, anyway. The problem is the people who made it possible for him to get where he is now, even though it was obvious all along that he was extremely bad news. He was never subtle. He's got cheap thug written all over him; everybody knew he'd previously tried to overthrow a legitimately elected government by force, and he was a known Castro lover (not just sympathizer, but LOVER). It was a no-brainer, or should have been.

Look at Nicaragua with Ortega. I just don't know how to explain that, because it's totally irrational. What the hell is wrong with those people? Do they even deserve any better?

Asombra

At the risk of sounding like (gasp!) a liberal, there is nothing "wrong with those people." They are misguidedly voting for what they perceive to be their best interest.

Latin American countries, and particularly Central American countries, have always been run like giant plantations by small elites with the support of the military. There is no significant middle class. The vast majority of people live miserably. They know from past experience that the right wing elite and the military do not improve their lot. So, they hear pretty words and promises from left-wingers and take a chance. Is this a good thing? Of course not. But it is not irrational or difficult to understand when viewed from where they sit.

I was in Guatemala last year on business. I met a low level functionary with the department of education in Guatemala City. He was Mayan from a small village on the south west part of the country--no paved roads, no running water, iffy electric service, haphazard schools, etc.

When he found out I was Cuban he assumed I was from the Island. He began to very sincerely praise castro and the revolution. He told me his younger brother was at that very moment in Cuba completing his medical studies. The brother had been identified as a bright young man, with no future in Guatemala. He was in Cuba with all expenses paid by the Cuban government. He was scheduled to return within a few months to serve the Mayan villagers in the area where he came from.

I know this is propaganda. I know castro exports doctors against their will--tantamount ot slave labor. I know castro exports hospitals and medicine while Cubans do without. I know all these things. But, how do you convince this Mayan, person to person, when his personal experience ("from deprivation to medical school and a life of service") tells him otherwise?

So, while to us it may be counterintuitive, it really isn't that difficult to explain or that irrational that many people choose to vote for someone who claims to offer them a change. There is plenty of blame to go around.

Please correct me if I'm wrong!

The Nicaraguan people voted 62% against Daniel Ortega. The problem with the election was that there were TOO many candidates running. Ergo, the Ortega's opposition vote was divided among several other candidates, whereas, Daniel Ortega had his devoted own followers which ONLY had one candidate to choose from.

Firefly,

Strictly speaking your statement is wrong. It is like saying that 70% of the people voted against Montealegre.

But, even if we accept your proposition, that is still a whole lot of "devoted followers" voting for Ortega. Why did they?

LG, your argument would be more convincing (to me) if Ortega were a more or less unknown or unproven quantity who promised all the right things and so on. However, besides looking very sleazy and disreputable, he has a horrible and perfectly known track record. It's a disgrace he and his crowd were never made to pay for the crimes, mismanagement and outright robbery they committed the last time they were in power. To add insult to injury, they were allowed to continue operating in the nation's government as if they'd never done anything very objectionable. If somebody violently rapes your daughter, would you ever let him go near her or another daughter again? As I said, given the circumstances, this was an absolute no-brainer, or at least it should have been. It's a truly sad situation.

Asombra, I was just about to write something along the lines of your post. But you said it better than I could have. The situation with Ortega is really f***ed up.

And speaking of rape, wasn't Ortega accused of molestation by his own step-daughter? At least, that's what I remember.

Asombra,

Your point is well taken. But, I think that my point is still valid. People don't go to the polls purposely looking to vote for the "wrong" candidate. They vote for the candidate they think will look out for their best interests, and who will make their lives better. If they thought that the right offered them a chance, they would have voted for the right. But, history (and some propanganda) have convinced them that their best hope lies with the left.

Looking specifically at the Nicaraguan election, is there some degree of ignorance involved? Is there some component of corruption? Sure. But I think you cannot ignore the history of the area.

Like I said, I think there is plenty of blame to go around. I may be naive, but if rightist politicians in Latin America offered any real hope, stopped the corruption, and acted ethically, then the Ortegas, the Chaveses and Evos would never be elected. And, you would not have to complain about "irrational" voters.

There were two factors that really screwed up Nicaraguan elections. One, was that there were too many candidates. The other one was that the great majority of those who voted for Ortega were young people. I dislike to admitt it, because I am part of the youth population, but the truth is that young people are more supceptible to be gullible, naive, stupid, and uninformed.
Moreover, because they were young they do not have vivid experiences of what happened in Nicaragua, and if you add that to the fact that the Sandinistas were allowed to roam around without paying for their crimes, you got yourself a bunch of leftist uninformed kids who believe the promises of "Equality of classes" and "working for the poor" and commie slogans of the future.
Sadly enough, this tendency can be seen in university students as well who are supposed to be more educated. I know cause I see them everyday in class.
It is trully sad that the youth population of Nicaragua was allowed to forget (or maybe they were never taught) the foes in the past and the crimes committed by the Sandinistas and Daniel Ortega.

qbanartemisa,

Don't be too hard on the youngsters. Remember what Winston Churchill said: "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

It is in the very nature of the young to be naively liberal, idealistically generous, etc.

Well LittleGator I say it because I am only 18, and I just have to look around my university and I see them wearing their Che t-shirts, having no idea that he stands for the death of many innocent cubans.
Maybe it is because I lived in Cuba that I know what really happens when the left takes over. Maybe harsh reality or in other cases learned experiences, is what makes younger people stop being naive.
I saw a news coverage of a reporter going around Managua's streets, and the ones cheering for Ortega were all young people. Then he asked some young girl if she REALLY thought that Ortega was a solution, and her answer to that was the same old commie propaganda. The reporter seemed frustrated and I was frustrated that such is the composition of the voters in Nicaragua.

Como dice el dicho: Un gran idiota siempre encuentra a un idiota mas grande que lo admire.
And this perfectly suits Daniel Ortega and his supporters.

Well, LG, you keep your opinion and I'll keep mine. This situation is too blatant, too extreme, too obvious to allow for the benefit of the doubt. It's like a dog returning to its own vomit. I have no sympathy at all for people like that fat pig Aleman, the former president of Nicaragua, just as I have no sympathy for Batista. They both set the stage for the disasters to come. But Ortega and company already screwed Nicaragua up, down and sideways. There is no excuse for letting him have at it again. I don't care how lackluster or uninspiring the other candidates were; they were unquestionably the lesser evil. This does not require higher education or above-average intelligence. I suppose I can pity those who went for Ortega now, assuming they thought it was somehow for the best, but I can't respect them. I just hope we never have anything like this happen in Cuba, though I know it's not out of the question.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: