August 19, 2008

Ortega offers asylum to narco-traffickers

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is widely considered to be one of the Cuban dictatorship’s strongest allies, behind perhaps only Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales in his outspoken efforts to subvert the hopes and dreams of the Cuban people.

But the common goals shared by Fidel, Raul and Daniel go well beyond the narcissistic need to maintain their hold on power by any means necessary. Today we can officially throw the drug trade into the loop.

No doubt most Cuba-watchers are all-too-familiar with the tale of General Arnaldo Ochoa and the drug-trafficking efforts of the Castro regime that led to his execution in 1989, and so it was no surprise to open today’s edition of El Diario/La Prensa and find an EFE wire service piece on Daniel Ortega’s latest drug-related fracas.

Ortega announced yesterday, that FARC guerrillas Martha Perez Gutierrez and Doris Torres Bohorquez - granted political asylum in Nicaragua back in June – have been joined by a Colombian national dubbed “Esperanza,” who was inside a FARC camp in Ecuador during a military operation earlier this year by the Colombian Army launched against the one-time revolutionary Army-turned drug cartel. In effect, Ortega has offered his unabashed support to the FARC and the violent drug trade it runs in the Colombian jungle.

So exactly why is it that much of Latin America seems stuck in a perpetual cycle of poverty and violent lawlessness? I would argue that when we either elect, or allow leaders known to operate in criminal circles – be it drug cartels or paramilitary death squads – to continue in office, we set a precedent that allows for that same behavior to be accepted by society as a whole. Until we hold our leaders to account for their actions both before and after assuming the highest of offices, our nations – that is to say Latin America – can never hope to enjoy any amount of real success – be it economic or social. Violence will continue to metastasize and our ultimate hopes and dreams to foster socio-economic development will amount to nothing more than hollow slogans and shattered dreams.

Many of the leaders currently holding power in the region of our origin have acted in such a manner that our nations have become an embarrassment. We are expected to under-perform on the world stage and forgiven for our “lack of ability” to create the tools necessary to develop our nations into success stories on both the economic and social fronts.

I for one, am unwilling to accept this.

Posted by Anatasio Blanco at August 19, 2008 09:52 AM

Comments

It's unfortunate for years that we have leaders such as the Castros, Ortega, Chavez, Morales, Correa, etc that give out false promises to people only to screw them over at the end. One theory I have is just the way Latino men are. They tend to be controlling, chauvanistic and wanting power. Anything less is unacceptable. If there's mistakes then us Latino men have our egos, and instead of finding solutions to the problem, we exasperate it more. It's just something I've always thought about, but obviously, there's other factors, and not all Latino men are like this.

Posted by: j2tharome [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 19, 2008 11:36 AM

Latin America? Try Latrine America. It's much more in keeping with reality. Besides, Latin properly refers to the people and culture of ancient Rome. Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez are not even remotely Latin, in the true sense of that term.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 20, 2008 03:09 PM


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