Articles and opinion columns by Latin American analysts who take an unwavering stand for freedom, including members and directors of the IID.

The dangerous syndrome of a collapsing star

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Discussion of how the futures of Bolivia and Argentina are related to the Collapsing Star Syndrome of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar. In Latin America the Myanmar syndrome sems to be about to take hold. In Argentina Alberto Fernandez has been elected president but chances that he will govern seem slim. In Bolivia Ms Añez the interim President, could suddenly fall prey to those that would rather find accommodation with the ancient regime than enact and unfold democratic reforms in the country that is South America’s heart. Both Ms Añez and Mr Fernandez could thus become the regional victims of the collapsing star syndrome.

TO CORRECT THE CRITICAL STATE OF THE TRANSITION TOWARDS DEMOCRACY IN BOLIVIA

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Ever since Evo Morales’ resignation the past 10th of November, the process to transition to democracy in Bolivia is underway under extremely dangerous and fragile conditions because “the dictator fell but not the dictatorship”.  The Interim President Jeanine Añez has the mandate to conduct free and fair elections as soon as possible but is faced with the dictatorship’s intact forces, the unclear functional opposition, narcotics’ trafficking, foreign intervention and violence.  A critical situation that urges an analysis and correction.

PERPETUAL IMPUNITY FOR EVO MORALES:  AMNESTY IN 2003 AND NOW AN AMNESTY LAW FROM THE DICTATORIAL LEGISLATIVE

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In Bolivia the dictator absconded, but not the dictatorship. The Organized Crime system implanted by Cuba and Venezuela, using the Castrochavist model of total power possession, maintains its dictatorial Legislative Assembly with two-thirds of votes and the entire Judicial system under its control. Under these conditions, the transition towards democracy is stuck and can end as a grim simulation. The true history that Castrochavists and Evo Morales’ apologists hide is that of “Evo Kills”. Nine presidents and over 40 ministers changed, but the situation always repeats itself with a permanent actor called Evo Morales. applies only to those citizens whose acts would have been committed in the time frame encompassing between 5 August to 4 November of 2003, within the realm of social protests against decisions taken by the National Government”.   This is tantamount to impunity for the topplers and persecution for the members of the democratic government.    It must be rescinded and annulled by President Janine Añez as part of reestablishing the “Rule of Law”. Now in 2019 following his departure from power it has been shown that Evo Morales, as an ordinary citizen, directs from Mexico terrorism, sedition, conspiracy and the same violence he has practiced for 30 years with his narcotrafficking defense forces. He also protects himself with impunity from a law that his “dictatorial legislative” has approved under a misnomer titled “Law of Constitutional Guarantees” to prevent the fugitive dictator, his accomplices, and his enablers to be tried and punished.

The Two Phases in the Transition Towards Democracy in Bolivia

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After almost 14 years of holding power in Bolivia, the Castrochavist system remains intact because the dictator collapsed but not the dictatorship. Evo Morales’ regime is a dictatorship that, applying the model orchestrated from Cuba and Venezuela, made disappear all the fundamental components of democracy in order to perpetuate itself in power, through: 1- The institutionalization of the violation of “human rights and basic freedoms”. 2- The elimination of the “Rule of Law”. 3- The ending of the “separation and independence of the branches of government”. 4- The supplanting of “free and fair elections” by a “vote-catching dictatorship”. 5- The ending of the “free social and political organization”. The second pase of the transition towards democracy will be under the responsibility of those who will be elected in the forthcoming elections, a date for which has yet to be determined, that is anticipated will be around the month of April of 2020. The purpose for the transition from dictatorship to democracy in Bolivia is the restoration of the Republic and all fundamental components of democracy, including the replacement of elected officials and candidates who comprise the dictatorship either as direct participants or as functional opposition members.  Until that happens, the dictatorship will not have ended.

What’s Happening With the Crisis in Chile?

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Since Chile transitioned to democracy, the right and the left have co-existed harmoniously. The center-left governed for 24 years and the center-right for about 5 years. Both have supported democracy, private entrepreneurship, free markets, and global integration. However, unhappy Chileans seem to have focused on several issues. First, Chileans were protesting the system of retirement and pension plans. Chileans have also protested the tax system. Education is another issue. Another problem Chileans have raised is the problem of health. In Chile, we have seen a remarkable example of a political class that assumed responsibility and has responded as democratic leaders should. This is in sharp contrast with what happened in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Evo Morales’ Bolivia, and Kirchner’s Argentina, where governments assumed a defensive posture and blamed third parties such as the opposition, globalization, the United States, or another remote entity.

Lessons from the Irishman

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Martins Scorsese just launched his latest creation: the story of Frank Sheeran a truck driver turned into a hitman by virtue of his relation to the mob master Russell Buffalino. Through Buffalino Sheeran meets Jimmy Hoffa the legendary International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ leader. The movie is quite opportune in these times of profound and multifaceted change when many leaders are confused and taken by surprise by events . And in the depths of confusion many strategic mistakes can be brought to bear. The first is the belief by one too many democratic forces. This besides being naïve is dangerous, as once organized crime gets a hold of anybody’s finances that person or institution becomes its operational base. The second mistake has been adopted by the leftist establishment in the region. Most of its leaders believe that concluding alliances with drug traffickers will accelerate the fall of the US. Finally, and equally important is the lesson about the law of negative returns and onerous liabilities. Let’s hope that the film gets a good audience in Latin America.

United States: the nation against the republic

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The collision is inevitable in 2020. The nation is woven with subjective perceptions and stereotypes. The republic, with laws that respond to social changes. The nation gives us the platonic idea of “the Americans”: they are white, blond, independent and brave, presumably with clear eyes, idealistic, nationalistic, enterprising. They worship the Christians’ god, are heterosexuals and communicate in English. The republic, at least today, claims that “the Americans” are of different colors and mixtures, believers or non-believers in any god, and are subject to rules or social conventions that do not take sexuality or gender into account. This dichotomy will reappear in the 2020 elections between Donald Trump, quintessence of the nation, and whoever is elected as Democratic candidate among the dozen who aspire to be the White House’s tenant. There are, old, young and mature people; Christians, Jews, atheists (in pectore) and agnostics; whites, blacks, half-breeds and Hispanics; gays decorated for their repeated presence in wars, men and women who are “average” south of the waist; radicals and conservatives; socialists and social democrats; billionaires, millionaires and middle classes; extremely educated people and less studious beings.

The Potemkin Village of Economic Rights

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In politics and economics, a Potemkin village means a hollow or false construct. Literally or figuratively, a construction created to deceive people into thinking that a situation is better than it really is. Historically, rights were viewed as the claims of individuals against the state. In more recent times, the notion of rights has ben expanded to include benefits demanded from the state such as welfare benefits, or medical care. Commendable as the idea may appear, economic rights, such as the right to housing, or to work, or to sustenance, are contrary to freedom because they necessitate government intervention. Notice that these new economic rights are not freedom from state interference. They are the opposite; these rights require state interference. They represent benefits that can only be bestowed by the state. “Economic rights are not claims of the individual against the state. They are claims on the state, demands for things to be granted by the state to the individual.  As such, they guarantee the individual’s dependence on the state for the necessities of life and thus are instruments for increasing state power over the individual.” History and reality show that, societies that treasure political rights are also the societies that offer the best economic and social possibilities for the citizenry. Sadly, some societies, or elements of society, have come to fancy political organizations that offer to give them their daily bread. They prefer polities that decree life’s purposes, rather than to face the burdens, responsibilities, and risks of a free life. These societies reject the freedom which leaves the goals of life up to the individual.  They deceive people into believing that their situation is better than it really is, in their Potemkin village.