Hispanics and Socialism, Venezuelan view

Preface: this is serious. Also, the information I derived comes from investigative efforts of my own, given my access to a great number of foreign communities. No articles are supportive or unsupportive of what I report except as may actually represent truths being to to me. In other words, the only research I do in this essay has been routine political interest viewing (mainly YouTube). Many of the c99 are eminently more suited in their research capabilities--and patience--than me to write stories based on larger scale interactions, large enough to generate noticeable media presence.

N = 5.

Scientifically, we enumerate the subjects providing the cohort reported using the unspecified symbol N (N as in number).

Inspiration for this composition: recollection of several personal experiences immediately coming to mind when watching this Tim Pool video. Although the entire video is fascinating, and likely correct, the stimulus is found in the first third: Hispanic antipathy toward socialism. I find the reasoning convincing, based upon my small sampling.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOLaneRTvs0]

Background: my parents lived many years in Florida's infamous Broward County, current home to DWS. I know the area well--down to Key West and up to Orlando. Many trips in many differing social settings. In the condominium block where my parents dwelt, was a condominium owned by a Venezuelan physician. Never met the man. He stayed in Broward Co. about 6 months a year. Other Venezuelans were around, though I had no interactions. This was 40 years ago.

Venezuelans have been coming into the US in growing numbers since then, though I leave it to those research-minded to derive the actual number. Most of them VZ folks stay in the southeast or NY-NJ. We west coasters get some coming our way, also.

The first two individuals, although fluent in English had about the same interest in Venezuelan politics as most of our citizens have in American politics.

Neither of the pair could assent to or deny that their were large numbers of armed Chavistas in the hinterlands, supportive of Maduro. The economy of the region from which the couple came was doing about the same as usual. This area was not wealthy by any standards but living costs were not high. The pair didn't know much about socialism, Guaido, Maduro. For them, life was going on as usual. Neither affluent nor destitute.

Digression: Recently on Jeopardy, none of the three contestants could identify the picture of Adam Schiff, even when Alex gave this clue: head of House Intelligence Committee.

The second pair I encountered happened to be married to each other--the husband being a neurologist. From Caracas. From the east side of Caracas. Professionally speaking, I was (and am) in awe of his knowledge. He spoke perfect English. In his office, he possessed neurostimulatory medical devices that not even some regional U.S. medical centers possess. He possessed them, he says, until the Health Authorities confiscated all his diagnostic equipment and medications. He was then medically re-located to the West side of Caracas, the lower class area. In this new location, the doctor was not allowed to see private patients. Nor was he permitted to obtain much diagnostic equipment, such as electroencephalogram machine, a neurologist's bread-and-butter, as it were.

The fifth individual, middle class, fluent in English, was not political but had ill feelings toward both Maduro and Guaido. She confirmed that food and households are in short supply or totally lacking. This condition exists apparently pretty much everywhere in the coastal VZ regions, which generally require more wherewithal in order to survive comfortably. Starvation was not reported by the fifth person, but as noted, she was middle-class.

So, three of the five thought ill of socialism. The other two remain oblivious, a condition which has neither helped nor hurt them).

Hispanics and Socialism

If you have watched the video, then you can understand the reticence of many Hispanics, for instance Venezuelans and Cubans to live under socialism. In the current political climate, increasingly dominated by the Squad, Bernie Sanders, Justice Democrats, the raging leftists are antagonizing conservative and anti-socialist moderates from the Dem. Party.

Prediction: repeating an idea I first posted in 2017: the D party will be destroyed by 2020 due to traumatic trifurcation: The raging, virtue-signaling, violence tolerant, woke Dem-Soc faction will be number one. Number two will be the corruptocrats (Hillaryites, Obamaites, etc). Number three will be the progressive realist party, spear-headed, hopefully, by Tulsi Gabbard.

Share
up
3 users have voted.

Comments

edg's picture

Quick, name one Hispanic majority country that has been allowed to implement socialism without interference from the United States. IOW, no coups, no embargoes, no sanctions, no CIA funded counter-socialists, etc. Cuba? Bwaa-ha-ha. Try 61 years of US fuckmongery. Nicaragua? Remember the Contras. Venezuela? I rest my case.

up
6 users have voted.
Alligator Ed's picture

@edg @edg 18 X 0 (or, if you prefer todos naciones in America del Sud)

up
4 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

what an ignorant (if hubristic know-it-all) punk tim poop is!

on edit: freudian slip; i'd meant to type 'tim fool'.

what he doesn't know about AOC, actual successful socialist/communist nations that 'people fled' cuz they hated socialism is epic. VZ under chavez, oh, my, did he lift us the lives of the citizenry by socializing all resources. under maduro, yes, he's been forced by egregious sanctions to privatize some of their oil, and that's a shame.

but why do you think first obomba, then trump, had declared VZ 'a direct threat to amerikan security'? yes: because their socialism raised the standard of living! evo morales: yes, that was a US/OAS/CIA putsch, and the new puppet administration is now full-tilt- nazi.

the communitst fidel/ché guevarra overthrow of US puppet batista? good riddance! and the bay of pigs invasion in 1971 (looks as though the wiki at least has this first part right):

The Bay of Pigs invasion (Spanish: invasión de bahía de Cochinos; sometimes called invasión de playa Girón or batalla de Girón, after the Playa Girón) was a failed attempt by US-sponsored Cuban exiles to reverse Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, beginning with a military invasion of northern Cuba.

A Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored rebel group, Brigade 2506, attempted an invasion on 17 April 1961 that lasted just three days. Brigade 2506 was a counter-revolutionary military group made up mostly of Cuban exiles who had traveled to the United States after Castro's takeover, but also included some US military personnel.[6] Trained and funded by the CIA, Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. Launched from Guatemala and Nicaragua, the invading force was defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, under the direct command of Castro.

oh, boo-hoo; the marco rubio ilk lost some of their corrupt holdings! nicaragua? same tale here and again: banana and pineapple corporate overthrows. and the beat goes on.

actual communism and socialism actually work, if left alone. not the AOC 'my kind of (fake) socialism isn't like VZ; more like norway's and sweden's!'

up
2 users have voted.
Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis The U.S. has never looked kindly on any governments departing from the exceptional viewpoint of our eggsceptional country. If it ain't capitalism, it ain't Amurrikan. I disagree about Communism working well for the people. The only previously extant varieties have failed miserably, such as China and USSR. Socialism, in the form of mixed economies, properly regulated and easy on the micromanaging do function well. Whether or not socialism will work well with large populations, such as Amerika, is yet to be determined.

Spoiler alert: Bernie won't be the one to bring socialism to the USG, but AOC might. It will be hilarious AOC primaries Chuckles or Cathy G. and wins. I would love to b a fly on the wall in NY Dem establishment HQ on election night if that happens. Drinks on the house (genuine swamp water from East River bottlers).

up
0 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

and under any number of blockades and sanctions. dunno where you'd find an honest current portrayal, given marco rubio, pompeo, and the US Imperialum-centric HRW's assessments of 'no human rights', all of which are portrayed on this hashtag.

but here's some pro-cuban propaganda ; )

@BrunoRguezP Jan 17

Sec. Pompeo deceives no one. In Latin America and the Caribbean we all know about the #US government support to the most horrendous dictatorships in the hemisphere, its history of crimes, its complicity in disappearances and tortures. #Cuba, instead, is a symbol of freedom.

and of course rubio, pompeo, wasserman-schultz, et.al. are well-represented. but small wonder that cuba defied the VZ blockade and sent a boatload of docs and medicines to help out, and that russia sent wheat, etc.

yes, AOC may run for congress and win (she's very popular and well-funded outside of her district), but she isn't a Socialist, she's a 'stakeholder capitalist' (public/private partnerships), as is her green new deal.

will she be in davos soon? stay tuned.

up
1 user has voted.