South America is about to shift further to the left than ever before

When Guillermo Lasso, a former banker and finance minister who advocates shrinking the state and cutting taxes, defeated socialist Andrés Arauz by a narrow margin in Ecuador last month (after the Left won the legislature in convincing fashion), it appeared that the Left in Latin America was still too weak to challenge the neoliberals, outside of Venezuela and Bolivia.

But then Peru happened.

Peruvian far-left candidate Pedro Castillo is set to win the Andean country’s first-round presidential election, though he will face a run-off vote in June with an electorate fragmented after a year of political and economic crisis.
...
The top two candidates will advance to a second round in June.
Free marketeer Fujimori is a deeply divisive figure whose father, a former President, was jailed for human rights abuses. She herself has spent time on remand over claims that she received $1.2m from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which she denies.

All former Peruvian presidents who governed since 1985 have been ensnared in corruption allegation, some imprisoned or arrested in their mansions. One, Alan Garcia, died by suicide before police could arrest him over graft allegations related to Odebrecht in 2019.

Castillo, the only real leftist that was running, was never supposed to finish so high. It was a real shocker. According to recent polls, Castillo holds a strong 9-point lead in the run-off.
The Castillo v. Fujimori is a classic class battle.

Socialist Castillo's support is strongest in the poorest regions of Peru, and ranges between 46% and 60%, the poll showed, while Fujimori polls strongest in the richest, but less populous, areas of the country.

Peru could be the start of a major shift in politics in Latin America.
Let's start with next year's election in Brazil.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would defeat President Jair Bolsonaro by 18 percent in a possible second round in the 2022 elections, a poll revealed.

18% is a crushing victory.
However, the real shocker is how things are shaking out in Colombia.
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The latest poll did not just confirm others that put opposition Senator Gustavo Petro in the lead of the 2022 election race, but indicated that the former member of the M-19 rebel group may be unbeatable.

According to pollster Invamer, the progressive candidate has taken such a lead that if elections were held tomorrow, no candidate would stand a chance against Petro.
...Petro’s lead over candidates associated with former President Alvaro Uribe, the alleged mafia boss of President Ivan Duque, has completely marginalized the candidates of the corruption-ridden government coalition.

Colombia has always been reliably right-wing since the ice-age. So this would be a huge upset.
Another huge upset could happen in Chile, where communist Daniel Jadue is leading in the polls for November's election.

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Before you get excited, Jadue is slightly behind in head-to-head polls.

chile2.PNG

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@humphrey "Wokeness" has been TRAMPLING MY MIND, 24/7, FOR ABOUT 5 STRAIGHT YEARS NOW. It has ruined websites and hobbies I used to rely on and love, and destroyed friendships.

If this is really all because of an incredibly insidious (and rather peculiarly-targeted) Deep State psyop, I need tangible facts and information. PLEASE. My generation should NOT have to be dealing with this shit, let alone be eating it up the way so many are.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

CIA Uses Wokeness & Identity Politics In Recruitment Video

@The Liberal Moonbat [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiU51qpb2is]

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PriceRip's picture

@humphrey

Where do I go to signup. This sounds like the best thing since sliced bread. ...

I suppose I better include the word "snark" before someone thinks I am some sort of millennial or something ...

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janis b's picture

@humphrey

The audacity that they used Zora Neale Hurston in that context floored me. Total sacrilege of the author of my all time favourite book - Their Eyes Were Watching God.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@janis b It's not just a psyop; they actively enjoy desecrating what you hold dearest and rubbing your nose in your own powerlessness. They're EVIL...and they need to be stopped in ways they understand.

Superhero movies ring pretty hollow these days; by my lights, the superhero genre died in 2011, when Superman renounced his American citizenship:

RIPComics.jpg

Superhero comics got their start in the 1930s, when gangsters were a serious problem and none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt headed the government; since then, it has become clear that those gangsters have become the government, much as they were before the Roosevelt Revolution(s), and the entire paradigm in which superheroes have always operated has been thrown into crisis: How bad has it gotten? So bad that The Joker has been reimagined as a hero.

Where is our mailed fist of Justice now? The police are our enemy, the military are our enemy, the monied interests were ALWAYS our enemy, all the violent lone wolves we've seen have gone blindly after random innocents with no better motive than or vision beyond simian sectarianism (no wonder some people think they're ALL "false flags"), and "antifa" groups fail the smell test (their motto is supposedly "we go where they go" - so why do they never assault corporate boardrooms? Why hasn't there been ONE terrorist attack against Langely, EVER?); where, at long last, are those who will do violence on OUR behalf?

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

Even if it is their intention, I am not left feeling entirely powerless since their ways ignite a powerful response. Ultimately though, your question, "so why do they never assault corporate boardrooms? Why hasn't there been ONE terrorist attack against Langely, EVER?)”, is one to consider. I imagine the thought alone of confronting such military might is highly defeatest in nature.

Interesting Superhero perspective.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@humphrey I'd rather not have to watch a video of this; I'm too infested already.

Also, I'm asking about what's gone on BEFORE now; I want history, not current events. I need to know what led here, and how long it's been going on.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

@The Liberal Moonbat

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@humphrey You don't understand the effect this all has had on me; I spent years earning a social studies degree so I could understand what was happening to my country, and practically the moment I finally got it, THIS shit knocked me flat on my ass; all those years, all that study, feels like it was FOR NOTHING, and I don't know where to turn (3 of my most important professors are now DEAD, and 2 more have become weirdly inaccessible).

I don't even LIKE politics; I am involved, as I have always been involved, because I care. I was Greta Thunberg before SHE was Greta Thunberg (it just never occurred to me that skipping school could be GOOD for one's aspirations). I do this because extreme OCD makes it literally impossible for me to even THINK about anything else most of the time, and the things I WANT to do with my life have all been RUINED by this and more. If the frigging CIA is behind the recent "Woke" Inquisition against comedy, the arts, film, and fiction, I would like to know why, and why only "right-leaning" publications I'd scarcely have wiped my nose with before have been willing to say anything *even close* to something I recognize as consistent with what I know to be true: https://thefederalist.com/2015/05/28/the-lefts-waronnerds-shows-theyre-g....

You cited that Ben Norton guy; I figured you could elaborate on what he was talking about.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

TheOtherMaven's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

The government has had its tentacles deep into Hollywood since World War II, when as a matter of "national security", proposed scripts had to be vetted by the Office of War Information (Siamese-twin organization to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which became the CIA).

The tentacles relaxed a little after the war, but from then to now, no (US-based) military-themed movie gets made without the active cooperation of the US military, and they can and do dictate what shall and shall not be in the script.

It's probably safe to assume that the CIA has similar tentacles at least as deep and a great deal more stealthy.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

regarding how long it’s been going on, is forever. The currently ‘refined’ version is just a reflection of the increasingly dramatic portrayal of content in media in all forms. I’m sure you can find many historical references to the way the CIA uses whatever they consider ‘valuable’ material for recruitment.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

... about this history from the book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins.

I think it is the perfect starting point.

Here's a link to Ben Norton's recent articles.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@The Liberal Moonbat

by David Talbot if you are truly interested in the history of the CIA. Then you can follow their actions in Central and South America in particular right up to today (which is what people are talking about). It all fits right in with the history and founding of this very dangerous organization. And when I say dangerous, I mean to our democracy (such as it is) and the world.

John Kennedy saw the danger and mistakenly let it be known that he was going to reign in the CIA and put more oversight to it. The rest of Kennedy's life could have easily been predicted as it followed CIA history exactly.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

vtcc73's picture

but not unexpected from the events that followed the first election. The animosity and petty grudges between the candidates' not in the runoff and their supporters drove a huge "nulo" or none of the above vote.

The first positive is that Arauz's party's number of seats legislature is almost a majority. They need support of those nulo voting parties to move their agenda forward and Lasso has much less likelihood of being able to do all that he might otherwise do.

The second positive is that like Biden he has shown a willingness to compromise his pre-election positions that unlike Biden he has even less ability to unilaterally pass. Whether once in office he follows through is another issue entirely. I'm most concerned with his ability to negotiate World Bank and IMF loans. Those moneys always end up in the pockets of the richest segment of the country and the people always lose public resources and individual wealth. It's going to be an interesting fur years.

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"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

Thanks, gjohnsit.

Hope can be found even in these darkest of times.

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NYCVG

PriceRip's picture

with memories of sheltering children from "south of the border" on their way to sanctuary escaping weapons supplied by the USofA.

For me, the situation in Central, and South America is very personal.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

Look no further than China, a nation that can no longer be terrorized by economic threats to its trading markets by the US. China has built a sustainable economy that is resilient to the outside pressures of a failing hegemony. The article linked below explains why this is so, and how it affects Latin America..

China has positioned itself as the trusted strongman of the Global South.

China’s economic expansion across the Global South has gone parallel with the crisis of neoliberal model of development, which is incapable of generating new growth momentum. What are the strategic calculations and motivations behind Chinese engagement with the Global South? What are the domestic and international implications of the increasing Chinese presence in developing nations? This article tries to tackle these questions based on evidences from Latin America.

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Washington Consensus vs. China’s Model

Developing countries are usually influenced by the ideological soft power of Western world. Western policy makers and opinion leaders simply attribute the problems to the backwardness of their own political systems, which are not as progressive as those of the developed countries. Thus, there are various “color revolutions” promoted in the name of “democracy” and “freedom”, which turn economic and social conflicts into political conflicts.

China does not impose any political conditions or development models in exchange for foreign aid or investment. This flexible way has enabled China to maintain friendly relations with politically diverse nations while pursuing its objectives. It is Beijing’s belief that economic cooperation should take precedence over political divergence and that the former’s success would promote political relations. This strategy has perpetuated through the 1990s as well as in the new millennium.

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The "America First" dogma of Donald Trump's foreign policy, which had the US backing out of its treaties and tearing up its international agreements, severely damaged US credibility throughout the world. Now the world has seen that the Biden Administration has fully embraced Trump's foreign policy when it comes to multilateral issues and the well-being of Developing nations.

So, when the US puts the squeeze on countries of the Global South and tries to force them to break their profitable trade and infrastructure agreements with China, what must the US expect? These countries know who tampered with their elections, installing US stooges as their leaders. As the Latin scholar Zuleta puts it, “its general neglect and a historically reactionary and inconsistent foreign policy toward the region have led to a situation in which U.S.-Latin America ties are only superficially cordial.”

Latin America can carve a niche in China’s complete industrial chain and massive market, which are open to both public and private sectors of all economies as long as they abide by China’s territorial integrity, mutual respect and mutual gains. The best bet for the region might be dealing with any superpowers, partners, economies with flexibility and based on its own national interests.

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Source:
CHINA AS AN ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL SUPERPOWER
Chinese Relations with the Global South: evidences from Latin America
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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato