a comment on ecuador and my reply

eastsidedemocrat makes this comment on my ecuador post...

Gutierrez was a left wing rabble rouser after the mold and example of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Like Chavez, he was an army Colonel who participated in the overthrow of a previous (also left-of center) government. Unlike Chavez, who's attempted coup failed and resulted in prison time, Gutierrez's coup was successful, but he was castigated by the military brass for insubordination and never participated in the interim government. (The military brass was itself almost as insubordinate, having refused to defend the constitution against the same mob of angry indians who have descended on Quito again in the last few days.) Gutierrez, having proved to be the indigenous person's hero, rode that popularity to win a presidential election.

with my nose somewhat out of joint, i replied...

yeah, i know the history but i feel an undertone in your comments that springs from the title of your post...

the vast majority of folks in latin america, indigenous or otherwise, have been exploited by one faction or another since francisco pizarro took out atahualpa in cajamarca (and no doubt before that by atahualpa and his predecessors)... a country's riches and resources go to the very, very few and the very, very few will be damned if they're gonna have that change... of course, this leaves that "vast majority" extremely vulnerable to someone championing their cause for personal gain... mostly what the po' folks want is what everybody wants - a fair shake, a chance to live a decent life, and not to be run over by some fat cat's mercedes when they try to cross the street... the term "rabble," while it rolls nicely off the tongue, is not the word i would choose...

when there's competition between these powerful oligarchies (the business people at the top of the food chain, the politicos at the top of the food chain, the military at the top of the food chain) all of whom are wanting to line their pockets on the backs of the citizens by skimming off the natural resources, contracting for the lucrative business, oil and arms deals, and scrambling to get on the teat of foreign aid programs, it just exacerbates the situation... several factions lose, one faction wins, and the lot of the people invariably worsens... precisely the same thing is happening in bolivia which oughta be on your list with colombia (it's not spelled with a "u" by the way) and the rest...

sadly, it's not really different here in the u.s... the difference here is that there's no sand in the vaseline... but i'm not telling you anything you don't know...

i'm feeling a bit tetchy this morning and the undertone i'm sensing probably just stems from that...

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