Every day it is proven that some characters who have come to power in Latin America under the propagandistic cloak of projecting leftist positions have only been disguised, or rather infiltrated, to favor the United States in its goal of maintaining political and economic control in the region.
The most recent case is that of Chilean President Gabriel Boric who, supported by a large part of the people and especially the students, triumphed in the 2021 elections under the aura of having progressive ideas as opposed to his ultra-right-wing opponent José Antonio Kast.
Boric founded in 2018 Convergencia Social one of the parties that make up the Frente Amplio and played his part in reaching a constitutional referendum in October 2020 after the violent student repressions launched by then President Sebastián Piñera.
Since his inauguration as president in March 2022, he has been moving closer to U.S. positions in the region, especially against progressive governments.
Like, in mid 2023 he lashed out against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, calling him a “dictator” and of repressing his people while calling on the OAS to impose sanctions against Managua.
His apology for former right-wing president Sebastián Piñera after his death in an accident in February 2024 was truly shameful.
In a speech before the National Congress he stated “We bid farewell to a politician who, from his convictions and ideas, served his country with love and worked tenaciously to see it grow and progress. This allows me to affirm that Sebastián Piñera was a man who always put Chile first, who never let himself be carried away by fanaticism or rancor. All of us who are in politics should take note of these virtues”.
Let’s remember that before the increase of public transport fares in 2019, Piñera ordered the police forces to repress the demonstrations that resulted in 45 young people killed, hundreds of wounded, thousands of detainees who suffered humiliations and rapes in the regime’s prisons. The carabineros, in addition to firing tear gas, fired pellet guns into the faces of the young people, causing 545 to lose the sight of one or both eyes.
Now, following the U.S. policy towards Venezuela to try to eliminate the example of sovereignty it represents for the region, Boric openly launched himself against Caracas by emphasizing that “the Superior Court of Justice finishes consolidating the fraud. Maduro’s regime obviously welcomes with enthusiasm its sentence, which will be marked by infamy. There is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship that falsifies elections, represses those who think differently. The dictatorship of Venezuela is not the left. It is possible and necessary a profoundly democratic continental left that respects human rights regardless of the color of those who violate them”.
While Venezuela gives opportunities to its citizens and increases social programs, Chile, with an extensive list of human rights violations, joins Washington and the OAS to try to overthrow the Bolivarian government.
Another example that cannot be left unnamed is that of Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno, who under the guise of being a loyal member of the Alianza País Party and that he would work for the welfare of his people as his predecessor, Rafael Correa, had done, changed after winning the elections in 2017.
His relations with the United States appeared immediately and were strengthened in 2019 with visits to Quito by Thomas Shannon, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, David Hale, former Deputy Minister for Political Affairs, Mike Pence, former Vice President, and Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State. In February 2020, Moreno traveled to Washington where he was received with full honors by Donald Trump with whom he signed several agreements.
In his almost four years of misgovernment, he left Ecuador in a deplorable economic-social-health crisis, coupled with institutionalized corruption, high poverty and unemployment rates, and a huge debt contracted with the International Monetary Fund. The damage done to the progressive forces of the region was incalculable.
In view of these examples, it will be necessary to observe now if other governments that have recently come to power with a progressive halo, follow the path of Boric or Moreno and turn their backs on their peoples and Latin American integration.
As José Martí said: “A minute on your feet is worth more than a life on your knees”.
Source: Cuba en Resumen
Hedelberto López Blanch is a Cuban journalist wgi writes for the daily Juventud Rebelde and the weekly Opciones.