TRIPLE WIN FOR THE LATIN AMERICAN LEFT
By Manuel E. Yepe

The double win in Brazil and Uruguay of the candidates of the left, coupled with the recent resounding victory in Bolivia, have come to confirm a sustained political trend that is becoming more determinant in all of Latin America. This is to the detriment of the supremacy once enjoyed by the traditional oligarchies dependent on Washington. Given a choice between two opposing political models, the people show their preference for the left.

When describing as leftist the predominant ideology of the political forces on which the peoples of many countries in Latin America are entrusting the responsibility of governing, we do not mean
ideologically homogeneous compact forces. One of the most important attributes which has characterized the leaders of the left that are leading the miracle these peoples are experiencing today, is to possess the talent required to maintain their unity and identity, with tolerance and respect for all parties.

The ability to emphasize what unites and circumvent what divides, using democratic methods, is as important as the respect for the principles of fidelity to popular interests, especially the protection of the poorest.

The history of the revolutionary movements in Latin America is full of examples of divisions which have caused defeats, and of the unity that has preceded each victory.

The re-election of Evo Morales and Dilma Rousseff, as well as the triumph in the first round of Tabare Vázquez, are also victories over media coups. This has been the dirty weapon of oligarchs and has taken the place of the former military coups as the strategy of the powerful to counter the will of the majorities bent on asserting their right to decide the direction of their nations.

For many years, military coups –or threats thereof– were the favorite method of overthrowing rulers who disobeyed the interests of the oligarchy and the hegemony of the large foreign corporations. They were also used to prevent electoral processes that would have allowed the expression of a popular will which did not serve the interests of the oligarchies.

But those years of military coups, Operation Condor, disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture gave way to others in which the oligarchies sought to return to the –equally wicked, but less bloody– times of representative democracies under their control. In this way, they avoided the repudiated involvement of the military which were willing to discredit the armed forces for the sake of the spurious interests of those who used them to their own advantage.

Then the times of a democracy with different nuances in each nation began. The peoples initially received these with joy, even though they meant reinstalling the old mechanisms of “democracy” designed by Washington to ensure the domination by the rich and the decisive role of money in all aspects of electoral systems and government.

But when there was room for people to express their will through the ballot –even when the power of capital remained intact– the masses began repudiating the old order and choosing better representatives of their interests.

This brought the crisis of the traditional parties, those responsible for ensuring for all offices that those candidates that would answer to the interests of the wealthy who sponsored these discredited parties.

Popular governments which kept their promises became the fashion. It was no longer possible to resort to “power, wear and tear” of the politicians who had reached government based on a platform for the defense of the masses if they kept their promises.

With most of the major organs of the press, television and radio in the hands of the rich, a new type of coup d’état has emerged: the media coup. This is based on the formidable technical resources of commercial advertising and the undemocratic freedom of private ownership of the media. This in turn denies true “freedom of expression”, slanders and tries to discredit popular leaders or candidates, while peddling their own neoliberal strategies.

See how, in all countries where the left has achieved a victory in presidential elections, the winners had to overcome media coups. However, the citizens in their countries have been able to thwart the coups with their votes.

October 29, 2014.