Also concerned about the news of tensions between the US and Venezuela. I think Chavez has some legitimate complaints but I worry about his hot-blooded militaristic showmanship and hope that both he and our government exercise restraint. I also worry about the US public being duped into condoning violence by claims that Chavez supports terrorism and drug-trafficking when the real issue is oil (Venezuela is the fourth largest exporter to the US and has the largest reserves outside of Canada and the Persion Gulf).

One thing that people in our country should recognize is that however we might disagree with them, both Chavez and Morales (president of Bolivia) are not dictators. They were freely elected and have the support of a clear majority of the people in their countries, who mostly just want to be self-determining and not dominated by foreign governments, foreign businesses, or economic institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

Also thinking about the upcoming elections in the US and I hope people keep in mind the positions of the candidates on policies that cause more poverty, death and environmental destruction in the rest of the world. From all I've learned, the trade agreements promoted by the big corporations based in the US and other northern countries are good for their profits but, in spite of the nice-sounding "free trade" propaganda, are very harmful to the vast majority of people and to the health of the planet.

For example, agreements that allow dumping of cheap food from abroad, even if the low prices are just temporary, result in farmers being unable to compete in local or national markets (and there are other problems with producing for export), so they lose their land and either migrate to slums in the big cities or to another country like the US.

This is not an intellectual debate for me now. Get away from the US and the vacation destinations, visit the third world, ask questions (for this it helps to speak the language) and you can see it. It's about callous greed and deception by those in power. This comes from many sources: from within the third world countries themselves, from the US and from other foreign countries.

It's not just the US. Maybe we've been unfairly singled out in the minds of some in Latin America, but I think we should seek to know the truth, not just what is comfortable to believe, repent of arrogance and take responsibility for our country's part in creating misery in other parts of the world. We should try to recognize when we're being lied to by the politicians and public relations experts.

written by  cjones on September 13, 2008 from Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Completely agree with you Cliff. Be safe, my friend.

written by  Mark MacDougall on September 26, 2008

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