SOUTH OF THE BORDER

“South of the Border”, a documentary film on South America, produced by Oliver Stone, depicts their social, cultural, and political activities and the media’s skewed perspective of their events. This film was shown along with a lecture at the Rage Art Gallery on March 31.

In 1988, Venezuela broke out in riots. Hugo Chavez was an up and coming person in Venezuela. In 1992, Chavez was a military officer and attempted a coup d’etat on then President Perez during reigns of terrorism. He was unsuccessful and was imprisoned for two years. After prison, in 1997, Chavez ran for and was elected President. He believes in a government of the people and is a champion for human rights. He was reelected in 2000.

In 2002, there was media organized coup d’etat against Hugo Chavez, backed by the Bush administration. The US government was trying to oust Chavez because he is anti-American and pro Cuban. And the reason the US is interested in Venezuela is because they have a lot of oil in their country. The staged coup d’etat on Chavez was the worst thing the US ever did. Hugo Chavez was again reelected President in 2006 because he believes in his country and his people.

Bolivia currently has an indigenous President, Evo Morales. He was also imprisoned before becoming President and is a champion for his people and their human rights. The US has staged a ‘war on drugs’ in Bolivia, trying to depict the President as drug addict. But the reality is that it is the custom in Bolivia to eat coca leaves, which gives you as much of a lift as caffeine and is no more harmful than drinking coffee.

The US news has portrayed Morales, Chavez, and Castro as Bad Guys but are loved by their people and have been elected by the people and are not dictators.

The film also covered the countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador. Argentina has its first elected woman President, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner. The US government has tried to discredit her, in an attempt to divide the Latin American countries. Brazil has a new woman President, but at the time of the filming of Oliver’s documentary, Lula de Silvia was President. He was popular, as he was of the people, of humble beginnings. President Raphael Correa of Ecuador told the US, that if they wanted to keep their military base in Ecuador, Ecuador needed to have a military base in Miami. Ecuador has ousted the US military base in their country.

The Latin American countries have rejected the Free Trade Agreement proposed by the Bush administration. Chavez is quoted as calling Bush the ‘devil’, an Ignorant, a donkey, and more. Fox News has criticized Obama for meeting with Chavez.

The lecture and film was very enlightening for me as to the politics of Latin America. But I was not surprised by the manipulation of the US government in the affairs of other countries. I think we have enough problems at home that need to be attended to and we should not be interfering in foreign countries. I also found it very interesting that on April 4, the Post Standard (or should I say ‘Sub Standard?) wrote an article, entitled, “Profiling Hostility”, referencing Moammar Gadhafi of Libya as a delusional narcissist and comparing him to other hostile leaders: North Korea’s Kim Jong, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, al-Qaida’s Osama bin Laden … AND Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez!