Argentina's defiance on YPF strikes chord at home

[Judi Lynn]

Argentina's defiance on YPF strikes chord at home
Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:07pm EDT
By Helen Popper and Hilary Burke

BUENOS AIRES, April 17 (Reuters) - Argentina's drive to seize control of leading energy company YPF from Spain's Repsol may have outraged European trade partners and foreign investors, but many ordinary citizens hailed it as virtually heroic.

The move by combative President Cristina Fernandez appealed to Argentines who are critical about the vagaries of global finance and the controversial privatizations of the 1990s - a decade remembered for rampant corruption and factory closures in Latin America's No. 3 economy.

Fernandez loyalists pasted "Thank You Cristina" posters on government buildings in the capital Buenos Aires and supporters of the expropriation drive praised the president's boldness.

"It's about recovering what's ours," said Julio Olaz, a passerby in downtown Buenos Aires. "We need to get together and make sure Argentina belongs to Argentina and not to foreigners."

The takeover move could help Fernandez regain the political initiative after a series of unpopular policy moves and a corruption probe involving her vice president that have eroded her approval ratings since her landslide re-election in October last year.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/argentina-ypf-idUSL2E8FGG5620120417?rpc=401

[Louisiana1976]

1. Viva Argentina!

[Peace Patriot]

2. I don't normally rec Rotters' articles. They are as rotten as they can be...

...on Latin American issues. I rec'ed this one, because, defying precedent--their own and the rest of the corpo-fascist press--they actually quote the supporter of a leftist president in the article, as opposed to exclusively quoting the rightwing opposition, quoting dubious "experts" (always anti-left) and quoting "anonymous" (the opinions of Rotters' bosses and owners, disguised as something else--for instance, "His critics say..."--often used on Hugo Chavez).

Aside from that little lapse in corporate propaganda (--LatAm leftists elected with 60% and more of the vote, yet we NEVER read WHY they have such fab support, let alone hear from those voters), my rec is for Cristina Fernandez and her courageous action on behalf of her people and her country.

I wish she was president here--but we'll have to work very hard on basic civics for a president like her to be possible here (--like restoring the counting of our votes to the PUBLIC VENUE and removing it from the filthy hands of the far rightwing-connected ES&S, which bought out Diebold and now controls about 80% of the voting results in the USA with 'TRADE SECRET' code programmed into the machines, with virtually no audit/recount controls).

We need a president who would say, like FDR did: "Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!"

To get there, we have to start with restoring basic democratic principles like transparent vote counting. I'm afraid we're in for a lot more grief before our people open their eyes and I hope to God it doesn't get as bad as it did in Latin America prior to the leftist democracy revolution that has changed everything. Latin Americans suffered horribly under U.S.-supported fascist regimes--Argentina in particular, with U.S. "neo-liberal" (World Bank/IMF) looting and plundering, following the fascist tortures, murders and repression. Argentina was a basketcase when Fernandez's husband, Nestor Kirchner, was elected. He started the turnaround, with some very bold and courageous moves of his own, including his alliance with Hugo Chavez. (They were the pioneers of "south-south" cooperation.) Fernandez is completing the work of turning Argentina into a sovereign, democratic and prosperous country, in an independent, democratic, prosperous region. He died a couple of years ago. He would be proud of her today.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Agree, for former President would be very proud of the new President. What she's done takes courage.

The military dictatorship-loving sector in Argentina, the fascists have been fighting her wildly from even before the election, while she was still campaigning.

Can only hope for the very best for this great American President. She deserves it.