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about the Zelaya-appointed ambassador securing the Honduran embassy site in Mexico, from some usurpers who had been sent by Micheletti. The real diplomats (Zelaya's appointees) had the help of Mexican authorities and fellow/sister diplomats at other embassies, but I can't recall which ones. This networking sort of solidarity can be a very strong thing. It is flexible, responsive, organic, based on justice and friendship, and cooperation--so different from the sort of bully power "authority" that the Honduran junta is exercising, and that greedy and the warmongering politicians often exhibit.
I don't know about Calderon who seems to be a fascist in many respects, although he also seems to have some feeling about the sovereignty of Latin American countries and even lectured Bush Jr. about it in regard to Venezuela. I get the feeling that these other Mexican officials (foreign service? diplomatic corps?) were very affronted by the Honduran coup and the obvious US complicity in it, and certainly the other diplomats in Mexico City, from other countries, didn't have to go out of their way to help the Zelaya diplomats claim their rightful place. This and similar incidents give me renewed hope that the Latin Americans can turn back the Honduran coup, and resist all the US interference (including signs of war plotting) that is occurring in other places as well.
The Latin Americans seem to have some kind of "secret ingredient" in the revolution that is occurring there. Maybe it is not a mystery at all, but rather the amazing spectacle, to us, of leaders doing the right thing, and doing it with civility and self-confidence. So many of our own purported leaders are such congenital liars, and corpo/fascist tools, and behave with such contempt for our people--they perform for the corpo/fascist "cameras" and couldn't care less what we think--that we are not used to righteous behavior and civility in our leaders.
Thus, this Costa Rica story surprises me. Of course it is the right thing to do! But I do NOT expect leaders to do the right thing. That's what I'm getting at. I've learned to expect it from certain Latin American leaders--notably Lulu (Brazil), Chavez (Venezuela), Morales (Bolivia), Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez (Argentina), Tabare Vasquez (Uruguay), Correa (Ecuador) and all of the leftist leaders, really. Even Batchelet (Chile), whom I was doubtful about at first, and Colom (Guatemala), whom I knew hardly anything about and who seemed rather lukewarm on some issues. The corrupt and extremely corrupt leaders of Peru and Colombia, respectively, are more what I expect--lies, violence, more lies, greed, treachery, and yet more lies. This is my perception of our own leaders revealing itself. I expect government leaders to be lying bastards, and to serve the Corporate Rulers and war profiteers, one way or another, and when they do not, there is always something in me that is astonished.
I was, frankly, astonished at Batchelet's strong, upfront role in turning back the US-instigated civil war in Bolivia last September. I expect US bullying, arm-twisting, bribery and threats to work and to turn some leaders into cowards and craven corpo/fascist yes-people, because we have so many of these here. But that hasn't happened in Latin America. It has gone the other way. Leaders whom I thought might be bribable, or threatenable, have turned out not to be. By last summer, I had come to expect rightful action by Lulu or Chavez and some others. If they had called the meeting of UNASUR at which the Bolivia issue was addressed, and had refused to permit the US-backed coupsters in Bolivia to attend because, as Batchelet told them, "you are not a government; you represent no one," that would not have been a surprise to me, at that time. Batchelet doing it was. She has turned out to posses the "secret ingredient" I was talking about. What is it? Respect for the truth? A cooperative spirit? Some kind of liberation that is occurring, that permits leaders to, at long last, behave and act on their true beliefs?
Zelaya is another good example. He was a late-comer to the leftist cause, and seemed to (maybe) be just an opportunist. I realize now that I was getting my impression of him from the Associated Pukes and other corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies, and should not have jumped to conclusions. He is in fact the perfect example of what I mean. He is a leader whose true core beliefs have been liberated by the leftist movement. He wanted to speak the truth about Honduras' poverty and he did, and he acted on it. The US client state of Honduras, shackled by "free trade for the rich" and the Pentagon, got a real leader. It didn't go the other way. It didn't go toward corruptibility and bribability, or fear or greed. It went the right way--amazingly, to me. I still don't generally expect it.
I remember last summer when Paraguay, of all countries, elected a leftist president. And the corpo/fascist press was all clucking about how he (Fernando Lugo) needed to "distance himself from Chavez." And word was that the Bushwhacks had warned him. Then he does the opposite. He invites Chavez to the inauguration, and gets on stage and sings "Todo Cambio" with him, in a rousing rendition, at the inaugural celebration. After 61 years of fascist rule in Paraguay, Lugo got elected on the basis of a shaky coalition, and had reason to fear the Bushwhacks, amidst rumors that the Bush family was going to ensconce itself in Paraguay--the traditional destination of war criminals. He just gave them the middle finger and did what he damn pleased. He likes Chavez. He agrees with him. He invited him. He sang with him for all the world to see.
ONCE AGAIN, I expected caution, at best. Compromise. Centrism. Bullshit. Lugo politely telling Chavez to stay away--send the VP. I would even have understood it. Leaders of tiny, impoverished Latin American countries don't have a lot of options. They need food, development, money, investment--desperately need them. But I was wrong. Lugo had the options given to him by his friends among the leftist leadership of the continent. Lulu, for instance, pledging to support renegotiation of Paraguay's hydroelectric contracts with Brazilian companies, which greatly disfavored Paraguay--and fulfilling his promise. Friendship, cooperation. Secret ingredients. Thus, Lugo could honestly celebrate with Chavez (to my great surprise), and not feel compelled to play the "lying game"--the "centrist" game, the hypocritical game--that we so often see here. He could be his true self--to my shock, surprise and delight. Imagine that! Being a leader and being your true self.
So, Costa Rica doing the right thing. Wow! I am surprised.
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