Due to techinical problems John was not able to get through, so instead I read from his article.
My apologies for the inconvenience
Today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern:
John Thomson talks about his article, Subverting Latin Democracy
Hugo Chávez scores a victory in El Salvador. Is Panama next?
There is little or no joy to be gleaned from the recent El Salvador presidential election. Perhaps the least unfavorable observation is that although spiced with inflammatory rhetoric, the campaign was generally peaceful. After 20 years in power, the incumbent center-right ARENA party had become stodgy and less than energetic or sensitive to popular needs and wishes, while its hardcore leftist FMLN opponents were fueled by massive funding courtesy of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
ARENA and its avuncular, refreshingly uncorrupted candidate, Rodrigo Ávila, were outspent by at least three to one and perhaps much more. A fountain of Venezuelan petro-cash, plus numerous hardcore foreign advisors, allowed the communist FMLN to squeak out a 51 percent majority, placing El Salvador on a probable road to reckless, one-party governance of a devastating nature.
With El Salvador in tow, Chávez has moved one step closer to creating a corridor that extends from Ecuador to the Rio Grande, over which narcotics, arms, Islamist terrorists, and illegal immigrants are already being transported. Next stop for the mercurial man from Caracas: Panama, where presidential and legislative elections are due to be held on May 3.
Read the rest of the article.
Chat’s open at 10:45AM, and the podcasts are archived for your convenience. Join us!
Fausta – what, if anything, do you think we should be doing about Chavez at this point? He’s obviously a growing menace.
Mike, The question is not so much about what we do about Chavez in particular, but what we do about the rest of Latin America.
Approving the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, securing the border, strengthening national security, increasing intelligence on terrorism and the drug trade, enforcing immigration laws, would be a start.
In short, we should pursue America’s best interest and support our allies in the region.