Pachakutic on schedule for 2012

April 13, 2006 8:57 AM

Latin America Turning Left? From the top: Lula da Silva*, Lopez Obrador, Nestor Kirchner, Hugo Chavez*, Alvaro Uribe, Michelle Bachelet*, Ollanta Humala, Alfredo Palacio, Oscar Berger, Leonel Fernandez, Oscar Arias, Tony Saca, Tabare Vazquez, Martín Torrijos, Evo Morales* Manuel Zelaya, Nicanor Duarte, Daniel Ortega, Rene Preval*.
posted by airguitar (30 comments total)

posted by airguitar at 8:57 AM on April 13, 2006

"Communist"?

Heh.
posted by mr_roboto at 9:07 AM on April 13, 2006

South America, Take It Away!!!

sorry..
posted by jonmc at 9:08 AM on April 13, 2006

Argentina and Brazil communist?!
posted by dov3 at 9:16 AM on April 13, 2006

I'm having trouble finding any other source that thinks Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Uruguay are Communist.
posted by y6y6y6 at 9:18 AM on April 13, 2006

Red Menace?

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

BE VIGILANT!
posted by lumpenprole at 9:18 AM on April 13, 2006

Argentina is communist? How could that happen to a country that eats so much beef?
posted by Gamblor at 9:24 AM on April 13, 2006

don't worry. not communist. that's a joke. sort of. the guy who made the map believes it. anyone who reads enough will know it's an over-reaction. so you see the subtlety. but it's a map. maps help. laugh if you like, otherwise, ignore it. also, the page layout is better on a widescreen. kind of loses the effect when the third map wraps down. oh well.
posted by airguitar at 9:25 AM on April 13, 2006

We shall reap the whirlwind...

We never really helped those south of the Rio Grande in any meaningful way... without attempting to slit their collective throats whilst doing so.

Hopefully this is the best for path for the people of these countries to follow.

We shall reap what we sow.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 9:25 AM on April 13, 2006

The pictures show that South America is definitely pointing to the right...
posted by Bletch at 9:34 AM on April 13, 2006

Tradition In Action is committed to defend the perennial Magisterium of Holy Mother Church and Catholic traditions. TIA also works for a restoration of Christian civilization, adapted to contemporary historical circumstances.

Everybody has an axe to grind, eh? I'd like to also see a map showing South American nations recovering from centuries of abuse by (cough, cough) Holy Mother Church.
posted by 327.ca at 9:35 AM on April 13, 2006

Maybe this time it will best if the white house stay clear of getting invoilved in internal politics of latin america
posted by philsom at 9:36 AM on April 13, 2006 [1 favorite]

Why are Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana grey? Is there political system unmappable with regard to the visible color spectrum?
posted by doctor_negative at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2006

French Guiana is part of France. They send representatives to the French parliament. Suriname is still culturally connected very much to the Netherlands (The Dutch traded Manhattan for Suriname). Guyana, again, is culturally very different from the rest of Latin America, like Belize or Jamacia.
posted by airguitar at 9:52 AM on April 13, 2006

Venezuela and Brazil have left-social democratic regimes -- not socialist, far less "communist" -- that are friendly to Cuba. Argentina and Brazil have centrist regimes that are not opposed to the Cuban system. Bachelet in Chile is in the Kirchner/Lula mold, rather than the Chavez or Morales mold.

Let's call it Latin America turning away from the US. Anything more is sensationalism.
posted by graymouser at 10:04 AM on April 13, 2006

From the "Bachelet" link: Heading a coalition of two nominally "socialist" parties, the Christian Democrats and Radicals.

Which proves the author knows fuck-all about Chilean politics (it's actually Christian Democrats, Socialists and PPD (Partido por la Democraci, reformed Socialists, mostly)).
posted by signal at 10:46 AM on April 13, 2006

airguitar« writes 'but it's a map. maps help.'

2+2=6666. It's an equation, equations help.
posted by signal at 10:48 AM on April 13, 2006

& FTR, Chile's government isn't Socialist, it's Concertación, which includes the Christian Democrats (DC) as a main power group, who are not and have never been socialists by any definition whatsoever, or even leftists. They just haven't had any good presidential candidates since Aylwin.
posted by signal at 10:51 AM on April 13, 2006

have a mint
posted by airguitar at 10:51 AM on April 13, 2006

Have a period: .
And capital letters: ABCD....XYZ
posted by signal at 10:55 AM on April 13, 2006

The Danger of Hugo Chávez's Successful Socialism
posted by telstar at 11:03 AM on April 13, 2006

The Dutch traded Manhattan for Suriname

DER!

Translation: DOH!
posted by tkchrist at 1:18 PM on April 13, 2006

Somehow this whole thing reminds me of Mars Attacks where these goofy exo-brained aliens have come to destroy Earth and continually play on "don't run, we are your friends!" as they blast anyone stupid enough to believe them into little piles of dust. I think all that's happened is that they've stopped believing we intend friendship. Which means it's probably time to break out the big lasers.
posted by muppetboy at 2:35 PM on April 13, 2006

Óscar Arias is not (by most people's standards and not just, say, Hugo Chávez's standards) a leftist; for example, during his recent election campaign in Costa Rica, he ran on a platform of solid support for CAFTA. His policies are solidly moderate.
posted by jesourie at 2:40 PM on April 13, 2006

Why are Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana grey?

They're culturally distinct from Latin America; their official languages are English, Dutch, and French respectively. Although the last is sometimes included culturally. Note that they're different in other ways: Guyana and Suriname both have populations in which the largest plurality is of South Asian descent, and the second-largest of African descent. Every other Latin American country is majority or plurality of European descent. (Caution, of course, that race does not have the same cultural meaning outside the US.)

I think airguitar was drawing too broad a brush (though not by comparison with Sr. Jeff Davis!). There's social democracy aplenty, a little less socialism -- very European politics, really. It's mainly a sea change in terms from the caudillo era.
posted by dhartung at 3:27 PM on April 13, 2006

The IMF has a lot to do with this shift to the left.
posted by sic at 1:45 AM on April 14, 2006

I think Dear Leader, the "I'm a uniter not a divider", has a lot to do with this shift.
posted by nofundy at 7:13 AM on April 14, 2006

The IMF has a lot to do with this shift to the left.

the wet dreams of the american left and their irrational and condecending projection on cultures that they don't have a fucking clue about explains a whole lot more.
posted by andrew cooke at 1:52 PM on April 14, 2006

Anyone notice who the countries on the "good" (conservative) side on the map are?

Colombia: Running a civil war with a couple militias (FARC mainly). FARCs control most of the territory.
Paraguay: A dozen coup attempts in the last decades, assassinations, etc.
Peru: Going to a presidential runoff, with a high chance of a left-leaning nationalist candidate winning.

That is: 2 instable, one going to the dark (red) side.

OMG! South America is falling! Grab your rifles! Red Dawn! Red Dawn! Red Dawn!
posted by qvantamon at 6:58 PM on April 14, 2006

the wet dreams of the american left and their irrational and condecending projection on cultures that they don't have a fucking clue about explains a whole lot more.

A+++ INSIGHTFUL COMMENT, EVEN WITHOUT LINK, WOULD READ AGAIN>!!!1
posted by iamck at 10:52 AM on April 15, 2006