The Latin America thread (VE, BR, AR, CU, MX...)

Yeah, to turn into venezuela people fail to understand our history.

-First there was a bit of cynism around the idea of politics as people were getting sick and tired of a two party system, chavez come and laid blame of them, some of it were pretty fair but as time move on, it become clearly radical.

-Chavez carisma: I mean I will be honest here, the raw political magnetism chavez have is something you cant replicate that easy, specially for someone of low income like him, trump dosent get near him, neither maduro.

-external enemy: chavez have the perfect stooge in bush, when they invade irak ii give all american enemies the perfect example to said "seee!", if anything, if it wasnt because chavez is dead, trump could have serve the same way.

And finally, Chavez work was progresive in the same it took it little by little, it isnt something you can do by force.

tbh I think Bush's contribution as a boogeyman is nothing compared to his contribution by destabilizing the Middle East, thus raising old prices and allowing Chávez to pretend he wasn't fucking up the economy. If he hadn't been the boogeyman, it'd have been someone else like Clinton before him or Obama after him.

But yeah, my point is that these and other things that led us here can happen anywhere.

I dont think so, Clinton and Obama were dificult to used that way because they were quiet, I mean is really dificult to mock obama in part because A) he is black and b) he such a quiet guy he pretty much canadian.

I mean just look how chavez tactic swich onces obama got into power, is anti us rehtoric DROP quickly as hell.

Bush on the other hand shatter the idea the US was equal to others and they could invade another country and kinda get away with it, in some level the idea of a invsation is still present in venezuela which is a sort of anomality in that it didnt pick a ethnic or religious "other" and move carefully to avoid getting invaded.

Something that scares me about Bozonaro being elected.

I am in the process of joining the police force, my family is middle class white and most of my uncles are businessmen, with most of the women being family women (except my mom, she is a breadwinner widower).

Is how me and my family will benefit or at least not negatively targeted by the brunt of Bozonaro's policies, but I have friends that wont.

I hope as a police officer, I can get their backs if he becomes the president.

As a police officer you should just be focused on doing the best job you can for your beat. And hopefully whoever you work with isn't corrupt.

In Peru, Our former dictator is going back to jail. No matter if he is really sick.

And I like it. I'm fine with him being kept in a house arrest due to his health, but I want to see him pay his punishment.

Edited by KazuyaProta on Oct 4th 2018 at 9:06:00 AM

As a cop, I'd actually say your main concern should be the fact you're entering a organization that has historically served as footsoldiers of bigotry across Brazilian history and I wouldn't expect anything different with Bolsonaro, so you should more be very on your toes for the possibility of ending up as a Bolsonaro footsoldier by accident.

Today's the day; I already voted. For now, all we need is for Bolsonaro to not have 51% of the vote. Let's hope that we take this to the second round, at least.

Ditto. It's a grim state to go to the voting area and seeing people with Bolsonaro shirts.

The Bolsonaro camp is ramping things up to galvanize their voter base by spreading fake news about the voting machines being rigged by the Worker's Party, something that the Justice System has already disproved emphatically (link in Portuguese, can't find an English one yet).

Speaking from experience: if you guys can get to the second round, you have a chance of bringing down this bastard from his high ride.

The sad part is that even if Haddad wins in the second round, a lot of candidates who tied themselves to Bolsonaro won their senate/deputy races. the far right has gained a really strong foothold in this country and if people even realize their mistake it will probably be too late.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Oct 7th 2018 at 6:40:52 AM

I don't doubt that things will be hard if Haddad becomes president with the far-right entrenched on the other seats of power.

However, if they are as petty as I think they are, they will mine the hell out of the executive branch because they didn't get to power, which is exactly the best thing that could happen since that would only help the people realize the bunch of scumbags they are and how little they truly care for their country if they would devote to a temper tantrum to such a degree.

Edited by raziel365 on Oct 7th 2018 at 4:11:16 AM

So about 94% of the votes have been counted and it looks like we at least get a second round. Bolsonaro started off at 49% and now it's looking like he might end off on 46% or so (a percentage point higher than what I predicted at 45%). Honestly? I'm not feeling good about Haddad's chances of winning. Antipetismo is way too strong in this country, and the people here are way too ignorant and want to believe that anything is better than what we have now, and like I said earlier, even if they learn their lesson it will be too late. The utter naivete of people believing that Bolsonaro will "be a president for all brazilians" (gee doesn't that sound familiar?) or that there's no danger of democracy being eroded is just baffling to me.

The sad part is even if he loses the second round, in a way we already lost. Haddad being elected is not going to make people hate PT any less, isn't going to restore people's faith in our democracy, and it isn't going to erase the fact that just under 50% of people in this country have just said that they don't care about women, LGBT+ people, or just basic human rights, or they're too ignorant to realize what they've done.

Right now I'm just taking solace in the fact that Bolsonaro has to eat shit even for just a moment. He was bragging about how he'd win the election first round, and he didn't.

We're latinoamericans. Our people don't caring for minorities is just a basic fact of reality.

Seeing Bozo at 46% and Haddad barely over 30% doesn't paint a nice picture of the second turns.

This dipshit is almost certainly going to be out next president.

We are so fucked.

I suppose if this is to be our end, then let us make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance.

South America is always in the shitter and the Butt-Monkey of the Western continents. They removed some of the baggage for a while after the Cold War, but it always comes back and bites them.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 7th 2018 at 5:39:54 AM

I'll compile the soundtrack of how fucking deep in shit those next 4 years are going to be.

Right now the soundtrack is:

Because the fact Bolsonaro is so ahead is a clear sign this country is losing its goddamn mind.

So South Africa will be the only BRICS member without a far-right president now...

Only 4 years? I hope so, because I really think it's going to last longer than that, and I don't even mean Bolsonaro winning re-election in 2022 (which could easily happen given how clueless this country is). If the historical pattern holds, our democracy is forfeit for the next 3 decades, and it could be even worse than that.

I normally hate doomsaying but things are definitely looking bleak. The only real solace is that any censorship of the media is mostly going to be looking at twitter/fb, stuff like tvtropes and discord should be safe if russia and china are any indication, so at least we have that over the military dictatorship where there was no real forum for people to get together and grieve.

Right up until China starts exporting its surveillance tech as it's doing in Africa and Asia.

Wait, that for real?

Yeah. Anybody with an authoritarian streak can get a slice of the pie.

Edited by TerminusEst on Oct 8th 2018 at 5:16:02 AM

"“Anything is better than Bolsonaro” is easy for you to say. You’re not the one caught in the crossfire on the way to work. You truly have no idea what it’s like to live in Rio. Brazil is a disaster. Change is necessary. The alternative candidate is literally running on the basis of being just like Lula... you know, the guy in prison for corruption. Time to give Brazilian Trump a shot. I don’t agree with everything Bolsonaro OR Trump says, but the fact is, Trump has done some good for the US economy. Maybe Bolsonaro can do the same. If you were in Brazil, you’d be ready to try something else too. This video is clearly biased, and not a representation of the entire story.

"

A post I saw in the john oliver review of bolsonaro, it make give perpective about why people vote for him.