Aló Sr. Presidente!...¿cuándo se va?

Well, the lame duck arrived in Latin America, a region ignored - THANK GOD! we all know how this administration pays attention... Iraq wink wink? - for the last 7 years by the USA. The media is filled by images of anti Bush manifestations within his paths and the planned “exorcisms” that shamans are having after Bush leaves the zone. Bad vibes? No doubt! For many, Bush deserves a seat of honor among the hall of the distinguished hall of assassins and dictators such as CIA's friends Pinochet, Videla, Stroessner, Batista, Noriega, Perez Jiménez, Banzer, Trujillo, Duvalier, Duvalier Jr, Somoza, Castillo Armas, García Meza, Cedrás and Ríos Montt which have flooded the region with blood and torture with the help of trained operatives from the CIA through Operación Cóndor just for the corporate fear of the United States of a socialist revolution.

Under the watch of the USA and its foreign policies, over 2,000,000 have “disappeared” throughout Latin America, a term which translates to killed, tortured, buried in mass graves, thrown to the ocean, raped, burnt, kidnapped children, human trade, slavery, ethnic cleansing through the massacre of Indians in Guatemala as denounced by 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu , among other “creative” human rights violations enforced through the zone. I could bet my life, that History classes within the USA education system never address this characters and their atrocities. Nor you will see any documentary over the History Channel. Why should they? They are just a bunch of Hispanics, massacred, with their human rights violated, they are after all, as Lou Dubbs claims, people who don’t deserve to flee the persecution, the misery and extreme poverty. All for the sake of establishing “freedom” aka MacDonald’s and its likes

Ironically, Bush’s lack of attention to the region was the fertile soil for what they feared the most: socialism.

During the last seven years Latin America has been turning to the left, and in gigantic leaps. US policies such as Helms-Burton and Torricheli focused in strangling the Cuban government, when in reality it only closed the commercial trade between the two countries, allowing European, Canadian, and Mexican entrepreneurs to have exclusive market presence. But other countries saw and learned from the Cuban revolution. They understood the need of administrating their resources and create capital in order to be able to develop their social transformations. Important programs were implanted, and the urge to overturn 500 years of social abuse and differences.

Brazil – Luis Inacio Lula da Silva , a union leader and socialists that won the presidency in 2002 thanks to a left wing coalition with an astonishing 56.7 million votes and recently re-elected with 58.2 million votes.

Under his presidency, Brazil has kept it strengths throughout the international markets. His social reforms are focused in combating famine, access to potable water, fight child labor and Indian slavery – where for the first time since its foundation, Indians were granted constitutional rights.

Unlike how it was presented by Anderson Cooper 360, Brazil is an international leader in renewable and alternative energy and sources. The development of Curitiba is something that should be copied throughout the world.

Bolivia – Evo Morales , a communist indigenous coca leaf farmer and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Candidate , became President of Bolivia in 2006. Bolivia is one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves, and the profits due to its exploitation used to flee its national economy in the hands of multinational companies. We have to keep in perspective, that Bolivia is one of the poorest countries of the region. In May 1, Labor Day ) 2006, Morales signed a decree that stated the blueprint for the nationalization of the Gas Exploitation Companies and Resources. The profits will fund alphabetization, educational and health projects.

Chile - Michelle Bachelet In a country predominantly conservative Catholic – The Opus Dei is a force to be reckon with there- , the fact that a woman, atheist, single mother, pro divorce, pro choice, socialist and a survivor of torture during the Pinochet regimen gained the presidency is in itself a Miracle.

Venezuela – Hugo Chavez. Oh Hugo! A character out of a Gabriel García Marquez novel. He is taking socialism to the next level. For the first time the “petro dólares” are been used for the development of the impoverish groups in Venezuela. From the development of recycled housings with petroleum by products, free health clinics and adult and children alphabetizing programs, Chavez is spreading the wealth. He is a “rock star” among Venezuelans and other impoverished countries. And the claim that Bush is “El Diablo” has echoed throughout the region in a magic realism way that can only compete with Cien Años de Soledad.

But maybe Chavez, shamans and priests are up to something when they claim a “cleansing ceremony is needed” after Bush leaves the region.

Sins of Our Fathers

My heart goes out to Thomas Roberts and all of those that have been abused by the Church. Unlike other Christian denominations, the Catholic Church has always been sexually repressive, with views that sex is only permissible for reproduction purposes. Priests and Nuns are married to the Church, and are meant to keep a vow of chastity among other.

Priests are supposed to be leaders, counselors, someone to trust as you would trust The Father. They have access, through the rite of confession, to your most inner demons. To take advantage of someone who is seeking solace, not only is predatory, but deep inside shows a rotten instinct that makes you even turn against your vows and promise to God. And if you believe in sins, that for me, would be the worst one.

As guilty as we – Catholics - are raised to feel about our body and sexuality, you add shame, humiliation and confusion it is the perfect mental storm. NO ONE DESERVES THAT!

Someone once told me that being a good Catholic was hard, that its rules and dogmas were the reason why many churches and Christian denominations deserted the Church in order to seek more flexible rules ( like decapitating your wife in order to remarry).

But the truth is, if you are going to become a priest or a nun, you know what you are going into. Their preparation takes years. And if you can’t control your urges, just get out! It is not a matter of sexual preference. It is a matter that this people chose and vowed to not have sex at all. And the respect and the trust that is granted by their order is something to respect, it is basic human decency.

But somehow, I think the Church lost its way. Gone are the times of social justice and renovation of Pope John XXIII and Paul VI. The winds of change were shut down, in came the cult of personality and the return to orthodoxy. I was lucky, my schools were Jesuits and Redentorists, it could have been Mercedarians.

But I’m glad this abuse is been brought to the open, it must be discussed and justice have to be made.

I only hope they might heal.

Tourists Attractions

Soledad O’Brian is in Mexico, and the promos for American Morning shows her inside one of the tunnels in the Mexico-USA border. When I first saw it, my first thought was Anderson Cooper already did that story, but her key phrase was they are Tourists Attractions… WTF?

Some people have claimed that AC360 is staging the stories, like the Afganistan Base attack, Lebanon and Planet in Peril “jungle”, was the immigration piece also “staged”? I don’t know and I hope not.

Which goes back again to my constant bickering: the lack of production and research! Last Friday they ran a re-run of Anderson Cooper’s Hollenbeck Gangs story. It was a literal before and after. He was incisive, he seemed involved, it was well researched and documented. It was Anderson Cooper at his best. Would it be too much to ask them to go back to basics? It’s Anderson Cooper’s credibility at stake. And they are playing with it. As a producer you protect your talent and your stories. And CNN is failing miserably with both.