Misplaced Support / Fernando Damaso

Fernando Damaso, 18 December 2015 — Cuban authorities as well as organizations that make up the so-called official civil society have unleashed a ferocious campaign against politicians elected to public office by a majority of their citizens. In Argentina it was a presidential election while in Venezuela the opposition won a wide majority in the National Assembly.

Hearing and reading their statements, one would think that Argentinians and Venezuelans, lacking political maturity, had mistakenly cast their ballots for criminals, outsiders, mercenaries, traitors and other anti-social types instead of for the good, noble and selfless kirchernerista and chavista candidates, the “eternal patriots” of their respective countries.

Such out of control hysteria is nothing new given the outcry from the losers. Remember that, despite the expressed will of a majority of Puerto Ricans, both the Cuban authorities and their affiliated organizations continued to clamor for Puerto Rican independence, something for which only 4% of the population voted and which 96% rejected.

There is similar support for the FARC narco-guerillas, who are now in negotiations with the legitimate government of Colombia, which was duly elected by a majority of its citizens. Unfortunately, there are many other similar examples in all parts of the world. Illustrations of a primitive fanaticism!

Always on the side of those who reject democracy, of totalitarians, of populists and the extreme left in spite of “the many blows which life has dealt.”