Observing the Elections / Mario Lleonart

@mauriciomarci vs. @danielscioli The cards are on the table! (Note: This post refers to last year’s elections in Argentina)

Mario Lleonart, 22 November 2015 — The winds of God, that blow and lift me, have brought me to the epicenter of a democratic battle, of the ballot in Argentina, the second round of the electoral contest between two candidates for the presidency of the Republic. The plane that brought me to Buenos Aires landed on Sunday November 15th at the very moment when the first presidential debate took place in the history of Argentina. During a very intense week I lived for the first time in my forty years the passionate effervescence of a nation that can settle at the polls today the final decision of a people.

Beyond the pros and cons, beyond who wins, the value of my experience is witnessing the possibility of a country to enforce Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The right to democracy! The right of everyone to participate in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives!

I could be in a nation which manifests and asserts its will as a basis for granting authority to a government expressed in genuine elections by universal suffrage conducted by secret ballot. I’m not just having the experience of witnessing but also to serve as an observer accompanying some of the prosecutors in several schools in the city of Rosario.

And as if I were a child, which I am in many respects, I felt an immense curiosity before these first democratic elections I’d observed in my 40 years. We have never had this in my whole life in Cuba. But I hope that we will experience it soon. And I agree with many political scientists who affirm that the results of today’s elections are going to echo across the entire continent.

Today may be the beginning of the end of the fateful rise of populism in Latin America. And if the flutter of a butterfly in Hong Kong can cause a storm in New York, we can say that there will be effects from these elections in Argentina today for those on 6 December 2015 in Venezuela, and next year in Cuba.

They are already having an effect on me!