Obama vs. the Hypocrites

Yesterday, at the end of the Summit of the Americas held in Guadalajara, Mexico, President Barack Obama referred to the situation in Honduras and harshly criticized Latin-American leaders who demanded that Washington make an attempt at “a harsher and more direct intervention” to solve the political problem in Honduras.

For Barack Obama, these radical positions adopted by a group of radical Latin American leaders constitute “an act of hypocrisy.” At a press conference held at the end of the summit, Obama was direct and to the point and reminded the journalists that “The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we’re always intervening, and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America.”

We all know which leaders Obama is referring to, and how this group of shameless populist members of ALBA (La Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América, Bolivian Alliance of America) have tried to deceive national and international public opinion by trying to impose a boycott on the transit of food and medicine to Honduras. This is the same treatment that former President George W. Bush prescribed for Cuba without taking into account the harm done to the hungry Cuban population.

What is certain is that in Latin America, both the military and civilians with authoritarian tendencies secretly loved Bush’s aggressive form of governing. For example, we see our Gallo Pataruco and Mr. Chavez, who cannot look bad because in the face of trouble he immediately invents a war against Colombia, the United States and Israel.

The worst thing is that, on the internal front, nobody supports these wars because almost the entire country knows that it is not worthwhile to act so irrationally and that the only losers in a confrontation between brother countries are the poor soldiers. It is the last straw when Chavez forces them to die to protect the wealth and the large estates of his family in Barinas, the businesses of Diosdado and Jesse, the czar de PDVSA (Petroleum of Venezuela, SA), little Rafael Ramirez and his family or Jose Vicente’s new small palace.

The Venezuelans and Colombians who really believe in peace and coexistence reject the so-called war against brother countries, and we ask that peace be searched for diplomatically, like in civilized governments.

It is worth the pain to remember that Barack Obama immediately condemned Zelaya’s untimely exit from Honduras, and yesterday, at the end of the summit in Guadalajara he “reiterated his condemnation of the coup d’état in the Central American nation.”

Obama was very clear regarding Honduras and the countries of ALBA: “If these critics think that it’s appropriate for us to suddenly act in ways that in every other context they consider inappropriate, then I think that what that indicates is that maybe there’s some hypocrisy…and this is certainly not going to direct the policy of my administration.” Well said.