With the withdrawal of United States support for freedom in Latin America (see Obama administration), citizens of nations that are threatened with socialist takeovers are rising up against their dictators and would-be dictators. From Honduras to Venezuela to Cuba, the political landscape in these countries and others is starting to change. After years of socialist advances in the region, opposition in these countries is starting to organize from the bottom-up, as opposed to top-down which was for a long time the norm.

New Conservative President of Honduras

In Honduras, elections were held in order to bring an end to the crisis that started when the courts deposed and exiled the then president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya, who was trying to hold an illegal referendum vote. Remember that it was Mel Zelaya who was following in Hugo Chavez’s footsteps, trying to turn the country into another socialist stronghold until the Congress, the courts, and the military put an end to his designs. In the November election, Hondurans were asked to choose between Zelaya’s former vice president, Elvin Santos, from the Liberal Party and Porfirio Lobo from the conservative National Party. Despite near-constant bombings carried out by pro-Zelaya supporters, voter turnout was estimated as being from 49% to 61% and Hondurans elected the conservative Lobo by 56% of the vote versus 38% for the liberal candidate, clearly an indication of the Honduran people’s will to move on from the Zelaya debacle and put their country back on a prosperous path. While the leftist governments of Latin America have all refused to recognize the new government, the United States and other nations have started to re-establish ties with Honduras. In the face of international pressure demanding the return of the socialist Zelaya (including pressure from the Obama administration), Honduras remained firm and stopped the socialist advance on their country. Hopefully, things will improve for them from here on.

Moving on to the nearly socialist state of Venezuela, where strongman/clown Hugo Chavez has made political opposition a highly stressful career choice and we see that the Venezuelan people have had enough. Despite the Obama-Chavez embrace heard round the world and with the Obama administration generally unresponsive to Chavez’s actions, Chavez has not toned down his anti-American rhetoric, in fact, he has increased it on many occasions. Basing his “presidency” on anti-Americanism and socialist redistribution of wealth has brought his country an increase in poverty, violence, and authoritarianism. I am talking about Chavez in this instance, not Obama. While in the past the traditional political structure was Chavez’s only challenger, a new movement is springing up in Venezuela that may prove more successful in kicking him out. A political party by the name Popular Will Movement led by Leopoldo Lopez, an ex-mayor of a Caracas district, has started gaining support across the nation, even with former Chavez supporters. Chavez seems to be getting worried saying that his opponents “are getting into the barrios. They are trying to organize coordinated movements, and they are going to try to win a majority in the National Assembly.” Apparently, he finds this to be a sinister plot. Funny thing is that this strategy is straight out of Chavez’s playbook, reaching out to areas that previously did not participate in politics as much (read “poor areas").

Popular Will Rally

The movement in Venezuela can only succeed if the old-school politicians decide to stay on the sidelines and let fresh new leaders with new ideas come out as the face of the opposition. (I think there is something that American conservatives can learn from the Venezuelan experience here… the Democrats did it in 2008, they put a fresh new face to their old political agenda and voila! Democrats now control Washington.) Let us hope that the opposition will not be rounded up by Chavez’s repressive machinery which has already arrested and exiled many opposition figures.

This brings me to Cuba, the Godfather of Latin American socialism. Unlike what many people predicted, the end of Fidel Castro’s (direct) rule did not bring about any significant changes in Cuba’s communist system. It has been kept almost totally intact by Raul Castro, whose only “shakeups” have been internal, a reshuffling of the chairs on the deck of the Titanic, if you will. Obama’s policy of reaching out to Cuba which culminated in an easing US policy towards them (more travel, more remittances) have produced no improvement in the Cuban situation. In fact, the anti-Americanism continues unabated. The Cuban situation can be explained simply: America’s enemies have a guaranteed foothold in the western hemisphere as long as this Cuban regime exists and Cuba is actively exports its brand of authoritarianism by aiding socialists/communists everywhere it can in anyway it can. Cut off the Castro regime and the benefits are obvious: you save many countries from the ravages of communist dictatorship and you ease a national security threat that exists just ninety miles from the coast of Florida. Since the current administration is unwilling to stand up the communist regime, the only people who have been posing a threat to Castro are the internal pro-democracy dissidents. These are individuals have lived most of their lives in the “revolution” and yearn for a change, either an abrupt change or a modest incremental change, towards democracy. Recently, an American citizen was arrested for giving away cellphones and laptops, only in a communist dictatorship can this be a crime, but it shows two things. The first is that the Castro regime does not want the normalization of relations and will go out of its way to set back any progress with provocative acts like this one. The second is that the regime understands that the new empowerment of democratic activists on the island with access to video cameras and the internet is the greatest threat to the communist system. Dictatorships thrive in the shadows and while the US government cuts funds for radio broadcasts into Cuba, it is the Cuban people that are taking initiative, using technology, and risking their lives to shine a light on the realities on that island.

Yoani Sánchez, Cuban blogger

The change is bottom-up with people like blogger Yoani Sánchez, recently beaten and detained for typing the harsh reality she lives, and Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, serving a 25 year sentence for speaking out against Cuba’s policy of free abortions and talking about human rights in public (gasp!), leading the charge and taking hits along the way. What this goes to show is that, even without a clear beacon for freedom, the human spirit will continue to fight against tyranny no matter what.

These developments to the south, ranging from a victory against socialism to a campaign that is certain to result in thousands more tragedies before any real change comes about, can provide a blueprint for how we, as Americans currently facing a government that ignores the people, can start changing the system. Change (to borrow that slogan from the demagogues) cannot come from the top-down anymore, it must come from an energized, grassroots movement that takes on the establishment from the bottom-up. Sometimes these popular movements are hijacked by personalities who pervert the original intentions and use this momentum for personal gain. The great advantage of the Tea Party movement in America is that there is no one leader but relies on one great commonality: our desire to make and keep America great. When the 2010 elections roll around, I expect some of the more savvy politicians to try and hijack the movement… let us guard against this. Americans, historically, do not blindly follow leaders, we are individuals. Let’s never forget this as we keep fighting on.

-AG