UNDERSTANDING U.S.LATINO POLITICS

Venezuela's ailing President Hugo Chavez is in the news again. It would appear that he is severely ill suffering from cancer. This fact again called my attention to the changing situation in Cuba, South America, and Mexico. Yesterday day I posted a blog on firetreepub.blodspot,com about Mario Rubio, a son of a Cuban immigrant and now conservative Senator representing the State of Florida.

How things have changed from the “hate communism” days of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, peaking with Reagan; one of the most “hate filled” presidents we have ever had. He drove the much hated “contra” movement. Death Squad John, as we referred to American diplomat John Negroponte of that era, was the icon of conservative operations.  He busied himself killing off opposition—he and Reagan called the communists—to the established puppet right-wing dictatorships. Cuban and South American people have paid a huge price for all that hate. Now it is affecting our domestic politics in a perfectly understandable way.

When one stops and thinks about it, it was obvious that corporate money (and votes) fueled much of that greed. I look at the history of Venezuela and Cuba as examples. In Cuba, it was sugar and fruit (bananas) and the gambling industry while in Venezuela it was oil. I could list every other country in South America and point out specific resources for each. Radical conservative governments dominated these countries. The people in every one of these nations, at one time or another objected by trying to form a nationalistic movement of some kind. When people like Chavez or Castro say they hate the United States, they mean they hate the conservative party that fought against them: the Ronald Reagans and John Negropontes. I have a large number of books on my bookshelves discussing these movements. Until recently, in every case, but one, Castro’s Cuba, the United States government thwarted these movements. Now more and more countries are winning there freedom from corporate tyranny; Venezuela is a case in point.

Political operatives in the United States do not seem to appreciate the fact that Castro is a great hero among the people in all of these countries—a hero for his successful revolution—he defeated the extreme right segment of their population, which fled the country. Cuban immigrants to the U.S. of that era were truly Latino conservatives. Mario Rubio is a hero among them, the very political party hated by his fellow non Cuban Latinos for suppressing there freedom in their home countries. Rubio and his family and neighbors, the ones who elected him to the Senate, hate Castro and love conservatives for hating Castro; the very man the great majority of Latino immigrants hold up as their greatest hero.

To understand this, think of what would have happened in Valenzuela if the military had beaten Hugo Chavez and all the people who lost were to flee to the United States. They would have been just like the Cubans, the rich people would leave as happened with Cuba. As it is, Chavez won and the working class are all staying home because life is getting better. When he dies, his vice president will take over a do as he did. Chavez established a democracy.

Of course, the real situation is different. Instead of a mass immigration over a short time as happened with Cuba, with Mexico and other South American countries immigration is a slow and long drawn out process.  Instead of the conservatives, it is the liberal working class, who are immigrating. Republican political operatives, who think the Latino vote is up for grabs, are wrong. Except for Cubans, they created a liberal monolith. Conservatives can help to make immigration easier but it will only make their situation worse.

I have hoped that the Cubans will come to realize that the conservative party they claim allegiance to was behind those who were exploiting their homeland resources and caused all their problems. The exploitation gave cause to Castro and his 81 rebels, who landed from a yacht named Grandma, to successfully invaded Cuba. Eighty-one people with guns do not invade a country and win without millions of their fellow Cubans—liberal Cubans—supporting them. They were there to welcome Grandma.