Marxist Populism in Latin America: Why not Name and Shame?

In the current criticism of the ‘Bolivarian’ Governments in Latin America (Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil) corruption is strongly emphasized as if it were the main cause of the current misguided economic policies.

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However, very few are the people who name and shame the real essence of the problem, which is the socializing, left-wing and Marxist character of the populist movements. By centring the problems on the corruption issue, the main problem is largely cast aside. One therefore gets the impression that populist politicians in Latin America act mainly fuelled by corruption or demagogical interests. In fact, it is necessary to name and shame. This means stating, for everyone to hear, that while the populist politicians in Latin America (in our Brazil, the petistas of the ruling Workers’ Party) carry on with their leftist bias, their socialist mentality and, inside their heads, their obsolete Marxist ideas, Brazil and Latin America shall continue going down the dangerous chute towards the abyss where Venezuela and Cuba already find themselves. Another common feature present in the current Bolivarian Governments is the intense -- almost pathological -- hate of North Americans. In the current state of Brazilian diplomatic circles, one of the main promoters of this line of thought is Marcos Aurélio Garcia, an advisor to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Mr Garcia is a well-known hard-line leftist, who has articulated economic and political support to the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes. In the same way that some diseases are detected through some unmistakable symptoms, we can say that the current animosity towards the United States, even though Dilma has recently been to the country, is another clear sign that confirms this populist and left-leaning mentality. Fortunately, at this particularly disastrous moment for Latin America as a whole and Brazil in particular, there are many people who wish to change this direction which is now driving us towards a social and political abyss. First of all, it is urgent that we draw attention to the underlying Marxist ideology which is still dominant in many of the leading political figures, as also in our Universities and in the media. Adolpho Lindenberg, President of the Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute

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