Latin America through Herald eyes

[Say_What]

<clips>

News stories, column tell different stories

By Max J. Castro
[e-mail]

Hugo Chavez’s crushing victory in Venezuela, coming on the heels of the electoral success of militantly leftist candidates in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, raises an obvious question: What in the world is going on in Latin America?

One place one might look for answers is The Miami Herald, the U.S. newspaper with the most extensive coverage of the region. And, indeed, one can find numerous Herald news stories that give ample clues about the source of Latin America’s discontent with the status quo.

...The Herald’s coverage of the region, to the paper’s credit, accurately reflects the facts about poverty and injustice in Latin America. When it comes to the opinion pages, however, it is a completely different story.

Scour the contributions of the paper’s three columnists who concentrate on Latin America, Andrés Oppenheimer, Marifeli-Pérez-Stable, and Carlos Alberto Montaner, and you will have a hard time finding anything about social injustice, inequality, and poverty, or their possible connection with political trends. Nor will you find much in the way of analysis or explanation of, for example, the reasons for the successive ballot victories of Hugo Chávez.

What will you find instead?

* Free-market, pro-democracy ideological sloganeering and hand-wringing (“Drop populism; embrace markets,” Marifeli Pérez-Stable, October 3 (“Will democracy be strengthened?” Marifeli Pérez-Stable, October 26). The latter article, on Nicaragua, is a good segue to the next point, as it contains the following statement: “Having Ortega at the helm again is a nightmare.”

* Demonization of leftist leaders, singly (“Ecuador marching rapidly toward the cliff,” Carlos Alberto Montaner, Oct 3) or in combination (“Ortega on the road of Chavismo,” Carlos Alberto Montaner, November 14 and “Madmen bent on destruction,” same author, October 10) and contempt for the people who elect them (“Nations have the governments they deserve,” Carlos Alberto Montaner , October 31).

* Wishful thinking (Andrés Oppenheimer, December 10 “Latin American 'left' has been shifting to the right,” and “Lula loss not unthinkable,” October 5).

http://www.rprogreso.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek=1166680800

[EFerrari]

1. The Miami Herald is a shameless right wing rag.

"We'll print anything."

[calzone]

2. Never insult the barber while in the chair

Unfortunately, the reporters and editorial choices for the hard news section of the paper take enormous risks when they present the situation in L.A. as it really is.
I'm not surprised at the party line taken by the opinion columnists. Drive thru Miami with an pro-Castro or pro-Chavez bumper-sticker on your car and it will probably become a pock-marked, blown out hulk within a day. The paper runs the risk of being fire-bombed, shot up, generally sabotaged, or every car in the parking lot flat-tired or window-smashed.
Ross-Lehtinen can say things like "someone should assassinate Castro, or anybody that oppresses their people" with impunity and get praised by much of the community.
The thing is, Chavez isn't accurately a leftist, he's a Bolivarian, which is not a communist ideology. He supports free-market. But radical, reactionary ideologues never let things like facts ruin their fun.