Time to get a move on

My classmate Amy called me the other day to let me know our Spanish class might be cancelled tomorrow. Seems there is some sort of political situation brewing in The University of Buenos Aires. Something about the elections for the new dean which are very politically charged amid the usual charges of corruption and cronyism. And like the Argentineans seem to like to do there’s a strike brewing to protest this latest action.

Work stoppages and strikes seem to be nothing new here in Argentina. In the last couple of weeks I’ve had to work around closed government offices, airlines and now schools due to a variety of complex political wranglings which I can only begin to hope to understand.

The Argentineans do of course have a lot to protest, much like the rest of this continent. But lately there´s a new brand of populism brewing in the air. Anyone who thinks that socialism is dead should take a visit to South America. It seems that in the last 5 years especially, this continent has taken a sharp turn to the left.

Bolivian President Evo Morales recently announced the nationalization of his countries oil and natural gas reserves. Bolivia actually doesn’t have much oil, but they are the home to the second largest reserves of natural gas in the continent. And Bolivia is the poorest nation in all of South America. When a charismatic leader like Morales can promise to fix everything by instituting a populist agenda it seems to resonate deeply.

One of the affects of US foreign policy in the last couple of years has been to create this backlash of populist regimes that gain legitimacy by attacking our foreign policy and arrogance. This all started with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela but really can be traced all the way back to the Cuban Revolution. But as we sit here Ecuador and Chile have elected socialists and Peru seems to be on the verge of doing so.

Amazingly enough Colombia stands as the only regime in the entire continent with relatively strong relations with the US. Probably because the current US administration recognizes the ELN and the Farc as terrorists and narco-trafficers and seems intent on helping the Colombian government do battle with them. Of course once you start working up through Central America you run into stable governments in Panama and Costa Rica before hitting the wild spots again. The upcoming elections in Mexico will really be a telling sign.

The political situation here in Argentina is either very complicated or ridiculously simple depending on how cynical you are. There are a myriad of political parties and agendas that are somehow interwoven in some incestuous relationship. And like elsewhere in the region they have made a steady slurch to the left over the last few years, mainly as a response to US foriegn policy. But everyone I’ve talked to seems to believe they all work for the same elite, the large land owners, the industrial powers and the labor unions. Kind of reminds me of Chicago about 50 years ago.

I’ve heard a number of theories that aim to explain why this whole continent seems so politically unstable. Everything from the observation that parents don’t seem to discipline their children very much here to the idea that the verb “ganar” in Spanish translates in English to both “to win” and “to earn” implying that the two are the same. Still none of this really seems very reasonable.

My contract on my rented apartment in Buenos Aires comes to an end in about 2 weeks. And I’ve been obsessively pondering where to head to next. The initial thought was to head south and visits the vast desolate land of Patagonia, or maybe to the east towards Chile and work up the coast. But I think I’ve decided to head straight north around the edge of the Andes before crossing into Bolivia. I’m curious to see what’s going on there. I hear captivating stories of beautiful lakes and mountains, indigenous cultures that somehow manage to survive in this modern world and a charismatic leader trying to put his name alongside “El Che” and Simón Bolivar.