This colossal incompetence of the Guillermo Lasso administration, which has us reliving the 20th century third world blackout in Ecuador, is a perfect metaphor for the times we live in: the obvious possibility of darkness before the future. The great political and ideological debates in Latin America are increasingly wild, clownish and prone to right-wing or left-wing extremism, or the antagonistic fanaticism of sects that present themselves as electoral alternatives. What is happening in Argentina is devastating: the possibility of barbarism (Javier Milei, following the advice of his dead dog) has made viable a failed political project, that of the Peronist Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy in the government of Alberto Fernández, with which inflation has reached 138% this year .
Latin America is becoming a decadent circus of despondent politicians, where pyrotechnics are more effective than the discussion of ideas. The left, with very few exceptions (Gabriel Boric), remains unable to question the bloody and impoverishing dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. She was unable to define, internally, her position regarding the right of women to develop their sexual and reproductive lives without state interference or criminalization. They still nominate anti-right candidates or defend disruptive leaders.
Perhaps I’m writing this column with an overblown hope that this transition regime…will lead to a grand deal…
Perhaps as a reaction to the excesses of the supposed socialisms of the 21st century, a trend has emerged on the continent that is equally delirious and distorted., on the other hand: a libertarian movement which, in its various aspects, promotes the veneration of the Spanish conquerors, the free bearing of arms, inquisitorial Catholicism to the extreme and, among other irresponsibility, the elimination of public policy in almost all areas of national life, such as health, education , culture or environment (Milei, for example). They are capitalists without capital who, incapable of complexity, find socialist devils in the landscape they see. Many admire the sophisticated totalitarianism of Nayib Bukele, which, in the institutional sense, is ordinary Chavisism with a bombastic prison infrastructure.
If these are the alternatives for the continental future, I think we are lost. I think that functional modern democracies, which allowed the right to freedom and room for progress, were built by a large consensus. The architect of Spanish democracy, Adolfo Suárez, said: give in to the extra, so as not to give in to the essential. And what is important for Latin America, especially for Ecuador, is the possibility of the future, which can hardly be conceived with today’s sectarian binarism. Perhaps I am writing this column with the superfluous hope that this soon-to-be-started transition regime will spur a grand agreement on essential minimums, from all sectors, to ensure that Ecuadorian democracy has a future and does not disappear in the face of organized crime and fanatical egotism. for and those who are against the past. (OR)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
