Latin America

They still don't get it and that includes Jackson Diehl in todays Washington Post. His commentary is a long rant on how anti American politicians are being democratically elected in Latin America starting with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and more recently the election of Evo Morales in Bolivia. He speaks of Fidel Castro finally seeing victory in the region and of the probable election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico. But he doesn't have a clue as to why this is happening. It is obvious he is clueless by his oxymoron final sentence:

In the short term, however, much of Latin America is going to be an unfriendly place for liberal ideas and free markets -- and with them the United States.

So called "free markets" in Latin America has meant pillaging of resources by American corporate interests. The net result has been a majority of the citizens have seen there lives get worse not better. Is it really any wonder that when given the opportunity to vote for an alternative to American economic imperialism they do. They can't blame on the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union any longer and attempts to blame on Castro are comical. The United States is unpopular because of the policies of the United States. Democracy is not compatible with economic imperialism.