"God Damn America" (2)

Postscript: one would imagine that America's southern neighbours would have been electrified at the prospect of a black person running their northern neighbour. Guess what?

Only 29% thought a Barack "biofuel" Obama victory would be good for their country; 8% thought the other cove would be better; and – wait for it! – 30% believed there would be no difference whatsoever, while – and I love this! – fully 31% were totally ignorant of the proceedings. That means a whopping 61% were indifferent to the so-called "epochal" election (The Economist, October25th 2008, p 52).

Being so close to Uncle Sam, these guys know that nothing changes for them; indeed, after 9/11, when Europe, Canada and even Iran were crying rivers, Latin Americans did not mount a single vigil; they felt that America deserved it.

One more observation: a few years ago the first Amerindian president, Evo Morales, was elected Bolivia's president – the world did not even notice! Why? For one thing, persecution of both slaves and natives was less intense in the Iberian colonies than the Anglo-Saxon one up above; secondly, Bolivia hurts nobody but itself, while America hurts everybody, including some of its own people.

As a Latin American leader once lamented: "so far from God, and so close to America".