Imagine a life with no yankees...

Today in Honduras, they are having a ceremony to join Honduras with a latino-american pact called the "Alba".  Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is the leader of this movement and is currently on TV insisting that Honduras needs to declare their freedom from the U.S. and that the "yankees", as Chavez refers to the U.S., are oppressing all of latino-america.  Also present at the ceremony are the vice president of Cuba, president of Nicaragua, and president of Bolivia. For the last two hours, these presidents have been ranting and raving about the oppression of capitalism and the oppression by the 'yankees'.  Somehow Chavez pins all problems in all of latino-america on the 'yankees'.  Sounds like the rant of a certain psychopathic leader of a certain German country of a certain World War all over again to me.  It is a sad thing to see Honduras getting involved with such socialistic/communistic ideas and governments.

It is true that Honduras has its economic problems, but it is not the fault of the U.S.  Actually, the socialized programs here in Honduras seem to be the ones with the problems.  The social medicine system is free, but terrible (and Obama paints such a pretty picture of socializing medicine in the U.S.... There is not a successful model of socialized medicine on earth today. Probably because it doesn't work.) Government-run water is not potable.  Government-run electricity continually fails.  It doesn't seem to me like a system we want to expand...  

Chavez insists that a grand government-run group of unified countries is the way to prosperity and equality for all.  Too bad that he doesn't tell the people that equality means that they will all have to work just as hard, but now the government will dictate every aspect of their lives. Instead of getting their pay (meager as it may be) and then deciding how to use it, they will stand in line for a bar of soap and a pound of beans.  Their ears will be ringing from the communist propaganda screaming, "patriotism, patriotism, patriotism", and all they will be thinking is, "I wish I choose my soap."  

Chavez wants to control all schools, all publications, all media, all businesses, all hospitals, etc. He is a communist to the core and it is scary that so many people are listening and following his lead.  Communism has never been about anything but power for the ruling class and oppression of the masses.  Once they gain control, they rule with a military grip, killing those who would threaten their hold.  Already today, Chavez was shouting that anyone opposed to the Alba is an ignorant fool and an anti-patriot.  They brainwash the masses by controlling media and censoring every method of communication, using fear to even control what people are allowed to think. It is looking like 1984 in latino-america in 2008.  

There is hope for social and economic prosperity in Honduras but communism is not the answer.  Sadly, if Honduras aligns with these politics, the country will be pulled into the pit of economic and social degeneration from which it has been trying so hard in recent years to escape.