Latin America Study Centre in the University of Kerala

Last week I was invited to give a series of lectures on Latin American politics, markets, culture and Indo-Latin American relations at the Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.

The brain behind the Centre for Latin America Studies is Mr Balagopal who is the current Finance Minister of Kerala. He was the one who persuaded the University of Kerala to open the Centre. When he was member of the Rajya Sabha, he had donated his MP fund for building a hall for the Centre in 2015. As Finance Minister now, he has allocated 2 crores of Rupees to the Centre. During my meeting on Friday, he expressed his interest in promotion of relations with Latin America.

Mr Balagopal has visited Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba when he was an MP. He has fond memories of the visit. As a Marxist, he is, of course, fascinated by the Pink Tide in Latin America. 

Prof Girish Kumar, the first Director of the Centre, is enthusiastic about Latin America. He is in the process of working out strategies for research, student and faculty exchanges and seminars. There are already some PhD students doing research on Latin America. Soon, the Centre will offer Spanish language courses. The Centre offers grants for translations from Malayalam to Spanish and vice versa. The Centre proposes to hold a Latin America Fiesta with seminars, cultural programs, film festival among other events.

Kerala is an apt place for the Latin America Study Centre. The Malayalees have have a Triple M connection to Latin America: Marquez, Marx and Messi. 

The book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez of Colombia was a bestseller in the state some years back and had fifteen editions in Malayalam. Latin American authors are familiar to Keralite readers thanks to prolific translations. Marquez is a household name in the state. When he was diagnosed with cancer, about 200 people in Kozhikode had held a prayer meeting.  When Marquez died,  the Keralite media paid homage saying," Marquez leaves an indelible mark in Malayalee hearts". Some even claim that "Magical Realism was invented by O V Vijayan in ‘Khasakkinte Itihasam’, much before Garcia Marquez had published a word". Khasak in Vijyan's novel is similar to the mythical place Macondo in Marquez's works. 

 

"Latin America is my favorite destination for travel", says Dr Natarajan Pillai, the ENT surgeon from Kochi, who has made six trips to the region. Dr Pillai has been to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. He has spent a total of around 130 days in the region. He has plans to visit the remaining eight Latin Americans in the future. He has written three books in Malayalam on his Latin American journeys: 

1. Dakshinaayana Kaalam ( Southward Bound ') - about his trip to Sao Paulo and Santos in Brazil. Published in December 2010. 

2 Samkrama sooryante Nizhal (The shadow of Transiting Sun), March 2012. It covers Rio and Foz de Iguazu in Brazil besides Ciudad del Este and a Guarani village in Paraguay

3.Ven Samkholikalude Pranaya Theeram ( echoes from the white conch in the shore of love) -  about his journey through Chile and his 'love affair with poems of Pablo Neruda and Hispanic literature'. Published in July 2014, this book got him the ' KV Surendranath ' Award of Achutha Menon Foundation for the Best Travelogue.

During football World Cups, Keralites are divided in their rivalry for support to Argentina or Brazil.  Flags of Brazil and Argentina and posters and banners of Messi and Neymar go up on roadsides and rooftops. There are quite a few Latin Americans who play for the Keralite football teams.

Maradona had visited Kerala in 2012 at the invitation of Bobby Chemmanur Group of Kannur which had made him as their brand ambassador. The Chemmanur Jewellery released a gold coin with Maradona’s picture on one side and his signature on the other. The suite number 399 of Hotel Blue Nile in Kannur, where Mardaona had stayed, has become so famous that the management has converted it into a museum.  

 

The CPI(M) puts up posters of Fidel Castro, Che Guavara and Chavez in their party conferences. 

The party members keep track of developments in Cuba and Venezuela. They cheer the Left which has come back to power in the leading countries of Latin America.

 

Despite the political, literary and sporting connections, Malayalees have not ventured out to settle in the region except for about a hundred catholic priests settled in the region. They connect the Latin Americans to Jesus in fluent Portuguese and Spanish across the region. There are a few professionals married to Latinas and settled there. The most prominent is Mathew Kodath, who has become a leading producer of Honduran films. He has married a Honduran and settled there. I liked his film "Amor y frijoles"( love and beans).

 

Cardamom, exported from Kerala, has a competition in global markets with the Guatemalan cardamom. Guatemala, which got the plant from Kerala in the early twentieth century, now exports more cardamom than India.

 

Rubber had come to Kerala from Brazil. Recently, a Keralite company exported natural rubber to Brazil. 

 

UST, a prominent IT company from Thiruvananthapuram, has operations in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Some years back UST had brought ex-Mexican president Vincent Fox on a trip to India. He was helping the company to enter and expand in Mexico.

 

Muthoot Finance group from Kerala has invested in a beach resort in Costa Rica.

 

Ayurveda is becoming popular in Latin America. A number of Latin Americans visit Kerala for Ayurvedic treatments. The Latin American doctors who practice Ayurveda are keen to have exchange programmes for training.

A former Venezuelan ambassador Walter Marquez is among the many Latin American followers of "Amma" from Kerala.

 

Given these already existing connections and the intellectual interest of Keralites in Latin America, the Centre for Latin America Studies can do much useful work.

 

There are over sixty Latin America Study Centers in China which does ten times more trade with the region. China remains an influential and important partner and presence across the region. The Thiruvananthapuram Latin America Centre is the only one in India. 

 

 

External dimensions of Peruvian political crisis

Mexican President Lopez Obrador has refused to recognize the government of the Peruvian interim president Dina Boluarte. He calls the new government as unconstitutional and  Boluarte as a puppet of the oligarchs which plunder the country’s natural resources. He has criticized the imprisonment of ex-president Pedro Castillo as a farce and injustice. He has given asylum to the family of Castillo. He has confirmed that he would continue to support Castillo who was “unjustly and illegally removed from office” in December. 

The strong language of Obrador is surprising. He never used such words against Trump who threatened American democracy and disparaged Mexican immigrants.
 
Boluarte has reacted understandably accusing Obrador of interfering in the internal affairs of Peru. She has withdrawn Peru’s ambassador to Mexico and has declared Mexican ambassador in Lima as persona non grata.

 
President Obrador has refused to pass on the presidency of Pacific Alliance to Peru. He says he will let the Rio Group to decide on the matter. When President Castillo was to travel to Mexico to take over the presidency of Pacific Alliance, the Peruvian Congress refused to permit the travel of Castillo. Yes..in some countries of Latin America, the president needs the approval of the Congress for foreign travel. 
 
The Colombian and Argentine governments have also been critical of the removal of President Castillo. Bolivia’s ex-president Evo Morales has expressed solidarity with Castillo and has refused to recognize Boluarte government. In response, the Peruvian authorities have banned the entry of Morales into Peru.
 
President Lula, the iconic leader of the Latin American left has taken a moderate and neutral position. He is conscious of the similarity of the removal of President Dilma Rouseff by the Brazilian Congress through a constitutional coup. Gabriel Boric, the fresh face of the Latino Left has followed Lula’s lead in neutrality. They are unable to defend Castillo who made the unpardonable mistake of proclamations to dissolve Congress and Judiciary. 
 
I believe that Castillo was wrongly advised, mislead and trapped into political suicide by others. Castillo is not a typical caudillo like Fujimori or Bolsonaro to pull off a coup. He did not have the competence, courage or network to do a coup. He did not make proper plans for a coup by lining up support from military or political parties or leaders. With his background as a school teacher from a remote rural area he had no understanding of the power brokers of Lima. He was simply naïve and clueless.
 
The US is having fun watching the removal of a leftist president in Latin America which has seen a resurgence of the Left. For the first time in the history of the region, all the six major countries (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and Chile) are ruled by leftist presidents. Theoretically even Peru is in this list since President Dina Boluarte belongs to the same leftist party of Castillo. But she has made a deal with the rightists in the Congress for her own survival.

The only consolation is that there is no existential threat to Peruvian democracy as there was in Brazil from Bolsonaro and in USA by Trump. There is no dangerous political extremism in Peru as we see even now in Brazil and US. 
 
In any case, it is an internal matter of Peru which needs to be resolved by its Congress and the President of the country. There have been widespread protests calling for early elections and constitutional reforms. But the Congress is not in a hurry for elections or reforms. They hope that the protestors will get exhausted after some time. So the stalemate will continue through this year and hopefully there might be elections next year. Meanwhile President Boluarte will continue to struggle on three fronts: the protestors, the Congress and the external pressure from Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. 
 

Bolivia had undergone a similar crisis when the leftist president Evo Morales was overthrown in a coup in 2019 and was replaced by a rightist government. Evo Morales had invited the trouble for himself by his own hubris when he tried to hang on to power beyond the constitutional limit of two-term mandates. Mexican President Obrador gave him asylum and helped him. In the elections held in 2020 Luis Arce, the candidate of Morales' party MAS was elected as president. The country has regained its political stability under the pragmatic rule of President Arce.