La Ley de Herodes - Mexican film

I saw La ley de Herodes ( Herod's law) , yesterday. It is one of the best Mexican films I have seen. It is a political comedy about the Mexican way , the Instituional Revolutionary Party(PRI) and the political system which corrupts the rest of the society.

It is the story of Vargas ( played by Damian Alcazar), a small time municipal worker and PRI party member, who is made as the Mayor of a small, isolated, desert town of San Pedro de los Saguaros whose main inhabitants are native Indians. PRI sends him to implement the President's programme of Modernisation and Social Justice. Vargas starts his job as an idealist, resisting attempts by others to corrupt him. But there is no money in the treasury since his predecessors had stolen all the money and sold off even the doors and windos of the local school. Vargas becomes a laughing stock with his innocent crusading spirit against corruption. Vargas goes back to his superior seeking resources and advice. The boss gives him a gun and a copy of the constituition and says that Vargas should use/misuse these to manage. The boss tells Vargas the Herode's law- "fuck or get fucked." Vargas tries and becomes corrupt and then corruption takes him over completely. He becomes a ruthless political animal, misusing his authority, extorting money from every one and killing those opposed to him. In the end, he becomes a congress deputy and gives a lofty address to the Congress.

For those following mexican politics, this is real life story, although exaggerated and comical. It brings out the corruption, crude manipulations, paternalism and impunity. When the film was about to be released in 1999, the government of Mexico ( under PRI rule) was said to have tried to stop the film unsuccessfully. It is a coincidence that PRI lost the elections in 2000 for the first time since 1930.

Luis Estrada, the Director has a political message in this film in this satirical. hilarious but powerful film. He has used all the Mexican and Latin American ingredients: tequila, puteria ( brothel), gringo ( American ) who tries to take the mexican for a ride ( and the mexican's wife also for a real ride !), corrupt priest, native Indians who do not speak Spanish and are on the margins of the society and the complex bureaucratic system.

farewell to Ambassador Jorge Heine of Chile

These days there are lunches, dinners and cocktails almost every day to bid farewell to the most visible, read and heard foreign Ambassador in India, Mr Jorge Heine of Chile, who is leaving on 31 July.
Amb Heine has given more lectures in universities, think tanks, chambers of commerce and published more articles in Indian newspapers than any other Ambassador in India. He has written and talked about latin america, politics,economics and globalisation.
He and his charming economist wife Norma have hosted so many parties and networked with many indian intellectuals, journalists and socialites.
During his time, there have been many visits between the two countries including ministers, chiefs of armed forces, businessmen and the high point was the visit of chilean President Ricardo Lagos in march 2005. Thanks to him, Chile has emerged as the largest source of India's imports from latin America. 1.7 billion dollars was India's imports from Chile in 2006 and is growing.

Ambassador Heine is going back to his first passion.. academics. He will become from 1 August, CIGI Professor of Global Governance at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. This will be a joint appointment with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada' s premier think tank on international relations. He will be teaching in a PhD program in Global Governance, within the newly established Jim Balsillie School of International Affairs, that has been established with a US 100 million endowment, of which half has come from. Mr Balsillie, co-chairman of Research in Motion (RIM), the company that invented the Blackberry.
Hmm .. there is a coincidence here. I call him as the Blackberry Ambassador, because he would instantly reply to my mails from his blackberry from any part of the world.

Amb Heine is a multidimensional personality. He is a diplomat, academic, writer, consultant, election observer and he had also served as Minister in the Chilean government. He is the Vice-President of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). He was professor in Stanford and Heidelburg universities, besides Chilean and Puerto Rican universities. He has authored/ coauthored eight books on international affairs.

Amb Heine and I had a competition as to who would write more articles in Indian papers. While the competition in India will continue, he has overtaken me in the global stage. He has been writing and lecturing in all the continents of the world and has established a larger international network. He has been a source of inspiration to me in the last three years.

Adios Ambassador Jorge Heine...

Brazilian cultural Festival in Mumbai 19-20 July.. and more to come

This is being organised by the Brazilian consulate in Mumbai in collaboration with St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai.

It includes a photographic exhibition and workshops on Afro-Brazilian and traditional Indian dances, Bead Making and Painting.

Venue: College Hall, St. Xavier’s college.

The initiative for this has come from Mr Paulo Pinto , the proactive and dynamic consul general of Brazil.

A full-fledged Brazilian cultural festival will be held in India in January- March 2008

An IBSA cultural festival is going to be held in Salvador, capital of Bahia in october this year.
Another bigger festival will follow in India during the next IBSA summit.

Clara - novel by Luisa Valenzuela

Luisa Valenzuela is the third Argentinian author for me.
First I tried Luis Borges but I found his books too heavy. I put him in my list for later reading.
Second I tried Julio Cortazar. His novels " Hopscotch " and " the winners" were interesting but I took lot of time to finish. I did not find Latino element in them except for reference to the cafe culture of Buenos Aires.

After these, I found Luis Valenzuela as a simple story teller, giving a flavour of the Argentine society, tango, parque retiro and pampas. The story is about Clara, a naive and innocent country girl who comes to Buenos Aires for a living. Her aspirations are very simple and her dream is to see the sea. Eva also came from the country side to Buenos Aires in search of a new life. But she was lucky to become Eva Peron rising to power and fame.

But Clara is not lucky. She becomes a prostitute and her life changes with the men who manage to take her out of her profession for some time. After having lived with a hotel manager and a tango singer, she falls for a Indian Swami who predicts fortunes. Later she finds out that he is Alejandro, an Argentine who does fortune-telling for a profession, pretending to be from India. He marries her on a whim and tortures her mentally taking out his frustrations of poverty and misery. She is excited when Alejandro makes her as an Aztec Flower in a circus. But unable to tolerate his mental torture, she decides to kill him while sleeping with a knife. But when she wakes up she finds him with the knife ready to sever her head like a real Aztec flower.

This is Valenzuela's first novel. She says in the preface that although Luis Borges was fond of her, he described this novel as pornographic. There is nothing of that sort.
Luisa is said to be a writer of magical realism. But she did not use this in this first novel.

salsa classes in Delhi

Salsa is becoming popular in India and salsa schools have come up in the metros of India.
The most well organised school is Salsa-India run by Kaytee Namgyal. he organised a successful all-India competition last year. Info on his school at
http://www.salsa-india.com/

There are a number of other professionals who run private classes in the big cities.

The other day Rajan Mayor, CEO of Mayor company, which manufactures and exports called me for contact to organise a salsa party for his Rotary club.

Here is the flier I have received about new salsa classes by Pedro, the amigo from Venezuela who organised salsa parties for the launching of my book in Feb 2005 and website in August 2005.


AMIGOSS AAA BAILAR !!!!!!!

“LATINO SALSA DANCE SCHOOL” INVITES ALL “SALSA BAILADORES” AT ITS NEW PROGRAM of SALSA CLASSES


COURSES

SALSA BEGINNERS & BASIC COURSE - STARTING ON JUN 29
SAT / SUN FROM 5 TO 6.30 PM (12 hrs of class per month)
Course duration 24 hrs / Fees rs .3000
This is suggested to all those who would like to get to the floor in a short time (Absolute Beginner) or have already gone through some basic course at our school or other schools in Delhi but would like to freshen up their knowledge
VENUE:
Power House Building , 30 Haus Khas Village , New Delhi 16

SALSA INTERMEDIATE COURSE - STARTING ON JULY 1
MON / WED / FRI FROM 8.30 TO 9.30 PM (12 hrs of class per month)
Course duration 24 hrs / Fees rs. 3000
This is suggested to Salsa students who have already gone through the basics at our school or any other school in Delhi
VENUE:
Fitnessolutions, E-193, Greater Kailash Part 2, New Delhi
SALSA BASIC COURSE - STARTING JULY 1TUE / THUR / SUN FROM 6.00 TO 7.30 PM (12 hrs of class per month)
Course duration 24 hrs / Fees rs .3000
This is suggested to all those who would like to get to the floor in a short time or have already gone through some basic course at our school or other schools in Delhi but would like to freshen up their knowledge
VENUE:
Sangeet Shyamala, opp. A 11/6, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi
SALSA BASIC & INTERMEDIATE - STARTING REGISTRATION
This is suggested to Salsa students who wish to start learning dance and are particularly interested in Latin Dance and music, as well as for those who or have already gone through some courses at our school or other schools in Delhi and wish to refresh/expand their skills. These classes will be scheduled as the groups complete.
Course duration 24 hrs / Fees rs .3000
VENUE:
Gold'sGym Noida India E-16/B, Kirtimaan Plaza, 1st floor, Sector 30, NOIDA
Note :
all the courses programs will include some basic training in merengue and bachata

For detailed information about classes, parties and shows please contact:

DELHI
Katya 98 10667647
Pedro 9891109163
NOIDA
Ms Seema Seth 0120-4247162/63

or e mail us at :
salsaparty@rediffmail.com

Salma Hayek in Hindi films ?

According to a news report Salma Hayek, the mexican actress is going to act in five hindi films ( to be shot in english too simultaneously) with the Bollywood hero Akshay Kumar. This is said to be part of a deal between Carving Dreams Entertainment, a Bollywood company and Hollywood Studios International.

Salma looks like an Indian and should go down well with the Indian audience.
Sushil Choudhry and Lathika of Mann India Tech told me once that Salma was in India on a private visit and nobody noticed her thinking that she was an Indian.

I have seen many of her movies. My favourites are Frida and El callejon de los milagros( miracle alley)

This is yet another India- Latin America connection through films.
In 2006 DhoomII, the Bollywood film was shot in Rio.
Christina of Brazil is planning a Indo-Brazilian film " tamarind".
Miss Canela, Amb Hans and Minister Eddy Martinez of Dominican Republic are trying hard to take Bollywood to shoot in their beautiful country.

Muancita's dissertation on latino left

The prize for the best dissertation by the 2005 batch of Indian Foreign Service probationers went to " The reemergence of left in latin america and its implications for India". The author is Muancita... correct name Muanpuii Saiawi.

The medal was given to her by Shri Lalu Prasad, railway minister ( who gave an impressive speech ) in a function organised by Foreign Service Institute, yesterday.

I named her as Muancita because she shares my passion for Latin America. She speaks spanish and has visited a number of latin american countries. She likes the latino music, dance ..tudo

here is her favourite latino song " sola en el muelle de San Blas" , sung by a Grammy award winner Mexican band Mana from Gudalajara.

in you tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFiMvUZCsKk

Ella despidió a su amor
el partió en un barco en
el muelle de San Blas
El juró que volvería
y empapada en llanto
ella juró que esperaría
miles de lunas de lunas pasaron
y siempre ella estaba en el muelle,
Esperando Muchas tardes
se anidaronse anidaron en su pelo y en sus labios
Llevaba el mismo vestido y por si el volviera no se fuera a equivocarlos cangrejos le mordíansus ropajes,
su tristeza y su ilusióny el tiempo se escurrióy sus ojos se le llenaron de amaneceresy del mar se enamoróy su cuerpo se enraizó en el muelle
Sola, sola, en el olvido
sola, sola con su espíritusola,
sola con su amor el mar
sola, en el muelle de San Blas

here is her own translation


She said good bye to her love,He parted on a boat from St. Blas' wharfHe vowed to return, and she drenched in tears.She vowed to wait for him.Thousands of thousands of moons passed,And she always was on the wharf,WaitingMany afternoons moved in, moved into her hair and lips.She wore the same dress,in case he returned,he wouldn't mistake her,the crabs bit her clothes, sadness and dreams,and time slid byand her eyes filled with dawnsand with the sea she fell in loveand her body enrooted itself in the wharf.
Alone, alone, in oblivion
Alone, alone, with her soul,
Alone, alone with her love, the sea
Alone, on San Blas' wharf

Felicitaciones ( congratulations) Muancita !

Visit to Quito 19-21 june

the leftist US-educated, young and popular president Rafael Correa and the charming foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa

the Ecuator monument called as " mitade del mundo" ( middle of the world)

Ecuadorian senorita in her typical dress at the Mitade del Mundo

This was my first visit to ecuador. I was impressed by the historical part of Quito city and its . elegant buildings, historic churches, plazas and palaces. In the night it was even more impressive to see the buildings and churches illuminated with aesthetic taste.

The flowers of ecuador are bright, brilliant and colourful. Because of the ideal combination of climate, altitude, rains and soil the flowers have a special colour and charm.

The youthful President Correa and the charming foreign minister Maria Fernanda made the professional part of the visit interesting.

felicitaciones to Angel Cabrera

Last sunday I was more nervous than Angel Cabrera , cheering for his victory at the American Airlines lounge at Miami.
I am thrilled he won the US Open.. beating Tiger Woods.
This is a great moment for Argentinian and Latin American golf.

I had watched Cabrera's game in Brazil Open at the Sao Paulo golf club in 1999. He had birdie-birdie-eagle in the first three holes.

The last time a Latin American won a major was in 1967 when Roberto Vincenzo, another Argentinian, won the Britsh Open. He lost the 1968 Masters due to a technical mistake in writing his score.
I had played with Roberto Vincenzo in 2001 in the golf course named after him in Buenos Aires. We played nine holes. Although he was old, he reatined the touch and impressed me with his sense of humour.

I am sure cabrera's victory would inspire more champions from the region.

revisiting Bogota

This is my third visit to Bogota. The city is chique, elegant and charming. The climate is pleasant. The colonial part of the city is impressive. During the visit to the Colombian foreign office they showed us the room in which Simon Bolivar stayed and the window through which he escaped, while his lover Manuelita was holding off the assasins at the front door. I recalled the film " La libertadora del libertador" which brings out the character of Manuelita, who was the only one to put fear in the heart of the great warrior Bolivar.

I also remembered my favourite Colombian authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Restrepo and Alvaro Mutis. These have taken me in their journeys of magical realism though the river Magdalena and the little mythical town Maconde.

Bogota is the second best destination for golf in Latin America. There are about 20 courses in and around the city. The courses are undulating with great views of the mountains. The ball goes ten yards more due to the 6000 ft altitude. In my first visit I had played the 36 holes of the Country Club, Lagartos and the Army Golf course.

The transmillenium bus project has transformed public transporation of the city. This brings ministers and officals from India who want to learn from this project.

Hmm.. outsiders are scared of kidnappings, terrorism and drug trafficking. Yes it is there. But the Bogotanos take it in their stride and enjoy life. My young colleague Ankan Banerji in the embassy says he drives out around 100 kms outside Bogota in weekends with his friends.

I am leaving today afternoon to Quito, listening to the song " Adios me pido " of the colombian singer Juanes.

visit to Guatemala 17-19 June 2007

This was my first ever visit. I fell in love with Guatemalan city at the first sight( friends say ..i am prone to such accidents!). It is clean, green, modern and stylish. Great cafes, restaurants, good hotels.

I sat in a cafe ( no piernas here ! ) next to the Hotel Camino Real where I stayed. Inspiring ambience! It was cafe con books. but not like barnes and nobles and starbucks combine. The cafe was like a garden with lot of greenery and flowers. The cafe was strong and delicious. The locals say cafe should be hot, strong and stimulating...like love.
Guatemala is one of the largest coffee exporters and is the top supplier to Starbucks. The best cafe brand is Antigua.

The cafe reminded me of the Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias, the nobel prize winner. I liked his book " Mr President'. I have not yet completed his other novel The Mulata. Asturias brings alive the misery of military dictatorship and the racial divide.

Guatemala has also produced another nobel prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu the leader of native Indians. She is standing for Presidential elections in Nov 2007 but her chances do not seem to be bright.

The Guatemalans are known as Guatemaltecos or Chappins. friendly and warm souls. The only problem is that they are punctual and take work seriously ! .. insufficently latino ! But the Chappins are spicy...thanks to the variety of spices they grow. They are the world's largest exporter of cardamom.

Guatemala has recovered from the trauma of the civil war of forty years which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. While the ex-guerillas have joined politics, the Indians, who form more than half the pop
ulation still live in marginal conditions.

Unfortunately I did not have time to visit the Mayan ruins in Tikal or the colonial city Antigua.

There are quite a few from India and I met some of them. Mr Guha has been there for the last 40 years. he is married to a guatemalteca. Surprise was Senthil Kumar from chennai who is there for the last one year exporting pharma from India. he speaks Spanish fluently and has become almost a latino!

The old gringo - novel by Carlos Fuentes

In this novel written in 1985, Fuentes has added the Gringo element to the Mexican complexity. The American school teacher Harriet Winslow goes to Mexico to teach in the estate of a Mexican landord. She gets swept in the Mexican revolution and the turmoil. She is also caught between General Tomas Arroyo and the old Gringo. Arroyo is from the indigenous side, his family having worked as labourers in the estate. After he joins the revolutionary forces of Pancho Villa as a General, he burns down the estate of his former masters. The old Gringo joined the revolutionary war wanting to get killed. The three form a triangle, exploring questions of love, respect, and sensuality in ways that highlight the differences between Mexican and American ways of thinking. All three of the principal characters in this novel have mixed feelings of both love and hatred toward their fathers.

The story is based on an American journalist and author Ambrose Bierce, who went to experience the revolutionary war of Mexico and disappeared. The novel became famous after it was made into a Hollywood movie in 1989 with Jane Fonda and Gregory Peck.

But this did not appeal to me so much as the other novels of Fuentes i read.

Brazilian music and food in Delhi

A bit of Brazilian spirit is taking over Delhi this week, thanks to the visit of President Lula's visit 3-5 June. He will receive the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding on 4 June.

Teresa Cristina, the popular Brazilian singer will perform at the amphitheatre of Habitat on 4 and 5 June at 8.30 pm. She will sing the traditional Samba songs. She is from Rio.

A Brazilian water colour painting show is on at Habitat from 4 to 12 june.

A Brazilian Food Festival is on at Taj Mahal Hotel from 3 to 12 June. The food is from Espirito Santo state, near Rio. Try the muqueqa, a sea food speciality from that region.

A 100 plus business delegation is staying in the same hotel. Business seminar is held on 4 june.

Amar te duele - Mexican film

This is a Romeo- Juliet type of predictable and simple love story. Ulises, a poor boy with painting talents, falls in love with a rich girl Renata who also reciprocates. But Renata's friends and family are against this improper love. More than money, they from the white class, look down upon the browny native_indian looking boy. Renata's love, of course, is as they say, blind to colour or poverty of her boyfriend. She enjoys going to his house and his poor neighbourhood. When her family decides to send her to Canada, she elopes with Ulises. But they are stopped and Renata's ex-boyfriend shoots her by mistake to death. Like all love stories the end is tragedy.

Although the story is not new, it is a pleasant film with romance and innocent love. The racial taunts and the funky boys and girls are realistic and give an idea of the divisions in the Mexican society. Which society does not have divisions?

Martha Higereda is sweet in acting as Renata and Luis fernando Pena has done well in the character of Ulises. Fernando Sarina has done well as Director of the movie. The movie was released in 2002.

El Rey ( the King ) - Colombian film

This movie is a fictionalised account of how the drug trafficking started in Colombia, based on the life of the first drug lord Jaime Caicedo from Cali. The ordinarly life of Pedro Rey, a bar owner changes dramatically when he meets an American Peace Corps volunteer, who introduces him to the drug trafficking business. Rey realises the vast market of USA offering billions of dollars of quick profit, or what we are told as the "market-driven" trade. He goes on to make money, elevates his status and corrupts the police and society. Eventually he succumbs to the bullets of the same policeman who was in his payroll.

The movie, made in 2004, was directed by Antonio Dorado, who had said in an interview, " This movie is an answer to all the movies made by North America about the Colombian drug issue.

Fernando Solorzano has acted as the drug lord and Cristina Umana as his wife Blanca. Colombian family life, music and society are portrayed vividly and authentically in the film. Although the film is about drugs and violence it does not leave a horrifying feeling. The way the story evolves and the acting by the talented stars makes the watching of the film as a pleasant experience.

When the film roll was sent from Colombia for inclusion in a Paris film festival in Madrid, the film reels were searched thoroughly to ensure that drugs were not hidden in them !

Where the air is clear - novel by Carlos Fuentes

This is the first-ever novel of Fuentes, written in 1958.
In this book, the main character is the Mexico city itself. Fuentes takes the readers through the streets of Mexico and pages of history. He does his typical incisive analysis of the inhabitants of the city. He has chosen a banker ( Federico Robles ), a society lady (Norma), a rich family impoverished after the revolution (Ovando family ), Rodrigo Pola, a writer whose father was executed during the revolution and Ixca Cienfuegos an observer and critic of the system.

Fuentes takes the readers through the labyrinth of the Mexican solitude and identity. In no other latin american country, there is this obsessive search for identity, going back and forth in history and caught between the mother continent and the adopted one. Almost every character makes a reference to Mexican history, revolution and politics. Fuentes asks, "does such a thing as original blood exist?" and answers "no; every pure element grows and is consumed in its own purity,does not develop; the original is the impure, the mixed, the mulatto and the mestizo, as i am, as all Mexico is. Which is to say originality supposes a mixing, a creation, not a purity previous to our experience. Rather than born original , we come to be original; origin is creation. mexico must find her origin by looking ahead, not behind". This passage reminded me of Octavio Paz's analysis in his " labyrinth of solitude"

I liked these pearls of wisdom:

- It is all a question of wings, my love. With wings, a butterfly. Without wings, a caterpillar.

- All depends on the state of the soul and that depends upon external impulses. It is enough to control the external impulses to arrive at the state of the soul and personality which are desired.

I was moved and absorbed by the powerful and memorable characters in this book and the profound intellectual deabte about identity. Carlos Fuentes continues to stay as my number one favourite at this time. I have just purchased two more books of Fuentes and am looking forward to reading them.

Carlos Fuentes was from a diplomatic family and had lived in many countries. Later, he also became a diplomat and served in various capitals.

The political economy of emerging markets- book by Javier Santiso

The full title of the book is "The political economy of emerging markets- actors, instituitions and financial crises in Latin America"

This is the second book of Santiso I have read. I liked this book as well as the previous one on the political economy of the possible. my blog on the previous book on 3 september 2006 http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/search?q=javier+santiso

Perhaps another reason I like his analysis and conclusions is that they coincide with mine. While my conclusions are amateurish, based on my limited knowledge and intuition, Santiso's are those of a solid professional economist based on theories as well as practical experience.

His main conclusion in this book is that the latin american markets alongwith other emerging markets is a "confidence game" played by fund managers and Wall Street. He has described how the fund managers encouraged everyone to invest in Argentina despite the obvious and risky flaws of the argentinian ecnomic and financial structure before 2001. The main motive of the managers was to get fat bonus in the transactions. Ironically some of the same banks which mislead the investors became consultants to the Argentinian government when they wanted to restructure the debt after the crisis. So the bankers made their commission both ways, in the building up of the crisis and in the resolution. The losers are the thousands of bondholders and the Argentinian government and people. I had come to the same conclusion in my article published in Financial Express of 31 December 2005 http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_archive_full_story.php?content_id=113086#

Other interesting observations and conclusions of Santiso, based on his research and interviews with the players of the Latin America game:

- Latin American countries have been among the most dependent on international bond markets. In mid 2001 bonds represented 70 percent of Argentinian public debt.
- Crisis in latin America had occurred coinciding with the aftermath of the end of the year bonus time of the fund managers. Also the crises coincided with the election times. The governments dont want to spoil their chances by devaluation or some such unpopular measure before elections but do so after the elections.
-Argentina is the only case of a developed country which has gone down into the developing category because of man-made disasters.
-Some of the American academics who advised the Latin American governments were also making money through their interests in funds which played the investment game in those countries.
-many latin american finance and trade ministers and even presidents had studied economics and got even PhDs in American universities and were obviously influenced by the different schools of thought.
- Financial Times is more popularly read than Wall Street Journal by latinamerica fund managers
- Boston has more action than New York in investment in Latin America
- Latin American crises had been triggered or caused by capital flows. Asian countries such as China and India have not faced such crisis since they are integrated globally only through current account trade and services and have controls over capital movements. It would be worthwhile for the the Indian policy makers to keep this in mind and learn from latin america while opening the capital market in india.

Besides analysing the latin american crises, he has gone deep into the evolution of emerging market funds, fund management and the psychology of the fund managers.

Javier Santiso is a politcal economist and is currently working with OECD.

I find him as objective, neutral and balanced in his views.

book on the third wave of democratisation in Latin America

The title of the book is " The third wave of democratization in Latin America- advances and challenges"
edited by Frances Hagopian and Scott Mainwaring

It starts with the third wave of democratisation since 1978 and analyses the transition upto 2005, when the book was published. It has concluded that the Latin American democracies have become stable,durable and sustainable. It has pointed out the challenges to some of the democracies by some demogogic leaders, who use the tools and framework of democracy to impose their authoritarianism. But these setbacks are temporary, since even these leaders have to go back to the electorate which has the ultimate power to change their rulers.

The authors have identified three kinds of democratic trends and made individual analysis of sample countries. These are: (1) democratic giants with authoritarian past - Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, (2) unexpected democracies in unlikely countries -Guatemala, El salvador and Bolivia and (3) Democratic erosion in the third wave in Venezuela, Peru and Colombia.

The point which comes across clearly is that in most cases, democracies were disrupted in the past by the oligarchs, whenever their interests were challenged or affected by the rules of the democratic game. The generals and colonels were just the instruments of the elite. The second point is the loss of credibility of the traditional political parties and the entry of outsiders like Fujimori and others. But this did not happen in Argentina despite the call " se vayan los todos" ( out with everyone- meaning all political leaders ) by the people of Argentina at the height of the political and economic crisis which touched a historical low point in 2001. The civil war in El Salvador and Guatemala had devastated the societies but they have made a remarkable transition to democracy after the peace accords.

The authors have brought out the complications of the ethnic factor in countries such as Bolivia and Guatemala. But the Bolivian anamoly has been corrected with the election of native Indian Evo morales for the first time in the history of Bolivia. There could be a similiar historical change if Rigoberta Menchu also become President of Guatemala.

The approach of the authors in the book becomes very academic and theoretical sometimes. But overall they have given a sense of the political transition and process of the selected countries and the trends in the region.

But the classification and some theories need review after the elctions in 2006, which have brought to power more outsiders and leftist Presidents.

Malinche - novel by Laura Esquivel

The book was a gift from the Mexican Ambassador Rogelio.
This is the first book of the Mexican author Laura Esquivel, I have read.
I found that she is the same author of the story" Like water for chocolate" which I have seen as a movie and liked it.

Malinche is a historical novel about the Malinalli, the mistress and interpreter of Hernan Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico. Born to the native Mexican tribe, she ends up as a slave to Cortez the conquistador. She takes him for the reincarnation of her god Quetzalcoatl and serves him loyally.But she realises that Cortez is just a human, greedy for gold and conquest. Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor also mistakes Cortez for reincarnation of his god and hands over the throne to him. Cortez marries off Malinalli to his loyal deputy Jaramillo alter. She gets one a son from Cortez, said to be the first mestizio of Mexico.

Laura has done deep research on Indian history and religion and has given an authentic Indian flavour to the book. She gives a vivid, objective and respectful account of the beliefs, customs and thought process of the native Indians. The book is full of Indian names of gods, people and cities such as Quetzalcoatl, Axayacatl, Tenochtitlan, Huitzilopochtli, Tetlepanquetzal,Tlazolteotl, Cuitlahuac,Cuauhtemoc and other such tongue twisters.

Malinalli who is brought up to believe in life and worship live forces such as wind, water and butterflies is at a loss to understand the opposite approach of christianity symbolised by cross and death. Malinalli talks to water, wind and butterlfies and through these Laura has brought out out the harmony of life of the natives with nature.When Cortez conquers, kills and destroys the Indian idols, the natives lose faith in their own gods who were powerless to protect them

The native Indians consider Malinalli as a traitor. But this has to be seen in perspective. While she helped the conquest of Cortes, she was simply a poor girl sold twice as slave as a child and later to Cortez.

Malinche was originally the name given to Cortez by the natives in their language Nahuatl. Today Malinche is a pejorative term to describe someone who denies his heritage, valuing other cultures above his own. Malinchismo means betrayal.

El Huerfanito - Peruvian film

This is the first film about native Indians of Andean region I have seen.

It narrates the life of poor native Indians in the Andean region. It is about two kids, Juanito and Luchito, who face harsh realities when they come out of their village and interact with the world outside. And love blooms in the village and the hero elopes with the girl on a horseback. The lover boys turns into a drunken husband and the family is ruined.

simple story.. uncomplicated flow and not very sophisticated in direction or filmshots
It is explained by the provincial nature of its origin
What is important is ..it is true to the native Indians, showing them as they are.

This film is in Quechua language and Spanish.
Directed by Flaviano Quispe Chaiña
with the cast of Vladimir Estofanera, Kenji Hilsaca, Laureano Mamani, Asunción Uscamayta, Elizabeth Borda, Julian Miranda and Percy Paco..