Argentine movie “ Goyo”

The film “Goyo” is one of the best Argentine movies I have seen in recent years. 

 
It is a romantic story of Goyo, an autistic young man, who falls in love  with an older married woman Eva who has moved away from her husband. Goyo is autistic but artistic. He paints and has a vast knowledge of art in which he has graduated. While he is good in his work as a museum guide, he is awkward and uncomfortable in dealing with people. He tries to understand people and situations through reading and theoretical analysis. One day, he sees Eva while she was struggling and angry with her broken umbrella in rain. Her image sets his heart on fire. He discovers that Eva works in the same museum as security guard. He tries to court her in his own absurd and comical way. He is encouraged by his brother  who coaches him on how to deal with women. Eva is overwhelmed by the innocent, sincere and talented Goyo and his painting of her portrait. 
 
Moment to stop….…and let you enjoy the rest of the story by watching the movie.

The Director Marcos Carnevale has handled autism with a sensitive and empathetic touch while making us laugh and smile with Goyo’s clumsy behavior and formal talk, which is humorous. He has made the simple and predictable story poignant through the complex Argentine characters.
 
The Uruguayan Actor Nicolas Furtado touches our heart as Goyo, the adorable young man with the Asperger's Syndrome. The Argentine actress Nancy Duplaa in her role of Eva and the other actors did not have to do any acting in the movie. They have simply talked and behaved in the same natural way as they do in every day life. The Latino 'magic' comes out from the Argentine 'realism'. The Argentines do not need stories or fantasies or imagination. Their reality is more fantastic than magic. Otherwise how can one explain a country which was one of the richest in the first three decades of the last century becoming now a country with fifty percent poverty rate and severe economic crisis. And this is not the first time of crisis..The crisis in 2001 was much more traumatic than the current one. The Argentines  create crisis for themselves periodically but regularly and predictably. Argentina is a rare country which has moved from the First World to the Third World.

Goyo brings out the typical and unique Argentine mindset and cultural traits. Watching the Argentines talk and argue in the movie and in every day life is an entertainment by itself. This was the best part of my five year stay in Buenos Aires. I used to enjoy listening to the colorful conversations of the Argentines in the cafes in Buenos Aires. The city is famous for its legendary cafes and book stores. The Argentines read a lot of books, analyze the contents and discuss them seriously in the cafes for hours together. The Argentine taxi drivers are one of the most well-read and articulate in the world. 

Even when the Argentines use the most abusive and angry words, they do it with creativity, style, sarcasm and humor. They have a rare flair for combining their notorious haughtiness with humorous naughtiness. There are lots of jokes about the Argentines in the rest of Latin America. Even the Argentines themselves (including Pope Francis) make fun of their compatriots and write books. My favorite books are “ Che Boludo” and El Pelotudo Argentino” which have amazing collection of jokes and stories.

The Argentines complicate even the simplest things by too much complex and critical analysis. Once when I explained how India is a complicated country due to people speaking different languages and unable to understand each other, an Argentine commented, " In Argentina we speak only one language but we still don't understand each other". For Argentines, every little thing is like the Aleph (a point in space that contains all other points and reveals everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously) in the famous story of Borges. 

 
The Argentine film makers come out with gems like “Goyo” from time to time despite their limited budget and other resource constraints.  The last Argentine film which impressed me was “Wild Tales”, released in 2014. It narrates the extreme reactions of the Argentines when they are emotional. The Argentine President Javier Milei with his haughty talk and extremist outbursts is like one of the characters in "Wild Tales". He is not exceptional or different. He is simply and naturally behaving as an authentic Argentine...ha..ha..

Besides its delightful entertainment as a drama, the film Goyo has a valuable educational contribution to the society. It makes people to understand and develop empathy for those who are disadvantaged in social skills.
 
Goyo, which has just been released in Netflix, deserves an Oscar award..
 

United States is the obstacle for free and fair elections in Venezuela

United States is the obstacle for restoration of democracy in Venezuela
 
Venezuela is holding elections on 28 July. But the outcome is predictable and inevitable. The ruling Chavista government of Maduro will not lose the elections and even if they lose, they will not allow the opposition to come to power. The ruling establishment cannot afford to let the opposition to come to power for a simple and fundamental reason.

The US has filed criminal charges in US courts against President Maduro and has announced a bounty of 15 million dollars on his head. Here is the US State Department notification:

"Maduro was charged in a March 2020 Southern District of New York federal indictment for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. §§ 960a and 963, and 18 U.S.C. § 924. 

The U.S. Department of State is offering a REWARD OF UP TO $15 MILLION for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Nicolás Maduro Moros.If you have information and are located outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If in the United States, please contact the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in your city".

Announcing bounty on the head of the serving president of a country is unusual and illegal. But the US does not care for international law. 

There is a total of 55 million dollars bounty on the heads of 14 Venezuelan government leaders. These include Vice President Cabello (10 million dollars bounty), ministers, military officials, judges and senior government officials. These are serious charges such as drug trafficking, narco-terrorism, money laundering and possession of weapons. The punishment for these would be imprisonment in US jails for long periods or for life.  

The US has been intervening in Venezuela ever since the leftist president Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998. The US had supported a coup against him April 2002. Chavez was arrested and put in jail. But the coup organizers messed up the capture of power by their greed and incompetence. This opened the opportunity for Chavez to come back to power after 48 hours. Since then, the US has imposed brutal economic sanctions on Venezuela ruining its economy and particularly oil production and exports. During the Trump administration, there were a number of open attempts for regime change. 

The US refused to recognize the legitimacy of the reelection of President Maduro in 2018 and instigated a legislative leader Juan Guaido to declare himself as president in January 2019. They recognized Guaido as the President and forced over 50 countries including Latin American countries and members of EU to do the same. The US let  Guaido and his cronies and American lawyers to appropriate the  Venezuelan government funds frozen in American banks. But the Guaido circus collapsed in corruption scandals. Then the US dropped Guaido and re-recognised Maduro government and loosened the sanctions in order to deal with the oil shortage caused by the Ukraine crisis. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world which are more than even those of Saudi Arabia.

If the opposition comes to power after the 28 July elections, the US will ask them for extradition of Maduro and dozens of government leaders to US. The opposition leaders would be too happy to oblige. Many of the current government, military and judicial members will end up in jail in the US. 
This is what has just happened to the ex-President of Honduras Juan Hernandez. He was in power for two terms from 2014 to 2022. As soon as he finished his term, he was extradited to US where he has been convicted to life imprisonment on drug trafficking charges. His brother is also in US jail on the same charges.

In 1989, the US invaded Panama, captured President Manuel Noriega and took him to US where he was put in jail for 17 years on drug trafficking charges. Noriega was a CIA asset and was helping the Americans to destabilize the Sandinista government of Nicaragua in the eighties besides doing other dirty work for the Americans.
So why would the Venezuelan leadership commit mass suicide by letting the opposition come to power? The Chavistas might change Maduro for another one of their own. But they cannot afford to give up power to the pro-American opposition.

The people of Venezuela are the victims in the game between the US and the government of Venezuela. Democracy is fractured and the economy is in ruins for over a decade. Inflation is running high. There is shortage of food and essential items since the government does not have enough foreign exchange for imports. Oil exports and production have been severely crippled by the American sanctions. Poverty and insecurity have forced over five million Venezuelans to flee and take refuge in to other Latin American countries and the US. The country is crying out for relief. 

As long as the US holds the sword over the heads of the leftist government leaders of Venezuela, there is no possibility for free and fair elections and change of government. 
 

China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Latin America

 China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Latin America 
 
Chinese FDI totaled $187.5 billion in Latin America in the period 2003 – 2022. 
China’s average annual FDI was $14.2 billion between 2010 and 2019 but fell to $7.7 billion from 2020 to 2021, and then $6.4 billion in 2022.
 
Brazil is the largest recipient of Chinese FDI at 78.6 billion dollars, followed by Peru– 32 bn, Mexico-24 bn, Argentina-18 bn, Chile-16, Ecuador-4, Bolivia-3, Venezuela-2 and Colombia-1
 
FDI in electricity generation and transmission is an impressive $16.9 billion. Chinese companies own fully or partially 304 power plants in Brazil, which total 16,736 MW, or 10 percent of the national generation capacity. China Southern Power Grid’s ongoing acquisition of Italian Enel’s equity stakes in Lima’s electricity distribution will put 100 percent of Lima’s electricity in the hands of the Chinese company
 
Chinese President will inaugurate the Chancay port in Peru in November 2024. China has invested $3.6 billion in this deep-water mega-port. China’s state-owned COSCO will have exclusive operating rights of the port.  The port will boost trade by reducing shipping time between Peru and China by ten days.  

Besides large-scale infrastructure projects,  the Chinese moving into areas of innovation such as information and communication technology (data centers, cloud computing, 5G network), renewable energy, electric vehicles and agri-science
 
Source:
 
https://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Emerging-Trends-in-Chinese-Foreign-Direct-Investment-in-LAC.pdf
 
 
 
 

Bitter fruit: The story of the American coup in Guatemala

Banana, a sweet and common fruit, became a bitter fruit for Guatemala.
 
United Fruit Corporation (UFCO), an American company, was the monopoly producer and exporter of bananas from Guatemala in the first half of the twentieth century. The company became more than a banana monopoly.  It functioned as a state within a state. It was the largest land owner in the country with about 550,000 acres.
 
The company controlled the main port Puerto Barrios and the town around it. Any business seeking to export or import goods through the port was at the mercy of the company for charges, terms and conditions. 
 
UFCO owned the IRCA rail line, the only means of moving products to and from Puerto Barrios. IRCA was charging the highest freight rate in the world.  
 
UFCO was running the telegraph and telephone service of the country. 
 
UFCO was the largest employer in the country.
 
In essence, the company had nearly complete control over the nation’s international commerce and domestic economy.
 
The company had used its clout to get the best deal from the country’s corrupt ruling establishment who had granted the company exemption from taxation, duty-free importation of goods and a guarantee of low wages and restrictions on trade unions. 
 
But the company faced challenges from the leftist President Jacobo Arbenz who assumed the presidency in March 1951. He was a nationalist with ideals of helping the poor and reducing the exploitation of the country by UFCO and the local oligarchs. He initiated policies for poverty alleviation, protection of labor and better educational system. He started land reforms by expropriating uncultivated land from the rich (after compensating the owners with government bonds). During the first eighteen months of the program, his government distributed 1.5 million acres to some 100,000 peasants. The properties expropriated included 1,700 acres owned by President Arbenz himself and another 1,200 acres owned by his friend and later Foreign Minister Guillermo Toriello. 
 
In 1953, the Arbenz government seized 209,842 acres of the UFCO’s uncultivated land. The government offered $627,572 of compensation in bonds, based on UFCO’s declared tax value of the land. But UFCO had undervalued its property in official declarations in order to reduce its already insignificant tax liability. But now that the declared value was being used to determine compensation, the company howled in protest. On April 20, 1954, a formal complaint was delivered to Guatemalan authorities, not by the company but by the U. S. State Department. The note demanded $16 million in compensation basing its claim on international law, which, it contended, required fair compensation for lands seized from foreigners despite domestic laws. The amount offered by Guatemala averaged about $2.99 per acre, while the State Department wanted over $75 per acre; the company had paid $1.48 per acre when it bought the land nearly twenty years earlier. In the negotiations, the United States ambassador took the lead on the side of the company. Guatemalan Foreign Minister Guillermo Toriello refused to accept the State Department note, branding it “another attempt to meddle in the internal affairs of Guatemala”. 
 
Many influential members of the American establishment had personal interest or stake in UF. These included Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and John Moors Cabot, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, whose family owned stock in the company. His brother Thomas had served as president of the corporation in 1948. American ambassador to UN Henry Cabot Lodge was a stockholder. He had been a vigorous public defender of UFCO while he was senator from Massachusetts. The wife of Edmund Whitman, UFCO’s public relations director, was Eisenhower’s personal secretary, Anne Whitman. Undersecretary of State Bedell Smith was seeking an executive job with UFCO while helping to plan the coup against Guatemala (he later was named to its board of directors). Robert Hill, ambassador to Costa Rica during the coup, was close to the UFCO hierarchy, having worked for Grace Shipping Lines, which had interests in Guatemala. In 1960, he became a director of UFCO. 
 
The US State department, CIA and UFCO started a coordinated malicious propaganda campaign against President Arbenz calling him as a communist and falsely accusing that Guatemala was becoming a beach head for Soviets. UFCO appointed a PR firm which lobbied with the American Congress and the media feeding them fake news and lies. The firm produced a 94-page study, called “Report on Central America 1954” according to which Guatemala was ruled by a Communist regime bent on conquering Central America and seizing the Panama Canal. The US media such as New York Times carried such propaganda and amplified it through their own reporters sent to Guatemala as guests of UFCO. 
 
The United States Information Agency cranked up a more sophisticated crusade. Its propagandists wrote more than 200 articles, made twenty-seven thousand copies of anti-Communist cartoons and posters and distributed them to US and Latin American newspapers. The agency shipped more than 100,000 copies of a pamphlet called “Chronology of Communism in Guatemala” throughout Latin America. It produced special movies and radio commentaries and distributed them across the hemisphere. 
 
Even the American Catholic establishment collaborated with the CIA.  Cardinal Spellman of New York arranged clandestine contacts between Guatemalan Archbishop Mariano Rossell Arellano and a CIA agent. The Guatemalan priests read a pastoral letter in all the churches calling the attention of citizens to the presence of Communism in the country and demanding that the people should rise against this enemy of God and country. The CIA air-dropped thousands of leaflets of the pastoral message all over Guatemala.
 
The Americans started preparing a ‘regime change’ operation and initiated talks with Guatemalan army officers to overthrow President Arbenz. They chose Colonel Castillo Armas as their man for the job. He was in exile in Honduras after he lost out in a coup attempt earlier. The American ambassador and the CIA officials sorted out the rivalries among the rival presidential contenders from the army and forced everyone to line up behind their man. They used the right wing dictatorship regimes of Honduras, El Salvador and Dominican Republic to establish bases there for supplies to the rebel army. The CIA arranged arms and aircrafts. American planes flew over Guatemala throwing bombs and leaflets causing panic among the public. UFCO provided logistics support through its port, ships and railway lines. The American ambassador bullied the Guatemalan president and openly instigated the army officers to rebel against the government. Finally, the Americans succeeded in overthrowing President Arbenz in June 1954 and sending him out on exile. They made their man Col Armas as President. The American president Eisenhower celebrated the American victory and felicitated CIA and State Department officials involved in the Guatemalan coup. UF rewarded some of the CIA and State Department officials with plum posts.
 
This Bitter Fruit story of Guatemala is not a Magical Realism fiction by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The book “Bitter fruit: The story of the American coup in Guatemala” is the work of two American authors namely Stephen Schlesinger (Director of the World Policy Institute, a foreign policy think-tank at the New school in New York) and Stephen Kinzer (a journalist who has written extensively on Latin America in media such as New York Times and became Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University) They have done a thorough research of the unclassified US government and CIA documents and interviewed some of those involved in the story from both sides. They have used the research materials themselves to narrate the events, like in a novel. They published this book in 1982 and updated it in 2005.
 

Guatemala was the first case of “regime change” operation by the US. It was a guinea pig and test laboratory for CIA. It was this success in Guatemala which encouraged the Americans to try regime changes in other countries of Latin America and the rest of the world. The US followed the same formula to overthrow the leftist President Allende in Chile in 1973. 
 
The US installed military dictator Castillo Armas was succeeded by other military regimes in the next three decades. These regimes in collaboration with the local oligarchy had ruined the country with their oppressive policies and atrocities. Naturally, people rose in revolt and leftist guerilla groups sprang up. The US came to the help of the dictators to counter the insurgencies. They trained Guatemalan military and police in counter insurgency operations and supplied arms. The US posted their own military officers in Guatemala to direct and advise the local security forces. The US planes, based in Panama, dropped napalm bombs on areas suspected of being guerrilla haunts. 
 
Guatemala suffered more than two hundred thousand killings during the civil war. The Guatemalan military was responsible for ninety-three percent of the murders. The indigenous people of Guatemala, who constitute the majority of the population but have been historically excluded and marginalized, suffered the worst. The death and destruction of  the civil war made people to migrate to the US. The end of the civil war and restoration of democracy in the late nineties had not given any relief to the people. The civil war has been replaced by gang wars which have made Guatemala as one of the countries with the highest murder rates in the world. 
 
El Salvador and Honduras neighboring Guatemala have also suffered the same fate. The American supported military dictatorships of these countries destroyed their countries with oppression and unleashing civil wars.  The Americans used all the three countries as bases for their “Contra Wars” to destabilize the Sandinista government of Nicaragua in the eighties. More destruction and death followed. The civil wars were followed by gang wars especially in the Northern Triangle of Violence  which includes Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The continuing violence has made hundreds of thousands of people to flee and migrate to the US. The guns used for crimes and violence by the gangs are mostly American guns trafficked illegally through the thousands of gun shops in the border with Mexico.
 
The problem of immigration of Central Americans into the US is, therefore, an inevitable and logical consequence of the destruction of these countries by the US. It is a ‘No Brainer’ as the American would say.