My Trip to Latin America...
Well, I went on a trip, but not THE trip as I got wrapped up in where I landed! Of course, the best laid plans go awry... but it was sensational to say the least. To see the devastating poverty that exists in the Latin Americas as a result of American greed and capitalism... do any of us Americans truly know what we do to the rest of the world? I've seen villages devastated by American Corporations unfriendly eco practices... mining that pollutes the water and devastates an entire ecosystem that just derails the capability to live in a region where their ancestors have lived for thousands of years. By polluting the ground water, rivers, tributaries, soil, and deforesting -- american corporations have displaced communities one after the other. In Mexico, I found small groups of people, left behind after a mining operation became too expensive because of low return on minerals -- hundreds of local people who had once received up to $1 a day for slaving in dangerous mines all day were left high & dry when the american company pulled out and left -- these peoples who had lived there for centuries or relocated to the area for hopes of jobs were left with nothing, nothing but disease, non-potable water, and no way of farming or making a living. They basically live in extreme poverty while the american company left after making millions in profits. Was it worth destroying an entire regions livliehood? I think not?! In Columbia, the political environment is changing rapidly. The FARC who were notorious leftist guerillas and fighting for the right to assume control of their own country back from the rich military government are slowly laying down their arms and coming out of the jungles. Kidnapped foreigners are being returned after being gone for years. The drug trade is being laid open by the new government who has vowed to give up prosecution of the FARC members who were once viewed as terrorists, when they were simply fighting to regain control of the land, country, and home that was theirs and over taken by both the drug trade and foreign provicialists who laid waste to their natural ownership and property. In Peru, elections were coming up and the peoples were pushing to have an indigenous leader take over and instill socialistic principles to regain again their own lands, economy, and resources so ALL peruvians, whether Indian or Spanish descent could reap the benefits long controlled by foreign imperialists... Venezuela has Hugo Chavez who is inspiring distribution of national resources in the foreign market -- and redistributing the wealth back into his nation and for his peoples to better the society that has long been controlled by the corrupt wealthy -- no longer will he allow the distribution and reinvestment of wealth to the wealthy only -- his country and his people will reap the benefits of the oil and other natural resources Venezuela has to sell on the international market.
Is any of this perfect? Is any of this truly viable and will lead to success? I don't know -- but what I do know is that if you SAW & EXPERIENCED the outright poverty, prejudice, inequities, and corruption that exists in 3rd world countries as a direct result of the provincialism, imperialism, and capitalism that a broadened world economy has on the peoples that have been controlled and dictated to for years by the wealthy few -- then you would realize an amazing revolution is occurring in some of the poorest countries of the world.
It's finally time for those who have long suffered under the original Spanish, French, English, and American greed and need for control to take back what is theirs... the Amazon is devastated -- only luckily does so much land exist in the rain forest that what is left IS being protected and that means that there's a chance that the millions of unique species and peoples that exist will have a chance to thrive in their little corner left. It's not perfect, but it's gaining a slow down. The indians I did meet went from a perfect world in a forest/jungle with no outside intervention or need for goods and services that exist in capitalism. They were forced to believe that the way they lived was inappropriate and that since their land, resources, and way of living became impossible with the destruction that occurred, they now live in barrios and shacks grieving for their lack of money to purchase the basic necessities they were led to believe they could have if they left their homes. They are forced into becoming consumers of items they never needed before, and now believe they can't live without -- because they can't... they can't live in a barrio off the land. They live in barrios waiting for death because it's surely easier than the life they have now. Imagine growing up in a land that was clean, quiet, and free. Now, they are corralled in a dirty, disgusting, neighborhood where daily existence depends on the availability of a family member's thieving ability, government hand out, or the ability to escape violence from poor neighbors or the disease that you have no immunity to!
It's devastating, it's disgusting, and it's inhuman.
There's no way to change what we've done to these indigenous people. We've raped their land, their homes, their beliefs, their idealisms.
The only thing we can do is offer support back to these people through the provision of training, education, and support of indigenous businesses and opportunities they develop to semi-exploit their little bit of ancient skills, mysticism, and capablities -- it's their only way to make money NOW -- and as their governments evolve and we support as the Westerners who destroyed their lands, water, and living space -- ways to bring clean water, land, and NEW economically viable methods to support themselves and distribute the resources among themselves as their new socialistic governments are trying to do.
It's hopefully the first step to these people regaining control of their own lands and being able to reap the benefits themselves. What is left is the devastation we laid waste in our previous involvements with their natural resources... hopefully, they will be able to reinvent, reinvest, and regrow new ways to profit and regain power off the land that was always theirs to begin with -- and that they are finally regaining control of!