Disempowerment in Latin America

For a while, in Latin America, there has been an effort by left-wing

governments to empower less privileged classes of the
population. The empowerment, although still small, of blacks in
Brazil has grown. In Bolivia, the indigenous population was also
empowered by the rise of one of their representatives in the
country's government. In Ecuador, especially during the first part
of Rafael Correa's government, with Alberto Acosta at the head of
the Constituent Assembly, the indigenous were also empowered
by a leftist view. This demonstrates, not only in the countries and
groups cited, an increasing empowerment of the most vulnerable
classes and races of the population, such as black people,
indigenous people, women, LGBTQs, the poor and others, during
the existence of leftist governments.
Today, with the massive presence of the United States in the
politics of Latin America and the rise of the right and especially
the extreme right to power, a strong movement of
disempowerment of the less privileged classes and groups
emerge. The middle class in these countries, without realizing it or
for prejudice, end up supporting this disempowerment. With that,
the old ideology of white supremacists comes to power and
demonstrates the machismo, racism and homophobia that spread
throughout these countries.
A federal deputy who is also a military police colonel (Coronel
Tadeu) in Brazil destroyed a work of art part of an exhibit on black
consciousness in the Chamber of Deputies. After the destruction,
another deputy (Daniel Silveira) addressed the plenary of the
House in defense of the colonel and said lightly and liarly that
99% of the traffickers are black, in addition to other barbarities
that demonstrate their racism. The most striking is that both
deputies belong to the PSL party responsible for electing
Bolsonaro, someone marked by a series of racist and
homophobic statements, president of the country. Other actions
by the Federal Government and state governments confirm this
tendency to attack the black population, such as the Anticrime
Package formulated by the Minister of Justice and Public Security,
Sérgio Moro. One item of the project, for example, may free a cop
who kills someone if it is allegedly excused to fear, surprise or
violent emotion, a real license to kill who the police kill, the black
people. However, not only the black race is affected by the
Brazilian far right. The indigenous population also suffers from the
support of Bolsonaro and his government to the prospectors, land
grabbers and farmers who invade indigenous reserves and are
responsible for much of the burning in the Amazon region.
Evo Morales, the former president of Bolivia and he also a
member of the indigenous people in the region, was deposed by a
coup that began with allegations of fraud by the Organization of
American States (OAS). It is clear that the Bolivian white elite has
allied with the United States and submissive countries in the
region, such as Brazil and Colombia, to lift Morales from power.
Unable to defeat him electorally, they took advantage of the OAS
presence and denunciation to deliver the coup. Luis Fernando
Camacho, a Catholic lawyer, who belongs to a family of
businessmen and he, also a businessman, was primarily
responsible for the protests that led to the fall of Evo Morales.
Like Bolivia's self-proclaimed president, Jeanine Añez, Camacho
has a conservative, right-wing profile that appeals to Christian
fundamentalism. Añez and Camacho made the Bible their shield
and the north for the future of Bolivia in their speeches. The Bible
and Christianity are used to confront Morales' mostly indigenous
supporters which were empowered by Morales. This
empowerment, as well as being evident in the much improved
rates of hunger and poverty with Morales and the political
inclusion of indigenous groups, is eminently perceived through the
religious freedom presented by the 2009 Constitution that
deprives the Catholic Church of its official religion status. The
Morales government allowed Indians, Catholic or not, to affirm
their belief in Mother Earth (Pachamama) and their religious
values, which is being denied by Camacho and Añez
((https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/bolivia-protests-coup-evo-
morales-socialism-election-religion-a9208871.html).

The conflict between two national projects in Ecuador weakened

the left. Rafael Correa's project of the citizen revolution and the
“One” people, i.e. with one identity, came into conflict with the
Constituent Assembly project of diverse and multi-ethnic civil
society. This conflict, coupled with the onset of the commodity
crisis, has weakened Ecuador, and current President Lenin
Moreno, accused of treason by his former ally Rafael Correa, has
adopted a liberal policy that has hurt the poor and the population.
local indigenous. This population did not give up and through
huge protests and demonstrations, Moreno was able to retreat in
the 123% increase in fuels, as well as the so-called liberal
economic adjustments, a victory for indigenous communities that
have been present for decades in the region. Ecuadorian political
struggle.
Protests and demonstrations, as well as persecution of the most
vulnerable classes and ethnic groups, are also present in other
countries. In Honduras, for example, the population, mostly made
up of a mix of Spanish and indigenous, protests against the
privatization of health and education systems. There, in 2016, the
coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous
Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), Berta Cáceres, was
murdered. For this crime, military, government officials and DESA
(company Desarrollos Energéticos SA) were convicted. Before
she died, Berta Cáceres accused Hillary Clinton of being behind
the latest coup in her country.
Another example of revolt against ultra-liberal politics and
economics, in addition to the disempowerment of fragile and
indigenous populations, is found in Chile. Sebastián Piñera,
president of the country, had to retreat to such an extent of his
economic and social policy that even the creation of a new
constitution was accepted by him. However, the protests have not
yet stopped and his government has been cornered. A fact that
draws attention in these protests is the use of the Mapuche flag,
indigenous people of Chile and Argentina recognized for the
struggle for their rights, as a symbol for the protesters.
Although much of Latin America has opted, through free choice,
for democratic socialism and the changes in the liberal standard
of economy are not as great as those desired by their peoples,
local elites, supported by foreign agents, struggle so that the ultra-
liberal and segregationist ideals are implanted through an
ideology that, in many of its characteristics, recalls that was done
by Nazism. To blame or harm a people, race or weakened part of
a population is to repeat the cowardice practiced by fascism and
Nazism. Blacks and Indians in Brazil, Indians in the Andean and
Central American countries, poor people around the world suffer
from the disempowerment and ideals of those who only think
about maintaining the status quo of those who have always held
the immense part of power. These people not only think about
maintaining power, but seek to increase it and further lower those
on the side of diversity and difference, through a biased and
segregating extreme right ideology.