(Translation: “Alan’s back, let’s get out of here!”)
And now he’s got the entire country on strike against him, not even one year after taking office for the second time in his very checkered career. This has got to be some kind of record.
Nationwide protests and a general strike have brought Peru to a near standstill over the last week.
Thousands of people in every major town and city took to the streets, and three people are reported to have been killed in clashes around the country.
The protests are widely seen as a show of disapproval with the government of President Alan Garcia.
They come just a fortnight before President Garcia completes his first year in office.
And look who else is rearing his head:
President Garcia appears to have inflamed the protests by launching insults at union leaders and dismissing them as left-wing radicals.
But the opposition leader, Ollanta Humala, and several MPs have also joined the demonstrations.
They accuse Mr Garcia of reneging on his campaign pledges and say social development and working conditions have not improved, despite Peru’s booming economic growth.
Bet somebody’s sorry now that they held their nose and voted for Garcia instead of Ollanta Humala when they had the chance!
Interestingly, the Beeb is still neglecting to mention that Alan Garcia has shut down opposing media outlets, something Chavecito is often accused of but has never in fact done. Oh well, I found something anyhow. And something else. And just for good measure, I found another interesting thing. And I also found evidence that Garcia, like so many of Chavecito’s critics, is a big fat hypocrite.
Man, it’s amazing what one can find if one only takes the trouble to look!
Bina, the reason that assholes like Garcia really hate Chavez is that he addresses the poorest, most neglected sectors, and helps narrate them as protagonists.
The Garcias of Latin America address and stoke the myth of the virtuous middle classes–while making deals with the oligarchs and the bankers. Improving the lot of the poorest through socialist methods that redistribute wealth are alway a non-starter to the vendepatria Garcias of Latin America.
Disciplining the oligarchs and asking the middle classes to understand the needs the the poorest sectors (appealing to their patriotism, not their consumerist greed) is what is needed–and what will be avoided as long as Garcia reverts back to form.