COMMENTARY Will the welcome rebuke leftist Chilean President Gabriel Boric handed Latin America's older leftists help push their movement 鈥� and their hypocritical mindsets 鈥� into the 21st century?
A mic was dropped in Bras铆lia this week 鈥� and we can only hope the resounding boom finally pushes the red-bereted, olive-fatigued, raised-fisted anachronism known as the Latin American left into the 21st century.
The guy who dropped it 鈥� Chile鈥檚 37-year-old leftist President Gabriel Boric 鈥� is more than twice as young as the guy he dropped it on 鈥� Brazil鈥檚 77-year-old leftist President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva. That鈥檚 a reminder that Boric was lettin鈥� it fall on a whole generation of hoary hemispheric hypocrites 鈥� from Mexican President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador to Colombian President Gustavo Petro 鈥� who still think it鈥檚 oh-so revolutionary-righteous to defend indefensible dictatorships run by fellow leftists.
Especially the one ruled by Venezuela鈥檚 socialist despot, Nicol谩s Maduro.
READ MORE: Don't worry, Brazilian Bolsonaristas 鈥� Lula's a lot like Jair (and Donald)
It was Maduro whom Lula fawned over on Monday as South American heads of state arrived in the Brazilian capital for a summit. Scores of countries around the world have condemned Maduro for brutally trashing Venezuela鈥檚 democracy 鈥� the U.N. has tagged his regime for crimes against humanity 鈥� and for creating the worst humanitarian crisis in modern South American history, one that鈥檚 forced a fifth of his population to emigrate. No matter. Lula had to play the Gauche Goodfella 鈥� never rat on your friends! 鈥� and of course blame it all on the U.S.
Maduro 鈥渋s a victim of an unfair narrative of anti-democracy and authoritarianism constructed against Venezuela鈥� by Washington, claimed Lula 鈥� who earlier this year told us the Caracas Caudillo doesn鈥檛 deserve international sanctions but just a little understanding and 鈥�carinho.鈥� Affection.
It was all apparently too much for Boric. When he stepped up to a podium in Bras铆lia on Tuesday, he sounded like a college senior home for the holidays who can鈥檛 ignore the retro crap he鈥檚 hearing uncles spout at Thanksgiving dinner.
鈥淭he human rights situation in Venezuela is not a 鈥榥arrative,鈥欌�� Boric said in a stunning rebuke to his Brazilian host. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a reality. It鈥檚 serious.鈥�
鈥淎s a president of the left,鈥� Boric added, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 necessary to confront it, not sweep it under the rug.鈥�
Finally.
Boric sounded like a college senior home for the holidays who can no longer ignore the retro crap he鈥檚 hearing uncles spout at Thanksgiving dinner.
Granted, Boric can鈥檛 afford Lula鈥檚 brand of denialism anymore, because the left he leads in Chile is reeling from the consequences of its own anachronistic hubris.
Last September, Chilean voters kiboshed a sorely needed new constitution, because the mostly left-wing council that drafted it had stuffed it with radical, state-bloating, Che Guevara T-shirt-wearing nonsense. Now, this month, Chileans have elected mostly right-wingers to take another stab at a new charter. That means a lot of the genuinely worthy progressive features of the earlier draft 鈥� more political and economic democratization, indigenous enfranchisement, environmental safeguards, abortion rights 鈥� may likely be lost.
Aztec Eagle
Boric is smart enough and young enough to realize that the left鈥檚 constitution spooked most Chileans into thinking it would steer their quasi-developed nation in the direction of Venezuela 鈥� or other left-wing Latin American dictatorships like Cuba and Nicaragua. In other words, the regimes that Lula and L贸pez Obrador and Petro and so many other leading lefties in the region mollycoddle, using more shameless double standards than evangelical Trump supporters summon at CPAC.
This year L贸pez Obrador awarded Cuban leader Miguel D铆az-Canel the Order of the Aztec Eagle 鈥� Mexico鈥檚 highest honor for foreigners 鈥� despite the dark fact that Cuba鈥檚 got a thousand political prisoners serving 20 years for merely protesting their communist regime鈥檚 repression and incompetence back in 2021.
Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, had Colombia skip an important OAS vote last summer to censure and condemn Nicaragua鈥檚 human rights cesspool 鈥� then tweeted that it was time for the hemisphere instead to 鈥渞e-open the door to brotherhood鈥� with Nicaraguan strongman Daniel Ortega.
This even though Ortega today is a clone of Anastasio Somoza, the barbaric and corrupt right-wing dictator he overthrew back when he too was a leftist rebel.
To his everlasting credit, Boric called out that fossilized hypocrisy this week. Just as important: he decided, in effect, that when he鈥檚 as old as Lula, he doesn鈥檛 want to sound just like the two-faced conservatives 鈥� including Miami鈥檚 congressional delegation 鈥� who slam Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua but issue apologies for the anti-democratic thuggery of right-wingers like former U.S. President Donald Trump or former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Boric has opted instead for the 21st century.
