This Thursday, as part of the sixth edition of the Ibero-American Journalism Meetings organized by elDiario.es at Casa América in Madrid, Ignacio Escolar, director of this newspaper, interviewed Jon Lee Anderson, renowned writer and journalist specializing in Latin American politics. and director of the media BOOM, a new exchange platform which is starting with an eye on migrations.
Focused on the stories of migrants in Latin America, the meeting began with the screening of the documentary film “The Damned Darién”, produced by Anderson himself and by the BOOM platform, an audiovisual document as well as in the form of a podcast that the American described as “a nightmare”. “It hits hard,” agreed Anderson, who added: “It’s like a nightmare and we wanted to leave that feeling.”
Jon Lee Anderson explained in this interview that they chose to address the issue of migration because it was “the elephant in the room.” “This is the big problem, because on the one hand it demonstrates a bit of the collapse of entire systems and countries, of their rule of law, in some cases in Latin America, and on the other hand it was the trigger xenophobia and the far right, for the appearance of someone like Trump,” reasons the journalist.
Anderson recalls that “no one” found the solution to this problem dead end and considers that “to a certain extent” we are “participants” in belonging to the relevant Western societies. The writer names Donald Trump as the main person responsible for putting this issue “on the front page” during his first presidential candidacy: “he called Mexicans rapists, murderers and thieves. And from there, political power was built and we are all in suspense in the face of this drama.”
The journalist recounted during the interview how, thirty years ago, he himself crossed the Darién, the jungle area that connects Panama and Colombia, “in a semi-adventurous plan” in following in the footsteps of Núñez de Balboa, how he encountered “some outlaws” and that the area was almost entirely indigenous territory.
“It’s the navel of the Americas, the thing that unites the north and the south, and it’s the only part that’s not connected by a highway,” Anderson says. However, as you recall, over the past three years, more than a million people have passed through this route on their way to the United States. The author wonders how the states responsible for this border which separates Central America from South America ignore the migration problem and in turn leave it in the hands of organized crime.
The head of BOOM directly points out the negligence of the Colombian government: “The government does not get involved. There is a criminal organization responsible for profiting and protecting, at least on the Colombian side, these migrants,” says John Lee Anderson, who adds: “Petro has ceded territorial control to the Gulf clan.”
Asked by the director of elDiario.es, Ignacio Escolar, about the role of progressive governments in Latin America, the seasoned informant highlighted the case of Chile, where the executive of Gabriel Boric had to face the arrival of more than 800,000 Venezuelans in recent years.
Anderson recounted a case related to Venezuelan immigration to Chile after several of these migrants were arrested for different crimes and the Chilean government, based on the law of the South American country, ordered their expulsion to Venezuela . “Maduro did not accept them,” explained the journalist, who detailed how the Venezuelan president asked for help for Guyana: “I accept the plane if you help me for Guyana. “That’s how transactional, that’s how raw.”
The role of the revolutionary left and the rise of Milei
John Lee Anderson argues that the Latin American left “needs to look in the mirror” and that in many countries the revolution “has only been a self-proclaimed revolution.” “I met Chávez and he had revolutionary ideas at the beginning. Nicaragua is like a southern park that meets Ceaucescu and Cuba because it can no longer maintain itself,” explains the journalist, who remembers the exodus of 10 to 20% of the Cuban population from the island during of the last two and a half years or Venezuelan migration.
“The left with its revolutionary rhetoric has failed,” says Anderson, who insists that “it uses revolutionary slogans to legitimize itself, to legitimize its presence in power and to insist on coercive power that no one else can. participates because the revolution is sacred. » .
The American journalist recalls that there are “other lefts that are a little far-fetched” in reference to the Mexican left (“ni chicha, ni limoná”), or to the “pragmatic” left of Lula da Silva in Brazil, whom he defends as someone with left-wing humanist training and instincts, but with a problem: “He has a divided country like the United States and the armed forces against him.” »
Faced with the situation he describes in the revolutionary left, Anderson believes that, until he reflects, he will not be able to rethink and have answers to the vicissitudes of his people to confront the “siren songs” of the ” new rebels. “, which he defines as “right-wing reactionary people” who display “the dynamism of the moment.” “They are the ones who inspire and encourage young people. And this is a challenge that they currently have on the left, and not only in Latin America,” insists the writer in reference to Argentine President Javier Milei.
Elon Musk and his new role as a member of the American government
Jon Lee Anderson admitted that he thought Elon Musk “had too much power” before taking over the social network Twitter (now with Donald Trump “he almost becomes co-president”).
Concerning the drift of the social network, the journalist asks to “see what” Musk has done since he took control: “He invited the worst species back,” he declared, and detailed the return of characters like the “misogynist” Andrew Tate. , the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones or the British racist Tommy Robinson.
“They were kicked out for spreading hateful messages on Twitter and he brought them back in the name of free speech,” said Anderson, who recalled that “people don’t control anything on social media” and that ” not only brought them back” but rather “made them rich” is worth anything and that the people were responsible for separating the wheat from the chaff (from the tares). The people are not responsible for anything on this. social networks.
