Stemming A Pro-Chavez Drift in South America

Fire of Liberty

With the disruptions in Iraq, the current game of nuclear chess with with Iran as well as a "red tide" nationalism in the style of Cuba re-emerging in South/Central America(Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, Nicaragua(Ortega's making another run) it has been a big relief for the White House, NSC, Pentagon and the State Department that President Alvaro Uribe of Columbia and Alan Gercia of Peru defeated their leftist challengers thus stemming the further rise of pro-Chavez regimes in our own backyard. This just shows you that the folks in Columbia as well as Peru are well aware of what kind of financial as well as individual liberties/freedoms that the folks in Bolivia and Venezuela have lost under the rule of Chavez and Morales. Let's just hope that the folks in Mexico make a similar decision and vote for Felipe Calderón over Andrés Obrador in the general election come July 2. I'm sure that the people in these countries prefer to have a steady job, greater international trade, greater economic growth, good relations with the US and their current freedoms rather than the continued loss of such under the second coming of Castro that seems to have been the norm in the region. So once again, congrats to President Uribe and Alan Garcia for winning and stemming the "red tide."