Bush in Latin America: Non Grato

(AP Photo, “Se Busca,” or Bush Wanted for Terrorism)

Raymundo Riva Palacio, writing in Mexico’s El Universal, called Señor Bush “…un cínico,” which to me sounds so much better than cynic, with a case of “memoria corta,” very “short memory” indeed. Palacio’s comments come at the heels of at least six years of neglect for the region and, not surprisingly, a symbolic upsurge in the popularity of Hugo Chávez; shamefully, the purported voice of the Latin American left as he’s been painted in the U.S. press. Fortunately, most Latin Americans know better; a fact lost to presumptuous estadounidenses who seem to see Chávez as a Venezuelan Speedy Gonázlez on crack. But such are the popular lumpings of las Américas in the national imagination. His rating in the region is along the lines of Señor Bush: 25% according to the BBC’s Spanish Language Service, and has been for a while. And we have Señor Bush to thank for that 25%.

And you know it’s a problem when Mayan Indians need to cleanse the land he walks on. Click here.