Myopia and Latin America, After U.S. Elections

By Javier González

The high price paid by the Republicans for virtually ignoring U.S. citizens of Latin American origin - the Latinos or Hispanics - was nothing less than defeat in the recent Presidential Election held on November 6. Republicans missed the possibility of retaking the reins of Government and changing the route of a nation which is still the most influential in the world.

The real contribution that the Latin world is asked to give to the United States is the direct opposite of that shown by the so-called "liberals" in the United States and also that shown by the members of the Latin American left. These people want Latinos to become a kind of psychological Trojan horse, to cause destabilization from within the United States and also to collaborate with the "anticultural revolution" which has been gnawing away at this country and also in other nations.

Hispanics Play An Increasing Role In America

We expect that significant swathes of Latino people, where there is a prevalence of family values, a feeling of property and Christian moral values, can make a significant contribution towards a stable and prosperous future for this great nation.

According to specialized institutes, the Hispanic vote played a decisive role in securing Mr. Obama's victory, especially in those key states which helped him to clinch his electoral victory, including Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and Florida. For the first time, the Latino vote accounted for more than 10% of the total, with the Hispanic segment becoming consolidated as the most numerous of all minorities in the United States.

Out of this 10% group, 71% voted for Mr. Obama with only 29% of the votes being cast for Mr. Romney. Even among Cuban Americans from Florida, who are more politically inclined to vote for the more conservative candidate, Mr. Obama managed to get 47% of the votes. According to Gary M. Segura, the director of opinion poll company LatinoDecisions/Impremedia, "for the first time, the Latinos can truly say that their vote has been decisive." Indeed, this shall be more and more the case. According to data from a reliable source, every month, 50 thousand Hispanics come of age, which means 600 thousand new electors per year.

Hispanics Have Increasing Political Power

The Republicans could not have ignored the fact that the "liberals" of the United States, as also left-wing organizations in general, see the Latino cohort as a possible breeding stock for revolution. Indeed, they act through a network of social networks with significant financial clout, to encourage this revolutionary crop which, from the inside of the United States, could, indeed, turn against the country itself. Another point is that there should not have been disregard for the need for a realistic policy, based on common sense, towards those electors of Hispanic origin, also when addressing the touchy issue of immigration.

Mr Romney and his advisors, in proposing tough measures against immigration, including an unpopular proposal for "self-deportation" for 11 million people without documents, did their best to incur the wrath of Hispanics, turning them against him and pushing them into the arms of the victorious candidate.

How could Republicans Be So Blind

This type of mental and psychological short-sightedness on the part of the Republicans in relation to Latino voters was in fact of such magnitude that it was difficult to understand why they would do that. How could it be possible that a party with so many intellectually prepared specialists, who conducted in-depth studies of national and international problems, who spent years and even decades investigating and proposing recommendations for internal and external policies, was not able to bring up an appropriate strategy for the Latino world, the minority that in the United States may grow even more, and that has already been decisive in this Presidential election and which shall be more and more important over the decades to come?

Two Republicans Can Make A Course Correction

Among Republican figures who made a point of correcting the position of the Republican candidate in relation to the Hispanic population, we could highlight two Cuban Americans, both from the State of Florida: the young senator Marco Rubio, one of the figures to have a most brilliant future within the Party, and Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen, who is the President of the influential Foreign Relations Committee within the House of Representatives. Without a shadow of doubt, these two people can play fundamental roles in the correction of the paths taken by the Republican Party in relation to the Hispanic public.

Independent Analysis

In our case, as South American observers without any Party ties, we can now analyze, with greater peace of conscience, the delicate issue which is the role played by Latinos in the recent slip-up of the Republicans. Indeed, we have previously warned, in four different editorial articles published between August and November, on social networks and also on the Internet, in English, Spanish and Portuguese, not only in the United States but also in Latin America, that the electoral result could get to the point where it depended on the growing Hispanic minority. And what could not be understood or justified was the fact that the center and the right in the United States continued to ignore their Hispanic co-citizens. We had addressed this very same issue before the Presidential elections of 2000, 2004 and 2008, giving particular emphasis to the case of Florida. This State has an important presence of Cuban Americans who had always been wooed by the Democratic Party, through eduction strategies which unfortunately worked in the case of the 2012 elections, reducing the presence of Republican votes in Florida.

Presidents Often Benefit Latin American Left

It is also important to make it clear that, both in these and in the previous elections, we have never given full approval to any American Presidential Candidate as we have always seen, with grave concern, the distain with which the successive candidates have regarded Latin America over the space of several decades. However, our greatest suspicion has been in relation to the Democratic Party, as, in one way or another, their external policies in relation to Latin America have ended up benefiting the Latin American left.

Obama Victory Means Declining Influence In Latin America

As we have been able to state, Mr. Obama's victory means that the erosion of American leadership in Latin America shall continue, and that the new populist movements shall be able to feel with their hands free to continue the process of degradation of the State of Right in several countries of the region, such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, while also keeping the disgraceful Cuban regime afloat. Another cause for concern is the fact that, within Latin America, Chinese imperialism is feeling as if with its jaws open, like wolves in a chicken coop, benefiting from the inertia and also the stance of passive acceptance, taken up by American diplomacy.

Republican Party Must Overcome Its Shortsightedness

We sincerely wish that there are healthy political counterweights within the United States. Some American analysts have even said that, if the Republican Party continues not to present a coherent message to the Hispanic population, also clear and attractive, then the very survival of the party is at risk. As a result, we shall see the jeopardisation of the Republican role of being a necessary counterweight in American politics. For the good of the United States and also for the good of the world, it is desired that the Republican ranks can overcome this short-sightedness in relation to the Latin world, within and also outside the United States.

Javier González writes about Latino issues at Destaque Internacional