The word vendepatria is used with such enthusiasm by MAS militants, to disqualify and harass their opponents, that some believe that it was invented by them, but such assumption is a mistake since it was used for the same purposes, many years after that coalition was even an idea.
If we take Arturo Jauretche at his word, an Argentine militant and thinker (1901-1974), he would be the one who introduced it, back in 1935, in the Argentine political struggles, as a synonym of sepoy, pro-Yankee or, in general, of attitudes that put the interests of the empire and foreign powers above those of the country itself. Given the international situation of Latin America in the previous century, the term was easily adopted throughout the continent.
During the current century, when the imperialist influence of the United States has experienced a notable impact in the face of its own internal problems and the rapid advance of investments, credits and financial capacity of China, which has become the main commercial and financial partner of almost all the countries of the continent , the meaning and derivations of vendepatria tend to acquire a new dimension and meanings, little explored until now.
Chinese capital, investment and companies have entered our lives quickly and impetuously, but the display of their presence and influence on our continent has a different stamp from that of the United States, whose embassies were an ostentatious center of political dominance for decades. The Chinese advance, very pragmatic and impervious to the ideological credentials of our governments, has settled during the boom phase of regimes of popular national origin, self-proclaimed leftist or progressive, although without shying away from good relations with those of the opposite sign, such as that of Bolsonaro in Brazil.
Under these conditions, and especially in countries and regimes such as the Bolivian one, the change in the social composition of the ruling social strata has favored state control of natural resources to stimulate certain forms of generating capital accumulation for the dominant party or coalition and its adherents, characterized by the delivery of land, forests or mineral deposits, in favor of aspiring to accumulate and concentrate wealth in accelerated periods.
The intense illegal land trafficking in Santa Cruz, practiced by a large part of favored groups with new titles; in Cochabamba with the extension of coca fields in the Tipnis and the project to expand the territorial “sovereignty” of the Federations of the Tropics; or the gold concessions such as the ones we have just discovered in the Madidi National Park, are a few of the best known examples of this avidity. The cartoonist Abecor reflects very well the action of these groups in an image published last February 7, where the Bolivian map appears as a leaf devoured by a gigantic caterpillar, made up of groups benefiting from the blessing or omission of the state, in reward for their political and electoral loyalty.
The hunger of these groups is phenomenal and their devouring activity is well described as true comepatria, who stop at nothing to satisfy their appetite. In recent years, gold mining has been exporting figures that are around and even exceed 2,000 million dollars, but not even 3% are taxed, thanks to the ultra-liberal legislation of the regime, which encourages the association of cooperatives with foreign investors, mainly Chinese. , Colombians, Brazilians.
Something similar occurs with rapidly colonized lands, or simply occupied by groups that are not interested in agriculture, but rather in reselling plots that have been cleared, set on fire or damaged in any way, resold to foreign investors. In all cases, their action generates and deepens environmental calamities.
The comepatria (swallows or devours the country, if you prefer) is not interested in the fact that obtaining their profits jeopardizes the future of the country, because the accumulation of wealth is governed by the same insatiability of accumulation of power that the rulers exhibit, demonstrating that the The logic of capital also works imperturbably, under socialist labels and speeches.
The great feast with which the administrators of political power compensate for the decrease in their monetary transfers to the corporations that support them, is undermining the foundations of the sustenance of a new economy, with which we will have to replace the current model, eaten away and dying .
The word vendepatria is used with such enthusiasm by MAS militants, to disqualify and harass their opponents, that some believe that it was invented by them, but such assumption is a mistake since it was used for the same purposes, many years after that coalition was even an idea.
If we take Arturo Jauretche at his word, an Argentine militant and thinker (1901-1974), he would be the one who introduced it, back in 1935, in the Argentine political struggles, as a synonym of sepoy, pro-Yankee or, in general, of attitudes that put the interests of the empire and foreign powers above those of the country itself. Given the international situation of Latin America in the previous century, the term was easily adopted throughout the continent.
During the current century, when the imperialist influence of the United States has experienced a notable impact in the face of its own internal problems and the rapid advance of investments, credits and financial capacity of China, which has become the main commercial and financial partner of almost all the countries of the continent , the meaning and derivations of vendepatria tend to acquire a new dimension and meanings, little explored until now.
Chinese capital, investment and companies have entered our lives quickly and impetuously, but the display of their presence and influence on our continent has a different stamp from that of the United States, whose embassies were an ostentatious center of political dominance for decades. The Chinese advance, very pragmatic and impervious to the ideological credentials of our governments, has settled during the boom phase of regimes of popular national origin, self-proclaimed leftist or progressive, although without shying away from good relations with those of the opposite sign, such as that of Bolsonaro in Brazil.
Under these conditions, and especially in countries and regimes such as the Bolivian one, the change in the social composition of the ruling social strata has favored state control of natural resources to stimulate certain forms of generating capital accumulation for the dominant party or coalition and its adherents, characterized by the delivery of land, forests or mineral deposits, in favor of aspiring to accumulate and concentrate wealth in accelerated periods.
The intense illegal land trafficking in Santa Cruz, practiced by a large part of favored groups with new titles; in Cochabamba with the extension of coca fields in the Tipnis and the project to expand the territorial “sovereignty” of the Federations of the Tropics; or the gold concessions such as the ones we have just discovered in the Madidi National Park, are a few of the best known examples of this avidity. The cartoonist Abecor reflects very well the action of these groups in an image published last February 7, where the Bolivian map appears as a leaf devoured by a gigantic caterpillar, made up of groups benefiting from the blessing or omission of the state, in reward for their political and electoral loyalty.
The hunger of these groups is phenomenal and their devouring activity is well described as true comepatria, who stop at nothing to satisfy their appetite. In recent years, gold mining has been exporting figures that are around and even exceed 2,000 million dollars, but not even 3% are taxed, thanks to the ultra-liberal legislation of the regime, which encourages the association of cooperatives with foreign investors, mainly Chinese. , Colombians, Brazilians.
Something similar occurs with rapidly colonized lands, or simply occupied by groups that are not interested in agriculture, but rather in reselling plots that have been cleared, set on fire or damaged in any way, resold to foreign investors. In all cases, their action generates and deepens environmental calamities.
The comepatria (swallows or devours the country, if you prefer) is not interested in the fact that obtaining their profits jeopardizes the future of the country, because the accumulation of wealth is governed by the same insatiability of accumulation of power that the rulers exhibit, demonstrating that the The logic of capital also works imperturbably, under socialist labels and speeches.
The great feast with which the administrators of political power compensate for the decrease in their monetary transfers to the corporations that support them, is undermining the foundations of the sustenance of a new economy, with which we will have to replace the current model, eaten away and dying .
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