Hermano gringo

Why people hate or love the USA around here

Before I start talking about Americans let us remark that America is not only the USA. Maybe that constitutes the very first reason why people around here dislike “Americans”. Latinos are as “Americans” as the European descendants from the North. Maybe even more, because the degree of the race mixture which has taken place in the last 400 years is far stronger than to any extent in the USA.

From people in Mexico down to Chile, in every Country you will find many more half breed families and human beings than in any town of the USA.

This is strongly related with the way colonization took place by the Spanish.

In the beginnings no women were allowed in Spanish colonies, because unlike North American colonization, the purpose was to rub, steal and collect as much gold, jewels and precious stones as possible and by any means, as long as the word of God was spread.  We always talk about the bloody Christianization when it comes to it, and this is still a stain in the history of Catholic Church.

So the first “colonists” were mostly Spanish soldiers and captains and military in general terms.

Paraguay is the only country in which colonization was not undertaken bloodily. Paraguayan woman mainly descendants from Guarani indigenes, are known, until today, to be incredibly smart, seducing and practical. They found a way to dominate the “Spanish Hidalgo” avoiding fight and succeeding in creating a family with him.

That is why often here people talk about the “loving colonization”, if you know what I mean.

I will talk about the details in further blogs.

Another reason why people dislike “gringos”  and is still fresh in their memories, goes back to the Sixties of the last century  in which the American governments (Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon)  supported many Latin American  dictatorships the same way they supported the South Vietnam regime, only to prevent the presumed communist threat from taking over. If you look into Argentine, Chilean, Uruguayan and Paraguayan history you will probably be amazed by the atrocities committed, nobody has heard about.

The last reason is to be found in the fact that many people here feel that they are the “backyard” of the giant in the North, that needs to be “swept” now and then, but the willingness to provide real sustainable help or the interest to build or construct wealth in a sustained manner has always been missing.

Besides that and otherwise to European help for instance, it is always bound to “the promise of loyalty” and the fulfillment of certain conditions such as drug combat aid, e.g.

Nevertheless, if you have the chance to visit Paraguay, you will be received with open arms, very kind and loving because, believe me, each of one knows very well the difference between the government of a country and Joe Schmoe.