READERS WRITE
SOMETHING SIMILAR
Paraguay is a member of Mercosur and has a “preferencial tariffs agreement” signed with Taiwan. Maybe Uruguay wants to do something similar with China and or the United Kingdom, while at the same time remain as a member of Mercosur.
Luis Spallarossa, via email
JUSTICE IN ARGENTINA
In the “Seven Ages of Man” in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, “the Judge” is portrayed as having “a fair round belly with good capon lined.” To me, “capon” is the bribery given to the corrupt judge whose ruling is not free from improper outside influence. The same is true about Federal Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti´s decision to dismiss the so-called VIC vaccine case against the national administration. According to Capuchetti, there is no written legislation rendering punishable the government’s decision of granting its friends the prerogative to be vaccinated against Covid-19 out of turn. The President himself had expressed the same idea so it seems that the federal judge has listened to him and decided to follow suit. Moreover, she has the nerve to acknowledge that jumping the inoculation queue may be immoral, but she rules that it is not enough to make the involved ones in the scandal legally liable. Shouldn’t she have done something against the rigidity of the law and its codes?
Shouldn’t she have scrutinised the existing legislation more thoroughly? Capuchetti decides to shelve the case instead of ensuring justice. However, a great number of Argentines, thinking that enough is enough, flocked to San Nicolás as “autoconvocados,” a massive mobilisation by politically unaffiliated demonstrators on July 9, Independence Day, to protest against so much unfairness in a country whose people demand an independent justice system?
Adrian Insaubralde, Santa Fe
ALBERTO THE NOTHING
Since some time back I have been calling our president Alberto The Small, as opposed to folks like Friederich The Great, or Peter The Great, or Catherine the Great. But, in view of happenings during the recent weeks, I realise that I was wrong with that definition. So much so that I have now demoted him to Alberto The Nothing. Take his latest comments regarding the demonstrations in Cuba, last Sunday: “I don’t exactly know the dimension of the problem. I don´t know what’s happening in Cuba, but let’s finish with the embargo.” In other words, “I don’t exactly know the size of the steaks. I don’t know what’s happening in the kitchen, but let’s finish with the table cloths”! Various alternatives: 1) Mental blockade, 2) Ignorance, 3) Suddenly become a communist, 4) Panic to speak out his mind, 5) Cynicism 6) After so much lying he has an absolute impossibility to discern between what is true and what is a lie. 6) Total and absolute submission to Kruella De Vil. Take your pick. But one thing is for sure: Alberto The Nothing has become the most insignificant and undignified Argentine president to have ever landed his rear on Rivadavia’s armchair, and as a consequence our country is at presently steered, more and more, towards disaster. So, folks, tie yourselves to a mast, and pray, nay, vote so that with God’s help we can finally reach land safely, survive, and be able to revive and make prosperous once again our Republic, darn it!
Harry Ingham, City
CUBA IS WAKING UP
A few years ago, I went to Cuba on holiday. After enjoying an unforgettable week in Varadero, I visited La Habana. The contrast was huge, flagrant, unforgettable too, but for different reasons. I’m glad I went to Varadero first and not afterwards, because otherwise I would have felt guilty. The poverty I saw in Havana really shocked me – people begging for money, food, soap, shampoo, anything actually. I was even asked to buy some milk by a woman holding a baby in her arms. Most of the tourist guides I met were professionals: engineers, architects, psychologists, teachers, who depended mainly on tourists’ tips. No-one spoke well of the government – not even one of them. I felt I had been to two different countries, the first one (Varadero) pouring with well-off foreigners but forbidden to local people; the second, the real Cuba. Cubans not only lack material things, but mostly freedom. I’m glad I’ve been there, because I’ve seen all this with my own eyes. That’s why I welcome the people’s current reaction against a regime that has repressed them and deprived them of their basic rights for over 60 years now. Cuba is waking up, at last. It’s never too late…
Irene Bianchi, Ringuelet, La Plata
BATTLE OF THE BULGE: PART 152
Dear Sirs,
Five days mourning becomes Argentina! We are crying for you, Argentina, as the casualty lists from the dreaded Covid-19 bug exceed 100,000 souls, and counting. Where and when will it end? All on account of the firmly entrenched ideological traits entertained by the powers that be, who don’t seem to realise that the Berlin Wall collapsed over 30 years ago and that the fiercest capitalists today reside in Beijing and Moscow. Argentina, a P-failed state? The latest economic trends seem to point in this direction, as the blue-market dollar edges steadily upwards and the value of Argentine bonds move in the opposite direction. A sinking feeling? Never! There’s Change, just round the corner. ‘Veremos!’
David Parsons, via email
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