4 ms·

>I understand most of the northern Latin America may harbor strong negative feelings towards the US That is what Chavez wants you to think. I agree there is so

>I understand most of the northern Latin America may harbor strong negative feelings towards the US That is what Chavez wants you to think. I agree there is some part of the population in Venezuela that does not like the US but I think is mainly because they are being told not to like them. I believe that most of Venezuelans have always looked up to the US and are pro-yankee. Given the choice (specially Chavez supporters) will prefer the american way of life or the american dream over this new Socialism of the 21st century.

redthrowaway 16y ago
Sorry, what? Was this intended to be satire? The US has done a great many things to make itself very hated in Latin America, and that is far from limited to, or even primarily in, Venezuela.
- compay 16y ago
  Just curious, what's your experience living or traveling in Latin America? Have you seen or experienced this widespread hatred first hand? I obviously don't deny that the USA committed terrible abuses in Latin America, but I have yet to see the widespread resentment you speak of; not everybody walks around with a copy of The Open Veins in their pocket down here. Latin Americans can be as ignorant or apathetic of history as anybody in the USA. I am not a Chavez supporter, but the claim that he or many Venezuelans "hate the USA" lacks nuance to say the least. If that were the case, Johann Santana would be reviled as a traitor for playing baseball in the USA, rather then being received by Chavez as a hero.
  - redthrowaway 16y ago
    I wouldn't call it widespread hatred. I certainly didn't see any evidence of hatred towards individual Americans. It's more a widespread opinion that the United States is at best questionably moral. There are certainly many who think it is evil, and if you ask the average person on the street they'd probably have mostly negative feelings towards the US. I haven't been to the Middle East, but I imagine the sentiment to be very similar. People have an odd way of resenting you when you back brutal dictators that kill thousands of civilians.
    - compay 16y ago
      I asked if you have lived in or traveled in Latin America, but you didn't answer me. Does that mean you have not actually been here? I ask you because I do, in fact, live in Latin America and my experience has not been what you describe. > People have an odd way of resenting you when you back brutal dictators Actually people tend to first resent the brutal dictators themselves. The person paying the hit man isn't usually as hated as the guy who actually stuck a gun in your face.
      - redthrowaway 16y ago
        I've spent time in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. I never claimed Latin Americans blame the US for all the things that the juntas did, merely that there's a fairly strong undercurrent of resentment towards the US there.
- fabiandesimone 16y ago
  I'm sorry... I give you an insight about the country I was born and raised for 30 years and you see it as satire and the general opinion is that I need to be down-voted? Honestly don't know what to make out if this. Anyway have an up-vote, because in fact the US has done many things to be hated... as well as many things to be loved. I, like many, many of my fellow Venezuelans, are very much, pro-USA.
flog 16y ago
How about we ask the audience? There must be at least one South American on HN willing to comment.
- santimt 16y ago
  I'm from Uruguay. Here US is hated by only a few, left ideas oriented people. I think the reason that make US to be hated is because its support to dictatorships and its imperial behavior over almost every country. But trust me, it is hated by only a few (at least here and the surroundings).
- compay 16y ago
  I can only speak from my experience as an American living in Argentina for a little under 10 years, who was a Spanish major in college, and has travelled a fair bit around the continent. The idea that people in South America "hate the US" has never been my experience. People in the USA on both the right and the left seem to have a paranoid fantasy that everybody everywhere hates Americans. Right wingers think people are jealous of us, while left wingers think we have pissed people off too much because of our abuses of power. I think both of them suffer from the same root problem: the delusion that people everywhere are obsessed with the USA and Americans. In my travels, people I meet usually see the USA as just another country like any other - they may have a more or less favorable opinion, but Americans are lumped in the same category with Bulgarians and Poles as "foreigners." I've also observed that people are usually smart enough to separate the USA's government from its people. When Bush was in power, people used to sometimes ask me about him, usually in the context of "wow, I really feel sorry for you having a guy like that as your leader." Keep in mind that Bush was extremely unpopular here in Argentina. I know this may be hard for some Americans to come to terms with, but while there are things that make us a wonderful country, and also some terrible aspects of our past... we are really just like everybody else, and at least in my experience that's just how people here have treated me. Your milage may vary. :)
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    > I think both of them suffer from the same root problem: the delusion that people everywhere are obsessed with the USA and Americans. I wouldn't be able to say it any better. > Bush was extremely unpopular here in Argentina. I really can't imagine a place where he was popular... Poland, I was told, but a statement so unbelievable required more proof than I had at the time.

redthrowaway 16y ago

Sorry, what? Was this intended to be satire? The US has done a great many things to make itself very hated in Latin America, and that is far from limited to, or even primarily in, Venezuela.

compay 16y ago
Just curious, what's your experience living or traveling in Latin America? Have you seen or experienced this widespread hatred first hand? I obviously don't deny that the USA committed terrible abuses in Latin America, but I have yet to see the widespread resentment you speak of; not everybody walks around with a copy of The Open Veins in their pocket down here. Latin Americans can be as ignorant or apathetic of history as anybody in the USA. I am not a Chavez supporter, but the claim that he or many Venezuelans "hate the USA" lacks nuance to say the least. If that were the case, Johann Santana would be reviled as a traitor for playing baseball in the USA, rather then being received by Chavez as a hero.
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  I wouldn't call it widespread hatred. I certainly didn't see any evidence of hatred towards individual Americans. It's more a widespread opinion that the United States is at best questionably moral. There are certainly many who think it is evil, and if you ask the average person on the street they'd probably have mostly negative feelings towards the US. I haven't been to the Middle East, but I imagine the sentiment to be very similar. People have an odd way of resenting you when you back brutal dictators that kill thousands of civilians.
  - compay 16y ago
    I asked if you have lived in or traveled in Latin America, but you didn't answer me. Does that mean you have not actually been here? I ask you because I do, in fact, live in Latin America and my experience has not been what you describe. > People have an odd way of resenting you when you back brutal dictators Actually people tend to first resent the brutal dictators themselves. The person paying the hit man isn't usually as hated as the guy who actually stuck a gun in your face.
    - redthrowaway 16y ago
      I've spent time in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. I never claimed Latin Americans blame the US for all the things that the juntas did, merely that there's a fairly strong undercurrent of resentment towards the US there.
fabiandesimone 16y ago
I'm sorry... I give you an insight about the country I was born and raised for 30 years and you see it as satire and the general opinion is that I need to be down-voted? Honestly don't know what to make out if this. Anyway have an up-vote, because in fact the US has done many things to be hated... as well as many things to be loved. I, like many, many of my fellow Venezuelans, are very much, pro-USA.

flog 16y ago

How about we ask the audience? There must be at least one South American on HN willing to comment.

santimt 16y ago
I'm from Uruguay. Here US is hated by only a few, left ideas oriented people. I think the reason that make US to be hated is because its support to dictatorships and its imperial behavior over almost every country. But trust me, it is hated by only a few (at least here and the surroundings).
compay 16y ago
I can only speak from my experience as an American living in Argentina for a little under 10 years, who was a Spanish major in college, and has travelled a fair bit around the continent. The idea that people in South America "hate the US" has never been my experience. People in the USA on both the right and the left seem to have a paranoid fantasy that everybody everywhere hates Americans. Right wingers think people are jealous of us, while left wingers think we have pissed people off too much because of our abuses of power. I think both of them suffer from the same root problem: the delusion that people everywhere are obsessed with the USA and Americans. In my travels, people I meet usually see the USA as just another country like any other - they may have a more or less favorable opinion, but Americans are lumped in the same category with Bulgarians and Poles as "foreigners." I've also observed that people are usually smart enough to separate the USA's government from its people. When Bush was in power, people used to sometimes ask me about him, usually in the context of "wow, I really feel sorry for you having a guy like that as your leader." Keep in mind that Bush was extremely unpopular here in Argentina. I know this may be hard for some Americans to come to terms with, but while there are things that make us a wonderful country, and also some terrible aspects of our past... we are really just like everybody else, and at least in my experience that's just how people here have treated me. Your milage may vary. :)
- rbanffy 16y ago
  > I think both of them suffer from the same root problem: the delusion that people everywhere are obsessed with the USA and Americans. I wouldn't be able to say it any better. > Bush was extremely unpopular here in Argentina. I really can't imagine a place where he was popular... Poland, I was told, but a statement so unbelievable required more proof than I had at the time.