5 ms·

>I'm from Uruguay, and I can personally attest that people in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil are fully aware of Snowden (and rooting for him and against the U.S.

by mjolk 13y ago

>I'm from Uruguay, and I can personally attest that people in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil are fully aware of Snowden (and rooting for him and against the U.S. government in this case). That's because your government pretends that it can taunt the bull that is America in order to manipulate its people into thinking its government is somehow decent. The only government that does not spy on its populace is that which is too meek to pull it off.

speeder 13y ago
Don't assume all governments are tyrannical as the US. Brazil once fired a bunch of people from intelligence AND police after they found out they cooperated, with warrants, to wiretap a known big criminal. The population was outraged, but it was clear, intelligence was not authorized to wiretap Brazilians, in fact the punishment for that was the actual removal of all.wiretapping equipment from the agency ( I think it is stupid that punishment... ) I am very sure our intelligence have no crazy ass large scale espionage like US is doing to its own citizens.
- mpyne 13y ago
  So was the 'crime' of the intelligence agents wiretapping Brazilians, or wiretapping anybody? Because to hear it on HN you'd think the U.S. would never be allowed to engage in foreign surveillance at all.
GFischer 13y ago
Well, our government is far from perfect, but I vastly prefer it over the one in the U.S. You might want to read on President Mujica :) , I often disagree with him, but I do believe he's honest and he strongly defends his principles. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica Also, being a smaller country gets us more accountability and participation. I even ran for parliament :) (and for an opposing party to Mujica's, but I still respect him a lot).
BecauseWeCan 13y ago
Uruguayan here. We have had multiple dictatorships in our short history. We know what the government is capable of, not in theory, but in our bones. We root for Snowden, because we share his pain.
- GFischer 13y ago
  Indeed, that is very true - though it holds much more so for the generations before mine. I didn't live the dictatorship, but it's a big part of our lives - we have as prominent figures for political parties both President Mujica who was a guerrilla fighter, and the son of Bordaberry, the president that led to the dictatorship.

by mjolk 13y ago

speeder 13y ago

Don't assume all governments are tyrannical as the US. Brazil once fired a bunch of people from intelligence AND police after they found out they cooperated, with warrants, to wiretap a known big criminal. The population was outraged, but it was clear, intelligence was not authorized to wiretap Brazilians, in fact the punishment for that was the actual removal of all.wiretapping equipment from the agency ( I think it is stupid that punishment... ) I am very sure our intelligence have no crazy ass large scale espionage like US is doing to its own citizens.

mpyne 13y ago
So was the 'crime' of the intelligence agents wiretapping Brazilians, or wiretapping anybody? Because to hear it on HN you'd think the U.S. would never be allowed to engage in foreign surveillance at all.

GFischer 13y ago

Well, our government is far from perfect, but I vastly prefer it over the one in the U.S. You might want to read on President Mujica :) , I often disagree with him, but I do believe he's honest and he strongly defends his principles. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica Also, being a smaller country gets us more accountability and participation. I even ran for parliament :) (and for an opposing party to Mujica's, but I still respect him a lot).

BecauseWeCan 13y ago

Uruguayan here. We have had multiple dictatorships in our short history. We know what the government is capable of, not in theory, but in our bones. We root for Snowden, because we share his pain.

GFischer 13y ago
Indeed, that is very true - though it holds much more so for the generations before mine. I didn't live the dictatorship, but it's a big part of our lives - we have as prominent figures for political parties both President Mujica who was a guerrilla fighter, and the son of Bordaberry, the president that led to the dictatorship.