Underlying the recent diplomatic tension between the United States and Colombia, relating to the repatriation of some immigrants, are at least three phenomena: the bankarisation or corporatisation of democracy, the lumpenisation of politics and anglo-saxon supremacy.
Germán Ayala Osorio
The three phenomena serve to explain and understand a situation that could be described as curious: none of the deported Colombians have a criminal record; Donald Trump does have one.
The octogenarian womaniser and president of the United States said they were drugs cartel bosses and dangerous criminals who should be in chains because they represent a danger to the safety of the aircraft taking them back. None of the 201 undocumented immigrants deported (among whom there were 26 minors) had a criminal record.
Let’s remember that as a former president and presidential candidate, Trump was found guilty of 34 serious criminal charges. In simple, layman’s terms, Trump’s criminal behaviour was proven by a Manhattan court presided over by a judge of Colombian origin, Juan Manuel Merchán, whereas those repatriated don’t have a stain on their record and certainly not criminal debts with the USA or Colombia’s justice systems.
Let’s look at the bankarisation of democracy. The first of the three phenomena highlighted relates to the corporate world’s capture of the democratic institutions and derived institutionalities, reflected in the historical participation of rich United States businessmen in electoral politics.
Trump is a magnate whose financial muscle propelled him to the White House, with the support of other millionaire backers like Elon Musk, with the clear aim of normalising the corporatisation of United States democracy and, through that, the lumpenisation of politics.
His vast fortune and the political system allowed him to be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States despite having been found guilty of serious offences. Trump, then, represents the bancarisation of democracy and the obvious lumpenisation of politics in the United States. Trump is a violent man, a gigolo, a tax evader and a falsifier of private and public documents.
The ”curious” situation emphasises the fact that in the exercise of politics, criminal records of presidents, former presidents, politicians and businesspeople do not equal immorality; still less are they obstacles to governing.
This is how President Trump enjoys the social approval of the large part of United States society who voted for him in great numbers, despite the serious criminal charges of which in the end he was convicted.
As he is the president of a huge military power, other world governments are obliged to legitimise his mandate, leading to the three phenomena gradually becoming universal since the United States is not the only country governed by a convict. Colombia is seeing something similar. Former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez is the public figure who best represents the three phenomena highlighted here. His two presidential terms, plus the eight years of Santos and the four years of his puppet Iván Duque Márquez, normalised the capture of the state and democracy by the corporate world (mafia). Like Trump, Uribe Vélez has a criminal record.
Let’s remember that the politician from the department of Antioquia was incarcerated as prisoner number 1087985 in a criminal case initiated by the Supreme Court of Justice for the serious crimes of procedural fraud and witness manipulation. The case is now in the public prosecutor’s hands and is at the trial stage.
Uribe Vélez’s case confirms the presence of the three phenomena in Colombia: Uribe was put in the Casa de Nariño (the president’s office) by bankers so he would govern in their greedy interests.
The former president and former prisoner represents the lumpenisation of politics. The then president Juan Manuel Santos called him a “street ruffian”.
Uribe is a violent man, poorly read like Trump, vulgar and capable of saying to someone, “I’m going to hit you in the face, you poof”.
From other sections of society, politicians and journalists call him “the butcher”, “the guerrilla” and “the assassin”. Daniel Mendoza Leal, the producer of the series “Matarife” (“Butcher”), calls him a “merciless mass murderer” and a “sociopath”. Trump and Uribe are on the right. Nothing further to add.
(Translated by Philip Walker – Email: philipwalkertranslation@gmail.com) Photos: Pixabay
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