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I just watched, comfortably lying down and covered (due to the cold weather that we've been having lately at night), the speech where John McCain conceded the victory to Barack Obama. I later watched Obama's victory speech. It was good, with people applauding and others crying, like Oprah and Jesse Jackson. I later saw, pieces of Salvadoran television stations interviewing Salvadoran politicians boringly saying the same thing.

I think that Obama's victory in the American elections is a milestone for that country, with a long history of racism, but also of meritocracy and of dreams that come true, I got up to read something interesting on the internet.

The Salvadoran media reported the news, but without opinions or editorials. I searched in the blogosphere and three Salvadoran bloggers already provided their thoughts on the event. I love it. I leave you with the links and some of the words that they wrote:

Victor Castro, author of the Salvadoran blog Alta hora de la noche [es] and his post “Obama. The Change.“

The main loser in this election was not McCain, but the system that the Bush presidency embodied: a polarizing and warrior message, of triumphalism and sufficiency, to use the state to favor the interests of a minority linked to the those in power. A rhetoric and actions that is not unfamiliar to the Salvadorans.

From Raul Marin, author of the Salvadoran blog Ideas no autorizadas [es] and his post “Hopes for Change“:

What is happening is that they are giving too much coverage of news that shouldn't be that surprising. Let me explain. Barack Obama arrived at the best moment in history due to three factors:

1. The most disastrous U.S. administration in the past 40 years.
2. The message of hope and of change (substantive, not in structure, WATCH this).
3. His resounding confidence and charisma.

Now, let's analyze this and if we look at it objectively, under the same circumstances we can believe in a similar change here.

But here:

1. The administration has been average of the administrations of the past 20 years. Things have worsened, but the perception is always like that.
2. The message of hope, which has turned into the battle horse for both candidates has been distorted and even altered in order to be useful, instead of being used for real change.
3. Confidence and charisma does not appear to be the same in the current candidates.

From Virginia Lemus, author of the Salvadoran blog Deliriums Tremens [es] and her post “And Standing on the Bottom Floor of a Building I Said, ‘This is Historic”:

We remember recent history in two phases: through the facts and through our direct or indirect experience of those facts.

[…]

Change is no longer the distant wish from the generation of my grandparents [and many more past generations] and begins to become something concrete. We have too much to do, but it is possible.

La Foto Salió Movida [es] from Costa Rica thinks anything is possible, and that the country must draw inspiration from the example of the United States to make positive changes.

Una victoria que nos hace pensar en la posibilidad local de renovar nuestras organizaciones. De ampliarlas por medio de la generación de oportunidades para todos. Porque todos es lo que necesitamos. La balanza del ganar- perder no debería existir. La de todos ganar sí.

(…)

Y si no las hacemos, efectivamente nos vamos a quedar atrás. Este espíritu de oportunidad extendido por la televisión, Internet, la energía desde los Estados Unidos; para lo que nos debe servir, es para ejemplificar que los cambios son posibles. Hay que salirse de esa mente que piensa que hay que acumular para poder repartir, cuando lo que se ocupa es repartir sin tener que acumular. Nosotros también podemos. Yes We Can.

A victory that makes us think in local possibilities to renew our own organizations. To expand them through the creation of opportunities for all. Because for all is what we need. The balance between win-lose should not exist. We should all win.

(…)

If we don't do it, then effectively we will remain behind. This spirit of opportunity has extended through television, internet, the energy from the United States; what it means to us is to show that changes are possible. We must leave behind the mentality that we should collect in order to distribute, when we should think about distributing without needing to collect. We, too, can do it. Yes We Can.

However, to get to the position for change, countries often need to arrive via the ballot box. In some countries, the system is remarkably different than the U.S., as point out the blogger at Mi Isla Al Mediodia [es], who sees a lot of contrasts between the elections in the U.S. and at home:

Por acá los cubanos deberíamos aprender un poco de ese tema En asuntos de democracia somos un pueblo más bien ignorante. Tan mal estamos en esa materia, que en las últimas elecciones el gobierno, siempre tan gentil y preocupado, se ha encargado de poner un circulo muy grande en el centro de la boleta electoral para facilitarnos el voto. Marcar una X en el centro significa votar en un único y ágil movimiento, por todos los candidatos que el gobierno ha aprobado y validado antes por mostros (a través de una comisión de nominación). Este sencillo procedimiento se llama VOTO UNIDO, y nos ha resultado tan ameno y fácil de implementar, que prácticamente ha arrasado en las últimas tres elecciones para diputados a la asamblea nacional, que es la elección más importante a la que tenemos que enfrentarnos los cubanos, pues el presidente a su vez es electo por la asamblea.

Será interesante ver el día en que los candidatos de la boleta no hayan sido “filtrados” por una comisión tan “imparcial”, sino por la opinión pública, y será más interesante ver si algún día a los cubanos nos da por tomarnos más en serio ese momento en que cedemos nuestra minúscula porción de poder marcando con una X en algún sitio preestablecido.

Here, we Cubans must learn something from this. In matters of democracy, we are ignorant. We are so bad in this area, that in the last government elections, so gentle and worried, that they placed a giant circle in the middle of the ballot to help us with the vote. Marking an X in the middle means voting in a single and smooth motion, for all of the candidates that the government had approved and validated (through a nominating commission) This simple process is called UNITED VOTE, and it has become so pleasant and simple to implement, that it had made the last three elections for deputies for the national assembly so smooth, and that is the most important election that Cubans have to face, as the president is elected by the assembly.

It would be interesting to see the day when the candidates on the ballot are not “filtered” by a commission so “impartial,” but rather by public opinion, and it would be even more interesting to see Cubans take more seriously the moment when we don't give up our power and we don't mark an X on a preestablished place.

Other bloggers are wondering what the election of Obama might mean for foreign policy towards their own country. Edgar Ruiz Diaz has a list of questions regarding Obama's moves and asks, “what will Obama do for Paraguay?” His questions have received a lot of criticism from readers as being shortsighted, especially in terms of the question of race.

¿Obama sabe que Paraguay existe?

Si conoce la existencia y la realidad de Paraguay, ¿hará cambios radicales en la embajada de su país en Asunción?

¿Mantendrá en su cargo a la nueva embajadora norteamericana en Asunción o enviará a un negro como embajador?

¿Ordenará a los funcionarios de la embajada de su país en Asunción igualar la concesión de becas entre morochos, trigueños y rubios paraguayos?

¿Se preocupará de la zona de Triple Frontera, donde los belicosos de la administración Bush ven terroristas y financistas del terrorismo en Medio Oriente?

¿Vendrá alguna vez a Paraguay, viajar por el interior y tomar tereré o mate con los campesinos?

¿Qué pensará de las reinvindicaciones campesinas paraguayas?

¿Invitará al presidente Fernando Lugo a una nueva visita a la Casa Blanca?

¿Le importará Paraguay?

Does Obama know that Paraguay exists?

If he knows about the existence and reality of Paraguay, would he make radical changes in the American embassy in Asunción?

Would he keep the new U.S. ambassador in Asunción or would he send a black as ambassador?

Would he order the embassy employees in Asunción equally distribute scholarships among dark, fair, and light-skinned Paraguayans?

Would he be concerned about the Triple Border area, where the aggressive Bush administration sees terrorists and financiers of Middle Eastern terrorists?

Would he come to Paraguay, travel within the country and drink tereré or mate with the peasants?

What would he think about the Paraguayan peasant revindications?

Would he invited (Paraguayan president) Fernando Lugo for a new visit to the White House?

Would Paraguay matter to him?

Adam Isacson of Plan Colombia and Beyond sums up why Colombia would be an important stop for McCain.

Why, in the midst of a hotly contested campaign season, might McCain want to leave the country and go to Colombia?

The most likely answer is one word: Florida.

Florida is the biggest “swing state,” as the world saw clearly in 2000. And one of its chief “swing” constituencies are Latino voters.

Many of these Latino voters are people who left their home countries after leftists came to power: Cubans who fled Castro; Venezuelans who flocked to Dade and Broward counties after Chávez was elected; even middle-and-upper-class Colombians who abandoned their country in the late 1990s, when the FARC’s strength made the security situation too precarious.

However, Marisa Treviño of Latina Lista sees this trip as simply going for the votes and not necessarily actively working for resolution of the topics address on the trip:

In fact, a trip to Latin America, at this point in time, serves more as a blatant attempt to pander for the Hispanic vote rather than any constructive trip to achieve results.

(…)

Visiting Latin America without being able to do nothing more than not being able to promise anything seems like a photo opp and nothing more.

In addition to an audience of potential Latino voters in the United States, Greg Weeks of Weeks Notice adds another potential audience that McCain may be addressing:

Those who see Obama as naïve in foreign affairs: McCain wants to show how he stands up for “our friends” in the hemisphere. No matter what you think of this argument, with regard to foreign policy most voters care about Iraq, but will pay little attention to how we deal with Uribe.

Perhaps by luck, McCain's visit coincided with the rescue operation that freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages, including 3 U.S. citizens. El Blog Al Dia [es] writes that President Uribe informed McCain of the rescue attempt hours before it was scheduled to take place.

Some Colombian bloggers like Juan Gratiniano Lopez are very skeptical of McCain's visit, and wonders if there is some alternate reason for the visit [es] looking towards its neighbor of Venezuela:

Sera que el señor MC Cain ha ido a Colombia a negociar otro apoyo del “gobierno” colombiano para invadir otra nacion?? sera que quieren tener a Uribe en la maleta por si ahora la invasion es de un pais suramericano??