I just had my cup of coffee. Its a blend of beans from Loja that I grind fresh, use mostly skim milk, a spoonful of Nestles Quick ad 2 espresso shots. Delicious.

A local friend’s mother lost her job a few months ago. She is deaf, and there are not many jobs available for her. For all the talk of the “Socialist Revolution” that helps people, there is far less here than in the USA. It has been a real struggle for them. She actually never told me, but it came out in a conversation as to why her mother was home all the time. I had lost my “house cleaner” so she offered to send her mother. I had actually given up on the idea and was doing fine cleaning myself (but a 5 bedroom home IS pretty big) but I told her OK. SO she comes out every Tuesday now. It does an amazing job and the side bonus is I get to see my friend every week as she comes with her. As a result, we have had lengthy conversations about the Presidential Election.

Half of the country here is blind to things. The other half is scared to death of the future. The issues in Venezuela loom large here. The largest immigrant population comes from there. People by the thousands fleeing starvation. People there never thought it could happen, just as many here think the same. Hell, it’s even been happening in the USA. Socialism has a very long history of destroying and enslaving people. Hitler was a socialist. He got all his loyalty from the people by his own giveaway programs. What? Do you say he couldn’t have been? Because he hated Communists? Think again. He was a NATIONAL Socialist, whereas Communism wanted to rule the world. But he was a complete socialist. What do you think NAZI stands for? National Socialist. And in his early years, he provided free education, including the Universities. For 4 years he used that to indoctrinate the kids. What came out of the education system was a generation of good little Nazis (Just as the USA is producing mindless little socialists now).

Here in Ecuador, much of the population has seen the same trend. AT first, many things were done for the people. After a few years, Correa (El Presidente) garnered blind loyalty from many of the people. He stood up for indigenous land rights, built highways, hospitals, and instituted a free education system. It was easy when the oil here was earning $100 a barrel. But when that oil market crashed, he was left high and dry. One of his moves was to actually DOUBLE the pay of workers in the Government. This also got loyalty and a lot of people switched parties to his. DOUBLE! Well when the income started to dry up, that left a huge shortfall. But it was too late. Ecuador, under the Socialist leadership, had been on a drunken spending spree. They couldn’t stop spending or it would have been exposed for what it was, so he started borrowing. From who? The Chinese. They got sweetheart deals to build new dams, using entirely Chinese laborers. Those so-called work projects only gave jobs to Chinese. Then he began giving rights to mining to them. Something he SWORE he would never do. To make matters worse, he gave rights in protected areas including the cleanest water in the world, in the Cajas around Cuenca. He not only gave permission to drill for oil in the Amazon (another promise broken) but sent the military to enforce it. Tanks and helicopters against half-naked Amazonian’s.  As an end result, Ecuador has found itself in massive debt after several years of loans.

Poor people were given the equivalent of a week’s wages to vote for the Socialist Party. While it didn’t sway many, there were plenty that took the bait. The majority of Ecuador is awake and sees what has happened now, but somehow the majority didn’t win the election. The little town I live in was 100% for the other party. There are a LOT of upset people and there is marching in the streets.

So will Ecuador become Venezuela? It is very possible. It will take 3-6 years to know most likely. If it looks like it is going that way, I will likely relocate to Colombia. A stable, booming Republic that still believes in Capitalism. Let’s hope I do not have to move.

I am astounded that there are so many North Americans here that do not have a clue about what Socialism is, its history, how it works. They defend Cuba, and Venezuela by claiming they only failed as a result of the USA embargo. You could make a tenuous claim for Cuba, but it sure wouldn’t explain Venezuela or all the other failed attempts around the world. Those people get extremely heated and want to shut up anyone that doesn’t drink the kool-aid. It makes it very clear what has been happening in the USA since that election. This is a danger to any country. Hopefully, the tide can be reversed. But until the Universities start teaching the truth, I don’t see it happening.

So that is the topic of conversation here today with my friend. She has her degree in Business Administration, and understands the dangers, and is worried. At least in the USA, there is a 240-year buffer. Here, the changes go by decades.

Stay tuned!