An ordinary man

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... the first non European city i ever visited was Montevideo in 1972 .... the army was everywhere, the power grid was out of action and the proverbial rats owned the streets ... Tupermaros were very exciting to a young London chap ..... but the state of the place was one major factor in my eschewing of revolution and embrace of parliamentary democracy

this guy might just have been arrested when i was there ... the CHief Officer of the ship and myself were walking from the quays into the City, a lorry passed us and stopped diagonally across the road .... the squad of young men from the country in ill fitting uniforms and rather too large carbines spread diagonally across the street and walked towards us ... and went by us without a glance ... but the poor soul behind us was not so fortunate - they threw him in the lorry ...

after so many years Uruguay is a functioning democracy and Mujica is nearing the end of his term as President

¡Señor Presidente le saludamos!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

speaking of radical South American presidents yet another anniversary has just passed us by; Sep 11th is the day of Allende's murder

¡Señor Presidente le saludamos!

[visualnickmos]

.....yet another annoiversary has just passed us by; Sep 11th is the day of Allende's murder

¡Señor Presidente le saludamos!

..... and his replacement with the murderous torturer Pinochet with whom Thatcher struck up a particular friendship.

[Serial_Apologist]

..... and his replacement with the murderous torturer Pinochet with whom Thatcher struck up a particular friendship.

At the time we said, don't rely on parliamentary democracy to implement change, people of Chile, build up alternative power bases of your own; and people said, ah well, your thinking of Russia in 1917, but Chile has a long history of parliamentary democracy and constitution the army would never dare infringe in a seizure of power.