America is a continent that is divided in three parts: Central, North and South. Yet, when people say "America" it is immediately clear that they don't mean the continent with 35 ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse countries, they mean the United States of America.
That might be where the aggressive envy many South Americans have towards the US starts: why do we have to be "South Americans" and people from the US get to be just Americans, no explanatory prefix required?
But that's just the beginning of it.
The northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending northward from the Colombia-Panama border and including Central America, Mexico, the islands of the Caribbean Sea, the United States, Canada, the Arctic Archipelago, and Greenland.
The third largest continent, linked with South America by the Isthmus of Panama and bordering on the Arctic Ocean, the N Pacific, the N Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean.
It consists generally of a great mountain system (the Western Cordillera) extending along the entire W coast, actively volcanic in the extreme north and south, with the Great Plains to the east and the Appalachians still further east, separated from the Canadian Shield by an arc of large lakes (Great Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario); reaches its greatest height of 6194 m (20 320 ft) in Mount McKinley, Alaska, and its lowest point of 85 m (280 ft) below sea level in Death Valley, California, and ranges from snowfields, tundra, and taiga in the north to deserts in the southwest and tropical forests in the extreme south. Pop: 332 156 000 (2005 est). Area: over 24 000 000 sq km (9 500 000 sq miles)
Although the United States is seen as a deeply divided country politically, with many extremely conservative and outdated laws and views (this image is particularly true of southern states), there are states that are very liberal and are attractive to Brazilians. California and New York, in particular, are attractive to LGBT communities here, because of the acceptance they imagine is rampant. Having a pro-LGBT rights president is also a huge plus. While the United States is still seen by many as homophobic, misogynist, sexist and classist – these conditions are still worse in Brazil.
But perhaps the biggest draw to the United States is the relative accountability of your political leaders. Barack Obama should be considered a national treasure. If the United States doesn't want him, we will take him. The man is not perfect, but at least he tries to improve the country and respects his people. Here in South America, politicians constantly embezzle money, are hardly ever held accountable for their crimes, and generally neglect the population. I don't know how much corruption goes on in American specifically, but I am willing to bet that it nowhere near as prevalent and blatant as in Brazil and many other South American countries.
Of course, the US has a huge problem with the privacy invasion perpetrated by the NSA, as was revealed by this very publication. They have spied on world leaders, including Brazil's president. And while the US government attempts to dodge accountability, it was also revealed that Brazil's government has also been spying on the US and other countries' leaders. So it seems like the Brazilian government is also abusive in the name of "national security". In terms of political impact, it has definitely soured a usually smooth diplomatic relationship, but this hasn't really changed the opinions of the masses.
The way the people are treated here, the constant misery we see in the streets, the violence and the government continually spitting in our faces by stealing public money – and giving priority to unnecessary international events – is more than many of us can bear. This is especially true when we are dominated and overwhelmed by the culture of a country that, while again, is not perfect, is definitely much more successful than ours.
The negligence our population suffers is the reason why the view of America as an "escape" is held predominantly by the middle to upper class: the lower income population isn't exposed to American culture. They, too, deeply feel the leaders' abuse of power, but it is the middle to upper classes who have the resources needed to leave.
It is for these reasons that Brazilians have aggressive envy of America, and why more privileged Brazilians escape to the US, be it via a yearly trip or permanent immigration. Though the problems of the United States are clear, the opportunities are much more attractive than in our own country and our neighbors'. We know that despite our potential, we can't get our act together – most of my extended family has escaped to first world countries, primarily to the US.
Although the trend of escaping to the US existed before Obama's presidency, his leadership has convinced me and many others that our people deserve greater respect from our leaders. The accountability and pressure Obama is put under by the American people is, in and of itself, remarkable to us. So if you really don't want Barack Obama to be your president anymore, give him to us. We'll take him.
Widespread Corruption.
Another difference between Third World and developed countries is their differing degrees of what John Bailey and Roy Godson (2000) call governability, that is, “the abilities that government has to allocate values over society, to exercise ultimate authority in the context of generally accepted rules and procedures.” So defined, governability can be measured in terms of the state’s administrative capacities in a number of areas including how well the state can administer justice and guarantee the basic rights of its citizens. In that respect, Mexico differs sharply from the United States and Canada, a difference that is characteristic of the Latin and Anglo-Saxon culture areas of the Western Hemisphere.
For example, corruption is a persistent problem that bores deeply into Mexican institutions, seriously impeding the proper operation of the state. Journalists and social scientists have described this problem for the former administration in Mexico (Riding 1984, Oppenheimer 1996, Rotella 1998, Morris 1991, Bailey and Godson 2000) and indeed it is still a serious problem for the Fox government. The police in Mexico, poorly paid, untrained and under the influence of patronage, have a terrible record not only of enforcing the law but for being law-breakers themselves. Local, state and federal police sometimes work for local politicians and even drug lords as armed guards. In some cases, they run their own criminal enterprises. A saying heard in Mexico goes, “if you get mugged don’t yell, you may attract the police.” There are hundreds of cases reported by Mexican human rights organizations, ordinary Mexican citizens, and American and Mexican-American visitors about police stopping travelers and demanding money from them. People who are sometimes stopped for infractions are held for long periods until their relatives can buy their freedom. Sometimes, when crime victims file complaints the police abuse them. Kaplan tells of a Mexican citizen in Mexico City who reported a stolen car. The police wanted to take his wife to the station to file a complaint. The crime victim would not let them take her, for once they got her to the station, he said, they would rape her. Indeed, rape by police is not uncommon in Mexico where prosecution of guilty parties is difficult and in most cases impossible.
Sometimes no infractions are involved and the mordida (bribe) becomes outright extortion. If the victim is too poor, he often ends up in prison where he must pay for the most rudimentary of needs such as a bed to sleep on and some modicum of protection from other inmates or his jailers. One of the worst abuses of Mexican police is their custom of torturing suspects in order to extract confessions. A joke heard in Mexico tells of a contest between the FBI, Scotland Yard, and whatever Mexican police force is the brunt of the joke. The three agencies let a rabbit loose, and bet on which one can find it the fastest. The Mexican police come in first with an elephant in handcuffs, the elephant constantly muttering “I’m a rabbit, I’m a rabbit.” According to the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations in Mexico and abroad, Mexico has the worst record of torture in the world. The Washington Post detailed this widespread police abuse as well as the grave deficiencies in the Mexican justice system and the way in which corruption is crippling the function of the state (Sullivan, Jordan, 2002).
Illegal aliens from Central America cross Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala either to work in Mexico or to make the clandestine transit through Mexico to the United States. Such people are at risk for abuse at the hands of corrupt Mexican police and immigration officials. After a visit to Mexico’s southern border, United Nations special rapporteur Gabriela Rodriquez said: “Mexico is one of the countries where illegal immigrants are highly vulnerable to human rights violations of degrading sexual exploitation and slavery-like practices, and are denied access to education and healthcare” (Grayson 2002: 10). Mexican illegals on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border are likewise the victims of such abuses by Mexican police. Shortly after his election Vincente Fox went to the border at Nogales and asked the police to stop abusing emigrants, whom Fox called “heroes.”
That might be where the aggressive envy many South Americans have towards the US starts: why do we have to be "South Americans" and people from the US get to be just Americans, no explanatory prefix required?
But that's just the beginning of it.
The northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending northward from the Colombia-Panama border and including Central America, Mexico, the islands of the Caribbean Sea, the United States, Canada, the Arctic Archipelago, and Greenland.
The third largest continent, linked with South America by the Isthmus of Panama and bordering on the Arctic Ocean, the N Pacific, the N Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean.
It consists generally of a great mountain system (the Western Cordillera) extending along the entire W coast, actively volcanic in the extreme north and south, with the Great Plains to the east and the Appalachians still further east, separated from the Canadian Shield by an arc of large lakes (Great Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario); reaches its greatest height of 6194 m (20 320 ft) in Mount McKinley, Alaska, and its lowest point of 85 m (280 ft) below sea level in Death Valley, California, and ranges from snowfields, tundra, and taiga in the north to deserts in the southwest and tropical forests in the extreme south. Pop: 332 156 000 (2005 est). Area: over 24 000 000 sq km (9 500 000 sq miles)
Although the United States is seen as a deeply divided country politically, with many extremely conservative and outdated laws and views (this image is particularly true of southern states), there are states that are very liberal and are attractive to Brazilians. California and New York, in particular, are attractive to LGBT communities here, because of the acceptance they imagine is rampant. Having a pro-LGBT rights president is also a huge plus. While the United States is still seen by many as homophobic, misogynist, sexist and classist – these conditions are still worse in Brazil.
But perhaps the biggest draw to the United States is the relative accountability of your political leaders. Barack Obama should be considered a national treasure. If the United States doesn't want him, we will take him. The man is not perfect, but at least he tries to improve the country and respects his people. Here in South America, politicians constantly embezzle money, are hardly ever held accountable for their crimes, and generally neglect the population. I don't know how much corruption goes on in American specifically, but I am willing to bet that it nowhere near as prevalent and blatant as in Brazil and many other South American countries.
Of course, the US has a huge problem with the privacy invasion perpetrated by the NSA, as was revealed by this very publication. They have spied on world leaders, including Brazil's president. And while the US government attempts to dodge accountability, it was also revealed that Brazil's government has also been spying on the US and other countries' leaders. So it seems like the Brazilian government is also abusive in the name of "national security". In terms of political impact, it has definitely soured a usually smooth diplomatic relationship, but this hasn't really changed the opinions of the masses.
The way the people are treated here, the constant misery we see in the streets, the violence and the government continually spitting in our faces by stealing public money – and giving priority to unnecessary international events – is more than many of us can bear. This is especially true when we are dominated and overwhelmed by the culture of a country that, while again, is not perfect, is definitely much more successful than ours.
The negligence our population suffers is the reason why the view of America as an "escape" is held predominantly by the middle to upper class: the lower income population isn't exposed to American culture. They, too, deeply feel the leaders' abuse of power, but it is the middle to upper classes who have the resources needed to leave.
It is for these reasons that Brazilians have aggressive envy of America, and why more privileged Brazilians escape to the US, be it via a yearly trip or permanent immigration. Though the problems of the United States are clear, the opportunities are much more attractive than in our own country and our neighbors'. We know that despite our potential, we can't get our act together – most of my extended family has escaped to first world countries, primarily to the US.
Although the trend of escaping to the US existed before Obama's presidency, his leadership has convinced me and many others that our people deserve greater respect from our leaders. The accountability and pressure Obama is put under by the American people is, in and of itself, remarkable to us. So if you really don't want Barack Obama to be your president anymore, give him to us. We'll take him.
Widespread Corruption.
Another difference between Third World and developed countries is their differing degrees of what John Bailey and Roy Godson (2000) call governability, that is, “the abilities that government has to allocate values over society, to exercise ultimate authority in the context of generally accepted rules and procedures.” So defined, governability can be measured in terms of the state’s administrative capacities in a number of areas including how well the state can administer justice and guarantee the basic rights of its citizens. In that respect, Mexico differs sharply from the United States and Canada, a difference that is characteristic of the Latin and Anglo-Saxon culture areas of the Western Hemisphere.
For example, corruption is a persistent problem that bores deeply into Mexican institutions, seriously impeding the proper operation of the state. Journalists and social scientists have described this problem for the former administration in Mexico (Riding 1984, Oppenheimer 1996, Rotella 1998, Morris 1991, Bailey and Godson 2000) and indeed it is still a serious problem for the Fox government. The police in Mexico, poorly paid, untrained and under the influence of patronage, have a terrible record not only of enforcing the law but for being law-breakers themselves. Local, state and federal police sometimes work for local politicians and even drug lords as armed guards. In some cases, they run their own criminal enterprises. A saying heard in Mexico goes, “if you get mugged don’t yell, you may attract the police.” There are hundreds of cases reported by Mexican human rights organizations, ordinary Mexican citizens, and American and Mexican-American visitors about police stopping travelers and demanding money from them. People who are sometimes stopped for infractions are held for long periods until their relatives can buy their freedom. Sometimes, when crime victims file complaints the police abuse them. Kaplan tells of a Mexican citizen in Mexico City who reported a stolen car. The police wanted to take his wife to the station to file a complaint. The crime victim would not let them take her, for once they got her to the station, he said, they would rape her. Indeed, rape by police is not uncommon in Mexico where prosecution of guilty parties is difficult and in most cases impossible.
Sometimes no infractions are involved and the mordida (bribe) becomes outright extortion. If the victim is too poor, he often ends up in prison where he must pay for the most rudimentary of needs such as a bed to sleep on and some modicum of protection from other inmates or his jailers. One of the worst abuses of Mexican police is their custom of torturing suspects in order to extract confessions. A joke heard in Mexico tells of a contest between the FBI, Scotland Yard, and whatever Mexican police force is the brunt of the joke. The three agencies let a rabbit loose, and bet on which one can find it the fastest. The Mexican police come in first with an elephant in handcuffs, the elephant constantly muttering “I’m a rabbit, I’m a rabbit.” According to the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations in Mexico and abroad, Mexico has the worst record of torture in the world. The Washington Post detailed this widespread police abuse as well as the grave deficiencies in the Mexican justice system and the way in which corruption is crippling the function of the state (Sullivan, Jordan, 2002).
Illegal aliens from Central America cross Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala either to work in Mexico or to make the clandestine transit through Mexico to the United States. Such people are at risk for abuse at the hands of corrupt Mexican police and immigration officials. After a visit to Mexico’s southern border, United Nations special rapporteur Gabriela Rodriquez said: “Mexico is one of the countries where illegal immigrants are highly vulnerable to human rights violations of degrading sexual exploitation and slavery-like practices, and are denied access to education and healthcare” (Grayson 2002: 10). Mexican illegals on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border are likewise the victims of such abuses by Mexican police. Shortly after his election Vincente Fox went to the border at Nogales and asked the police to stop abusing emigrants, whom Fox called “heroes.”
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