Duque asks Colombia's patron saint to help country overcome hatred incited by his own party

[Judi Lynn]

by Adriaan Alsema July 10, 2019

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque on Tuesday asked his country’s patron saint to help his country overcome hatred that has been incited by his far-right party.

Duque made the curious request to Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira on the 100th anniversary of the Catholic icon becoming Colombia’s patron saint.

The president asked the patron saint to help and guide his country “overcome hatred and divisions; so we can overcome prejudices and understand that what makes us strong as a nation is the sense of unity and never the deepening of divisions.”

While Duque was attending the ceremony in Chiquinquira, the Boyaca town named after the patron saint, his far-right party embarked on another social media campaign to discredit cartoonist “Matador,” over his criticism on Duque and the president’s controversial political patron, former President Alvaro Uribe.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/duque-asks-colombias-patron-saint-to-help-country-overcome-hatred-incited-by-his-own-party/

[Brainstormy]

1. Yeah, well the bishop sprinkling holy water from a helicopter

isn't going to work either. Maybe a less supernatural approach is in order.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/10/bishop-take-skies-exorcise-colombian-city-helicopter-buenaventura?fbclid=IwAR1hm4uq_F7j9mrwmMYneEHGxLhcR8G2jENnxILjirtoHJHkB7gD_wHHx3Y

[sandensea]

2. Superstition is indeed a common problem in the region

Further south, Argentina's Macri swears by astrologers and spiritual cleansing - but, alas, not by good policy, which in his case closely resembles Bushonomics (with Bush-like results, but worse).

Macri had an Ecuadorian occultist, Shirley Barahona, on the presidential payroll until recently.

Barahona, who frequently 'cleansed' her boss, was widely believed to be behind a fiasco surrounding his 2015 inaugural, when Macri insisted on it being held at midnight, rather than at noon as scheduled.

Numerous astrologers noted at the time that auspicious Jupiter was 'rising' (i.e. on the eastern horizon) at midnight that day. Macri, however, was duly sworn in at noon.

Further back in time, there was President Isabel Perón, whose chaotic, 1974-76 tenure was highly influenced by her longtime secretary and astrologer, José López Rega.

Isabel convinced her husband, the late populist leader Juan Perón, to hire the "warlock" in 1965, and when Perón died in 1974, Isabel, who became president, retained the fascist-leaning López Rega as her chief adviser.

Historians believe his interference to have been a key cause for the March 1976 coup.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Good grief! Went to look for a photo of the "Warlock," saw that he was all over the place,

apparently at the side of the Perón continually. Reminds a person of Rasputin! He was very spooky looking. Just glancing at the photos, I saw it looked also as if they had given him a position as an officer in the military, as well.

So glad you have made a reference to him. Sounds like something with a lot of interesting history behind it.

[sandensea]

4. He was indeed referred to as the 'Rasputin of the Pampas'

López Rega's success in ingratiating himself with Perón ended up being a tremendous misfortune to Peronists - and Argentina.

He met Isabel Perón by chance (perhaps): he was part of her security detail during her 1965 visit to Argentina. Isabel brought him back to Perón's home in Madrid - and though initially Perón wanted nothing to do with him, he kept him on his personal staff at his wife's insistence.

Perón was 70 by then, and in declining health. He relied heavily on his wife, entourage and personal staff, and in time found the persuasive López Rega useful.

But he never liked or trusted him. Asked why he kept him on as his secretary despite these misgivings, Perón flat out said that:

"It's obvious he was sent by the CIA to spy on me, and so I'd much rather keep him as it's better to have someone around whom you know to be a spy, than to have a spy around you and not know who it is!"

And since he was courting left-wing support in the late '60s and early '70s, Perón was also anxious to calm U.S. fears that he had "gone communist." Keeping López Rega around went a long way toward that.

Once Perón returned from exile - practically by popular demand - in 1973, López Rega quickly set about creating his own power base behind Perón's back, mainly through the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance.

According to some in his inner circle, once Perón determined this was the case (sometime in June 1974) he finally resolved to fire the "warlock."

A few days later, Perón was dead.



Perón's death, as covered in The New York Times.

The division wasn't so much between Peronists and their opponents, as among Peronists themselves - who at the time were deeply and violently divided between the far right, the mainstream base (mainly labor), and the far left (mainly students).

López Rega fomented these divisions more than anyone, as he was convinced that this would allow him to usurp the Peronist movement for himself.

López Rega was instead forced to leave Argentina in 1975, eventually settling in Miami. He was extradited in 1986, and died in prison in 1989.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Astounding history of Lpez Rega once he gained the confidence of Isabel Pern

and the indulgence of her husband.

Had no idea these things had happened.

Juan Perón had become such a powerful man up until this strange man managed to insinuate himself right at the top, and doing it in such an insideous way. Makes him seem very reptilian, doesn't it? He didn't seem to move ahead in the expected, traditional, honorable way at all.

Hard to ignore the strange timing of Perón's stated intention, and his own death.

Interesting to learn he was yet another one who assumed he'd be so safe running to Miami, like all the other right-wing monsters who went too far and made themselves loathed at home.

Thanks for taking the time to throw some illumination our way, sandensea!