Latin America's going left!

Hey guys! AP is reporting that Ecuador is the latest country to elect a leftist leader! Joining Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and others!

Interestingly, as Alex of Q-bomb pointed out to me, the losing candidate was a billionaire banana mogul(!) who tried to use the same blend of pseudo-populism, free-market fundamentalism, and Christianity that North American conservatives do! Only with way less subtlety!

Noboa, a 56-year-old billionaire who has touted his close relationships with the rich and powerful in the U.S., said he would not concede defeat until the official count is completed.

Noboa had run an old-fashioned populist campaign, crisscrossing Ecuador and handing out computers, medicine and money. Before voting earlier Sunday in the coastal city of Guayaquil, he read a passage from the Bible in the midst of a mob of supporters pushing to touch him.

He then fell to his knees, asking God for his support and saying all he wanted was "to serve, to serve, to serve" the poor.

"Like Christ, all I want is to serve ... so that the poor can have housing, health care, education, jobs," he said.

This is especially interesting because Latin American Christianity long emphasized liberation theology and the plight of the poor. In the latter half of the 20th century, Catholicism, as the dominant Christian tradition, urged Latin American politics towards land reform and pro-labor measures and leftist governments that often put them at odds with US policymakers (not to mention the Vatican). Now the banana mogul dude is coopting the rhetoric of great people like Gustavo Guiterrez who united Christian service with a political praxis centered on the concerns of the poor, but with almost diametrically opposite policy goals in mind!

Happily, it looks like the voters didn't fall for it. Good job, voters!