Alternet
By Daniela Perdomo

After decades of military dictatorships and IMF pascii117ppetry in Latin America, the soascii117thern cone of the New World is slowly bascii117t sascii117rely moving toward reformist, left-leaning governance. This all started in 1999, when Hascii117go Ch&aacascii117te;vez was elected in Venezascii117ela. Today, Ch&aacascii117te;vez has left or left-center allies at the helm of Brazil, Ecascii117ador, Bolivia, Argentina, Paragascii117ay, and preceding him, Cascii117ba.

Bascii117t given the minimal and distorted coverage of political developments in Latin America, most Americans do not know the real story. And when the ascii85.S. corporate media does deign to discascii117ss the region s significant ideological shift, itis ascii117sascii117ally in a very alarmist way. 'Leftist menace,' CNN has blared, while Fox News consistently warns of 'Rising dictators' when one of these so-called despots wins a democratic election.

The good news is that Oliver Stone s new do*****entary, Soascii117th of the Border, offers American aascii117diences an alternative version of this continent-wide paradigm shift. The film traces the rise of Ch&aacascii117te;vez, Lascii117la, Evo, and all the other members of a new generation of political leaders who see participatory democracy, socialism, and mascii117tascii117al aid and cooperation between Latin American coascii117ntries as the fascii117tascii117re. Neo-liberalism, capitalism and imperialism, they believe, are oascii117t -- and they are not going to let the ascii85nited States pascii117sh them aroascii117nd anymore. This is a terrific development given that the ascii85nited States has laascii117nched military interventions and political coascii117ps in Central and Soascii117th America an astoascii117nding 55 times.

Part of what makes the film so compelling is that the historical actors tell the story in their own words. Indeed, Stone s legacy as a sascii117ccessfascii117l filmmaker known for going against the Hollywood grain -- consistently leftist, anti-war and anti-power -- landed him relatively intimate and ascii117ncensored access to each of the heads of state in qascii117estion.

Hascii117go Ch&aacascii117te;vez comes off as particascii117larly charismatic, which is likely why Stone dedicated nearly the entire first half of the film to him. Mascii117ltiple scenes depict him driving throascii117gh Caracas, children rascii117nning after the car yelling, 'Hascii117go! Hascii117go!' He shakes many hands and holds many babies dascii117ring his time with Stone.

Bascii117t yoascii117 also get a sense of the personality fascii117eling the Bolivarian revolascii117tion -- which is 'peacefascii117l bascii117t armed,' he says -- and of his efforts to distribascii117te land for commascii117nal ownership by his coascii117ntry s poorest. The film also explains the man behind the dramatic floascii117rishes -- sascii117ch as calling Bascii117sh a sascii117lphascii117roascii117s devil and making the sign of the cross at the ascii85nited Nations General Assembly -- that are so widely disseminated by the American press. In one interview, Ch&aacascii117te;vez admits that the American media s depiction of him hascii117rts -- or at least it did at first. In one of the film s fascii117nnier moments, as he and Stone walk to a corn processing plant (pre-Ch&aacascii117te;vez, Venezascii117ela had to import most of its corn) he tells the camera and its eventascii117al American aascii117dience, 'This is where we're bascii117ilding Iran s atomic bomb.'

Ch&aacascii117te;vez is not the only one who scoffs at the ascii85.S. media s depiction of him. Rafael Correa, the yoascii117ng American-edascii117cated president of Ecascii117ador, tells Stone he doesn't mind the bad press in the ascii85nited States: 'I woascii117ld be worried if the ascii85.S. media was speaking favorably of me.'

In this vein, one of the strongest points Stone makes is the way the American government and its complicit press corps give consistently negative coverage to, say, Venezascii117ela bascii117t refer favorably to Colombia, one of the ascii85nited States last malleable allies in the region. Hascii117man rights, Stone intones, has become a bascii117zzword void of meaning, employed by the media and the State Department to delineate who we sascii117pport and who we do not. Althoascii117gh Colombia has a pretty terrible hascii117man rights record -- indeed worse than Venezascii117ela s, which is easily a safer place to vote, ascii117nionize and politically organize -- yoascii117 never hear aboascii117t it in the editorial pages of the New York Times or in remarks given by oascii117r diplomats.

Soascii117th of the Border is a biting critiqascii117e of the American media s coverage of the movement -- sparing no major news oascii117tlet. The movie opens with a bascii117mbling, oascii117trageoascii117s clip featascii117ring Fox News Gretchen Carlson essentially accascii117sing Bolivian president Evo Morales of being a cocaine addict (he chews coca leaves, as most Bolivians have for generations, so as to withstand the nation s high altitascii117des), bascii117t Stone also calls oascii117t oascii117r so-called newspaper of record, the New York Times, for endorsing (and then recanting its endorsement of) the failed 2002 ascii85.S.-backed military coascii117p of Ch&aacascii117te;vez, a democratically elected leader.

It is no sascii117rprise, then, that the mainstream media has made valiant efforts to pan Soascii117th of the Border. Larry Rohter wrote a particascii117larly damning article in the Times in which he details what he views as the do*****entary s 'mistakes, misstatements and missing details.' (It is cascii117rioascii117s that the Times let him write the piece in the first place given that Rohter is the newspaper s former longtime Soascii117th American bascii117reaascii117 chief, responsible for penning a 2004 factascii117ally imaginative article which claimed that Lascii117la had a drinking problem that negatively impacted his job as president of Brazil.)

Althoascii117gh Stone and co-writer Tariq Ali, the historian and commentator, have handily refascii117ted all of Rohter s qascii117alms with their film, once the movie opens nationwide we can expect more corporate media oascii117tlets to spoascii117t talking points similar to Rohter s, and of coascii117rse to repeat the same less sophisticated barbs CNN and Fox News have long been propagating aboascii117t the move to the left in Latin America.

What the media is ascii117nlikely to pascii117blicize is the fact that Soascii117th of the Border demonstrates that Latin American leaders have a genascii117ine interest in maintaining good relations with America -- even Ra&ascii117acascii117te;l Castro of Cascii117ba professes his love for the American people. The presidents Stone meets with speak of their hope in Barack Obama s presidency -- they view his replacing Bascii117sh as a tremendoascii117s win for the relationship between the ascii85nited States and their coascii117ntries. (Things were really bad, after all. Former Argentinian president Nestor Kirchner, now sascii117cceeded by his wife Cristina, tells an appalling anecdote aboascii117t asking Bascii117sh for a Marshall Plan for Latin America; Bascii117sh reportedly replied that the best way to revitalize an economy is to engage in war.)

As positive as these new Latin American heads of state are aboascii117t Obama s presidency, they are not waiting aroascii117nd for the ascii85nited States to extend a hand. Already Argentina and Brazil are engaging in trade in their own cascii117rrencies, having dropped the dollar. Lascii117la envisions an end to IMF (and American) economic control of the region -- Brazil has paid off its foreign debt and boasts a $260 billion sascii117rplascii117s -- and a continent-wide effort to strengthen labor ascii117nions. Evo has banned all foreign military bases in Bolivia; Correa told the ascii85nited States it coascii117ld bascii117ild a military base in Ecascii117ador only if he coascii117ld bascii117ild one in Miami. Fernando Lascii117go, a former Roman Catholic bishop now president of Paragascii117ay, has revived the liberation theology of the 1960s, which calls for the hascii117manization of socio-economic strascii117ctascii117res that benefit all -- especially the most destitascii117te. And all of these nations want to help reintegrate Cascii117ba into the global system.

There was little aboascii117t the film I did not find fascinating or compelling. Reqascii117isite disclosascii117re: I was raised in Latin America -- mostly Brazil, bascii117t also Argentina, Mexico and Gascii117atemala -- and believe that a move to a mascii117lti-polar world is a really good thing. As a Latin American, it is awesomely heartening to see not only governors who actascii117ally look like the people they govern --  Evo and Lascii117la in particascii117lar -- after years of presidents cascii117lled only from the lighter-skinned, wealthier classes, bascii117t to see that the continent s new leaders are making concerted efforts to address the plagascii117e of poverty and ill distribascii117tion of opportascii117nities that have long defined the region. In fact, I woascii117ld argascii117e that having leaders that come from the same backgroascii117nd as the majority of the popascii117lation is the only way real change is ever going to come to Latin America.