Vietnam (Continuación)

MundoAsia

Depending on which side you were on, Saigon either fell on April 30, 1975, or it was liberated. Inside Vietnam, the day is marked as Liberation Day — but outside, among the Vietnamese refugees, it is called Deep Resentment Day. (The resentment is not just over losing a war, but also a country.)

On April 21, 1975, I was 11 and living in Saigon. I turned on the television and saw our president, Nguyen Van Thieu. He had a high forehead, a sign of intelligence, and long ears, indicating longevity. He had a round face with a well-defined jaw — the face of a leader — unlike his main rival, Nguyen Cao Ky, who resembled a cricket with a mustache.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

At noon on April 30, 1975, when news that the liberation forces had captured Saigon spread to the North, we thought: “The war has ended. Now happiness will immediately arrive.” All of us, the youth volunteers of Hanoi who were digging a big lake in the suburbs, were allowed to go home, and the next day was May Day, a holiday.

I was so thrilled to head home and enjoy my afternoon off. National flags were flying everywhere. Young people cheered and chanted, “Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh! Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh!”

But then the image of a friend who had been in the North Vietnamese special forces appeared in my mind.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

It is sad to witness the unrest on the streets of this city but even sadder to see how Thailand's 'fraternal' ASEAN partners are trying to exploit its troubles. Consider Vietnam. Its ruling Communist Party is openly using the political crisis in democratic Thailand to shore up ebbing support for its own authoritarian one-party regime.

Journalists in Hanoi confirm that the government-controlled press has been instructed to give prominent coverage to the protests in Thailand and paint a clear contrast between the unrest there and the stability at home.

As well, the media have been told to play up the notion that foreign businesses will be more inclined to invest in Vietnam than in turbulent Thailand.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaMundoAsia, ,

It was back in the 1970s, when I was doing diabetes research in Britain, that I first learned of the political drama surrounding Nelson Mandela. At the time I never would have predicted that one day I, too, would be imprisoned by a repressive regime for advocating human rights and democracy.

By the time of his release from prison many years later, I had already spent 10 years in many labor camps and prisons in Vietnam, and was under house arrest. The Vietnamese communist government had never held a trial.

As I listened to the BBC on a small portable radio with earphones, the word of Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaMundoAsia, ,

Hace unas semanas, el flamante Emerging Markets Forum, dirigido por Harinder Kohli y The Centennial Group, una especie de Davos de los mercados emergentes, organizó una reunión de alto nivel en Hanoi, después de haber hecho lo mismo en España, en Uruguay y en Marruecos. Dicha reunión permitió a varios participantes, incluyendo al que escribe, formarse una idea, sin duda inicial y superficial, pero no por ello menos fascinante, del "modelo vietnamita". Se trata, como es bien sabido, de la combinación de un férreo régimen de partido único, en el clásico estilo socialista (que va desde el mausoleo de Ho Chi Minh, idéntico a los de Lenin y Mao, hasta una prensa acrítica, oficial, y propagandista) con una economía de mercado casi salvaje, apenas regulada, pero tan boyante que le ha brindado al país casi 15 años de un crecimiento anual del 8%, y más de 18.000 millones dólares de inversión extranjera el año pasado, uno de los montos más altos del mundo con relación al PIB.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaMundoAsia, ,

Doing business in China is beginning to cost real money. Not that Chinese workers are buying second homes or anything like that: Their average wage is still a little short of a dollar an hour. But so many Chinese have now left their villages for the factories that the once bottomless pool of new young workers is beginning to run dry, and the wages of assembly-line employees are rising 10 percent a year.

Worse yet, new labor laws are making it harder for employers to cheat their workers out of their wages and benefits. Many American businesses that do their manufacturing in China had warned against those laws; the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai had flatly opposed them.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

The American president who has spoken more forcefully and persistently about the world's need for democracy than perhaps any other elected leader in U.S. history finds himself this weekend in one of the few remaining communist capitals: Hanoi. With the weight of last week's election outcome and a string of security concerns glowing like lights on a Christmas tree, his main preoccupation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is likely to be boosting U.S.-led consensus on North Korea's and Iran's nuclear adventures and terrorism, and assuring friends and foes alike that nothing will change.

But this is also a state visit, the second to unified Vietnam by a sitting U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »