Greece Succumbs, the Outcome Was Written

Erasmo Calzadilla

HAVANA TIMES — Back in January when Syriza was about to win I published a post saying how difficult it would be them to fulfill their election promises. These included a wage increase, provide assistance to the needy, reverse layoffs and reject the austerity plan of the EU Troika.  This was the program of the left coalition led by Alexis Tsipras.

To achieve such noble purposes the Greek economy would have to grow in no small way, but such growth would be almost a miracle in the midst of the serious crisis plaguing the countries of southern Europe.

Analysts who believed that the crisis was irreversible due to the global energy decline, predicting a dark future for Greece, were right on target. If politicians and the Greek people had listened to those predictions the path taken would have been different.

But no, they opted to bet on growth and now they are harvesting the bitter fruit of this misguided and irresponsible approach. Today the Greek economy lies in ruins (restrictions on access to people’s financial assets included) and the left shows a blot on his record while the right (fascism included) rubs its hands.

In a few months it will be up to Spain to decide who will govern for the coming years. I pray that the new political party Podemos wins but with the disaster facing its cousin Syriza, things look ugly.

By the way, Podemos also aspires to achieve exponential economic growth.