http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19795.htm

Latin America: the attack on democracy

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The tongue-in-cheek version only works with people like yourselves who are already up to speed on the realities of Latin America. For those like myself who unfortunately are not, how about having Joshua do a serious Who's Who in Latin American Politics so the rest of us can get up to speed?

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i am always disheartened to hear the reactions of folks i meet in the US to hugo chavez. he's the only latin american leader anyone here has ever heard of, and the instant response is, almost without exception, a small shudder followed by expressions of horror that such a brutal dictator, dangerous to the US, could be allowed to continue.

i don't know what we're going to do in this country with such a corrupt media. if americans knew the reality of what has happened in latin america and how we supported the destruction of whole economies, torture, all of it, they'd be horrified. at least i hope so.

will we ever wake up in the US and realize that we've been completely brainwashed on free trade and socialism and what those things really mean? this is an excellent piece. thank you.

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Pakistan, I mean Columbia has been the CIA-Mercenary center of the region for decades while its neighbors are the continuous recipients of "strange things" that disrupt peace, stability, trade and treaty. Pakistan, I mean Columbia has been run by a certifiably-brutal dictator who takes hoards of American Tax Dollars channeled through the CIA, the Intelligence Budget (thanks Rockefeller) and Overt funding approved by Congress for "drug and terrorism interdiction". Pakistan, I mean Columbia is barely governed at all, with tribal/regional groups controlling most of the territory while a veritable cut-throat government absconds with the natural and mineral rights, international banking, military hardware and other petty issues the good people of Pakistan, I mean Columbia shouldn't be bothered with.

Take any conflict-ravaged no-man's-land, like, Iraq (now), and just watch the CIA's hand: Losing $10 billion dollars in cash and weapons in one single country isn't easy, but the CIA did it. Take Darfur, anywhere "terrorism" has been plaguing low-profile people, you'll find the US State Department with a "label" which officially sanctions overt and covert spending. Go ahead, check it out... Terrorism practically disappeared from Europe after Italy's CIA shut down "Operation Gladio", likewise, it's almost as if there wouldn't be any terrorism in the world today without US/CIA involvement.

How about Afghanistan, getting rid of a religious-based peace-minded Taliban and replacing them with permanent no-man's-landism, increased drug and weapons-traffic, lots of "terrorism" stuff, oh, and of course a Permanent Requirement for Western Military Presence... did I mention the CIA?

Correa has his work cut out for him, but he should take heart that not only is he right on, but also there is a growing movement world-wide to rid itself of Al CIAda and other tentacles of global imperialism. Imagine trying to dismantle the CIA and the DoD here in the US... the banking system and Wall Street... the old-line shadow elite... now we're getting somewhere, maybe even "democracy".

South America will be sooo much better off getting people like Uribe out of the middle of South American decision making, but Paraguay and Uruguay are where the real trouble is brewing including water, extradition and land rights. It's so "quiet" there compared to Columbia... and that, my friend is how they do American Politics too...

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CARACAS, April 23 (Reuters) - Leftist leaders from four Latin American countries vowed to work together to grow more food on Wednesday, blaming capitalism and speculation for soaring world prices that are hurting many poor nations.

The presidents of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and Cuba's vice-president, launched a $100 million fund for staples such as rice, beans and corn to mitigate sharp rises in world grain prices.

The leaders said high prices, which have sparked riots from Egypt to Haiti, were largely caused by a U.S. policy to make ethanol fuel from corn.

Wow! Is Reuters full of it, or is Chavez full of it? Don't forget, gentle reader, that while these guys are all "untrustworthy leftists", Chavez doesn't want to stop importing his dirty sulfurous sour crude into the United States any more than Saudi Arabia does.

But - he's a leftist! I thought they had a higher moral view on the world, and were not just money grubbing businessmen... but then, I am a sucker.

They do have a few further points, however:

He said a regional food distribution system was needed to cut out the middle-men who he says take advantage of tight supplies to increase prices.

"We have to create a regional trade network to stop us falling into the hands of speculators," he said.

Yes, very good idea. However, Venezuela and Colombia do have a few things in common with Brazil and the U.S. - the oil industry.

In the U.S., the politics trump reality. Amy Goodman interviews Huga Chavez, praises him, and never asks him about the oil. Right wing media outlets talk to Uribe, praise him, and never ask him to discuss cocaine traffiking by his right-wing buddies - only by the FARC.

Maybe we can market Venezuelan oil and FARC cocaine to the American lefties, and market Colombian oil and Uribe paramilitary cocaine to the American righties, and then everyone will be happy - and, bonus time, with all the American dollars the Colombians, Bolivians and Venzuelans get from sales of their products abroad, they can buy guns from us (we make a lot of those) and have a nice little war!

The modern global economy in action. Amazing, isn't it?

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Just ask Noriega.

jdfu!

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The author left out some very important details about Chavez.. banning media not partial to him - censoring political groups opposing him - forcefully dealing with student protes - nationalizing entire industries stealing billions in infrastructure from foreign investors...

If he were in America, I'd suspect he would not be on the progressives most liked list! They only seem to like him because he hates our government...

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The Shrub is a Terrorist and Dictator, Get rid of our own Garbage FIRST!

Poor South America our Southern Neighbor has to show
The Big Bully how to do it right.
With nothing except hard work, cooperation, peacefulness, helpfulness, truthfulness, human Dignity and the infallible human Spirit.

The Bolivian President is one of the best examples of a
Human Being that I have seen come down the Pipe in a long Time.
It is a wonder to hear him speak!
Give yourself a treat.
LISTEN to him speak The Truth.

An indigenous leader speaking the indigenous language.
Words filled with hope, sanity and respect for people and this Planet.
The Mother Earth.
What a Man!
Humble, Bright and Good.
Everything that is absent from our cesspool of a Government and Mis-leaders.
I prey:
“Great Spirit, grant him a long and healthy life.”

Meanwhile
The Good Old Boy
W for WRONG Bush
Has trouble putting a sentence together.
What’s up with that?

Animal House U.S.A.
Shrub the Braggart, Coward, Liar and Bully is busy
Killing children here and the world over.
Things at home are starting to unravel.

Hugo gives more aid to the poor in America than
Exxon does.
You figure it out!
Leave him alone.

Maybe after halve of us die in some Corpirate Disaster or
The next False Flag Operation?
The Light will go on and we will finally
Clean house.

Lead by example.
Tough Guy.
Take out your own Garbage First.

Stop pointing your Finger, Guns and Faux Media
At everybody else.
The shit is piling up back home.
Shut down
The Rovien Faux Media
BU__! SH__!
Factory!

Clean House
Start Over
REBOOT!

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It's interesting. Chavez is mentioned in one or two graphs above, but he's certainly not the focus of the post.

Yet both here, and over at Kos where I cross-posted this, pretty much everyone wants to talk about Hugo. (In another context, I wrote a piece a while ago titled, "It's Always Hugo, Hugo, Hugo.")

Did anyone comment on Raphael Correa? I guess there's been some mention about Alvaro Uribe.

I'm not complaining about the commenters -- just noting it as a matter of interest.

I see it as a product of our media's tendency to personalize international issues. We never have diplomatic problems with a country, it's always Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il or Manuel Noriega or Saddam Hussein or whomever.

And so it is with a region like Latin America, where profound political and economic changes have taken place not only in Venezuela, but in a half dozen other countries, and Hugo Chavez has apparently been made a figurehead for the whole region, and that has to be part of the reason we tend to either fetishize and demonize the guy, depending on our perspective.

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Chavez biggest crime, for Washington, is taxing up to half or more, of the revenue from oil exports, This effectively robs Wall Street of billions. Foreign investors then are limited to double digits, instead of the expected triple and quadruple digit returns they expected. This is what Wall Street sees and the politicians she owns see in Washington. This is what it's all about. As for the millions of Venezuelans who now have access to education and health care, they stand by Chavez. In a country where 1% owned 50% of the countries wealth (in America the top 1% just owns 1/3rd of the wealth), the vast majority of citizens lived in povery and sqalor. Often, without any food to eat. From Washington's point of view, this was perfect. More cheap labor. For Chavez, this was a crime against his people and against humanity. He has set about to change things. Do the people of Venezuela love him, you betcha. Does Washington and Wall Street hate him, of course!

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I watched on C-Span Friday I believe it was at first Henry Kissinger speaking before the Atlantic Council and he was introducing Rupert Murdoch since it's rare you see this scum bag speak I decided to watch..

Murdoch went on about some things such as the weakening NATO Alliance and other issues in general but the main point and most important part of this talk was the need to sign the Columbian Free Trade Agreement..

Now on this he went on and on and towards the end as a closing Murdoch swore that failure to sign the Columbian Free Trade Agreement would be the biggest geo-political mistake America could make..

Imagine that not signing this trade agreement with Columbia could be our greatest geo-political error..!

Not the invasion of Iraq which is ruining us around the world and our economy and caused the death of over 4,000 Americans and over 35,000 wounded but even moreso since that's a done deal or already occurred..

Murdoch thinks not singing the trade deal with Columbia would be a greater geo-political mistake than attacking Iran..!

Attacking 70,000,000 Shiites in Iran is not a bigger mistake than failure to sign a trade agreement with Columbia..!

It goes to show you just how warped and perverted these super right wing fascists like Murdoch are, the same as watching Antoni Scalia on 60 Minutes tonight, they are warped and have perverted their own brains to such a degree they will never see the truth or take responsibility for all the harm and damage they have done to our nation and it's people..We The People..

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I'm curious to know what the nature of this alleged spraying over Ecuador is about and if it is Colombia's planes alone that are being used.

If someone can refer me to a dependable report of the trial at The Hague concerning aerial spraying, I'd appreciate this.

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I have been going to South America during the wintwer months for the past 5 years (mostly in Brasil and Argentina with a few side trips to Chile and Uruaguay) and intend to head into the area of Ecuador this winter.

Yea, some so. Americans view Chavez as a loose cannonball but overall he is favorably viewed for the most part. Coloumbia is almost totally viewed as a pariah state along with Paraguay. Mr. U. is nothing but a step and fetchit for the U.S. --all he wants is our $$$.

That part of S.A. is really something of a shambles since our Chicago economists got hold of them in the 70s and 80s. believe almost nothing you read out of the U.S. media--they are too lazy to find out anything for themselves. If Bush messes with this whole thing now we will totally lose out in South America. We are losing credibility down south so fast it is unreal. Crazy Carlos

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Columbia is a university; Colombia is a country in South America.

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