South America

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 15, 2022 2:03 pm

What is NATO Doing in Latin America?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 12, 2022

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The US and NATO are looking to buff up alliances in Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of the conflict in Ukraine. So what’s NATO up to in the region?

NATO in Latin America and the Caribbean

NATO’s activity in the region has managed to stay under the radar. However, in addition to NATO’s 30 full members, there are two designations which have been given to Latin American countries: Global Partner and Major Non-NATO Ally.

Colombia, NATO’s only “global partner” in Latin America and the Caribbean

NATO cooperates on an individual basis with several countries, known as global partners. These countries have access to the full range of activities that NATO offers to all partners.

Colombia has established the following priority areas for cooperation: cybersecurity; maritime security and terrorism and its links to organized crime; human security; and strengthening the capabilities of the Colombian armed forces.

Colombia also participates in training and exercises to develop the interoperability of their armed forces, in accordance with NATO norms and standards. Colombian personnel regularly participate in courses at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany, and the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy. Of particular note are the de-mining, counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics courses.

Major Non-NATO allies

The designation of Major Non-NATO Ally has been given to Argentina (since 1998), Brazil (since 2019) and Colombia (2022-subject to US Congressional approval). It’s a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense, trade, and security cooperation.

For Washington’s closest Latin American ally, the status will mean “increased joint military exchanges, exercises, trainings as well as special access to military equipment and financing” among other “advantages” for Colombia, as explained by the State Department. Major Non-NATO Allies are neither part of NATO nor covered by NATO’s mutual security and defense guarantees.

What does the NATO link entail?

At a panel on “The Evolving Role of NATO in Latin America” at the Concordia Summit (2020), NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoanăs highlighted NATO’s efforts and funding towards fighting terrorism, building resilience, fighting corruption, building integrity, fighting climate change, and fighting the rise of China and Iran. The military alliance also sends young officers to the NATO Defense School and creates ad hoc training programs to instill NATO doctrine.

Biden to designate Colombia a “major non-NATO ally” pic.twitter.com/tyl9UVfvmc

— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) March 11, 2022


The NATO Agenda 2030, defined in June 2021, states its commitment to strengthening the Alliance’s relations with like-minded partners and forging new commitments in Africa, Asia and Latin America: “When NATO’s neighbors are more stable, we are safer (…) Strengthening partners and training local forces is a more sustainable and cost-effective way to increase security and stability and fight terrorism. NATO and NATO partners have a long history in this area, which can serve as a foundation to better fulfill their core tasks of crisis management and cooperative security.”

Southern Command and NATO

NATO is present in the region through its operations and exercises with the United Kingdom, Canada, France and the Netherlands in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) programs. However, it’s US Southcom which maintains the largest foreign military presence in the region, using as pretext the right against drug trafficking and transnational crime.

Southcom has been carrying out extensive operations with Colombia near Venezuela’s borders, as well as maritime “anti-submarine warfare training” in the Caribbean Sea, not far from Venezuela. Southcom has also carried out intense activities near Cuba and Nicaragua.

Since 2019, Southcom’s strategy has identified six key adversaries in the region: China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The last three, John Bolton’s “troika of tyranny”, and Venezuela in particular, find themselves in the cross-hairs of different operations being carried out by Southcom both officially and covertly. Southcom Commander General Richardson has also expressed concern over Bolivia’s cooperation with Iran.

It’s worth noting that the Honduran army has strengthened cooperation with Southcom since President Xiomara Castro took office in January. Castro met with General Laura Richardson and the US and Honduran military high commands signed a bilateral agreement.
President Xiomara Castro meets with Commander of US Southcom, General Laura Richardson in Tegucigalpa. February 23, 2022.

The takeaway

For analysts at Mision Verdad, at the heart of the US strategy is the balkanization of the entire region, since the United States’ strength lies in the division of its components. For this reason, the main pivots of Latin America-Caribbean integration are being attacked, even more so with the strengthening of the relationships between socialist governments and emerging powers.

While it seems unlikely that any of the three countries will actively participate in the overseas conflict, statuses such as NATO Global Ally and Major Non-NATO Ally are complementary to an extensive range of US military assistance and training programs, all of which form part of a larger strategy to try to secure the region amid hegemonic decline.

Recent articles from CELAG and Misión Verdad provide a more detailed analysis of NATO and Southcom activity in Latin America.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... n-america/

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Carlos Martinez: Latin America’s socialist project is inextricably linked with global anti-imperialism
Below is the video and text of a speech by Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, introducing our recent event 21st Century Socialism: China and Latin America on the Frontline. Carlos explains the motivation for organising a webinar focused on socialist processes in China and Latin America: that both China and progressive Latin America are building a vision of 21st century socialism, and this is of immense importance and interest for Marxists around the world.



On behalf of Friends of Socialist China, I’d like to thank you all for joining today’s webinar.

I’m not going to speak for long, but I wanted to quickly say something about the motivation for putting on this event. Why China and Latin America?

Of course our platform focuses on China in particular. Not because of our special appreciation for jasmine tea or Ming dynasty pottery, but because, as the largest socialist country, and the largest developing country, and as a rising power, China has a critically important role in terms of the global transition both towards a multipolar framework of international relations, and towards socialism.

And if we’re talking about socialism in the 21st century, it’s obvious we need to discuss China. Having achieved its historic goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2021, China’s now building systematically towards its Second Centenary Goal: to build “a great modern socialist country in all respects.”

This means moving on from tackling absolute poverty to tackling relative poverty. It means focussing on common prosperity. It means reducing inequality between regions and groups. It means attaining a per capita GDP comparable with the most developed countries. It means every member of the population having access to top-quality education and health care, and having the opportunity to lead a fulfilling life. And it means sustainable development – protecting biodiversity, ending greenhouse gas emissions.

But on this question of establishing a vision of socialism in the 21st century, the peoples of Latin America also have some very important things to say.

Of course revolutionary Cuba has been blazing a trail since 1959. But the US, having failed to prevent the emergence of socialism in Cuba, and having failed to dismantle it or suffocate it – not for want of trying – became very vigilant in stamping out revolutionary movements throughout the continent.

When it comes to fighting socialism and sovereignty in Latin America, the Monroe Doctrine has been in some ways more alive than ever over the past 60-70 years. And Latin America was an important location of the Cold War. The people of Guatemala, of Cuba, of Nicaragua, of Grenada, of Brazil, of Chile, of Argentina, of El Salvador, of Bolivia and many other countries have experienced some decidedly ‘hot’ battles within the Cold War.

But over the last two decades, starting with the election of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela in 1999, progressive governments and movements in Latin America have been exploring new paths towards socialism. Chávez himself coined the phrase ‘socialism of the 21st century’, and he understood it on a national level in Venezuela, but also on a regional level in Latin America, and on a global level.

Chávez recognised that the world was moving in a multipolar – or what he called a pluripolar – direction. That China was emerging as a strong, sovereign, independent power with its own form of socialism. That Russia was recovering from the neoliberal battering to which it had been subjected following the collapse of the Soviet Union. That Iran was gaining strength and pursuing an independent policy. That the countries of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean were asserting themselves and finding new ways to cooperate.

So Venezuela pursued – and continues to pursue – a policy of building socialism, of shifting economic and political and cultural power away from the elite and towards ordinary Venezuelans. And it has protected this socialist experiment by integrating with a wide family of progressive nations.

Upon being elected, Chávez immediately established close ties between Venezuela and Cuba. Then the election of Lula in Brazil in 2002, the victory of the Movimiento a Socialismo in Bolivia in 2005, the victory of Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution in Ecuador in 2006; the Sandinistas’ return to power in Nicaragua in 2007: these processes all supported and strengthened one another.

And this vision wasn’t only regional; it was global. Chávez very explicitly stood for the militant unity of anti-imperialist forces worldwide, because he knew that our collective strength was necessary to create a space for development, for progress, for socialism.

And that project continues. Today, the socialist-oriented governments in Latin America stand with China against the various slanders hurled at it by the US and its allies. They stand with Russia against the expansion and aggression of this US-dominated nuclear alliance that is NATO.

So the process of building socialism in Latin America has always been linked to the global socialist and multipolar project in which China has such an important role. And that’s why we thought it would be valuable to explore these themes together.

https://socialistchina.org/2022/04/03/c ... perialism/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 23, 2022 2:26 pm

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Shengtian Zheng and Jinbo Sun Winds of Fusang 2017 Fusang is an ancient Chinese word referring to what some believe to be the shores of Mexico The work is an homage to Latin Americas influence on China particularly that of Mexican artists on the development of modern Chinese art


These dark times are also filled with light: The Sixteenth Newsletter (2022)
Posted Apr 22, 2022 by Vijay Prashad

Dear friends,

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Carlos Alonso (Argentina), La oreja, 1972.

Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

In early March, Argentina’s government came to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $45 billion deal to shore up its shaky finances. This deal was motivated by the government’s need to pay a $2.8 billion instalment on a $57 billion IMF stand-by loan taken out under former President Mauricio Macri in 2018. This loan–the largest loan in the financial institution’s history–sharpened divides in Argentinian society. The following year, the Macri administration was ousted in elections by the centre-left Frente de Todos coalition which campaigned on a sharp anti-austerity, anti-IMF programme.

When President Alberto Fernández took office in December 2019, he refused the final $13 billion tranche of the IMF’s loan package, a move applauded by large sections of Argentinian society. The next year, Fernández’s government was able to restructure the $66 billion debt held by wealthy bondholders and open discussions with the IMF to delay repayment of the debt incurred by Macri’s government. But the IMF was rigid–it insisted on repayment. Neither the Macri loan nor the new deal under President Fernández settles Argentina’s long-term struggle with its public finances.

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Gracia Barrios (Chile), Desaparecidos, 1973.

The term ‘odious debt’ is used to describe the money owed by societies whose governments have been undemocratic. The concept was crafted by Alexander Nahum Sack in his book The Effects of State Transformations on Their Public Debts and Other Financial Obligations (1927). ‘If a despotic power incurs a debt not for the needs or in the interests of the State, but to strengthen its despotic regime, to repress its population that fights against it, etc.’, Sack wrote, ‘this debt is odious for the population of the State’. When that despotic regime falls, then the debt falls.

When Argentina’s military ruled the country (1976–83), the IMF generously lent it money, ballooning the country’s debt from $7 billion at the time the military took power to $42 billion when the military was ousted. Plainly, the IMF’s provision of funds to the Argentinian military junta–which killed, tortured, and disappeared 30,000 people–set in motion the ugly cycle of debt and despair that continues till today. That those ‘odious debts’ were not annulled–just as the apartheid debt was not annulled in South Africa–tells us a great deal about the ugly reality of international finance.

The deal cut by the IMF with the Fernández government is exactly like other deals that the IMF has made with fragile countries. During the pandemic, 85% of the IMF’s loans to developing countries came with austerity conditions that sharpened their social crises. Three of the most common conditions of these IMF loans are cuts and freezes to public sector wages, the increase and introduction of value-added taxes, and deep cuts to public expenditure (notably for consumer subsidies). Through its new deal with Argentina, the IMF will inspect the operations of the government four times per year, effectively becoming an overseer of the Argentinian economy. The government has agreed to reduce the budget deficit from 3% (2021) to 0.9% (2024) to 0% (2025); to accomplish this, it will have to cut large areas of social spending, including subsidies for a range of consumer goods.

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Shengtian Zheng and Jinbo Sun, Winds of Fusang (close up), 2017.

After reaching the agreement, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva pointed out the great difficulties faced by Argentina, though these difficulties will not be ameliorated by the IMF plan. ‘Argentina continues to face exceptional economic and social challenges, including depressed per capita income, elevated poverty levels, persistent high inflation, a heavy debt burden, and low external buffers’, she said. Consequently, Georgieva noted, ‘Risks to the program are exceptionally high’, meaning that further default is all but certain.

A few weeks before Argentina came to terms with the IMF, President Fernández and China’s President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting in Beijing at which Argentina signed onto the Chinese-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Argentina is the twenty-first country from Latin America to join the BRI. It is also the largest economy from the region to join, pending applications from Brazil and Mexico. Expectations rose amongst sections in Argentina that the BRI would provide a pathway to exit the grip of the IMF. This remains a possibility even as President Fernández returned to the IMF.

Our team in Buenos Aires has been looking carefully at China’s growing ties with the Caribbean and Latin America. These studies resulted in our most recent dossier no. 51, Looking Towards China: Multipolarity as an Opportunity for the Latin American People (April 2022). The main argument of the dossier is that the emergence of programmes such as the BRI offers countries such as Argentina choices for development finance. If Argentina has more latitude in choosing its avenues for finance, then it will be better positioned to reject harsh offers of stand-by assistance from the IMF which come with conditions of austerity. The possibility of these choices opens the door for countries such as Argentina to develop an authentic national and regional development strategy that is not written by the IMF staff in Washington, DC.

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Josefina Robirosa (Argentina), Bosque azul (‘Blue Forest’), 1993-94.

The dossier is quite clear that the mere entry of the BRI into the Caribbean and Latin America is not sufficient. Deeper projects are necessary:

It is possible for Chinese integration to further the ‘development of underdevelopment’ if the Latin American state projects produce a new relationship of dependency on China by merely exporting primary products. On the other hand, it will be far better for the region’s peoples if the relationship is based on equality (multipolarity) as well as the transfer of technology, the upscaling of production processes, and regional integration (national and regional sovereignty).

The BRI’s annual disbursement of funds is around $50 billion, with projections suggesting that, by 2027, total BRI spending will be about $1.3 trillion. These capital flows primarily focus on long-term investments in infrastructure rather than short-term bailouts, although new studies suggest that China has offered short-term liquidity to several countries. Between 2009 and 2020, the People’s Bank of China entered into bilateral currency swap arrangements with at least 41 countries. These currency swaps take place between the local currency (the Argentinian peso, for instance) and China’s renminbi (RMB), with the local currency as collateral and the RMB used either to buy goods or to acquire dollars. The combination of BRI investments and RMB currency swaps provide countries with immediate alternatives to the IMF and its austerity demands. In January 2022, Argentina’s government asked China to increase its 130-billion-yuan swap ($20.6 billion) by an additional 20 billion yuan ($3.14 billion) to cover the IMF payment. A few weeks later, the People’s Bank of China provided the necessary swap to Argentina’s Central Bank. Despite this infusion of cash, Argentina still went to the IMF.

| LaDeudaEsConElPueblo | MR OnlineThe answer to why Argentina took that decision can perhaps be found in the letter written by Martín Guzman (minister of the economy) and Miguel Pesce (president of the Central Bank) to the IMF’s Georgieva on 3 March 2022. In the communication, Argentina promises to ‘improve public finances’ and to restrain inflation, which are straightforward orthodox positions. But then there is an interesting obligation: that Argentina will expand exports and draw in foreign direct investment to ‘pave the way to an eventual re-entry into international capital markets’. Rather than use the opportunity afforded by BRI-currency swaps to develop its own national and regional agenda, the government seems eager to use whatever platform possible to return to the status quo of integration into the capitalist marketplace for finance dominated by Wall Street and the City of London.

On 12 April 2022, the Committee of Creditors of Internal Debt (CADI) announced that the people of Argentina refuse to shoulder the burden of the IMF debt. The people should not pay a single peso: those who squirrelled away the billions that Macri borrowed from the IMF should be the ones who pay the price. Banking secrecy laws need to be suspended in order to draw up a list of those who took that money and hid it in tax havens. The hashtag of CADI’s campaign is #LaDeudaEsConElPueblo–the debt is with the people. It should be paid to the people, not drawn from them.

As the Argentinian poet Juan Gelman (1930–2014) wrote during the reign of the military junta, these are ‘dark times, filled with light’. This phrase resonates even now:

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dark times/filled with light/the sun/
pours sunlight onto the city/ torn
by sudden sirens/the police on the hunt/night falls and we/ make love under this roof


Gelman, a communist, fought the dictatorship, which killed his son and daughter-in-law and damaged the spine of his country. Even the dark times, he wrote, echoing Brecht, are filled with light. These are tough moments in world history, but even now there remain possibilities, there remain people gathered on the streets of Buenos Aires and Rosario, La Plata and Córdoba. Their slogan is clear: no to the pact with the IMF. But theirs is not only a politics of ‘no’. It is also a politics of ‘yes’. Yes to taking advantage of the new openings to shape an agenda for the well-being of the Argentinian people. Yes, also yes.

Warmly,

Vijay

https://thetricontinental.org/newslette ... bt-crisis/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 29, 2022 1:46 pm

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Amid Global Uncertainty, ALBA Movements Forges Unity and Hope
April 24, 2022
Zoe Alexandra — Apr 22, 2022

The continental platform of social movements will hold its third continental assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to analyze the current situation and define strategies for the next period.

The continental platform, ALBA Movements, will hold its third continental assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina from April 27 to May 1. The platform, composed of people’s movements from across the Americas, will welcome more than 200 delegates to discuss the current political moment in the region and the world, evaluate the work of the last period, and analyze the urgent tasks of the platform.

During the five days of work, the delegates will participate in cultural events, panels on the international and regional situation, work in commissions, and attend a people’s market.


The last assembly of ALBA took place in 2016 in Bogota, Colombia. Since then the situation in the world has changed drastically. The crisis of capitalism has become more acute with tens of millions suffering from economic instability, hunger, and unemployment, and new existential challenges have appeared such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, progressive sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean have made great advances with electoral victories in Peru, Honduras, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

For ALBA Movements, this scenario of increased global instability only reaffirms the need to strengthen unity among the people, not only of the region, but of the world. To understand more about the expectations of this historic assembly, Peoples Dispatch spoke with Gonzalo Armúa and Laura Capote, members of the Operational Secretariat of ALBA Movements.

Peoples Dispatch: We are on the eve of the Third Continental Assembly. Tell us a little about your expectations for this Assembly after two years of the pandemic and years without face-to-face meetings.

Gonzalo Armúa: Well, in the first place, there are high expectations because we are coming from a pandemic that due to public health measures forced us to work together virtually at a distance. So, we are looking forward to comrades – those who have been building movements in each territory, in each country – finally coming together and meeting

And on the other hand, there are many expectations because we are living in a moment of uncertainty and changes at the international and regional level. At the international level, our analysis is that we are heading rapidly towards a process of geopolitical transition or at least towards an opening for a multipolar world, which brings challenges, but also brings many possibilities.

In Latin America, a series of electoral victories have allowed for the arrival of new governments of a popular, progressive nature or for at least a break with the neoliberal hegemony in those countries which we can say remained steeped in neoliberalism during the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. We are talking about Chile and Peru. We also have the recovery of democracy in Bolivia after the coup d’état and we have a series of upcoming elections in Brazil and Colombia, where there are also possibilities of new forces coming to power. To this we must also add the victory in Honduras [of Xiomara Castro], which defeated the coup d’état that had removed Zelaya.

Related Content: Barely One Week Into Her Presidency, Xiomara Castro Brings Hope and Joy to Hondurans

At the same time, within the realm of people’s movements, there have been new struggles and we have seen new sectors that have taken to the streets before and during the pandemic, because the States did not respond to the basic demands related to health, food, decent work, etc. There is an expectation that in the Assembly, we can process all these new events that took place in a short period of time, one after the other or simultaneously. We need this meeting to be able to process, to be able to plan, and also to be able to meet with comrades who have been working for years, who have been fighting in each territory, so that we can continue forging Latin American unity from the movements.

PD: ALBA Movements organizes its work along six guiding principles: 1. Unity of Our America and internationalism; 2. Ideological-cultural battle and decolonization; 3. Defense of mother earth and people’s sovereignty; 4. Economy for good living; 5. Democratization and building people’s power; 6. People’s feminism. Can you talk a little about the importance and relevance of these principles in this context?

Laura Capote: This is precisely the question that we are interested in working on together with the comrades in the assembly. The elaboration of the six principles or the political program of ALBA was one of the main tasks that came out of the second Assembly in Colombia in 2016. Then, in the political coordination and in the Secretariat, we worked with the comrades from different countries in the different meetings and instances to be able to elaborate and expand on the principles.

Something that happens to us a lot in the social and people’s movements in Latin America, which is one of our great weaknesses in our opinion, is that many times we look at the problems of each of the sectors, of the different ages, of the generations and we do not find in some way transversal elements that allow us to carry forward a united struggle of women, youth, peasants, indigenous women, etc. We divide ourselves by sectors, which obviously weakens us in terms of the power with which we can respond to the enemy.

Within this framework, we elaborated these six principles to serve as a big umbrella that could include the majority of the struggles carried out by our organizations. During the Assembly, we have a full day to work on these six principles, to see what elements are missing, and what other new perspectives there are as well.

We have been seeing new problems with this new context in the continent, for example with the return of an increasingly fascist or neo-fascist right-wing, with a more violent, anti-rights, and regressive nature. We have to think of new ways to respond to that. We must find new ways with which we can advance in this offensive, from the perspective of the people and from the perspective of building a project of unity, of life, and of respect.

Related Content: ALBA-TCP Repudiates US Report on Human Rights

This new context implies that in the case of our six principles, that there will be new perspectives, new principles, new lines within these same areas of work, and it also means that we have to make the necessary revisions.

We have also been reiterating the importance of reevaluating in what way some may be more of a priority than others, in terms of urgency. And also those that imply the unity of the organizations within the framework of ALBA, or in some way to advance in our coordination as an entity and also because we see that we have been one of the few platforms that despite the pandemic continued working very hard.

PS: In this moment of global uncertainty, Latin America has been a beacon of hope, of joy and of the possibility of change. In this context, what does a platform of movements represent, what are the key tasks that lie ahead, and how do you intend to take up the challenge of continuing to build?

GA: Well, a central task that is fundamental to the movements and that today is more valid than ever, has to do with the unity of the people throughout the region, because we see that capitalism at this stage is above all global, it is worldwide and the people of the world and in particular of Latin America, face different forms of oppression, exploitation and plundering but it obeys the same pattern that characterizes a system.

Therefore, the need for unity goes beyond making declarations. It has to do with a historical necessity, because none of the countries, none of the nation states can carry out a process of liberation, a process of equality, a process of expansion of rights, if it does not unite with the different countries, with the different people.

We are seeing that the Nation State as it was formed in the 19th and 20th centuries cannot provide answers to the demand to expand rights, and no national process can solve the structural problems that currently exist for all the people of the world. We are talking about a moment where the rate of inequality among the richest 1% of the planet is worse than ever before. We are talking about a moment where Mother Earth, nature, is reaching its limit in terms of the sustainability of human life and life in general. And in addition, we are also seeing that the social degradation generated by this system is leading to increasingly obscene levels of violence.

The need for continental unity is about facing a common enemy of the people, it has to do with retaking processes of organizational struggle in terms of popular economy, in terms of solidarity, in terms of processes of liberation. Perhaps the reason Latin America is a constant source of alternatives to the system is that when it was liberated in the process of independence in the 19th century, it happened as a whole, when there were still no limits, the borders we know today, and this is also what brought forth the defeat of the largest empire of that time, the Spanish colony.

From these historical experiences, from a continuous process of struggles that goes back even to the conquest itself, the people of Latin America have not ceased to fight against the different forms of imperialism, of colonialism, and this is also expressed today.

There is an accumulation of experiences of struggle, an accumulation of organizational experiences that we need to turn into continental experiences, that must become regional experiences and that at the same time can be expanded to other continents in unity with other people.

That is why ALBA has the challenge of continental unity. But at the same time, this assembly is going to address the challenge of unity with the people of the global South, together with comrades from Africa, from Asia, from the people who, within the so-called first world, are also being oppressed within Europe, within the United States. As I said at the beginning, the system is increasingly destroying everything that remains outside of that 1% that keeps the wealth, keeps the goods and above all, is thinking of a project for fewer and fewer human beings on this planet.

The challenge is enormous, but we trust in the historical projects that we inherited and also in the struggles of our people of Latin America and of other people of the world.

LC: There is also an important element that we have discussed many times, which that there is a tremendous lack of horizons, of possibilities and utopias to carry forward. It is as if we have already been defeated.

As ALBA, we carry a very important responsibility. It was born from the heart of two of the greatest contemporary revolutionaries, who not only had a revolutionary vision for their countries, but also a revolutionary vision at the regional level.

When Fidel and Chávez thought of ALBA, they initially thought of it to unite the governments. When Chávez advances in the proposal towards the unity of the movements in ALBA, it was precisely taking into account that it is really the coming together of the people that will allow that coordination at continental level, which also inherits the Bolivarian vision of transformation in unity and with an American power that would counter the model of the Monroe Doctrine and the model that the United States wanted for our continent.

We also have the responsibility in this third assembly to rejuvenate the desire to continue fighting and to continue building in the different countries, and also to believe that it is possible, to believe that we can see the end of capitalism, and not as we are told the end of the world. And precisely what we want is to show is that we are already seeing the end of capitalism, we are living through this process and the answer is whether or not it is going to be chaos or it is going to be something else.

It also depends on the people and on what we decide to do. I believe that the possibility of new horizons and new utopias that we build with our own hands, is also a responsibility of ALBA because it is a composition of movements, of people who never thought only as individuals but in the collective and who seek, through their links with social organizations and their grassroots work, to transform the conditions of this continent.

We have the potential and an enormous responsibility to carry the name of ALBA with us, a historic name that brings with it the goals and objectives that Fidel and Chavez set us and that rest on our shoulders and we want all of us in the assembly to take on.

That is why this third assembly is so important, especially at a time when, after the pandemic, it seems that the triumph of individualism is even more evident. And where we want to respond to that with a collective body that fights for socialism, that believes in socialism as a project, a socialism of our own, a socialism with an Indigenous, Black, women’s, feminist and peasant face. It is the responsibility to be up to the needs of the historical moment and the project that we want.

https://orinocotribune.com/amid-global- ... -and-hope/

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In the wake of the expulsion of the Organization of the American States from Nicaragua, we need to revisit one of its major crime scenes: Haiti.

On April 24, 2022, Nicaragua’s Sandinista government officially booted the Organization of American States (OAS) out of their country. Foreign minister Denis Moncada called the OAS a “deceitful agency of the State Department of yankee imperialism” and in an official statement, the Nicaraguans proclaimed that they “will not recognize this Instrument of Colonial Administration, which does not represent at any time, the Sovereign Union of Our Latin and Caribbean America, and that…violate[s] Rights and Independences, sponsoring and promoting interventions and invasions, [and] legitimizing coups.”

In response to Nicaragua’s break with the OAS, many in the imperialist west will undoubtedly speak self-righteously about the Central American republic’s lack of “democracy.” Others, on the left, will correctly point to the OAS’s long-standing role in undermining democracy – to the support the organization has given to regime change in Bolivia, Honduras, and, especially, Venezuela, where the OAS recognized unelected stooge Juan Guaido as president.

However, to really understand the undemocratic, demagogic, and racist history of the OAS, we need to return to one of its major crime scenes: Haiti.

In no small part because of the OAS, Haiti is currently a de facto colony administered and controlled by foreign, white rulers: the U.S., France, Canada, and the European Union. With an outsized involvement in Haiti’s political bureaucracy, it has had a clear and incontrovertible role as a tool of western imperialism and white supremacy. A brief review of the past two decades reveals its meddling in Haiti’s politics and democratic processes, all to support US interests while undercutting Haitian self-determination and sovereignty.

In 2010, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, with hundreds of thousands dead or displaced, many counseled against holding national elections. Yet the US, France, and Canada forced Haiti to carry on with the vote, pumping $29 million dollars into the country for logistical support. But, in the run up to the elections, Haiti’s partisan electoral provisional council (CEP) banned the most powerful political party - Fanmi Lavalas, founded by former president, Jean Bertrand Aristide. The first round of the elections was notably flawed (because of the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas, voter turnout was low, with 71% of registered voters staying away from the polls). Those displaced because of the earthquake were disenfranchised. Moreover, of those votes cast, a high percentage were irregular. Nevertheless, the first round of elections saw the first place go to conservative candidate Mirlande Manigat, and second place to Jude Celestin (who was endorsed by sitting president Rene Preval). US-backed, neo-Duvalierist Michel Martelly, of the new PHTK party, came in third place. Members of the Haitian political and activist community called for the cancellation of the elections. However, according to Wikileaks , the US demanded that Martelly replace Celestin in the run-off despite his third place position.

For this to work, however, the white rulers mobilized the OAS. The OAS was the first organization to affirm the integrity of the flawed and dubious election of 2010. It put together an “Expert Electoral Verification Team, ” composed of seven members, six of which came from three western countries - US, France, Canada - and one from Jamaica. It must be remembered that it was these same three western countries that were behind the 2004 coup d'etat that overthrew Haiti’s democratically elected president, ushering in the subsequent UN military occupation, which was ongoing at the time of this presidential selection. These countries are also key members, along with the OAS and the European Union, of the Core Group (of foreigners) that continues to be Haiti’s colonial master. The OAS “Verification Team” discarded some votes and changed the results to ensure that Martelly came in second place, affirming his position on the run-off ballots, thus ensuring two right wing candidates as finalists in the election. Haitian officials at first refused to accept the OAS recommendation. However, the US and other Core Group countries threatened to withhold post-earthquake relief. To consolidate this position, Barack Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , flew down to Haiti and threatened Preval with exile if his government did not change the results of the election to allow Martelly on the run-off ballot.

This is how Haiti came to be under the corrupt and murderous “Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale” (PHTK) neocolonial government.

The OAS would strike again in the effort to help the white rulers keep their PHTK puppets in power. This time, it was during the political and electoral crisis of 2015-2016. As Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research correctly stated, “The brazen intervention, backed up by threats of aid cutoffs and visa sanctions, has inextricably tied the fate of the OAS in Haiti with Martelly and his political party, Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale (PHTK). The 2015/2016 electoral process did little to dispel those concerns.”

Haiti’s “sham elections,” as they were called, occurred in August and October of 2015, after massive public protests forced Martelly to organize legislative, local, and presidential elections. By this time Martelly was running the country by decree - a move that the OAS and Haiti’s other rulers supported - after allowing the terms of the Haitian senate to expire without elections. The result of Martelly’s actions were to leave Haiti without a functioning government. Despite extreme low voter turnout, electoral fraud, violence, and the destruction of ballots, the OAS, along with the UN (and the Core Group), immediately congratulated the country for its peaceful and “well-organized” elections. The OAS would later verify the election of Martelly’s handpicked successor, Jovenel Moïse as he proclaimed victory in a set of fraudulent elections in 2016.

Moïse’s tenure was marked by nonstop protests, both for corruption and theft of PetroCaribe funds, and for refusing to step down at the end of his mandate, which many in Haiti argued was in February 2021. Moïse, whose rule continued the legacy of PHTK’s corrupt and kleptomaniac practices, seems to have received the most direct support from the OAS. His relationship with OAS’s Secretary General, Luis Almagro, helped him survive his lack of legitimacy. The OAS provided cover for Moïse during the PetroCaribe protests, offering to put together an “OAS-sanctioned commission” to investigate claims of corruption. In return, Haiti voted against Venezuela’s democratically elected government of Nicolas Maduro, and in favor of the unelected Juan Guaido.

When the Haitian masses were protesting Moïse’s refusal to step down at the end of his term, on February 7, 2021, Almagro released a statement unilaterally determining that Moïse’s term actually was to end in February 2022. This move went directly against the OAS’s own charter that declares that the organization does not have the power to “intervene in matters that are within the internal jurisdiction of the Member States.” Haitian leaders protested , arguing, “President Moïse cannot determine the duration of his term of office, in the same way that the Secretary General himself could not define his own mandate according to his interpretation of the OAS Charter.” Nevertheless, Moïse stayed in power, ruling by decree, until he was assassinated in July 2021.

The forced elections in Haiti, in 2010/2011 and 2015/2016, are only the most recent in active OAS actions to deny the people their human and political rights.

It must also be remembered that since 2004, Haiti has been under foreign occupation that began as full fledged military control and continues through the political/colonial control of the country by the UN's Core Group. The Core Group , an unelected, self-styled council of foreign western representatives, “plays an active, interventionist role in Haiti’s everyday political affairs.” The OAS is an active member of the Core Group.

Going back slightly further in time, Haiti would not be under western colonial rule by 2004 without the aid of the OAS in 2000, when its representatives interfered in Haiti’s legislative elections under President Aristide. Here, after admitting that the May 2000 elections were, as Yves Engler reported , “a great success for the Haitian population which turn out in large and orderly numbers to choose both their local and national governments,” the OAS did an about face and labeled the elections “deeply flawed.” The reason? Because the US and the other western powers did not like the election results and their clear affirmation of the popularity of the Aristide government. The Haitian opposition and the western powers then used the OAS claims to not only undermine these democratically elected officials, but to also call into question Aristide’s presidential mandate. Anxious to dispense with Aristide, the US imposed an economic embargo on his government, while organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID funded youth and other “opposition” groups against his government. This led directly to the 2004 coup d’etat, and the full destruction of Haiti’s sovereignty.

When recounting the history of the OAS’s unending assault on Haitian democracy and Haitian people, we see clearly an organization that acts in the service of the US-led white western imperial order. In this sense, we have to understand that the OAS is but one of the many western “international” organizations that uphold an unequal racial and economic order. To the OAS, we can add the UN, the IMF, the ICC, the WTO, NATO, and others.

Nicaragua’s decision to kick out the OAS should be saluted. The rest of our people in the region - a region that Joseph Biden arrogantly calls “America’s backyard” - could only be so lucky. Instead we are stuck with an organization that Fidel Castro called a “Ministry of Colonies,” that “has a history that collects all the trash of 60 years of betrayal of the people.”

https://www.blackagendareport.com/oas-o ... y-colonies

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They seek in Peru to reduce the term of office of the Pdte. Castle

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The bill presented by the ruling party proposes to reduce President Castillo's term to just two years. | Photo: EFE

The bill was signed by eight parliamentarians from the ruling Peru Libre party from a block of 33 legislators.

Groups of Peruvian congressmen, one of them from the ruling party of Free Peru, presented this Thursday several projects to reform the Constitution that seek to reduce the term of office of President Pedro Castillo and Parliament until 2023, along with early elections for choose successors.

The ruling party group presented a legislative initiative that proposes reducing President Castillo's term to just two years, until July 28, 2023, after having been elected in 2021 for a five-year term.

The bill, whose author is the legislator Pasión Dávila, entered Congress this Thursday and seeks a constitutional reform to modify the term of office of the head of state, the vice president, Diana Boluarte, and the 130 congressmen elected in the elections general last year.


Only three days ago, President Pedro Castillo sent another constitutional reform project to the Legislature to hold a referendum in October of this year to consult the population if it approves the call for a constituent to draft a new Magna Carta.

According to those of the leftist caucus, the interest in reducing the presidential mandate is due to the crisis of legitimacy that exists in the political environment, as they expressed in their statement of reasons for the bill.

In addition, they cited surveys in which 60 percent of the population supports an eventual advancement of the elections, in a way that raises the need to lead to a democratic transition to get out of the political confrontation between the Executive and Legislative.


The supporters of Peru Libre in Congress who presented this initiative assure that the norm will strengthen the Peruvian political and democratic system, since the reduction of the presidential and legislative mandate is a constitutional and democratic solution.

In the same way, they assure that they seek to strengthen the legitimacy in the representation and in the conservation of the positions of the authorities elected by popular vote.

Meanwhile, the opposition legislator Digna Calle also presented this Thursday a constitutional reform project such as Podemos Peru, which seeks to reduce the presidential and parliamentary mandate until July 2023 and proposes advancing the elections to March of that same year.



Calle stressed that the cause of this initiative is the political crisis that the country is going through, the discontent of the people and the convulsion generated by the social protests.

In turn, he added that the proposal for a new ruler and new legislators to assume power in July 2023 would allow a peaceful solution to the political and economic crisis in Peru since Castillo took office.

Castillo, a left-wing school teacher and union leader, has governed amid unprecedented political instability since taking office, passing through four separate Cabinets and surviving two impeachment attempts in just nine months in office.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/peru-bus ... -0002.html

Ecuador's fourth minister resigns amid political crisis

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After seven months in office, since his inauguration in September 2021, Álava leaves the Agriculture portfolio in the midst of a political crisis. | Photo: @PedroAlavaEc
Published April 29, 2022 (5 hours 13 minutes ago)

The banana producers questioned Álava, after the crisis they face in the commercialization of the fruit.

The Minister of Agriculture of Ecuador, Pedro Álava, resigned this Thursday from his post, thus becoming the fourth member of the Ministerial Cabinet of President Guillermo Lasso to present his resignation this week.

"I send you my irrevocable resignation from this State portfolio, in which I deposited all my energy and knowledge to comply with your policy in favor of the small farmer," Álava commented after his decision.

Recently, the official was questioned by leaders and producers of the banana sector, who led strikes and protests due to the lack of policies that support the sector, because due to the conflict in Europe it is impossible to export bananas to Russia.

Before this news was known, the Government issued a statement announcing that it has requested the resignation of the four ministers as part of an "evaluation of his entire Cabinet" to make the changes that are considered pertinent "based on the best execution of the Plan of Creation of Opportunities 2021-2025”.

During this week, the heads of the Defense portfolios, Luis Hernández; of Energy and Mines, Juan Carlos Bermeo; the Secretary of Human Rights, Bernarda Ordóñez, and, finally, the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock.


Prior to these resignations, on March 9, the Minister of Government at that time, Alexandra Vela, also resigned, citing differences with the Executive.

"By not coinciding with the political line established by President Guillermo Lasso to face the crisis exacerbated by the National Assembly, I submitted my resignation," Vela said at the time.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/renuncia ... -0001.html

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Mon May 02, 2022 2:09 pm

Sacha Llorenti: “ALBA is fundamentally anti-imperialist”

During the III Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements, allied platforms spoke about the importance of building unity and fighting imperialism and capitalism together

April 30, 2022 by Peoples Dispatch

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Camille Chalmers of the Assembly of Caribbean Peoples speaks on a panel during the III Assembly of ALBA Movements. Photo: ALBA Movements

A central discussion throughout the III Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements was on the challenges that people’s movements face in the medium and long term. One of the key strategies of ALBA movements has been strengthening over the last couple of years has been to build not only with organizations involved in its work across the continent but also to work with other platforms of people’s movements and organizations that are resisting capitalism and imperialism.

A panel was organized during the Assembly to hear about the work of these allied platforms and to discuss how to better build solidarity and unity together. Participants heard from Sacha Llorenti the Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP, Wilman Sarango from Indigenous and Peasant Organizations of Ecuador (FEI) – CLOC La Via Campesina, Iván González of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas and the Platform for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism, Akende Chundama of the Socialist Party of Zambia and the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), and Haitian leader Camille Chalmers of the Caribbean Peoples’ Assembly.

Wilman Sarango of FEI Ecuador opened the panel by recalling the struggle of peasant peoples against the colonial and republican system for over 500 years. “We, the native peoples, have been resisting, in the struggle to recover our lands that were taken from us by the conquerors,” he said.

The peasant leader explained that the challenge of the popular movements “is to take the lead in the struggle for the construction of a humanist and socialist system against the capitalist, financial and extractivist system.”

Sarango also reaffirmed the commitment of the Ecuador chapter in the construction of ALBA Movements and made proposals to strengthen the work of ALBA: “we must value at the highest level of importance the self-organization of the class; the cultural struggle necessary to build class consciousness; establish a think tank that generates timely analysis of the conjuncture; build a continental movement that brings together the struggle of peasant organizations and people’s movements; build political education schools to develop the ideological battle; develop people’s media in favor of our interests; develop integration policies between ALBA, UNASUR and CELAG.”

Sacha Llorenti, ALBA-TCP executive secretary, committed himself to work to increase the coordination between the platform of the movements and that of the ALBA-TCP member states.

“This organization is increasingly necessary, in the pandemic we have seen how the system works, we have witnessed how pirate techniques have been used to accumulate masks, respirators, and vaccines. A few countries have been able to accumulate a lot of vaccines and in other regions, such as Africa, the amount of vaccines is scarce. ALBA has shown another way of organizing the world, a world with more solidarity among countries,” he argued.

In his analysis of the world context, Llorenti said that “inequality is one of the threats to humanity” and asked “How can we face these challenges? First we have to know the causes, and they are consequences of the capitalist model of production. If we do not aim to change the mechanisms of capitalist production, we will not change the structural conditions of this system,” he added.

Llorenti concluded that “ALBA is fundamentally an anti-imperialist platform”. He added “today we see the situation of the regional left, where some comrades who declare themselves to be part of the left have lowered the anti-imperialist banner, and imperialism is the way for capitalism to function”.

Camille Chalmers, of the Caribbean People’s Assembly, pointed out the challenges for the Caribbean and its work with the continent. “For the peoples of the Caribbean, the work of the movements towards ALBA is the most important strategic space at this difficult time for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean,” he explained.

He added that “the Caribbean is a strategic space in several senses. There is a very important struggle for the control of the Caribbean. But imperialism cannot control the Caribbean thanks to the Cuban and Bolivarian revolutions”.

Likewise, he maintained that foreign debt is once again being used for the domination of the region. “We say like Fidel Castro: we cannot pay, we should not pay, we do not want to pay” he stated.

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Finally, he called for the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean and maintained that this task is not possible without a clear diagnosis of imperialist domination and without a socialist political project. “We are in a moment where the world is undergoing a transition in world hegemony and it is there that US imperialism becomes more savage, with greater aggression, where they are trying to destroy our cultures and our peoples. It is essential to defend the progressive governments that exist in the region,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iván González, of the CSA and the Platform for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism, said “we reaffirm the necessity of the defense of democracy and the sovereignty of the peoples, but we must challenge ourselves to go further than just the defense of democracy. We need democracy to be expressed in our territories”.

At the same time he expressed “it is necessary to build answers from the popular sectors. The States must understand that the people are part of those answers”.

Among the challenges, he called for “a discussion on what kind of integration we want for our countries. We must dispute the vision that governments have and learn from the mistakes that were made with the first wave of progressive governments”.

Akende Chundama of the International Peoples’ Assembly and the Socialist Party of Zambia closed the panel and highlighted that neoliberalism has demonstrated time and again that it cannot solve our problems. “Everything as it is put together and structured tries to convince us that there is no alternative. They force us to think that it is easier to think of the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” she said.

She added “in the face of this, it is important that we unite our forces to put an end to capitalism. One of the biggest challenges we had was that it was difficult for us to unite our struggles, we are all fighting separately, and thanks to the International Peoples’ Assembly we managed to unite our struggles.”

As a solution to the consequences of capitalism she called for building a socialist project. “Only socialism can remedy the consequences of capitalism. We have to defeat capitalism, imperialism and neoliberalism, and for that we have to work together because that is the essence of our struggle” she concluded.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/30/ ... perialist/

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Trade union center of Peru supports constituent proposal

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President Pedro Castillo greets Peruvian workers at the rally for International Workers' Day. | Photo: @Agencia_Andina
Published May 2, 2022 (7 hours 29 minutes ago)

The CGTP leader stressed that the Peruvian people demand a new Constitution that defends the interests of the majority.

The General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) supported the draft referendum on a new Constitution, promoted by President Pedro Castillo.

During the act for International Workers' Day, the general secretary of the CGTP, Gerónimo López, expressed that the central supports the referendum proposal presented to Parliament for debate.

López stressed that the Peruvian people claim and demand a new Constitution that defends the interests of the majority.


The CGTP leader argued that it is the perfect time for a constituent meeting and the design of a new country and state architecture for all Peruvians.

Gerónimo López added that the workers' union supports the government, democracy and governability and raised the need for major changes to be made with the participation of the people.

President Pedro Castillo participated in the CGTP act, where he took advantage of the occasion to speak about the constituent proposal.


What is the fear of a popular consultation? What is the fear that the people express their word? The popular conquest strengthens democracy and transfers decisions to the people”, highlighted Pedro Castillo.

The Peruvian head of state indicated that a new Magna Carta responds to the clamor of trade union organizations, social forces and the majority of Peruvians.

Castillo stressed that his government is moving forward to fight against the obstruction of the right in Parliament, which would not be in line with the interests of the great majorities.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/central- ... -0025.html

Chilean President Condemns Violent Acts in Labor March

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The Chilean president indicated that the victims will receive the support of the Government. | Photo: EFE
Posted May 2, 2022 (5 hours 8 minutes ago)

President Gabriel Boric indicated that they will use all resources to find those responsible for the shooting.

The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, condemned on Sunday the acts of violence that left at least three people wounded by gunshots during the commemoration of Workers' Day.

The shooting took place in the Central Station Commune where the supporters of the Central Classista de Trabajadores (CCT) who were demonstrating were repressed by the Carabineros, who claim to have responded to the shots of alleged merchants in the Meiggs neighborhood.

"As a State, we cannot allow criminal gangs of organized crime to take over the streets of our country and, therefore, we are going to apply all the forces of law to dismantle them," stressed the country's president.


He described the situation as "unacceptable" and denounced the naturalization of violence in "too many ways."

"From the Government we are going to make all the resources available so that the investigation that has to be carried out not only to arrest the guilty, but also so that there is justice," he said.

In turn, he pointed out that, with the support of Chilean ministers, he will review the security protocols so that in the future it is clear that his Government does not allow these incidents.

The president stressed that he continues to work intensely to guarantee the tranquility and confidence of the people, for which it is necessary to restore the fractures that the nation has.

During the march, three people were injured and two were arrested. Among the victims is a journalist from the Chilean media Señal 3 La Victoria.

Regarding the victims, the president confirmed that he will pay attention "to Francisca, her family and all the people who were injured."

In unison with this march, the members of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) also demonstrated in the Alameda area, but were not attacked.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/presiden ... -0001.html

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri May 06, 2022 1:39 pm

PROPOSALS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE REVIVAL OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION
May 5, 2022 , 9:00 a.m.

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The democratic clause of CELAC offers a propitious route to resume the consensus of understanding, peaceful coexistence and respect for sovereignty (Photo: Shutterstock)

The displacement of the political and ideological sign of the Latin American region towards a motley left-wing bloc (progressive, some say) has once again put the sharp and complicated debate on integration on the table. The presidential elections in Colombia and Brazil, scheduled for this year, if they are favorable for the candidates Gustavo Petro and Lula da Silva respectively, could deepen this tilt of the balance and put the right in a situation of numerical inferiority at the continental level.

Taking out of the equation the possible shocks, attempts at fraud or insurrectionary agendas that could destabilize both electoral processes, a victory for Lula in Brazil and for Petro in Colombia would formalize the regional shift to the left, but adding new elements with respect to the so-called "cycle progressive" previous: Colombia would mark a particular accent, and unprecedented, that would be added to Honduras and Mexico.

In this landscape where a substantial modification of the correlation of forces prevails, the question of regional integration is once again opened, which was the pending issue of the wave of left-wing governments at the beginning of the century.

The initiatives of President Hugo Chávez, who passed through UNASUR, ALBA-TCP and CELAC, undoubtedly involved a significant geopolitical shift that managed to undermine the institutional primacy of US "Pan-Americanism", while laying the foundations for a of continental, alternative and independent power, with an unprecedented geographical, economic, population and geostrategic scope.

As we well know, the domino effect of coups d'état and electoral losses of leftist governments, and the regime change offensive against Venezuela, frustrated these geopolitical options, whose strategic orientation consisted of influencing the international scene with their own voice to balance the unrestricted power of Western powers.

Currently, despite the change in ideological coordinates, the regional scenario is plagued by disintegration and ambiguity, and in view of this, the perspective on integration and its methods of viability and revival acquire a higher degree of complexity.

The vacuum of leadership and authority, the overlapping of multiple agencies with similar powers and the traces of a historically prolonged neocolonial dependency, in the form of export reprimarization, hardened by the unbridled financialization of the global economy, have played a determining role in the irrelevance of the most outstanding integration mechanisms of the continent.

To this must be added the extreme ideological polarization, precipitated by the United States and its client states, with which a diplomatic siege against Venezuela was forged to advance towards the geopolitical objective of annulling its political presence in multilateral forums as well as its political role in the continent.

The creation of this dividing line was accompanied by a strategy of substitution and exchange of alliances in favor of Western powers, led by right-wing initiatives such as ProSUR and the Pacific Alliance, configured to take advantage of the vacuum left by the programmed deactivation of UNASUR and CELAC.

However, these mechanisms oriented mainly to trade and investment, within the framework of an open regionalism of neoliberal invoice, have not provided a hegemonic regional leadership to the right. Its unifying effect, politically speaking, has been very limited, a product of the very corporate and technocratic nature that marked its birth.

But beyond the general diagnosis, the tailwind of the political reconfiguration of the Latin American region must be harnessed in a constructive direction.

The truth is that, regardless of the efforts to dismantle them in practical terms, UNASUR and CELAC have accumulated doctrinal, institutional and legitimacy that could be put back into play, and relatively quickly. To do this, and it is a lesson learned from the previous cycle, the pharaonic goals must be replaced by some that can be achieved in order to recover a minimum level of confidence and an agenda of rapprochement on the priorities of the continent, within the framework of a constructive stage that opens the ideal space for higher aspirations, especially given the changing and unstable context of world politics.

The democratic clause of CELAC offers a propitious route to resume the consensus of understanding, peaceful coexistence and respect for sovereignty broken by force by the United States. Exercising this language of respect and agreement, reincorporating it into the diplomatic scene, has a practical utility in the unification of criteria and a new climate of cooperation.

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TITLETEXT: CELAC meeting in Mexico City, Mexico, July 26, 2021 CREDITS: SRE Mexico

If, as the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński said, "war begins with a change of language", then reducing levels of conflict requires the reverse application of the same principle.

The construction of renewed dispute resolution mechanisms, both in CELAC and in UNASUR, is shown as a priority after years of dispossession and appropriation of the capacity for intergovernmental dialogue in Latin America for the benefit of Western powers. In fact, the architecture of CELAC preserves ideas that are still in force regarding the configuration of these mechanisms, so an agenda focused on refreshing them would attract the interest of the States and bring opposing positions closer together.

This first stage also requires greater dynamism at the level of practical cooperation of the integration mechanisms. The installation of an executive secretariat of CELAC, proposed by President Nicolás Maduro at the organization's last Summit in Mexico City (2021), is a coherent proposal to sustain an active dynamic of dialogue and exchange between governments, beyond the summits, contributing to the harmonization of agendas and objectives of other integration subsystems.

The application of punitive "sanctions" by the United States against Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela is a novel factor in Latin American politics and is not only limited to the countries directly affected. The violence with which they have been applied implies an economic upheaval without precedent for the continent, whose affectation encompasses the economic interests of countries and entire markets, which have had to restructure themselves to avoid secondary "sanctions".

The aggressive policy of unilateral coercive measures of the United States must be taken as a priority in the current scenario, since, due to its extraterritorial reach and prolongation in time and in the dynamics of the international financial system, the social and economic factors indirectly impacted are increasing at the regional level. The integration responses to this abuse sustained over time must be multiple and converge in a cooperation agenda that exerts unified pressure from governments, social and economic sectors.

CELAC, UNASUR and ALBA-TCP could be projected as sounding boards for this claim and for the damage caused on a Latin American scale.

On the other hand, the anticovid vaccines developed by Cuba, the socio-territorial and info-government prevention strategy developed by Venezuela to curb the pandemic, as well as other successful cases of covid containment in the region, reflect a reputational advantage still untapped against to Europe and the United States, whose balance in this matter was very disappointing.

The Latin American governments that acted best and those that demonstrated shortcomings, due to the disintegration table mentioned above, have not had the possibility of meeting in a space for the exchange of scientific experiences, learning of methodologies and accompaniment, articulated through the existing integration mechanisms and to retrieve. This proven advantage must be used consistently and projected internationally as a leading tool in an international scenario where many countries have been trapped in hoarding vaccines and ineffective responses at the level of health control.

The road ahead is long and not without obstacles. But to begin with, and with firm steps, it is necessary to begin with attainable goals and nurture those points of convergence that geopolitical reality itself has been offering.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/pr ... n-regional

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Declaration III Continental Assembly ALBA Movements
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 4, 2022
Peoples Dispatch

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Closing panel at the III ALBA Assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: ALBA Movements

The III Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements held in Argentina from April 27-30 concluded with a panel highlighting proposals and initiatives of people’s movements to transform the world.

After four days of debates and reflection, the III Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements came to an end on Saturday, April 30. 300 delegates from 23 countries had gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina to debate, discuss, and make concrete work plans for the next period.

In the closing panel of the Assembly, leaders from across the region talked about the experiences of people’s movements and organizations in achieving the right to land and work, resisting attacks from the right-wing and imperialism, and building national and international unity of people in struggle. Speakers included Juan Grabois and Ofelia Fernandez, from Argentina’s Frente Patria Grande, Esteban “Gringo” Castro, from the Union of Workers from the Popular Economy (UTEP), Thays Carvalho from Movimiento Brasil Popular, Carlos Ron, Venezuelan Vice-Minister for North America, and Zaira Arias from the Free Peru party.

The session was also attended by Pedro Praga, the Cuban ambassador in Argentina, Argentine national deputies Federico Fagioli and Natalia Zaracho, and Carlos Mirence, the Nicaraguan ambassador in Argentina.

Land, housing, and work

Esteban Castro opened the panel, giving an overview of the popular economy in Argentina, and sharing the experience of the creation of the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy, an instance that marked a breakthrough in the achievement of labor rights in the country. “Having hope is important to develop strategies to think about the future,” he noted.

“During the Macrista process of neoliberal globalization, we were able to achieve better levels of organization to confront it. Our humblest people who were deprived of the formality of work have been building strategies of popular organization,” Castro said.

Juan Grabois highlighted the visions around power and the conquest of the State.

“It is necessary to build popular power, what General Perón called the organized community, something very similar to the communes in Venezuela; to dispute the state entities with a popular sense; and to unite the peoples of the Patria Grande. These are 3 tasks that if we put them in this way are abstract, that mean something for the members of social movements, but not for the great number of the people,” he said.

“Reality is superior to the idea, not because the idea is not important, but because the idea is a grasp of reality. When the idea is dissociated from reality it becomes a slogan. Happiness and good living can have its concrete expression in that expression of Land, Housing and Work,” he emphasized.


Finally, he said “Uniting Latin America and disputing the State implies giving power to the poor. Our organizations have to ask our governments for this. In the Congress, in the Ministries there must be Black people, poor people, women”.

Unity to defeat capitalism and the right

The member of the Free Peru party Zaira Arias emphasized that those present at the ALBA Assembly are united by the desire to transform reality.

“There is a very clear struggle and that is that we are fighting for the poor,” she said. “But we should not understand this struggle as if we were asking for charity, we are asking for justice. In Peru, for example, the right-wing says that the poor are poor because they want to be. But the truth is that our systems reproduce inequality,” she said, pointing out that 1% of the world’s 1% accumulate 82% of the world’s wealth.

“How can we explain that according to official figures, Latin America is the most unequal continent in the world, and that Africa, being the richest continent, has the most poor people,” she questioned. In this sense, she highlighted three guiding points for the region: to put an end to the right-wing; to make visible that corruption is a consequence of the neoliberal model and that it works under the hypocrisy of capitalism, which sustains tax havens and builds mechanisms for the systematic usurpation of lands and common goods; and, finally, to work for the pragmatic and political unity of movements and organizations.

“We are in another era of setbacks with the right-wing, but there is no evil that lasts a hundred years and no body that cannot resist it. We leave the Assembly motivated and united in the struggle to defeat liberalism in our countries,” she concluded.


In this context of greater representation of the ultra-right in the region, Congresswoman in the city of Buenos Aires Ofelia Fernandez discussed the need for creative strategies for struggle.

“We are facing a very difficult moment, with greater uncertainty for my generation. We have to recognize the malaise, we are not in a moment of hope,” she said, pointing out that the rise of the right is a result of the frustration of the population. “It is important to understand that not all disenchantment is necessarily linked to those right-wing forces.” The young member of Congress highlighted that “it is important to think about the origin of this discontent and frustration and we have to understand that it is real”.

She emphasized that now is a time to be creative, recognizing the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all people. “We say creativity because the parameters of reality are no longer the same, all of us and militants feel different after the pandemic. We must think about reinventing and relaunching our agendas,” she said.

The Haitian revolution guides the struggles of Our America

Carlos Ron, president of the Simon Bolivar Institute of Venezuela, referred to the debates held in the different working commissions throughout the Assembly and recalled the idea that revolutionary processes must dialogue among themselves.

“We have to ensure that our revolutions, our historical processes, continue to have relations with each other. We, the peoples, make revolutions so that they remain alive, so that they can be our guide. The Haitian revolution did not end in 1804, it did not end in Haiti. Without the Haitian revolution there was no Miranda, Bolivar, we would not have been free, there would be no Bolivarian or Cuban revolution,” he said.

Likewise, the Venezuelan leader reflected on the attacks experienced by the revolutionary peoples and their resistance that has conscience and memory.

“Imperialism does not understand the people because it never speaks to them. When the right-wing takes to the streets, it does not speak to the people. When the Southern Command comes to Argentina it does not speak to the people. On a day like today, the right-wing took to the streets and it was the people who gave an answer to imperialism: always loyal, never traitors,” he declared.

“ALBA is a space of American and Caribbean unity, because without the Caribbean there is no America. This unity of class and struggle is also with the peoples of Africa and Asia and with all the peoples of the world who struggle,” he concluded.


Thays Carvalho of the Brazil Popular Movement, who gave the closing remarks on the panel declared, “Capitalism has failed to renew its project for humanity. Capitalism in times of crisis renews its attacks and aggressiveness.”

She also emphasized that the year is decisive for Brazil, but also for Latin America. “We have the challenge of organizing the working class and defeating the extreme right and fascism at the ballot box and in the streets together with Lula Da Silva. This election is not a guarantee, we must combine it with the mass struggle and the organization of the working class,” she affirmed.

Following the closing panel, members of ALBA Movements presented the final declaration available below in English.

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Declaration III Continental Assembly ALBA Movements

In the lands of Che, of Evita, of the mothers and grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, of Diego, of this south, of San Martin and Juana Azurduy, in this land of struggle and memory, more than 300 delegates from 20 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in the III Continental Assembly of ALBA Movimientos. After the pandemic, in the midst of a complex and dizzying global scenario, and five years after the last assembly happened in Colombia in 2016, delegations from all over the region participated in an intense process of exchange, debate, and strategic projection of our platform of social and people’s movements.

The region and the world have changed radically in the years since our last Assembly. On a global level, the COVID-19 pandemic implied a real leap forward, which sharpened many of the social and geopolitical contradictions already present on the horizon. Millions of avoidable deaths, a classist and colonial distribution of vaccines and medical supplies, and the emergence of a multi-million dollar business for large global corporations, was the partial evaluation of the last two years. Undoubtedly, the latest great regional novelty -perhaps a real historical watershed moment- is the emergence of a new European war, involving NATO and the United States as main protagonists, keeping other powers on alert, and indirectly impacting the nations of the Global South. The conflict’s true essence is the dispute for world hegemony.

In this context, our Latin American and Caribbean region has been one of the most impacted by the devastating effects of the double neoliberal pandemic and COVID-19 experiencing: economic and social crises, impoverishment of the majorities, shortages, hunger, and inequality. However, the contrast of the strength of life in Our America allowed us to see that solidarity, community, and a deep belief in the collective are part of our continental DNA. Of course, this context presented a challenge for the social movements and people’s organizations that promoted ALBA Movimientos, as the streets and the countryside are our main places of building together, we had to find new forms of coordination and integration. However, we maintained the goal of a physical meeting in what would be our III Continental Assembly.

We arrived in Buenos Aires prepared to analyze, reflect, and build proposals for action to transform the reality of our continent and consolidate more bonds of unity among the organizations that are part of ALBA and that dream and build daily with the goal of the Patria Grande.

Argentina welcomes us in the midst of a historic moment of struggle against the International Monetary Fund. We embrace them in their anti-neoliberal struggle with the heat of the barricades as in 2001, and we appreciate and admire their history of struggle for memory, truth, and justice for the 30,000 disappeared detainees.

US imperialism and its European partners have come a long way since their counter-offensive launched more than a decade ago: dictatorships, coups, minor electoral victories, and the deployment of all forms of intervention under the umbrella of hybrid warfare have been applied mercilessly on us, and on our continent.

This is evident in the exportation of “security” models such as those promoted by private companies in the Caribbean, which send paramilitary and mercenary groups to selectively assassinate and attempt coups d’état as was the case with Operation Gideon in Venezuela. It also includes the installation of US military bases in our territories, and the implementation of drug trafficking as a method of disciplining and carrying out violence against young people in poor neighborhoods, to generate huge profits for wealthy lords of the ruling class.

State and para-state repression has been commonplace in our region. We see it in the Mesoamerican region where hundreds of community leaders who defend life, water, and the commons are assassinated daily. It is also present in Haiti, where gang violence is increasing with the objective of destroying societal unity and social organizations. Haitian people not only have to face the high levels of violence and poverty brought about by the so-called “humanitarian missions” that were nothing more than colonial outposts, but they also face measures such as the construction of a Wall on the border with the Dominican Republic with financing from Israel, creating a wound of inhumanity in the rebellious island of Quisqueya. The OAS, the UN and the extreme right in Haiti are responsible for the deterioration of the living conditions of the Haitian people who suffer the onslaught of an extreme right-wing project that continues with the current government.

We also see it daily in Colombia, where the intensification of the war, the deepening of paramilitarism, persecution, criminalization, and political violence against social leaders and peace signatories in different regions of the country make evident the consequences of US imperialist ambition in our continent, where the permanent violation of human rights by the security forces is no longer even news, as happened with the hegemonic media during the National Strike of 2021 under the government of Ivan Duque who continues to violate the peace agreements signed in 2016.

The advance of the fascist right-wing constitutes one of our main concerns, therefore we denounce the fascist advance of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil who, through state and parapolice violence, assassinates social militants and cuts away the rights of the Brazilian people, who are hopeful with a view to achieve consolidate a victory with Lula in October 2022. Likewise, we reject the permanent coup attempts against the democratically elected government of Pedro Castillo in Peru, who is confronting the Fujimori right-wing and its permanent anti-democratic offensives.

The poverty left by capitalism and imperialism in our region is reflected in the migratory crisis that Mesoamerica is going through, where massive migrations occur as a consequence of exclusions, the absence of opportunities, the repression of authoritarian governments against the peoples, and the dispossession of the territories of dozens of native peoples in the region.

Independence and the struggle for sovereignty is one of the most important legacies left to us by our liberating fathers and mothers. For this reason, we denounce the British occupation of the Malvinas Islands and demand the recognition of Argentine sovereignty over its territory. In addition to the presence of the largest NATO military base in the South Atlantic. “The Malvinas are Argentine, and they are Latin American”. We also accompany the claim of the Puerto Rican people for their independence from the United States.

We denounce the genocidal and criminal policy of the US government against the Cuban people and its Revolution, which in the last three years faced 243 measures to exterminate them. This is in addition to the hostile policy of more than 60 years of economic, financial and commercial blockade, which is the main impediment to the economic development of this brotherly country.

ALBA Movements reaffirms, fist raised and with a full heart, its unrestricted defense of the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela, of the Cuban Revolution, of the process of change in Bolivia, because we are sons and daughters of Chavez, sons and daughters of Bolivar, sons and daughters of Tupac Amaru, sons and daughters of Dessalines.

In this framework, and after reviewing, expanding, and calibrating our historical bases, we reaffirm our six fundamental principles: the unity of Our America and internationalism; the ideological-cultural battle and decolonization; the defense of Mother Earth and the sovereignty of the peoples; the economy for good living; democratization and construction of popular power; and popular feminisms.

From these bases, we also agreed, in this Third Continental Assembly, on a series of priorities and challenges that will guide the political work of our organization for at least the next four years:

1. The defense from the peoples of the most radical transformation processes in our region, based on the premise of Comandante Fidel Castro: “with the revolution everything, against the revolution nothing”.

2. The consolidation of alliances with progressive, popular and leftist governments, based on the autonomy and freedom of action of the peoples and their organizational expressions.

3. The practice of a living and concrete internationalism based on solidarity, and the challenge of massifying its practice and awareness in the bases of trade union, peasant, indigenous, Afro-descendant, women’s, youth, environmental and all kinds of organizations.

4. The strengthening of our Continental System of Political Education, of our communication initiatives, of our solidarity campaigns, and our international brigades.

5. The support and encouragement to the processes of decolonization, still fatally unfinished, picking up the legacy of our historical heroes and heroines of our independence revolutions, as well as the defense of our sovereignty in territories, from the Falkland Islands to Guantanamo, from Isla Navaza to Guyana Esequiba.

6. The participation of ALBA Movements, as a regional process, within the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), the expression of the political unity of the peoples of Asia, Africa, the Arab-Maghreb region, Europe, North America and Latin America and the Caribbean. The integration and internationalist unity of our region is a necessary condition, but not sufficient, to confront the global capitalist system.

7. The strengthening of an organic structure that has allowed us to act in a unitary way in our process, develop national chapters and prioritize unity in diversity in initiatives such as training schools, solidarity campaigns, communication processes, international brigades, and many others.

From the south of the world, we launch a continental call for organization and struggle. We are sure and certain that, even in difficult times, or much more in them, it’s time for Our America, because the time of America, the time of the peoples, never ends.


https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/05/ ... movements/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Thu May 12, 2022 2:32 pm

Why Latin America needs a new world order
May 10, 2022 Marco Fernandes

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The world wants to see an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The NATO countries, however, want to prolong the conflict by increasing arms shipments to Ukraine and by declaring that they want to “weaken Russia.” The United States had already allocated $13.6 billion to arm Ukraine. Biden has just requested $33 billion more. By comparison, it would require $45 billion per year to end world hunger by 2030.

Even if negotiations take place and the war ends, an actual peaceful solution will not likely be possible. Nothing leads us to believe that geopolitical tensions will decrease, since behind the conflict around Ukraine is an attempt by the West to halt the development of China, to break its links with Russia, and to end China’s strategic partnerships with the Global South.

In March, commanders of the U.S. Africa Command (General Stephen J. Townsend) and Southern Command (General Laura Richardson) warned the U.S. Senate about the perceived dangers of increased Chinese and Russian influence in Africa as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. The generals recommended that the United States weaken the influence of Moscow and Beijing in these regions. This policy is part of the 2018 national security doctrine of the United States, which frames China and Russia as its “central challenges.”

No Cold War

Latin America does not want a new cold war. The region has already suffered from decades of military rule and austerity politics justified based on the so-called “communist threat.” Tens of thousands of people lost their lives and many tens of thousands more were imprisoned, tortured, and exiled only because they wanted to create sovereign countries and decent societies. This violence was a product of the U.S.-imposed cold war on Latin America.

Latin America wants peace. Peace can only be built on regional unity, a process that began 20 years ago after a cycle of popular uprisings, driven by the tsunami of neoliberal austerity, led to the election of progressive governments: Venezuela (1999), Brazil (2002), Argentina (2003), Uruguay (2005), Bolivia (2005), Ecuador (2007), and Paraguay (2008). These countries, joined by Cuba and Nicaragua, created a set of regional organizations: the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) in 2004, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in 2008, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2011. These platforms were intended to increase regional trade and political integration. Their gains were met with increased aggression from Washington, which sought to undermine the process by attempting to overthrow the governments in many of the member countries and by dividing the regional blocs to suit Washington’s interests.

Brazil

Because of its size and its political relevance, Brazil was a key player in these early organizations. In 2009, Brazil joined with Russia, India, China, and South Africa to form BRICS, a new alliance with the goal to rearrange the power relations of global trade and politics.

Brazil’s role did not please the White House, which—avoiding the crudeness of a military coup—staged a successful operation, in alliance with sectors of the Brazilian elite, that used the Brazilian legislature, judiciary system, and media to overthrow the government of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and to cause the arrest of President Lula in 2018 (who was then leading the polls in the presidential election). Both were accused of a corruption scheme involving the Brazilian state oil company, and an investigation by Brazil’s judiciary known as Operation Car Wash ensued. The participation of both the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI in that investigation was revealed following a massive leak of the Telegram chats of Operation Car Wash’s lead prosecutor. However, before the U.S. interference was uncovered, the removal of Lula and Dilma from politics brought the right wing back to power in Brasília; Brazil no longer played a leading role in either the regional or the global projects that could weaken U.S. power. Brazil abandoned UNASUR and CELAC, and remains in BRICS only formally—as is also the case with India—weakening the perspective of strategic alliances of the Global South.

Turning tide

In recent years, Latin America has experienced a new wave of progressive governments. The idea of regional integration has returned to the table. After four years without a summit meeting, CELAC reconvened in September 2021 under the leadership of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Argentine President Alberto Fernández. Should Gustavo Petro win the Colombian presidential election in May 2022, and Lula win his campaign for reelection to Brazil’s presidency in October 2022, for the first time in decades, the four largest economies in Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia) would be governed by the center-left, notably supporters of Latin American and Caribbean integration. Lula has said that if he wins the presidency, Brazil will return to CELAC and will resume an active stance in BRICS.

The Global South might be prepared to reemerge by the end of the year and create space for itself within the world order. Evidence for this is in the lack of unanimity that greeted NATO’s attempt to create the largest coalition to sanction Russia. This NATO project has aroused a backlash around the Global South. Even governments that condemn the war (such as Argentina, Brazil, India, and South Africa) do not agree with NATO’s unilateral sanction policy and prefer to support negotiations for a peaceful solution. The idea of resuming a movement of the nonaligned — inspired by the initiative launched at the conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955 — has found resonance in numerous circles.

Their intention is correct. They seek to de-escalate global political tensions, which are a threat to the sovereignty of countries and tend to negatively impact the global economy. The spirit of nonconfrontation, and peace, of the Bandung Conference is urgent today.

But the Non-Aligned Movement emerged as a refusal by Third World countries to choose a side in the polarization between the United States and USSR during the Cold War. They were fighting for their sovereignty and the right to have relations with the countries of both systems, without their foreign policy being decided in Washington or Moscow.

This is not the current scenario. Only the Washington-Brussels axis (and allies) demand alignment with their so-called “rules-based international order.” Those who do not align suffer from sanctions applied against dozens of countries (devastating entire economies, such as those of Venezuela and Cuba), illegal confiscation of hundreds of billions of dollars in assets (as in the cases of Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, and Russia), invasions and interference resulting in genocidal wars (as in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan), and outside support for “color revolutions” (from Ukraine in 2014 to Brazil in 2016). The demand for alignment comes only from the West, not from China or Russia.

Humanity faces urgent challenges, such as inequality, hunger, the climate crisis, and the threat of new pandemics. To overcome them, regional alliances in the Global South must be able to institute a new multipolarity in global politics. But the usual suspects may have other plans for humanity.

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2022/ ... rld-order/

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Carrot and stick: U.S. pressure and extortion to break Latin America’s ties with Russia and China
Originally published: United World on May 6, 2022 by Jorge Elbaum (more by United World) (Posted May 07, 2022)

In the last two weeks, the State Department has deployed an ambitious blackmailing persuasion program on countries located in the so-called “Western Hemisphere”, with the aim of limiting their trade and cooperation ties with Moscow and Beijing. The proximity models deployed in Latin America and the Caribbean offer a wide menu of alternatives that range from threats and sanctions to the offer of better conditions for exports, guarantees for the continuity of remittances or for the extended authorization of visas.

On April 7, the Russian Federation was suspended from the United Nations Human Rights Council, as a result of the denunciations made by Ukraine regarding war crimes. The measure was carried out without surveys or investigations on the ground.

On April 21, it was decided to suspend Russia’s seat as Permanent Observer of the Organization of American States (OAS). In the first vote, Argentina endorsed the suspension, while in the second round, it abstained. While these two votes were taking place, the State Department tried–unsuccessfully–to expel Moscow from the UN Security Council.

No consensus on expelling Russia from G20–only three countries boycotted Russian Finance Minister
Last Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen invited the G20 finance ministers to boycott the speech by Anton Siluanov, head of the Russian finance ministry. The Argentine representative at the meeting held in Washington rejected the boycott and remained on his bench, along with 16 other officials. The only three representatives that left the deliberations were Yellen herself and the ministers from Canada and the United Kingdom.

At the press conference, Yellen justified the limited success of the proposed boycott:

To expel a country from participation really requires a very high level of agreement in many forums, including the G20, and tn that session, that level of agreement was not present.

The offensive of sanctions, boycotts and blockades is directly related to the purpose of weakening any country that defends its sovereignty against the rules imposed by the United States, and/or that seeks to articulate alternative commercial blocs to the one configured by Atlanticism.

That was the geopolitical cause for which the ancestral conflict between the Ukrainian and Russian nationalist sectors was stimulated: it sought to prevent the constitution of a Eurasian continental geopolitical axis, capable of articulating Western Europe with Southeast Asia, placing Moscow as a nexus between both continents. Once at war–previously incited –, the highest authority of the U.S. Treasury proposed the next steps:

The earnings from the sale of oil and gas is an important source of income for Russia. It would be very useful to find a way to reduce that income.

Washington’s offensive is related to the surprising failure of its sanctions: despite the fact that Russia was separated from the SWIFT system and foreign reserves were frozen, the value of the ruble stabilized at values similar to those exhibited prior to military intervention; Russian gas, oil and coal continue to be shipped to Western Europe; and the Central Bank continues to increase its international reserves. During the last week it added 1,700 million dollars, reaching the sum of 611,100 million. That is the reason why on April 13 the spokeswoman for the White House, Jen Psaki, advanced the request for the exclusion of Vladimir Putin from the next G20 summit, to be held between November 15 and 16 in Bali. To reinforce the pressure, the head of the Treasury held a meeting last Tuesday with the Finance Minister of the Republic of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, to whom she demanded the removal of the Russian President from the list of guests for November.

The State Department’s attack is aimed primarily at Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In mid-April, officials close to Anthony Blinken connected with the Argentine ambassador in Washington to urge him to question Putin at the UN Human Rights Commission. The decision to accompany Russia’s suspension proposal from said institution was decided by Alberto Fernández, Gustavo Béliz and Santiago Cafiero after the intimidation of extortion insinuated in relation to the continuity of the agreements with the International Monetary Fund.

Diplomatic blackmail
A similar attack has been observed during the last two weeks against the Mexican government, questioned by Washington for its neutrality regarding the Russian military intervention. The irritation of the Biden administration against Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was expressed in context to the nationalization of lithium–approved during the last week by Parliament–and the approval of the Electricity Industry Law, endorsed by the Supreme Court of Justice. A week before these rulings, the former head of Barack Obama’s State Department and current head of the White House climate agency, John Kerry, warned that the new electricity legislation would generate “deterioration of the environment”, and that its application would result in an exclusion of U.S. companies investing in Mexico. AMLO reported–after his meeting with Kerry–that Washington intended to “impose a group to monitor us, to observe [the debates on electricity regulations]. Nobody allows that. Maybe in other times, with submissive governments, submissive, but these no longer the times of before.

The disappointment over the new electricity regulations adds to the danger–conjectured by U.S. officials–of a potential use of Mexican lithium by Chinese companies. The nationalization of the mineral was approved last Tuesday after its international price increased by 400% in the last year. Lithium is one of the core components of the batteries needed to manufacture electric vehicles. The automotive company Tesla–owned by mega-millionaire Elon Musk–appears as one of the promoters of diplomatic and coercive pressure to guarantee said input and prevent these resources from promoting competition from cars produced by Beijing.

The production of the mineral would have to increase by 500% until 2050 to be able to face the productive reconversion that is intended for the automotive industry. The United States Geological Survey quantifies its neighbor’s holdings at 1.7 million tons–2.3% of world reserves. The leader is Bolivia, with 21 million, and Argentina appears in second place, with 19 million. On July 24, 2020, Musk responded to an accusation about his participation in the coup against Evo Morales, promoted and endorsed by the State Department: “We will overthrow whoever we want.” According to Kenneth Smith, an embassy contractor, Washington and Ottawa could challenge the nationalization of lithium in Mexico since it violates some of the agreements reached in the T-MEC (Free Trade Agreement signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States). The underlying issue is the fear that China may access some portion of that value chain, or buy its product directly from the state.

The offense is not only against Mexico or Argentina. The White House has openly repudiated the neutrality of the BRICS (economic and political alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in relation to the military intervention in Ukraine. However, last Tuesday, Jair Bolsonaro’s Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, responded to the State Department by announcing that he would propose the Argentina to join the New Development Bank of the BRICS group. The Biden administration’s attack was also frustrated in Panama, where Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretaries of State and National Security, were present. The visit sought to promote some type of restriction on ships carrying Chinese or Russian products through the canal, but their requests were not granted. In the case of Honduras, despite the resistance of the Xiomara Castro government, the financial dependence on remittances from relatives residing in the United States imposed an alignment with the situation in Ukraine.

Venezuela is paradoxically one of the most favored. Given the sovereignty acquired by that country since 1999, Biden lacks extortion mechanisms (political, commercial or military), while imploring to dump barrels of oil on the international market to avoid the global inflationary spiral. The same was attempted with Saudi Arabia, a country that was asked to increase oil production in order to lower its price and thus undermine Moscow’s ability to obtain resources. The kingdom, however, refused to increase production.

In the case of Cuba the situation is ambivalent. For the first time since 2018, meetings between U.S. and Cuban officials were held on April 21 to give continuity to the migratory agreements broken by the Washington authorities in the last four years. These meetings granted by the Biden administration seek to decompress the levels of confrontation with Latin America and the Caribbean–while continuing to extort money–to reprioritize what Democratic think tanks call the “Eurasian emergency”. However, the sanctions against Putin seem to make a bigger dent in Russia’s partners than in Moscow: in early February a freighter left Russia with a delivery of 19,526 tons of wheat for Havana. The Russian ambassador in Havana, Andréi Guskov, explained that the delay was due to the disconnection of several Russian banks from the SWIFT system, which prevented the freight from being paid.

Who does not seem to have this type of problems is Colombia, the only country that follows Washington’s recommendations to the letter. While Iván Duque continues without giving explanations about the daily massacres of social leaders and peasants, his authorities automatically join in all the measures and speeches requested by the White House. On Thursday, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, María Sajárova, highlighted in a statement that “we take note of the statements made by the President of Colombia on Russian-Colombian relations. We regret that he made them in the spirit of the negative rhetoric imposed on other countries by the United States government.”

The attack against China–promoted by Washington–includes carrots and wishes: the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean are repeatedly told that in the future, they will be able to replace segments of the supply chains, today controlled by China, heralding a new stage of relocation (nearshoring). A move that would boost the growth of the subcontinent, if they are capable of offering reduced internal markets and meager wages.

The model promoted by the Biden administration is that of a permanent fragmentation of the world economy, with two alternative circuits of trade and international cooperation based on geopolitical blocs. To achieve this goal, it must strive to sever solid ties and prevent–simultaneously–Eurasia from failing to escape imposed apartheid.

The novelist Henry Miller slipped, shortly before his death, a doubt that sharply worries international analysts: “My only doubt is to know whether the United States will end the world, or the world is going to end the United States”.

https://mronline.org/2022/05/07/carrot-and-stick/

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President of Bolivia Refuses to Attend 9th Summit of the Americas if there is Exclusion
May 12, 2022

This Tuesday, May 10, Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora announced that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas if nations from the region are excluded from the event, in a post he wrote on his Twitter account.

“Consistent with the principles and values ​​of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, I reaffirm that a Summit of the Americas that excludes American countries will not be a full Summit of the Americas, and if the exclusion of sister nations persists, then I will not participate in it,” stressed the president. Arce added that his nation bases its relations on diplomacy “with inclusion, solidarity, complementarity, respect for sovereignty, self-determination and collective construction of a culture of dialogue and peace.”

Several presidents and leaders of the region have made similar statements of rejection and non-participation in the summit in opposition to the idea of ​​the United States excluding nations such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the meeting.

For its part, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and its leaders in particular, such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, Amery Browne, and the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, rejected the exclusion of countries like Cuba and Venezuela.

El Grupo de Puebla, made up of more than fifty former presidents and leaders of the area, also showed its refusal to the exclusion promoted by Washington.

The Ninth Summit of the Americas is scheduled for this June in Los Angeles, United States. It will be held for the first time in this nation since the first edition took place in 1994.

Earlier on Tuesday, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also assured that he will not attend the meeting if not all countries are invited, and announced that Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would go instead as a sign of protest.

The US Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, confirmed last Monday that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not receive invitations.

Last week, the Bolivian president called for all the countries of the region to be invited to the Ninth Summit of the Americas, scheduled for June 8 and 10.

https://orinocotribune.com/president-of ... exclusion/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Tue May 17, 2022 1:33 pm

WITH CUBA, NICARAGUA AND VENEZUELA IN THE CENTER
CONTROVERSY AND CONTRADICTIONS IN THE CALL FOR THE IX SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
May 14, 2022 , 8:24 am .

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Washington watches as its capacity for geopolitical power and symbolic authority continues to deteriorate (Photo: Oliver Contreras / Bloomberg)

The road to the IX edition of the Summit of the Americas , to be held in the city of Los Angeles (California, USA) in the second week of June, has represented a point of diplomatic friction of the first order between Washington and various Latin American and Caribbean countries. during the last days.

TRAIN WRECK

The controversy began with a statement by the US Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, earlier this month. The diplomatic official, interviewed by NTN24, stressed that the presence of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela at the summit is not expected, given that "they do not respect the Democratic Charter of the Americas", which is why the three ALBA countries would be unilaterally excluded from the appointment.

Days later, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) expressed his disagreement with the decision and made his presence conditional on the invitation of the three Latin American governments. Then, responding to what AMLO said, the White House spokeswoman, Jean Psaki, tried to qualify Nichols' statements by stating that "no final decisions have yet been made" regarding the invitations.

The Bolivian government of Luis Arce and the Caribbean countries of Caricom have joined the act of protest . According to Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the United States, Ronald Sanders, the unilateral exclusion of the countries mentioned will cause the 14 countries grouped in the intergovernmental organization not to attend the summit.

Recently, the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, also expressed a position along the same lines, as did the Argentine president Alberto Fernández .

Although Psaki seemed to leave the door open to a possible review of the exclusions, the Florida lobby, whose influence is decisive in shaping the coercive foreign policy of the United States towards the heart of the ALBA axis, put a limit on any consideration .

ELECTORAL CALCULATION

The first pressure marking came from the hand of the Republican senator from Florida, Rick Scott, with the following message, speaking on behalf of Marco Rubio and company:

"We should not be inviting people who do not believe in human rights, who do not believe in democracy, who do not believe in taking care of their own citizens and clearly the Cuban regime, the Maduro regime, the Ortega regime should not be invited. ".

The narrative was supported by Nicaraguan media businessman Carlos Chamorro and by Juan Guaidó's emissaries in the United States, in a clear reversal of Psaki's ellipses.

The mid-term elections to be held in November this year, in which a third of the Senate and a significant number of seats in the House of Representatives will be renewed, also influence the broader landscape of the controversy. The situation of rampant inflation and rising fuel prices, as well as the geopolitical and military catastrophe in Afghanistan, project a favorable result for the Republicans, which would dissolve the Democratic majority in both chambers.

Florida may once again be decisive on the general map of electoral preferences in the medium term, since the Republican Party consolidated a solid flow of votes in the last presidential elections in that state thanks to Trump's warmongering rhetoric towards Latin America.

In addition, these mid-term elections are projected as a kind of approval referendum on Biden's mandate, trapped in a high-voltage economic crisis and rising geopolitical conflict with Russia and China.

In this context, the invitation of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas could mean toughening the anti-Biden rhetoric in Florida, who will be presented as an accomplice of the supposed "dictatorships" in the region.

ANTECEDENT

This is not the first time that the exclusion of Latin American countries has given way to a resounding protest on the continent and specifically from ALBA.

In 2012, in the midst of preparations for the VI Summit of the Americas, the exclusion of Cuba by the Obama administration prompted a diplomatic response led by Presidents Hugo Chávez and Rafael Correa, directed at Washington.

The leaders, sending a signal of strength by mutual agreement within ALBA, refused to participate in the summit as a pressure measure to facilitate Cuba's invitation. Finally, there were four presidents who did not attend the meeting in Cartagena de Indias: Hugo Chávez, Rafael Correa, Daniel Ortega and Michel Martelly from Haiti.

CONTRADICTIONS

In a rhetorical line little changed since its inception, the IX Summit of the Americas, under the slogan "Building a sustainable, resilient and equitable future", is proposed as a space to address "democracy, fundamental freedoms, the dignity of work and free enterprise," according to the State Department.

Contradictorily, these four thematic axes, integrated into the US neoliberal worldview, are continuously disrespected in the framework of Washington's hybrid war offensive against Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

And it is that the combined strategy of coercive "sanctions", soft coups and covert destabilization through NGOs and media financed by the civilian arms of the CIA (NED, USAID, Open Society Foundation, etc.) precisely affects "liberal values" who claims to defend the Summit.

It is paradoxical that the United States presents this Summit as a space to discuss and defend democracy, when at the same time, unilaterally and without any prior discussion, the participation of regional actors is restricted for having chosen their own development models and political systems.

The same principle can be applied to the concept of "business freedom": punitive measures in the form of "sanctions", embargoes and various economic pressures against Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, have precisely prevented trade under normal conditions and the freedom of companies to doing business with these countries due to the persecutory dynamics of the US Treasury Department.

MINIMUM CHARACTERIZATION

As such, the Summit of the Americas is a non-binding forum attached to the OAS-branded inter-American system. Since its birth in 1994, during the presidency of Bill Clinton, it has focused mainly on investment and trade issues, offering a space for informal articulation between business lobbies and governments of the continent affiliated with the neoliberal agenda of free trade agreements.

In its latest editions, the Summit of the Americas has been losing profile and prominence, to the point of not being able to reach a joint final declaration that reflects minimal consensus, no matter how rhetorical and abstract these may be.

The irrelevance of the diplomatic forum sponsored by Washington has relegated its profile to a strictly symbolic sphere: it is an opportunity for the United States to show strength, convening power and narrative hegemony on the Latin American scene, but in light of current movements, even that bet on the propaganda plane is in question.

GEOPOLITICAL CONSEQUENCES

Although this atmosphere of insignificance weighs on the Summit, the movement of diplomatic claims on a continental scale is significant in geopolitical terms.

Washington seems trapped between two options with negative consequences: resist giving in and hold the IX Summit with second-level representatives that will reduce the international profile of the call, or admit the excluded countries, which would bring with it the fury of the Florida lobby (with an obvious electoral cost) and the definitive collapse of the pantomime of the "Guaidó project".

With regard to Venezuela, the paradox is critical. A formal invitation to the country would imply officially recognizing Nicolás Maduro as Head of State and, in addition, would force the reversal of the illegal arrest warrant against him issued in 2020, since the forum will take place in US territory.

In the immediate term, Washington observes how its capacity for geopolitical power and symbolic authority continues to deteriorate, as it has been left at a disadvantage in the face of open questioning by a significant number of countries.

It is a sign that the commitment to return to the neocolonial idea of ​​the "backyard" is experiencing its worst moment. Meanwhile, new emerging international actors such as China continue to gain ground by providing healthy options for geostrategic articulation from trade, investment and infrastructure plans, which exposes Washington as a despotic, egocentric and excessively politicized benchmark.

This episode also marks an important turning point, scarcely commented on in the last few hours: this represents a key circumstance for some States to resume ties of political and diplomatic solidarity with Venezuela, after years of estrangement and passive collaborationism (in the "best" of cases) with the American harassment offensive.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/po ... s-americas

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“Democracy for who?”: People’s Summit runs counter to Biden’s imperialist Summit of the Americas

The People’s Summit has announced their program of panel discussions, workshops, and cultural activities, bringing together diverse voices

May 13, 2022 by Peoples Dispatch

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Photo via: People's Summit

The organizers of the People’s Summit have announced a diverse program of panel discussions, workshops, and cultural activities. The Summit is to be held on June 8, 9, and 10, running counter to the Summit of the Americas, which is to be held by the US-influenced Organization of American States (OAS).

The People’s Summit, held in Los Angeles alongside the Summit of the Americas, will highlight the massive inequality in Los Angeles as well as the rest of the world. “LA has some of the starkest income inequality in the nation with billionaires living just within blocks from homeless encampments amidst the rising housing crisis,” the organizers of the People’s Summit stated.

The People’s Summit directly challenges the imperialist legacy of the Summit of the Americas, to which the leaders of the socialist countries of Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba are not invited. Many leaders have denounced the decision to exclude those countries, such as President Luis Arce of Bolivia and President AMLO of Mexico, with many Latin American leaders threatening to boycott the summit altogether because of these exclusions. “I reaffirm that a Summit of the Americas that excludes American countries will not be a full Summit of the Americas,” tweeted Luis Arce.

The People’s Summit presents an alternative to a Summit that would exclude several countries from the continent it claims to represent. As stated on the People’s Summit website, “The Summit of the Americas convened by the Organization of American States (OAS) has long been an arena to push US economic and political interests in Latin America and the Caribbean, without regard for the peoples of our shared continent.” Meanwhile, the People’s Summit brings together movement leaders and on-the-ground organizers to discuss democracy, sovereignty, and change.

The program features a host of world-renowned speakers such as philosopher and activist Dr. Cornel West, Black Lives Matter organizer Melina Abdullah, independence fighter and former political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, and environmentalist and movement leader Bertha Zúniga. Social movements such as the Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil and Guatemala’s Peasant Unity Committee will also take part in the program.

The first panel of the People’s Summit, titled, “Democracy for who?” will directly address the imperialist nature of the OAS. The Summit website states, “This session will dive into some of the examples of the ways in which the Organization of American States (OAS), acts on behalf of the interests of the rich, facilitating U.S. interventions across Latin America and the Caribbean, and consequently impacting democratic processes and people’s movements across the Americas.” Other panels include “Ending Patriarchy: Gender Violence and the Struggle for Liberation” and “Whose Streets?: Fighting Against White Supremacy, State Violence, and Militarization”.

Each day will end with a musical performance. As the organizers of the People’s Summit stated, “In understanding arts and culture as intrinsic parts of our struggles as well as the cornerstones of the societies we seek to build, our program will feature a myriad of different cultural activities”

People’s Summit organizer and co-director of the People’s Forum Claudia de la Cruz stated, “The summit will be a space of broad participation and representation of the continent and people’s struggles. In the program, the struggles for housing, the right to health, for democracy, and sovereignty, and against racism, poverty, and all the structures that create these conditions for our communities will be represented.”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/13/ ... -americas/

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Evo Morales Urges Bolivia to Withdraw from OAS as More Presidents Look to Skip Latin American Summit
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 16, 2022
Wyatt Reed

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The Organization of American States (OAS) is looking increasingly marginalized as Bolivia’s former president calls for the country to become the latest to leave and more presidents ponder missing Biden’s Summit Of the Americas

Bolivian ex-President Evo Morales suggested Sunday that his country should leave the Organization of American States, the international organization that Morales says “provoked” the 2019 coup d’etat against him.

“In the face of US’ exclusion of the countries freed from their hegemony, how great would it be for Bolivia to withdraw from [the OAS],” Morales asked on Twitter. Such a move, Morales noted, would be a ‘ratification’ of not only Bolivia’s “anti-imperialist position” and “the sovereignty, and independence of the State, but also the identity, dignity and freedom of the Bolivian people.”


Morales’ denunciation of the international body comes as a growing number of Latin American Presidents have vowed to skip June’s upcoming OAS-organized Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles if the US refuses to allow the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to participate.

The organization has long been criticized as a vehicle for the imperialist foreign policy of the US, which provides nearly half of its total budget. After Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said last week he would decline to attend if other nations were ‘excluded,’ Bolivian President Luis Arce quickly followed suit. And Reuters reported that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is also considering skipping the summit in an apparent snub to US President Joe Biden.

In April, regional efforts to transcend the OAS got a big boost when Nicaragua expelled the group from the country and seized their office, announcing plans to use the building to house a future “museum of infamy” dedicated to imperialist intervention in the country. Morales previously praised their decision to leave the OAS as a “dignified act.”

The former Bolivian head of state–the country’s first indigenous president–has been one of the organization’s fiercest critics since the deadly 2019 coup d’etat in which he was overthrown by the country’s extremist opposition. Independent experts have since confirmed the OAS played a “major, decisive role” in facilitating that putsch, but neither the OAS nor its Secretary, Luis Almagro, have taken responsibility for those actions, despite repeated attempts by US Congress members to “finally see accountability and transparency from OAS” and the House of Representatives passing language directing the State Department to investigate its role.

In the immediate aftermath of the coup, a number of US lawmakers wrote a letter asking whether the OAS’ Electoral Observation Mission in Bolivia considered “the potential effect on political violence of stability of putting forth what appears to be a hypothesis of fraud, without any evidence?” But they reportedly never heard back.

In December, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez denounced the OAS’ ‘endorsement’ of the coup, and last June Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrardaccused the group of “practically fomenting a coup.” Since then, Morales’ base of support since then has come to extend well beyond the government’s traditional left-leaning allies.

Last year, El Salvador’s Vice President criticized the “factious” conduct of current OAS Secretary Luis Almagro in a speech before the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), before urging other states to look beyond the OAS for regional cooperation moving forward.

“The CELAC can and must be an alternative mechanism that allows us to seek that dialogue with other regions of the world,” he said.

Within the US establishment, worries about just such an eventuality appear to be growing. As an article published in Foreign Policy in early May noted with more than a hint of alarm, “the threat is not simply that this year’s summit will be a flop—yet another example of feckless US policy toward Latin America. Rather, the real risk is that—after nearly three decades of summitry—this year’s event may be interpreted as a gravestone on US influence in the region.”



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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Thu May 19, 2022 1:15 pm

President of Nicaragua: CELAC is a meeting point for Latin America and the Caribbean

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The president ratified his positive opinion that CELAC and its members hold meetings with other blocs or nations as long as these meetings are respectful. | Photo: @Canal4Ni
Published May 18, 2022

“We have to make ourselves respected, we cannot be asking the United States that we want to go to its summit. We are not stimulated by your summit”, stressed the president.

The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, cataloged this Wednesday the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as a meeting point for the countries of the region, and called for strengthening it to achieve greater autonomy and sovereignty.

"There we have the starting point (in CELAC), now we need strength so that this community has more sovereignty and autonomy," said the Nicaraguan leader in the framework of the celebrations for the 127th anniversary of the birth of the national hero, Augusto César Sandino .

The president highlighted the values ​​and anti-imperialist character of CELAC, an organization that was born "with the strength and energy of the revolutionary processes that were multiplying in Latin America and the Caribbean" and had the courage not to include the United States in it. (USA.).


However, the president ratified his support for CELAC and its members to hold meetings with other blocs or nations as long as these meetings are respectful and in this sense, he recalled that countries such as Russia, China and India have extensive exchanges with community.

President Daniel Ortega: We have to make ourselves respected
“We have to make ourselves respected, we cannot be asking the United States that we want to go to its summit. We are not stimulated by your summit,” said President Daniel Ortega regarding the exclusion of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela from the Summit of the Americas, an issue promoted by the US.

Likewise, he thanked the shows of concern and courage of several governments in the area that spoke out against the position of the North American country.


In this sense, the president affirmed that CELAC should tell the northern nation "stay there with your summit" and CELAC should be the one to invite Washington to meet with it without excluding anyone from the region.

"The show that the Yankee rulers are giving with this so-called Summit of the Americas is a shame," concluded the Nicaraguan president.

Economic measures in the face of energy crisis
The Nicaraguan president highlighted that among the economic measures taken by the government he heads, the maintenance of fuel prices stands out, despite the fact that the sanctions imposed by the US and its allies against Russia continue to rise in the world. root of the special operation in Ukraine.

"The first thing we are going to do is maintain the price of fuel so that the prices of electricity rates or other basic services do not increase," the president stressed.

The president revealed that in this context of global energy crisis, his State has had to make a savings policy in order to guarantee that the nation's economic engine is not weakened and the pockets of the people are not affected.

“If the price of fuel goes up, then the prices of services and products go up. However, there can be no argument here for this to happen. Millions of dollars are being placed week by week by the people through the Government so that fuel prices do not increase,” he said.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/presiden ... -0037.html

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Guatemala will not Attend Summit of the Americas—US Diplomatic Fiasco in the Making
May 19, 2022

This Tuesday, May 17, the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei announced that he will not be participating in the Summit of the Americas, to be held from June 6 to 10 in the US city of Los Angeles.

“They’re not going to invite me to the Summit anyway, I sent to say that I am not going to go (…) as long as I am president, this country deserves respect.” Giammattei declared in the frame of the inauguration of a cultural event that the Embassy of Mexico installed in the Guatemalan municipality of Palencia.

Giammattei, a far-right politician, made the announcement after Washington—in clear interference in internal affairs—criticized the re-election for four more years of the current attorney general of Guatemala, María Consuelo Porras, who is designated by the US as a “corrupt and anti-democratic actor” and has been included since September 2021 on the so-called “Engel List,” allegedly for hindering criminal prosecution in corruption cases.

On Monday, March 16, the US Department of State designated Porras under Section 7031(c) of the Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, which implies that the prosecutor and her husband Gilberto de Jesús Porres de Paz “are not eligible to enter” US territory.


According to the US State Department, Porras would have ordered prosecutors from the Public Ministry to ignore anti-corruption investigations, to protect political allies of hers and gain undue political favors.

At the moment, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, his Bolivian counterpart, Luis Arce Catacora and several CARICOM countries have announced that they will not attend the Summit of the Americas after it came out that Washington would exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the event.

For her part, the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, also joined the call made by her other counterparts calling for no nation to be excluded from the summit that is intended for all countries in the hemisphere. President of Chile, Gabriel Boric and Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, also criticized the US’ intention to exclude some countries but did not announce their intention of not attending the summit.

The fact is that less than three weeks before the summit, to be held in Los Angeles, no official invitations have been sent and more than half of the countries in the hemisphere—including Brazil also with no intention to participate due to their strained relations with the Biden administration—have announced their intention to not attend a summit that many call a summit for US lap dogs.

Many analyst interpret the almost derailed summit as evidence of the lack of US hegemony in a region considered for decades as its back-yard (front-yard recently), this as a result of the multipolar world that has been shaping up for the last 2 decades where Russia and China offer better terms of relation than the usual US threats and sanctions. This along with a new wave of leftist or center-left governments in the region that does not necessary vow to all US orders.

https://orinocotribune.com/guatemala-wi ... he-making/

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Next Month’s Summit of the Americas is Shaping Up to Show How Isolated the US Has Become
May 17, 2022
By Andrew Korybko – May 12, 2022

By continuing to become an increasingly independent pole of influence amidst the global systemic transition to multipolarity, the Latin American countries literally contribute to changing the world for the better. They show how isolated the US is from the Global South, which discredits its propagandistic innuendo to have returned to its former superpower status in recent months.

US observers are becoming increasingly worried that next month’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles is about to be one of the Biden Administration’s worst-ever foreign policy embarrassments following last August’s chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan. Politico headlined a piece about how “Biden’s Americas summit is drawing jeers and threats of boycott”, which reported that several Latin American leaders are threatening to boycott the event if Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela aren’t invited to attend. While Antigua, Barbuda, and Bolivia might not be a big deal in the grand scheme of US strategy towards the hemisphere, Brazil and Mexico’s abstention would make the event utterly meaningless since they alone count for half of the region’s population as Politico reminded their audience.

None of this should be surprising to astute observers. The former Trump Administration largely neglected Latin America and destabilized those parts of it that Washington actually paid attention to. Biden silently continued that policy, which has been thrown on the backburner in recent months as the US wages its proxy war on Russia through Ukraine. About that, the $40 billion in comprehensive emergency aid that Congress just authorized for that former Soviet Republic must also fill Latin American countries with resentment since many have been asking for a fraction of that amount to deal with drugs, illegal immigration, and poverty yet haven’t received anything. That just goes to show that the US lacks the political will to help the region meet its needs since it has nothing to gain from doing so whereas it believes that it’s to the benefit of its grand strategic interests to fully support Ukraine.

Latin American leaders might have still considered attending if only to make another effort to receive some form of aid but clearly won’t feel like disrespecting themselves and their countries by attending an event that several of their peers haven’t been invited to. Those who still go obviously have their own reasons for doing so, but it reflects poorly on their governments and suggests an element of economic desperation that takes precedence over solidarity with the region. Some might try to portray their potential attendance as part of a balancing act or at the very least an attempt to retain cordial and working ties with the US hegemon, but it would be better for everyone if they all worked together as a bloc in order to send the powerful message to Washington that its selective standards are an unacceptable relic of a bygone era.

The US has historically divided and ruled Latin America, but its people have always resisted this Machiavellian policy, which explains why the region’s ties with it have ebbed and flowed across the decades. With Lula slated to return to the presidency later this year and likely to pursue a policy of neutrality in the New Cold War that by default supports the multipolar conservative-sovereigntist (MCS) position against the unipolar liberal-globalist one (ULG), the balance of influence in Latin America will decisively shift away from Washington and towards the emerging Multipolar World Order. The symbolic boycott of many Latin American leaders from next month’s event would set the regional tone for the game-changing developments that might soon follow later this year, hence why it’s so important for them to stick to their guns and not be swayed to reconsider their principled position.

In that scenario, there’d be no doubt that while the US succeeded in reasserting its unipolar hegemony over the EU in response to Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, it nevertheless unwittingly lost the same region that it historically regarded as its so-called “backyard”, Latin America. By continuing to become an increasingly independent pole of influence amidst the global systemic transition to multipolarity, the Latin American countries literally contribute to changing the world for the better. They show how isolated the US is from the Global South, which discredits its propagandistic innuendo to have returned to its former superpower status in recent months. In reality, all that the US did in was solidify the Western Civilizational bloc that it envisions leading in the Multipolar World Order while losing the rest of the world in the process.

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sat May 21, 2022 2:01 pm

Summit of the Americas: US Policy of Exclusion Undermines its Own Hegemonic Aspirations
May 18, 2022

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By Frederick Mills and William Camacaro
Washington DC

* This article was originally published on COHA.org

The United States will host the Ninth Summit of the Americas June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California with the theme of  “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future” for the Western hemisphere. This Summit comes at a time of growing disenchantment in Latin America and the Caribbean with an inter-American system rigged to advance US corporate interests, attack left and left leaning governments, and once again plunge the region into US-NATO cold war politics. The Biden administration’s approach to the June Summit, by failing to recognize the firm regional commitments to sovereign equality, integration, and engagement with a multipolar world, has turned the planning and implementation of the Summit into a space of North–South confrontation.

This will be the second Summit hosted by the US, the first one being the inaugural conference held in Miami in 1994. At that first Summit, the Bill Clinton administration aimed at spreading the neoliberal gospel of free trade and free markets throughout the Americas. Clinton met with limited success in advancing these policy objectives and it was the first of several Summits which excluded Cuba. In subsequent Summits, the failure of the neoliberal model and the harm caused by IMF structural adjustment measures (paquetazos) to the working class became increasingly evident. The continued exclusion of Cuba from the Summits also evoked growing indignation throughout much of the region.

The tomb of the US backed FTAA

At the Fourth Summit of the Americas held in Mar del Plata, Argentina in November 2005, the George W. Bush administration’s push to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that would extend from Canada to Chile garnered the support of 28 countries but was blocked by Mercosur member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and Venezuela.

Tens of thousands of protesters filled a soccer stadium and the streets of the city to voice their opposition to the free trade proposal championed by President Bush. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (who had just survived a coup and oil industry sabotage backed by the United States) said, “Every one of us has brought a shovel, because Mar del Plata is going to be the tomb of FTAA(…) FTAA is dead, and we, the people of the Americas, are the ones who buried it.”[1]

Cuba was present in 2015

At the Sixth Summit held in 2012, the political landscape in the Americas had changed dramatically after fourteen years of Bolivarian revolution. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who held office from 1999 until his death in 2013, had been a major force in the advancement of the cause of regional independence, integration, and the diversification of trading partners, leading the way to the energized process of the “second emancipation” in several nations of the continent, this time from the domination of US corporate interests. For this reason the Pink Tide of left and left leaning governments were able to wield more influence at the conference. Their strong advocacy for the inclusion of Cuba made it clear that there would be a significant boycott of the Seventh Summit of the Americas in April 2015 in Panama City should Cuba be excluded.

The Seventh Summit finally included the participation of Cuba. But the use of economic sanctions and other forms of coercion against leftist governments made this a particularly contentious conference. A series of speeches by Pink Tide presidents expressed a growing skepticism about the efficacy, democratic legitimacy, and direction of the US dominated inter-American system. There was indeed praise for the process of rapprochement underway between the US and Cuba, but this was overshadowed by criticism of President Barack Obama’s executive order declaring Venezuela an extraordinary threat to the national security of the United States, a measure which President Cristina Fernández characterized as “ridiculous”.

The key policy speech of the Seventh Summit was delivered by then president of Ecuador Rafael Correa who made the following proposal:

“The reality is that we need not only a new system of human rights, but a new inter-American system. We must understand that the Americas on the north and south of the Río Bravo are different, and we must talk as blocks.

The Organization of American States (OAS) has historically been captured by interests and visions of North America, and their accumulated biases and atavism are inefficient and unreliable for the new times in which we are living in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States – CELAC – must be the forum for Latin American and Caribbean discussions, and the OAS should become the forum in which, as blocks, CELAC and North America discuss their conflicts.”[2]

Correas’ speech turned out to be prescient, as the extreme partisanship of OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, on behalf of Washington, against leftist governments, led to the departure of Venezuela and Nicaragua from the OAS and criticism of the interventionist role of the OAS by Mexico and Bolivia.

The eighth Summit of the Americas was held in Lima, Peru from April 13–14, 2018 and was marred by Peru’s revocation of the invitation of the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. US Vice President Mike Pence called on US allies in the region to further isolate Venezuela, and suggested that the Trump administration would push for “additional sanctions, additional isolation and additional diplomatic pressure — beginning in our hemisphere but across the wider world.” The use of the Summit to advance Washington’s relentless campaign against the Bolivarian revolution confirmed the skepticism of Correa and others about the Summit and the OAS as tools for the imposition of US foreign policy.

2022 Summit: Boycott if Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are excluded

The Ninth Summit presents an opportunity to forge a new spirit of cooperation and unity and forestall the demise of the Summit as an inter-American institution. This year 2022, on February 11, the State Department announced “In the spirit of fostering a more inclusive Summit” the formation of “partnerships with stakeholder groups drawing in participants from across the Americas.” The State Department’s intention to exclude Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba from participation, however, has already provoked a majority of governments in the region, with Mexico and Caricom nations leading the way, to boycott the conference should these exclusions stand. By practicing politics of exclusion and confrontation under cover of promoting “democracy,” Washington will lose an opportunity to put aside ideological differences to more effectively and collaboratively find solutions to growing economic inequality, the refugee crisis, organized crime, the drug trade, human trafficking, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Summit planned for June is perhaps the most contentious of them all. The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who is now a leading voice in the struggle for the so called “second emancipation”, has insisted on a Summit that is all inclusive: “Participation in the Los Angeles Summit has not yet been resolved because we are proposing that no one is excluded because we seek the unity of all America[3]” AMLO’s recent visit to Central America and Cuba underlines his commitment to regional cooperation.

The cards are already stacked against a successful conference. Fifteen Caricom nations, plus Mexico, Bolivia, and Honduras have already declared their intentions not to attend the Summit on account of the exclusion of these three countries. Chile has urged full participation. And Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will not be attending. A Worker’s Summit of the Americas (Tijuana) (June 10 – 12) as well as a People’s Summit for Democracy (Los Angeles) (June 8 – 10) are being organized by social movements– North and South– to give voice to those excluded by the US-OAS Summit.

The US lacks understanding of the new geopolitics of Latin America

The State Department has seriously misread the historic changes that have taken place South of the Río Grande. In 1994 Washington saw the Summit as an opportunity to consolidate a neoliberal economic model with “free” trade dominated by the global North. But times have changed. Regional associations that do not include the US and Canada, such as CELAC, are fast becoming alternative forums for inclusive deliberations on issues of common concern. CELAC–China cooperation has led to significant commercial ties that are not limited by ideological commitments. Russia, Iran, India, and other countries have also been increasing trade with Latin America and the Caribbean. These are countries in the forefront of a global trend rejecting Washington’s deployment of unilateral economic sanctions to subvert non-compliant governments.

Since 1994, the unipolar world championed by the Washington Consensus has met with ongoing resistance and given way to a multipolar world, and this multipolarity, to the horror of neocons in Washington, is firmly established in Latin America and the Caribbean. Rather than adjust to these changes in the world economy through cooperation and competition, the Biden Administration is doubling down on the Monroe Doctrine approach to reimpose US hegemony in the region by various means of coercion.

To counter this multipolarity, and to recruit Latin American and Caribbean governments to its new cold war with Russia and China, the US seeks to anoint NATO partners in the region, starting with Colombia. In a policy paper by the Atlantic Council (October 14, 2020), Skaluba and Doyle argue that “Eventual Mexican membership in NATO may be a necessary ingredient for keeping the United States invested in European security over the long term.” Thanks to the prudent statesmanship of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, however, NATO membership for Mexico is highly unlikely. And Colombia may soon take a decolonial turn, despite the open warfare being waged by the Colombian ultra right and their paramilitary allies against leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, who is presently ahead in the polls.

The feasible, constructive alternative to a faltering Monroe doctrine is for Washington to respect the right of Latin America to have a diversity of trading partners and engage the global South based on the principles of sovereign equality and complementary trade. There is no appetite anywhere in Latin America to bring a new cold war to Abya Yala. CELAC is committed to establishing the continent as a zone of peace (zona de paz) and resolving any inter-American conflicts by mediation, not sanctions and war. Washington’s heavy handed approach to hemispheric affairs neither dampens Bolivarian resistance to the coloniality of power nor does it curtail the continent-wide aspiration for a second emancipation.

https://afgj.org/summit-of-the-americas ... spirations

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he nations of Latin America and the Caribbean unite in boycott of Biden’s Summit of the Americas
Leaders of over a dozen countries in the region have condemned the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela from the Summit

May 20, 2022 by Tanya Wadhwa

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Bolivian President Luis Arce pictured with Mexican President AMLO (Photo via: Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional)



The United States is having trouble advancing its traditional imperialist agenda in Latin America. The Biden administration has been facing strong resistance from scores of Latin American and Caribbean countries with regard to the 9th Summit of the Americas, to be hosted by the US in Los Angeles, California. In recent days, leaders of over a dozen countries in the region have condemned the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela from the Summit, and have announced that they would boycott the conference if all countries were not invited.

On May 18, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) met with a US delegation to dissuade his nation’s boycott, and to discuss his government’s proposal to invite all Latin American and Caribbean countries, without exception, to take part in the Summit of the Americas, scheduled for June 6-10. The meeting at the National Palace was attended by Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, and the US Special Advisor for the Summit of the Americas, Christopher J. Dodd.

Following the meeting, Foreign Minister Ebrard told local media that the country hoped to receive a response from the US regarding Mexico’s proposal by Thursday, May 19. “Dodd said, ‘I’ll take (the proposal) and I’ll give you a response in the next few hours or tomorrow, President Biden’s response to everything President López Obrador proposed,’” said Ebrard. He also mentioned Mexico would not pressure the United States for a response. “It’s their decision,” he stated.

Wednesday’s meeting took place in the wake of President AMLO’s announcement that he would not attend the Summit if all countries in the region were not invited, provoking a series of boycotts from other Latin American leaders.

On May 2, the US Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols said that the government of Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro were unlikely to receive invitations. On May 10, after having criticized their exclusion for days, during his daily morning press conference, AMLO announced that “if not everyone is invited, a representation of the Mexican government will go. But I wouldn’t go. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would represent me.”

When asked if his absence would be a protest message, AMLO said “yes, because I don’t want the same policy to continue in America.” The Mexican President added that “we should unite, even if we have differences, we can resolve them by listening to each other and dialoguing.” He pointed out that “if a country does not want to attend, then that is its right. However, how can a summit be ‘of America’ without all the countries of America? From where are those who are not invited? Are they from another unknown continent, planet, or galaxy?”

AMLO particularly insisted that Cuba should be there. Earlier this month, AMLO visited Cuba as a part of his official tour of Central America and Cuba. On May 8, Mexico and Cuba signed an agreement to strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations, and promote development in the educational, cultural, commercial and economic areas, while ratifying cooperation to face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters and pandemics. Following the visit, the Mexican President condemned the over 60-year-long US blockade on Cuba, calling on his American counterpart to end the blockade, “a genocidal policy.”


After AMLO, Bolivian President Luis Arce was the second leader to announce that he would not join the Summit if all countries were not invited. “A Summit of the Americas which excludes American countries will not be a full Summit of the Americas. If the exclusion of our brothers continues, I will not participate in it,” said President Arce.

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales acknowledged the decision of several Latin American leaders not to attend the Summit. “We highlight the brave decision of our President Luis Arce, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico and Caribbean countries that in protest against the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not attend the Summit of the Americas, which will be a US Summit of subjugation, blackmail and chastisement,” Morales tweeted recently. Days ago, he had tweeted, “the Summit of the Americas is about to fail, not because of the lack of will for dialogue on the part of the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, but because of the arrogance and contempt of the United States against our peoples.”

Likewise, leaders of the 14 Caribbean countries that make up the Community of Caribbean States (CARICOM) also announced a collective boycott of the Summit if any nations are excluded. CARICOM also rejected the US invitation to self-proclaimed president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó. Sir Ronald Sanders, the current Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States and to the Organization of American States (OAS), highlighted that in March, in the midst of the oil crisis due to the Russia–Ukraine war and subsequent sanctions on Russia, the Biden administration approached the Maduro administration to discuss energy security, not Guaidó. Sanders added that “it is about time that we get rid of the myth that Juan Guaidó is the president of Venezuela.”


Meanwhile, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, Argentine President Alberto Fernández, and Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola also expressed their rejection and called for an inclusive summit.

On May 17, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei also said that he would not attend the Summit, but for different reasons. He rejected criticism from the Biden administration for reappointing an attorney general, whom the US had accused of protecting the corrupt. During an event at the Mexican Embassy, Giammattei said that “a country’s sovereignty must be respected.”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil is also not expected to attend the Summit. Bolsonaro, who had admired former US President Donald Trump, has never spoken to Biden, and the diplomatic relations between the two countries have gone cold since Biden’s inauguration last year.

The event, which was supposed to be a key moment for the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts in the region, now faces the challenge of ensuring that it is truly representative.

The Biden administration has made clear that invitations have not gone out and decisions about guests are still being finalized.

In a desperate attempt to meet López Obrador and other leaders halfway, recently, the Biden administration eased some restrictions on Cuban travel and family remittances, and some oil sanctions on Venezuela.

Concurrent to the Summit of the Americas, a coalition of over 100 organizations have organized the People’s Summit for Democracy that will take place in Los Angeles from June 8-10 and seeks to present counter-narrative and proposals: “As Biden’s Summit of the Americas is marked by exclusion and imposition of political agenda, our Summit will bring together diverse voices from across the Americas in order to create our shared vision of democracy and a dignified life for our people.”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/20/ ... -americas/

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The mining conflict in Peru continues without conciliation

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The prime minister's withdrawal to attend to urgent matters, as he mentioned before leaving, fueled the hostility of the meeting. | Photo: The management
Published May 20, 2022

The community members rejected the offer of the prime minister who asked them to abandon the land in exchange for new land.

The most recent meeting between the Peruvian government and rural communities to resolve the conflict they maintain over a copper mine was once again frustrated by the differences between the two parties.

For 85 days, work at the Las Bambas copper deposit, in the Apurímac region, has been paralyzed due to community members' discontent with the transnational company MMG, which is in charge of extraction.

The meeting, held in the community of Pumamarca, was attended by Prime Minister Aníbal Torres, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Carlos Palacios, and the Minister of Foreign Trade, Roberto Sánchez.


One of the reasons why the State of Peru should pay attention to the conflict is the possible claim for damages that MMG may present, as stated by Aníbal Torres.

The Prime Minister proposed that they abandon the land - which was previously handed over to the company by the peasants - in exchange for other land and compensation. If they abide by this measure, the declared state of emergency in the area would also be lifted.

He warned that dilemmas must be overcome through dialogue and not with expressions of violence or attacks on facilities that motivate police intervention.


However, the community members rejected these conditions. They shouted and insulted the Peruvian prime minister who withdrew from the talks to address other state issues.

The protesters withdrew, followed by the remaining government representatives, so the possibility of conciliation was frustrated.

In the streets of Lima and Cusco, several popular demonstrations also took place to demand a solution to the conflict, because the strike is affecting the salary and the position of some 8,000 workers.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/continua ... -0003.html

Google Translator

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Chile: Boric Militarizes Mapuche Territories
May 21, 2022

Current scenarios in the south of Chile are not much different from those during the time of Sebastián Piñera, as the supposedly progressive President Gabriel Boric is applying the same repressive measures of his predecessor, whose mandate is considered as the worst of post-Pinochet Chile and the trigger that led to structural changes in the Chilean State.

Recently, the government of Chile, headed by President Boric, decreed a state of emergency in two southern provinces “to guarantee security” in the Mapuche region. Until then, Boric had rejected the militarization that Piñera had been forced to reverse.

Last year, Boric campaigned against the militarization of the Araucanía region in the extreme south of Chile, for which he won the votes of those people who were hopeful that the centuries-old problem between the Mapuche indigenous people and the Chilean government would finally be resolved.

“We saw this coming,” said Mijael Carbone Queipul, spokesperson for the Temucuicui community in Ercilla, in repudiation of the new militarization in the territory. “We also understand that the government has not learned anything in these months of preparation, of installation. We know that they have no real interest in solving the underlying problem. As long as this interest is not there, these situations will continue to occur in Mapuche territory.”

The disappointment of Chileans with the current “progressive” president is already starting to reflect in opinion polls, as well as in the protests that are happening in Chile again, with the same demands that were commonly made during the previous right-wing governments.

https://orinocotribune.com/chile-boric- ... rritories/

First Lenin Moreno, now this guy...Gotta vet these guys better.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Tue May 24, 2022 2:19 pm

IS NATO'S SHADOW EXTENDING IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN?
May 20, 2022 , 10:07 a.m.

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The arms dogmatism of the Global North has its maximum expression in NATO, a warlike alliance that is already making inroads in the Latin-Caribbean region (Photo: Roman Koksarov / AP Photo)

From a rearrangement of forces and a civilizational decline, different regional axes have created organizations such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) under the leadership of Russia and Central Asian allied countries, in addition the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been strengthened (OCS) while the Russian and Chinese Armed Forces have been modernized and economic axes such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) have been created.

This emergence of poles of geopolitical power has been accompanied by positions away from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance made up of 30 countries , which has sought a revival after it lost influence in West Asia, where Russia The US and China already openly discuss leadership of the region after the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

This has been considered a threat to US global hegemony and the interests of large transnationals, especially in Eurasia, where a crisis involving Ukraine has been fueled and Russia is sought to be weakened through military attrition and thousands of unilateral coercive measures accompanied by by the European Union (EU).

NATO AS A SHADOW THAT DOES NOT GO AWAY

Washington's dominance, therefore, in the Euro-Atlantic axis over Latin America, has not increased linearly due to regional particularities such as the arrival of progressive or nationalist governments, of those that, after being considered "threats" or "worrying" , have been attacked through parliamentary coups in some cases, subversive warfare, internal conflicts through opposition fronts inoculated for that purpose, or direct interventions to achieve regime changes favorable to Western hegemony.

Some authors consider ( PDF ) that the decline of hegemony in the region is due to:

1.The lack of attention of the United States to the region,
2.the renewed search for autonomy of the South American countries and
3.the challenge presented by extra-hemispheric actors such as Russia, China or Iran.

The shadow of the direct or indirect participation of the (supposedly distant) NATO has never left the Latin Caribbean region, above all because the creation of continuous crisis is a permanent invocation of its Strategic Concept: "where the interests of its members are in danger" . Some geohistorical data allow us to know how the aforementioned shadow remains:

*Colombia, whose military establishment is considered a "security exporter" by the Southern Command (Southcom), has seven US military bases from where it is possible to access the land borders of Venezuela, Brazil (main non-NATO ally since 2019), Peru, Ecuador and Panama. It also has a maritime border with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
*According to the latest report from the United States Department of Defense, in the region they have military participation in states such as Puerto Rico (with bases of the Navy, the Navy and the Air Force), Aruba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cuba (Guantánamo ), Honduras, Peru and Colombia, among others.

*In the Argentine territorial waters and in the Malvinas Islands, which were usurped by the United Kingdom, there is a NATO presence and it is the military head of the system made up of the islands of Saint Helena and Tristan Da Cunha.
*The United Kingdom is forming a "strategic triangle of control" of the extreme south of South America (Argentine Patagonia and Chilean Patagonia), made up of Punta Arenas (Chile), Puerto Argentino (Malvinas, Argentina, usurped by England) and Montevideo (Uruguay). ). While from San Pedro/Georgias, south of Malvinas, nuclear submarines operate.
*Guadeloupe and Martinique were used as stopovers during the Falklands War and the invasion of Grenada; In addition, France and the United States regularly organize joint military exercises in the region.
*In 1997, the Alliance granted Argentina the status of Great Extra-NATO Ally for having sent warships to the Persian Gulf in 1991 and for its participation in peacekeeping operations during the neoliberal government of Carlos Menem.
*Argentina and Chile supported the Atlantic Organization in 1999 to "guarantee security" in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Kosovo, Argentina collaborated within the framework of the peace agreement imposed on Serbia and was part of a Strategic Reserve Force of the North Atlantic military bloc for the Balkans.
*El Salvador contributed some troops to the invading troops of the military bloc in Afghanistan.
*Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico participated as observers in the Trident Juncture 15 exercise, one of the largest carried out by the Atlantic alliance, at the end of 2015.
*NATO has a presence in the region through operations and exercises with the UK, Canada, France and the Netherlands in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) programs. An example of this was the joint response after the earthquake in Haiti.
*The NATO doctrine was used in a secret training of the Bolivian Air Force carried out in January 2021 and called Unconventional Combined Operational Exercise that was called Libertad.

A PULSE THAT IS ALSO ECONOMICAL

Even when poverty and inequality are recognized as causes of violence from inside and outside the region, the vision of the Global North, embodied in the United States and its allies, did not necessarily translate into the recommendation of social policies to solve these problems. structural issues.

The predominance has also been in the economic sphere, hence the hegemony of the dollar mediated by Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Chile, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic-Central America. Combined with neoliberal reforms, these treaties formed a strong ideological basis for the creation of the Pacific Arc Initiative in 2009.

Between 2000 and 2013, the commercial exchange between China and Latin America multiplied up to 22 times, which generated sources of financing without ideological demands. Investments were concentrated in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela. To stop this advance, the United States led the negotiations on the Multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that included Chile, Peru and Mexico.

In the financial sphere, Latin American countries depend on the dollar and US monetary policy has a significant impact on the financial results of its neighbors.

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To stop the geoeconomic advance of China, the elites of Washington and satellite countries negotiated the Multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that faced strong rejection (Photo: File)

While it was important for the Chinese to maintain their peaceful intentions in Latin America and the Caribbean and to deny the existence of geopolitical ambitions for the United States, it was important to influence Chinese action in the Western Hemisphere. Together with Russia, the Asian country would become a challenge for Washington due to its possibility of offering alternative models and associations to the region.

The success of the Chinese development model and the loans granted to the countries of the region have made it possible to adopt economic policies that deviate from neoliberalism and Russia has become an alternative in energy and defense issues.

MILITARIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
If something has marked the last years of NATO's rapprochement with the region, through the United States Southern Command, it is the increase in military influence in matters of foreign policy. This intensified after 9/11/2001 when corporate elites opted for the war on terrorism that encompassed transnational organized crime and drug trafficking.

The military deployment in the region had as a key factor Washington's position regarding drug trafficking and the insurgency, considering drugs as a security problem and not a social or health one. This allowed for interaction between the military of the region and the United States and the amplification of the repressive model to confront trafficking, which was reflected in abundant military aid to Colombia to the point where it has come to occupy sixth place among the 10 main countries . who received assistance between 2000 and 2016.

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Seeking to defeat poverty with violence, military support from the United States against drug trafficking and insurgency was incorporated into the war against terrorism after 11S2001 (Photo: Getty Images)

Chile, Peru and Paraguay were also relatively aligned with the United States on defense issues, while the relationship with Brazil was ambiguous. Even so, in 2010 the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) and the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) were signed.

In addition to the focus of attention located in the Andes (Colombia and Ecuador), there is the Triple Frontier between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where Southcom stated that it had identified sources of financing for "terrorist organizations" based in the Middle East, mentioning Hezbollah and Hamas. To counteract this supposed threat, a multilateral mechanism called 3+1 was created with the three South American countries and the United States.

Several Southcom commanders pointed out as "points of concern" the increase in cooperation on military issues between Russia, China and Iran and their proximity to popular governments such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, which is perceived as a source of support for said governments. , to the detriment of the regional influence of the United States. However, one wonders what was the real extent of Chinese and Russian military involvement in the region.

Military contacts between China and Latin America are limited and the main component in the relationship is related to the economy and the growth of a multicentric and multipolar world. Even though there was an increase in exports of Chinese weapons systems to South America, which, although discreetly, did not approach the volume of weapons exported by NATO countries. Russia has indeed become an important player in this area, especially since 2005, as it not only exported weapons to Venezuela but also to Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Peru, on a small scale.

For its part, Colombia imported weapons, especially from the United States and Argentina, while Brazil had a more diversified list of suppliers.

COLOMBIA, THE "PIVOT" OF THE WARMONGERING HAWK

Last April, within the framework of an official visit by outgoing President Iván Duque to Washington, his US counterpart Joe Biden mentioned that Colombia was the "pivot" of the southern hemisphere and confirmed its incorporation as an extra ally in the Alliance through a letter to the presidents of both chambers of Congress, expressing:

"I give notice of my intention to designate Colombia as an Important Non-NATO Ally. I make this designation in recognition of the importance of the relationship between the United States and Colombia, and Colombia's crucial contributions to regional and international security."

In this way Colombia:

*You will be able to access US war material, which has been a fact for decades.
*Receive loans to purchase military and research equipment.
*It would receive benefits to acquire space technology.
*It could participate in joint operations with the US Department of Defense.

Each partner develops an Individual Partnership Cooperation Program (IPCP). The Colombian one consists of priority areas such as: cybersecurity; maritime security and terrorism, and its links to organized crime; human security; and strengthen the capabilities of the Colombian armed forces.

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By trying to recover allies and energy resources in Latin America, Biden soon forgot that the uribista Duque campaigned for his rival Donald Trump (Photo: Presidency of Colombia)

By linking to a clearly warlike alliance, the Colombian State breaks the declaration of Havana in 2014 where CELAC declared the Latin Caribbean region a "zone of peace" and has opened the way for any NATO maneuver both from its shores and from its land borders.

Different political and social leaders such as Evo Morales have denounced the destabilizing effect of the advance of the alliance in the region, specifically due to its warlike nature.

In 2018, Brazil had 334,000 active military personnel, Colombia with 200,000 and Argentina with 51,000. The alliance has 3.5 million assets between military and civilian personnel. According to the Celag think tank , only Brazil and Colombia would contribute more assets to NATO than the European members annexed in the 1990s (North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia , Slovenia, Czech Republic and Hungary). Argentina has similar assets to Bulgaria (24,800) and the Czech Republic (25,000) combined.

ARMAMENTISM AND SUPREMACISM AGAINST UNITY

The dogma of armed supremacy remains the basis of the American model for its foreign policy. Thus, it feeds the interests of the industrial-military complex, with a paradigm that recirculates among its schools, media, and think tanks.

Given the unrestricted support of the Euro-Atlantic bloc for neo-Nazi factions in Eastern Europe and the precedent of support for Islamist sectors that unleashed chaos in Syria, Libya and Iraq, the danger that hangs over the Latin-Caribbean region is imminent.

It is not just an attempt to recover a sphere of influence and resources by the Euro-Atlantic axis, but to avoid any hint of possible strategic unity in a region that could form a pole of strong geoeconomic power that would counterbalance the current global funnel law.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/se ... -el-caribe

Google Translator

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Honduras: If All Our Nations Aren’t There, It’s Not a Summit of the Americas—Argentina Follows Timidly
ORINOCOTRIBUNE MAY 13, 2022 4 MIN READ

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The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (left) and the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández (right). File photo.

Caracas, May 12, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—The President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, questioned the viability of the Summit of the Americas due to the US decision to exclude Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the meeting scheduled for June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California.

“If all our nations aren’t there, it’s not a Summit of the Americas,” wrote the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, on Wednesday, May 11, in a post on her Twitter account, putting in question her participation in the summit.


Deputy Foreign Minister of Honduras, Antonio García, said on Thursday, May 12, that the Summit of the Americas “cannot leave anyone out, because it is a celebration of all countries.” He added that the decision made by President Xiomara Castro, on whether or not to appear at the summit, will be based on what is correct.

Argentina’s Alberto Fernández joins the criticism

Also on Wednesday, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández asked the United States to invite all countries to the Summit. “I plan to attend… but I ask the organizers the same thing that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked: invite all the Latin America countries,” Fernández said during an interview with the DW outlet in Berlin.

This week, before beginning his tour of Spain, Germany, and France, Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Minister Santiago Cafiero also sent a formal note to the United States requesting “a summit without exclusions.”

“We urge the organizers to invite everyone,” Cafiero told the press. “This issue was already raised before the organization of the summit, when working groups were convened. It is assumed that all countries would go to a summit.”

United regional stand

The United States government raised the possibility of not inviting the governments of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua to the continental meeting, which takes place every three or four years since 1994, and nominally includes the participation of the 35 independent states of the Americas.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and a number of its leaders in particular, such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, Amery Browne, and the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, condemned the exclusion of Cuba and Venezuela. A few days ago, Ronald Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) and the US, said that “if the United States insists on not inviting Cuba to this meeting, it will immediately cause 14 CARICOM countries not to attend. That means we don’t have a Summit of the Americas that is meaningful.”

The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), said emphatically at a press conference this week that “if everyone is not invited, a representative of the Mexican government will go, but I wouldn’t go.”

Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, also spoke out. His government, according to news reports, does not currently have communication with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, and for this reason has not taken a decision about going to the summit either.

President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, did the same. Through his Twitter account, the Bolivian head of state said that “a Summit of the Americas that excludes American countries will not be a full Summit of the Americas, and if the exclusion of sister nations persists, I will not participate in it.”

The Puebla Group, made up of more than 50 former presidents and leaders of the region, also expressed its condemnation of the exclusionary policy promoted by Washington.

United States in damage control

In reaction, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said this Tuesday that invitations to the Summit of the Americas have not yet gone out. When asked by a reporter, “can you confirm if Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are going to be invited to the summit?” the presidential spokesperson replied “I can’t, because we haven’t made a final decision.”

US Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, confirmed last Monday, during an interview for Colombian news outlet NTN24, that Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will not receive invitations, thereby triggering responses from the majority of countries in the region that is currently experiencing a new leftist wave.

https://orinocotribune.com/honduras-if- ... s-timidly/

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Peru: Pedro Castillo Swore in Four New Ministers

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President Pedro Castillo (C) and his new ministers, May 22, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @RamiroteleSURtv

Published 23 May 2022

The confrontation between the Executive and Congress has lasted about 10 months, in which Castillo has been forced to appoint 50 ministers.

On Sunday, President Pedro Castillo swore in the new ministers of the Interior, Agrarian Development and Irrigation, Energy and Mines, and Transport and Communications.

In a ceremony held in the Golden Room of the Government Palace, Castillo installed Alessandra Gilda Herrera as Minister of Energy and Mines, replacing Carlos Palacios.

Javier Arce was sworn in as Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, replacing Oscar Zea, while Dimitri Nicolas Senmanche assumed the Ministry of the Interior, replacing Alfonso Chavarry. Previously, Senmache, who is a security policy specialist, served as head of the Cabinet of Advisors at the Ministry of the Interior.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications will be led by Juan Mauro Barranzuela who replaces Nicolas Bustamante.


These changes in the leftist president's cabinet occur at a time when Congress was ready to process motions of censure against former ministers Palacios and Chavarry.

“The government seems to avoid the censorship that was coming after the recent interpellations,” teleSUR correspondent in Peru Ramiro Angulo tweeted, adding that the confrontation between the Executive and Congress has lasted about 10 months, in which Castillo has been forced to appoint 50 ministers.

The harassment of the right against the Castillo administration is also expressed in a request for interpellation against Labor Minister Betssy Chavez and polemics unleashed against the former Minister of Agrarian Development Oscar Zea.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0006.html

Peruvian President: More Changes in Cabinet in the Coming Days

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Peruvian President announced reforms in Ministerial Cabinet. May. 23, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@presidenciaperu

Published 23 May 2022 (8 hours 34 minutes ago)

On Monday, the Peruvian President announced more changes for the coming days regarding the Ministerial Cabinet.

Pedro Castillo, Peruvian President announced on Monday more modifications within the Ministerial Cabinet, is expected in the coming days.

Last Sunday, Mr. Castillo led the oath ceremony of four new State Ministers to the office on Sunday evening. "Last night, we decided to make some ministerial changes, and we will continue to do so in the coming days because our ministers are constantly assessed; State ministers owe it to the people," said the head of state.

The Government Palace in Lima hosted a meeting where the comments were made with the discharged members of the Armed Forces. During the session, the Peruvian President requested to be briefed if any of the government officials or directors at government ministries take profit from their posts in the Government.

The head of state said that some people have used photos taken during work visits to claim that they are government spokespersons. "The only government spokesperson is the Prime Minister," Castillo added.


The President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo, swore in four new Ministers of State in the MinemPeru, midagriperu, MininterPeru and MTC_GobPeru sectors. The ceremony was held tonight in the Golden Hall of the Government Palace.

The President exposed his commitment to the regulations to benefit discharged members of the Armed Forces, recognizing the work they made during their term. "I have given instructions to the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers to address the regulation of said law during the Council's next session," he highlighted.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0026.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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