South America

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:23 pm

ECLAC Warns of Increase in Extreme Poverty in Latin America

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Increase in poverty in Latin America shows vulnerability of middle-income strata: ECLAC | Photo: Twitter @nobodytweetnob

Published 27 January 2022 (11 hours 44 minutes ago)

ECLAC ranked Latin America as the most vulnerable region globally concerning the Covid-19 pandemic. ECLAC confirmed that both poverty and extreme poverty increased for the sixth consecutive year in 2021.


The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicated this Thursday that the number of people in extreme poverty in the region increased from 81 to 86 million as a consequence of the social and health crisis derived from the scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to its annual report, this would mean that the extreme poverty rate in Latin America rose from 13.1 percent of the population in 2020 to 13.8 percent in 2021, a 27-year setback.

ECLAC ranked Latin America as the most vulnerable region globally concerning the Covid-19 pandemic, in a context where between 2020 and 2021, the number of people living in extreme poverty increased by nearly five million.


In the annual report #PanoramaSocial 2021, #CEPAL proposes moving towards a care society, which recognizes that care is a universal need and expresses structural diversities such as life cycle, physical, socioeconomic and income conditions.

The regional body assessed that "despite the economic recovery experienced in 2021, the estimated relative and absolute levels of poverty and extreme poverty have remained above those recorded in 2019, reflecting the continuation of the social crisis. "

Estimates made by ECLAC confirm that both poverty and extreme poverty increased for the sixth consecutive year. The continent is one of the regions in the world with the most extended interruption of face-to-face classes.

Another consequence of Covid-19 is that the region has the highest number of deaths reported for this disease globally, with 1,562,845 deaths until December 31, 2021. After the United States, Brazil is the country in Latin America and the Caribbean with the highest number of reported infections, with 24,311,317 and 623,843 deaths, according to data provided by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).


One of the challenges highlighted by ECLAC is to strengthen vaccine purchase programs and regional cooperation mechanisms, in line with the Health Self-Sufficiency Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean approved by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

As of January 26, 2022, the organization estimated that 62.3 percent of Latin America and the Caribbean population, around 408 million people, have a complete vaccination schedule.

For this reason, ECLAC calls for increased efforts so that by mid-2022, all countries in the region will have immunized 70 percent of their population with the full schedule.

"The pandemic is a historic opportunity to build a new social pact that provides protection, certainty and trust. A new social contract must advance and strengthen the institutional framework of social protection systems and promote their universality, comprehensiveness, sustainability and resilience," said the regional body in its report.

Similarly, ECLAC indicates that in 2020 the proportion of women who do not receive their own income increased and poverty gaps persist in rural areas, indigenous peoples and children.

Precisely because the Covid-19 pandemic came to uncover the inequalities in the region, it is urgent, as ECLAC points out, "to restructure health systems, move towards universal coverage, with timely and quality care for the entire population, and for the State to act as guarantor of the right to health."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/ECL ... -0022.html

Yep, it's 'America's front yard' all right..........

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Repsol Has Not Responded to Environmental Disaster on Peru’s Coast
January 27, 2022

The multinational oil company Repsol, based in Madrid, has failed to answer for the damage it caused on the coast of Peru after a spill of approximately 6,000 barrels of crude oil has significantly harmed the ecosystem of the area.

The spill occurred on January 15 and, according to the company, was caused by the violence of waves resulting from an underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga. The day after the catastrophe, the company said that the incident was quickly overcome. However, the damage was too obvious, and a few days later photos and videos showing the ecological disaster went viral.

The oil leak contaminated 21 beaches in Lima and Callao, as well as two protected areas. Media outlets have confirmed that the environmental disaster paralyzed the activities of more than 3,000 workers in the fishing and tourism industries.

The captain of an Italian ship, which was unloading oil at a refinery operated by Repsol, launched a protest against the Spanish company for making nine mistakes after the spill in mid-January.

For its part, the Peruvian government is evaluating the imposition of a fine of 18 million soles, equivalent to $4.6 million USD, for non-compliance with a series of demands imposed to clean up the oil spill. The Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) declared this Wednesday, January 26, that one of those first tasks consisted of the identification of the affected areas, the containment, and recovery of the spilled oil.

A second spill then occurred, exacerbating the situation.

It is not the first time that a transnational oil company commits environmental crimes. Companies that exploit natural resources in other countries and increase their capital must assume their responsibilities when they damage the ecosystems. Repsol also has a history of social irresponsibility, fraud, tax evasion, and misappropriation of subsidies.

Featured image: The environmental disaster has paralyzed fishing and tourist activity (Photo:EFE).

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

https://orinocotribune.com/repsol-has-n ... rus-coast/

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Peru: Interior Minister Resigns

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The Peru's Interior Minister, Avelino Guillén to resign from office. Jan. 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@unchasqui

Published 28 January 2022 (10 hours 56 minutes ago)

Peru erupted on Friday under an imminent crisis aimed at the resignation of Interior Minister Avelino Guillén.

On Friday, Peru's Interior Minister, Avelino Guillén, resigned from office because of the opposition offensive, which comprises the request of the president's departure from office, submerging the country into an imminent crisis.

Although it has not been publicly announced, Guillen's resignation was disclosed by sources close to him. The sources stated that this is due to disagreements between the minister and the head of the National Police, General Javier Gallardo.

The differences are aimed at changes made by Gallardo against the opinion of Guillén, who repeatedly asked for the support of the head of state, President Pedro Castillo, in the controversy, without any success.

Press reports indicate that the changes of Gallardo, linked to Castillo, involved relevant officers from the High Complexity Crimes Division (Diviac) and other police units. Versions point out that Guillén requests permission for dismissing Gallardo without obtaining a response from the Mandatory.


What happened president Pedro Castillo??? do not accept the resignation of Dr. Avelino Guillén from the position of Minister of the Interior. You must give him all your support in his fight against corruption in the Police and crimes that affect citizen security.

After Congresswoman Rosselli Amuruz raised with her party, Country advances, made Legislative requested of the resignation of Castillo the news of the resignation of Guillén, was known.

Due to Castillo's mistakes in an interview with a North American television network during which he recognized that he took office without being prepared to govern and was learning to do so in the process, the legislator presented a motion for the Congress of the Republic to urge him to resign.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0019.html

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Rafael Correa: they destroyed the institutional framework in Ecuador

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"Security is not only a matter of public force, but of human development," said the former president. | Photo: EFE

Published January 28, 2022 (10 hours 14 minutes ago)

Correa indicated that one of the factors that influences the reality that Ecuador lives is the quality of the rulers they have.

The former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, asserted this Friday that the security crisis in his country is a consequence of the actions of the authorities that destroyed the institutions established during his administration.

During an interview on the program En Clave Política, broadcast by teleSUR, the former president stated that "the situation of insecurity in Ecuador is due to the fact that everything was dismantled out of hatred for Correa (...) The problem is multidimensional."

The former head of state recalled that, in his government, they had a Ministry to coordinate the issue of security, "because the fight against insecurity is comprehensive."


"We even had schools and universities in the prisons, the prisoners were worried about studying, not killing each other. They dismantled all of that out of hatred for Correa. They destroyed the Ministry of Justice, in charge of social rehabilitation; they destroyed the Ministry of the Interior, in charge of citizen security," he said.

Correa indicated that one of the factors that influences this reality is the quality of the government they have. "The lack of effectiveness and efficiency, dynamism, conviction and commitment. The quality of officials is terrible (...) With that level of efficiency and effectiveness, we are not going to win the fight against insecurity," he said.

"Another factor is the economic crisis, where the cost falls on the poorest, there is unemployment and growing inequality, and all of this fosters insecurity. There are other factors, it is a multidimensional problem," he confirmed.


Likewise, he warned that the government distributed the prisons "as political loot" and indicated that there is a high degree of corruption, so "even a war tank can happen if they pay enough to put them in prison. Is that right?" How are they going to control the security in the prisons?

"Security is not only a matter of public force, but of human development," he said.

The former Ecuadorian president specified that all the progress made, plans and strategies implemented during his administration in terms of security were destroyed "because that is neoliberalism."


He also lamented the manipulation of some media in sectors of the population. "In Ecuador there is a struggle of visions, today they complain about neoliberalism and it is not understood that this is why they voted in April, manipulated by the press."

"Realistically, I don't see a solution with the model that currently prevails in Ecuador," said former President Correa.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rafael-c ... -0039.html

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:23 pm

President Castillo swears in a new ministerial cabinet in Peru

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In the Government Palace of Lima, nine new ministers were also sworn in and another nine were ratified. | Photo: @PedroCastilloTe
Published 1 February 2022

The resignation of the then Prime Minister Mirtha Vásquez was based on the declaration that Peru had reached "a critical moment."

The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, swore in his new ministerial cabinet on Tuesday, renewed for the third time in six months, and this time headed by Héctor Valer as prime minister.

In the Government Palace of Lima, nine new ministers were also sworn in and another nine were ratified. For his part, César Landa was sworn in as head of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, replacing Óscar Maúrtua.

In the portfolio of Justice and Human Rights, Aníbal Torres will continue, while the Ministers of Education, Rosendo Serna; that of Health, Hernando Cevallos; Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez; Work, Betssy Chavez; and Production, Jorge Prado Palomino, were also ratified.


The rear admiral and former inspector of the Navy, José Luis Gavidia will be the new head of the Ministry of Defense, successor to former prosecutor Juan Carrasco, while Óscar Graham will take the place of Pedro Francke as head of the Minister of Economy and Finance.

As Minister of the Interior, former police chief Alfonso Chávarry was sworn in to replace lawyer Avelino Guillén. For their part, the holders of Transport, Juan Silva; Housing, Geiner Alvarado López; and Development and Social Inclusion, Dina Boluarte Zegarra are ratified in the new cabinet.


The Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation is represented by the agrarian official Alberto Ramos, Energy and Mines by the lawyer Alessandra Herrera, Women and Vulnerable Populations by the official congresswoman Katy Ugarte, Environment by the teacher Wilber Supo and Culture by the lawyer Alejandro Salas.

Pedro Castillo sent a message to the current cabinet, in which he ratified "the commitment to work for Peru, prioritizing the needs of all Peruvians and the great reforms that will consolidate national well-being."


The resignation of the then Prime Minister Mirtha Vásquez was based on the declaration that Peru had reached "a critical moment." "The crisis in the Interior sector is the expression of a structural problem of corruption in various State instances that has been hitting us and that it is time to firmly address and confront it," said the also lawyer.

In this regard, the head of state of Peru stressed that the cabinet is constantly evaluating. “For this reason, I have decided to renew it and form a new team. I appreciate the support of Mirtha Vásquez and other Ministers of State. We will continue along the path of development for the good of the country.”

According to local media, the prime minister was elected congressman for the period 2021-2026 by the far-right Popular Renovation party. He later resigned from said formation to join the centrist group of Somos Perú, and later formed the caucus of Perú Democrático.

This Tuesday, the secretary of the Presidency of Peru, Carlos Jaico resigned irrevocably and specified that there is a "shadow cabinet" in the Government of Pedro Castillo.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/castillo ... -0036.html

Google Translator

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Peru: Clean-up of Polluted Coast Continues After Oil Spill

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Peru continues on the cleaning up of the contaminated beaches after the oil spill. Feb. 1, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@edmsau

Published 1 February 2022 (12 hours 52 minutes ago)

After the oil spill in Peru, the Armed forces deployed troops as support for cleaning the beaches along the Lima coast.


Peru has around 436 troops of the Armed Forces deployed all over the Lima coast to support the cleaning up of the beaches contaminated after the oil spill last January 15 in the Ventanilla sea area.

After being provided with all the required equipment for personal protection, 100 members of the Army's First Multipurpose Brigade were sent to Hondable Beach in Santa Rosa district and to Chacra y Mar Beach in the district of Aucallama in Huaral province aimed to support the cleaning.

The Navy deployed 202 troops of the Infantry and Coast Guard units all along Pocitos Beach in the district of Ancon. To support the beach cleaning near the Peruvian Air Force's Sea Survival School (Esmar) located in Ancon, the Air Force assigned 134 troops.

The General Directorate of Captaincies and Coast Guard (Dicapi) of the Peruvian Navy is leading the coordination of removing oil waste by the military personnel deployed on the beaches, which were provided with the appropriate personal protection equipment, cleaning tools, and geomembranes for completing the task.


In Ventanilla district's sea was reported an oil spill on January 15. According to the Repsol company statements, the oils spill resulted from the strong waves recorded along the Peruvian coast following the eruption of an underwater volcano off Tonga in Oceania.

It is estimated that the spilled oil in the sea was superior to 10 000 barrels of oil.

The contamination has spread all over the Ventanilla's coast, reaching Ancon and Chancay, where a negative impact on marine flora and fauna was registered.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0017.html

Peru is being battered by capitalism every which way. Castillo is getting too many chances to prove his mettle, a tough act.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sun Feb 06, 2022 3:11 pm

GABRIEL BORIC AS THEY HAD NOT TOLD YOU

William Serafino

Feb 5, 2022 , 10:40 a.m.

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Gabriel Boric is a recent expression of the identity left (Photo: El País)

Name of saint and surname of Croatian origin. 36 years. The youngest president of his country. An unprecedented government cabinet , with a female majority. He rules as a minority in the Chilean Congress, and in parallel a Constituent Convention meets, against the backdrop of a severe crisis of legitimacy of the traditional parties.

Gabriel Boric, the new president of Chile, assumes the government with a robe that gives him automatic ovations. His recent foreign policy statements, already in office, point against Venezuela for various reasons, instrumental and ideological, framed in a more general movement that puts the phenomenon of the identity-based left back on the landscape.

Put in black and white, for a country victim of a bloody dictatorship, whose transition to democracy was supervised by an elite that rode on the psychological and cultural effects of State terrorism to constitutionalize the reproduction of its power and consolidate the neoliberal agenda promoted for Pinochet with The Brick , Boric is undoubtedly good news. The best among the worst?

The problems begin when the focus narrows and the accent is placed on the scale of nuances that every social phenomenon carries with it. Nobody would doubt that the schism of the Chilean right has brought a new stage for the country, but it would be risky to affirm, by way of definitive conclusion, that the new president was its natural result .

To recapitulate, the social outbreak of October 2019, whose main symbol was the Plaza de la Dignidad, catapulted Boric to the Palacio de La Moneda, in the midst of a turn towards the "independents" and a high abstention, called "structural " by some, which marked both the election of the Constituent Assembly and the presidential dispute against José Antonio Kast.

The mention of the outbreak is not gratuitous because, indisputably, the projection of Boric, which began in 2011 as a student leader and later as a deputy, definitively matured in that severely repressed protest process, where Aunt Pikachu and Sensual Spiderman , two activists dressed as said characters, represented the cultural framework of the movement.

But the coincidence with the symbolic layer of the cycle of protests was not only intuitive or generational. Boric, when he jumped into institutional politics, had within his system of references the experience of Podemos in Spain, and particularly Íñigo Errejón, responsible for dividing the Spanish left in an attack of ego and narcissism , which was the previous step to found a green party, in line with the European environmental current.

That the ideological compass and the intellectual sources of the new president are in Europe allows Eugenio Tironi, professor at the Catholic University, to equate Boric with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, iconic leader of the French May. "Boric would be a corrected version of Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who does May '68 in 2011 and instead of going to a hippie community, creates a party," says Tironi.

In August 2019, a few weeks before Santiago de Chile was set on fire, Boric tweeted the following from his personal account:


The logical result of drinking from the debates, intellectual sources and political references that are fashionable in Europe, is that Boric understands politics and the left from their falsely universal coordinates. For this reason, his rhetoric against Venezuela has been limited to topics such as democracy and human rights, artificially presented from a perspective of fixed, immovable, unchangeable values ​​and, above all, not subject to manipulation.

With the prodigious record of punitive interventions and neocolonial wars in the name, precisely, of democracy and human rights, one should start from a place of minimal suspicion when addressing these terms. But, for Boric, they represent abstract values ​​of automatic, "universal" affiliation, with which he injects oxygen into the Western war machine, which finds in a more "modern" and "up-to-date" left an area of ​​new justifications to continue pressing to Venezuela, taking advantage of the "two-way consensus", on the right and on the left.

The United States Department of State rubs its hands listening and reading Boric.

The Errejón thing is not an accessory fact. Compared ad nauseam to Milhouse from The Simpsons , the founder of Podemos immersed himself in the Peronist debate when he was in Argentina and, in an intellectual fraud maneuver, reintroduced some of his codes in Spain. His lack of honesty led him to believe that it was possible to import political concepts and tactics without taking into account that the Peronist theses, like Maradona, are exclusively Argentine phenomena, therefore, irreproducible in a different context.

This intellectual mess has caused the left to take the path of conflicts of interest and recognition through identities, abandoning the class struggle and the dispute over the material base of societies, increasingly absorbed by the disintegrating dynamics of capitalism. late.

To hold Errejón responsible for this would be to give him too much credit, even though he is part of the president's intellectual edifice in a country of almost 20 million people.

Mark Lilla, a renowned American specialist in the study of identity politics, argues that the road began to go hopelessly crooked in the 1960s, when the progressive left stopped grouping together people from the working class and agricultural communities, to focus solely on the universities. Errejón and, by elevation, Boric, are part of this drift.

"Today's activists and leaders are educated almost exclusively in colleges and universities […] especially at the elite level, they are largely socially and geographically separated from the rest of the country," says Lilla, situating her analysis in her area of ​​expertise. : U.S.

Another piece of information of interest provided by Lilla is the ideological charge transmitted by the generation of the 60s to which it would take over, which encouraged "young people to turn to themselves, instead of turning them towards the wider world they share with others".

Gradually, Lilla recounts, common causes lost vigor and appeal, and "the conviction took root that the most significant movements for oneself are […] about oneself," because "political activity must have some authentic meaning for oneself." the self", for the sake of fulfilling "the limited objective of understanding and affirming what one already is".

In this flight towards the self, in the words of Hannah Arendt, who traced the current drift of the left, the French May had a cardinal importance. Diego Sequera rightly calls it the first color revolution, due to its movementist character focused on cultural expressiveness and its disintegrating character under a cool umbrella of false debauchery. Starting in the 1960s, as Gregory Leffel assertsinterpreting Lilla himself and the philosopher William Desmond, there was a "revolution of consciousness" that provoked a new look at politics and culture: the totality centered on material conflict, the great groupings of class and nation, the great demands of social transformation, justice and equity, lost ground in the face of an artificial concern around the self, where subjectivities and the recognition of minorities became the cards to play on the field of play.

This process would not have had the impact it had on the formation of our immediate present were it not for the intellectual current led by Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, the Frankfurt School, among others, for whom the focus on individuality , in the peripheral oppressions and their "flight lines" were a way of resistance to capitalist totalization. They did not see, however, that the post-Fordist reformulation of neoliberal capitalism would take them at their word and restructure its operation on the basis of the most harmful individualized consumerism, where personal reaffirmations, in a controlled market of identities, strengthen the control of the system.

It was not gratuitous, an aside, that the CIA promoted Foucault's thought to create a negative opinion against communism.

From this moment we can understand the origin of the political vocabulary that marks our current situation. Intersectionality, fluidity, performativity, among others, are the marks of an era where the left has lost contact with reality, given that the abstract academic debate and the obsessive use of Big Data simulate a coherent mediation with society.

In his magisterial essay The Left and the Politics of Identity , the British historian Eric Hobsbawm warned of the risks that assuming identity politics as a strategic program and intellectual figurehead would bring to the Left. One of the problems that Hobsbawm detected is that "most collective identities are more like a shirt than skin, that is, they are, at least in theory, optional, not inescapable. And he also assumes, for Of course, you have to get rid of the others because they are incompatible with your true self.

The practical result of identity politics, in the light of this analysis, is the permanent competition for quotas of institutional or cultural representation, where the accumulation of status, prestige and recognition is mediated by the very mediations of the cultural sphere of capitalism. Division and fragmentation are encouraged, since the bonds of solidarity between struggle agendas would be more portable, circumstantial, since what is really important is to meet the demands of each group. Once exhausted, the identity withdraws into the private sphere to become an object of consumption.

But the problems that arise from this are also tactical. As the historian points out:

"Since the 1970s, there has been a tendency, a growing tendency, to see the left as essentially a coalition of minority groups and interests: of race, gender, sexual preference, or other cultural preferences and lifestyles, and even of minorities. [...] A very understandable trend, but dangerous, and more so to the extent that conquering majorities is not equivalent to adding minorities".

Apparently we are in the presence of the climax of what Hobsbawm warned about with concern when he published his essay in 1996, where identity politics has paralleled the same globalizing dynamic of capitalism. The war for resources, the dominance of corporations, but also the vocabulary and forms and methods of a Western left that betrayed humanity have been globalized.

It is not about falling into the reduction to absurdity of assuming that, in the Chilean context or another, the struggle of gender, indigenous, environmental, and others, carry in their nature a negative attribute. It is rather the opposite: the identity politics carried out by the current left reinforces the isolation of these causes, turns them into ends in themselves, reduces their political potential to maneuvers of recognition and creates growing tensions for quotas of protagonism in the institutional and media landscape.

In this setting, Boric's speech upon victory over Kast is an interesting map of coordinates. The Chilean professor Grínor Rojo tries to capture the essential end of it, and emphasizes attributes that distance it from Allende's discourse, such as the emphasis on the difference and diversity of Chile. Beyond the sea of ​​contradictions in the text and the cascade of theoretical references used, Rojo interprets a master line that foreshadows the path that Boric will take:

"In short: the task that the conceptual background of Boric's speech is announcing and that he will try to implement is clear and correct: unite the national community, but without putting it in a straitjacket. Not even in a shirt of ultra-left force (the one that puts the working class or the entire people at the center and affirms that any identity other than that is inadmissible) much less one of the ultra-right, for which differences do not exist either".

Perhaps without knowing it, Rojo confesses that Boric is decidedly far from that supposedly old-fashioned vision that sees Chile as a whole people, so he will focus on the lines that separate it. For a Boric shaped by the identitarian left, the image of the diverse, with its emphasis on difference, became more interesting, cool and attractive than the ordinary.

The substitution of the material and class axis for spectacularity and symbolic artifice can be a winning bet given the level of normalization of the identity obsession. Without having even achieved a real transformation in the conditions of such extreme inequality that the country is experiencing , Boric has already received applause for the gender parity in his cabinet and for his weighted tone and openness to multiple sectors.

There is no question that these are significant advances. But what is causing concern is that decisions in this direction are trying to be imposed as the only method of validating a ruler within that broad field that is the left and progressivism.

Venezuela, with a hybrid war of a nuclear power in tow, enduring unprecedented and growing pressure for years, is now trying to be blurred by a Boric who has not seen death head-on with an artillery drone, nor an arrest warrant for 15 million of dollars for capturing and murdering you or the dissolution of the treasury of the Republic that you manage due to an economic blockade.

Boric bets on identity politics because there he can obtain media triumphs and gain audience, support and prestige, according to the current mediocre guidelines, without fighting on the ground of a real war, as has happened to Maduro, who has had lose the good publicity of representing a "modern and democratic left" in exchange for keeping an entire country afloat.

Returning to the above, Pamela Figueroa in an extensive article in the Nueva Sociedad magazine considers that the "diversity" of Chilean society can only be seen from the identity filter:

"This plurality [that of the cabinet] is notorious in the face of the predominant presence of male lawyers or engineers in previous governments. Sexual diversity is also present, with two representatives of the LGTBI community. It is a cabinet that is more like the diversity of Chilean society".

Under a criterion of superficiality, Figueroa's thesis would be correct. However, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics, 70% of Chilean household income comes from wages and salaries, 89.1% of workers and workers work 40 hours or more a week and more 70% of the workforce with salaries ranging between 288,000 and 1 million pesos, well below the average family spending .

Other data shows that in 34% of the companies where there are established unions there is harassment for being a member, in addition to workplace harassment and obstacles to membership.

The material landscape refutes Figueroa's thesis. The data shows a country compacted between suffering and precariousness. The lines of separation that are drawn are purely ideological and the product of academic concerns.

In his first interview with a foreign media after winning the elections (the BBC), Boric revealed the reflections of what was previously mentioned regarding identitarianism. When asked about the skills and competencies that a president should have, Boric stated:

"I have been forming the conviction that a good president is not the one who is busiest, is not the one who has more papers around him. A good president is the one who has the ability to listen, to be open to new ideas, even if they don't come from your innermost circle".

It is hard to know if Boric took on the challenge of driving a country, first, to feel good about himself.

In the same interview, he stated that he would not wear a tie for the change of command because it would betray his essence. He indicated that it is difficult for him to assimilate that he directs a presidential institution (part of the fact that it is idealized), that he aspires to leave office with less power with which he arrived and reaffirmed his good harmony with Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron regarding climate change.

He affirmed that "first one makes cultural changes before having the opportunity to direct them", incurring the error that there can be a transformation in that plane without conquering a solid social majority and achieving verifiable achievements in the distribution of wealth.

It is the turn of the Chilean economic elite to rub their hands, knowing that they have a wide margin of concessions and stabilization without seeing their real power privileges disturbed. As Boric said, "I don't expect them to agree with me, but I do expect them to stop being afraid of us."

To finish, it is obvious that Boric plays the card of attacking Venezuela to argue with the most left wing of his government, whose support for the process has been maintained. In this way, it creates polemics indirectly, tries to limit the margin of action of those most committed to the change agenda, but avoids the trouble of doing so on programmatic issues.

However, Boric's intellectual framework and understanding of the world is inseparable from his position against Venezuela in his first statements as elected president.

In short, its proximity to Europe is the cause of its distance from the Venezuelan process, and its delirium over forms and identities collides with a country that fights for its future and immediate survival from the concepts of class, nation and homeland, whose heritage continues to be a source of preservation and adaptation.

The commitment to tradition continues to save us from the confusion of novelty, which corresponds to the world of merchandise and consumption.

And it is normal that this accumulation of values ​​makes noise to someone who, for now, and very unlike us, has very little to prove.

https://misionverdad.com/opinion/gabrie ... an-contado

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 07, 2022 3:23 pm

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New ‘Pink Tide’ Lacks Necessary Unity
February 4, 2022
By George Tsolakis – Jan 29, 2022

Following victories for social-democratic candidates in Peru’s, Honduras’ and Chile’s presidential elections, the new ‘Pink Tide’ appears to be taking shape. The governments of those countries, join Mexico, Bolivia and Argentina along with the revolutionary socialist governments in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, to demonstrate that the Latin American people continue to resist neoliberal subjugation and neocolonial interference. With the prospect of Lula returning to power in Brazil and in light of this leftist surge across the continent, regional unity in the face of neocolonialism, is imperative but sadly lacking.

There seems to be a divide between the social-democratic and revolutionary socialist governments of the region. Whatever the legitimate differences among the political parties belonging to the ‘Broad Church’ São Paulo Forum, divisive remarks expressed publicly will be exploited by imperialist and local reactionist forces who have always sought to undermine the unity of popular movements. Clearly depicted in Gabriel Boric’s long-standing views with regard to Cuba, Bolivarian Venezuela and Sandinista Nicaragua, are such remarks. Chile’s president-elect recently reiterated that regarding the governments of these ALBA countries, they have essentially “failed”. While there is a point to be made that various challenges exist in those places, Boric made no mention of the hybrid wars that include all kinds of unconventional and coercive warfare including crippling economic sanctions against the people of all three of the above-stated countries, by the United States and its close allies. He then bluntly dismissed the possibility of engaging with either of the three besieged countries.

Furthermore, Boric’s appointment of Antonia Urrejola as Chile’s minister of foreign affairs has raised eyebrows. Urrejola had been head of a human rights commission working for former Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, during whose term the Honduran government headed by Manuel Zelaya was overthrown by a right-wing coup in 2009, and the year before, there was an unsuccessful coup attempt against Bolivia’s Evo Morales. In both cases the OAS did little to avert the reactionist coups, and Urrejola never publicly spoke out against them. Similarly, she has never taken a stand against the human rights violations committed by the right-wing government of Iván Duque in Colombia and even that of Piñera in her own country.

In terms of neoliberalism infiltrating the region, foreign investors should be panicking about the ‘Pink Tide’, not being reassured of “responsible economic management” by Peru’s new president Pedro Castillo. In this case, “responsible economic management” is nothing more than a euphemism for ensuring Global South economies are held hostage to the private capital of a few. With such a statement, is Castillo implying that Cuba, or perhaps Venezuela, Nicaragua and to an extent Bolivia, follow “irresponsible” economic policies by attempting to serve their people first by undertaking nationalisation and refusing to allow their economies to fall in the hands of private capital?

As illustrated above, any progressive Central or South American government may have the U.S. turn against it for not serving its imperial interests at some point in time. The Empire maintains its age-old neocolonial delusion of viewing Latin America as its “backyard” (or “frontyard” alike), a continent in which it can intervene through sponsoring coups or likewise soft coups, undermining national sovereignty. As recently as 2019, the U.S. openly supported the coup in Bolivia that brought to power a neofascist regime that carried out massacres against peaceful protesters and grossly mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic. The soft coup had ousted the democratically elected government of Evo Morales in Bolivia, on the basis of lawfare tactics involving baseless allegations of electoral fraud. Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism was part of a wave of decolonisation across Latin America, enshrining indigenous rights, redistributing wealth and nationalising key industries. His popular policy of nationalisation in particular, drew the indignation of the U.S. government, the corporate world and its press who function as the ideological “shock troops” against any leftist government in the continent.

Imperialism is a bit like the COVID-19 pandemic. No one is safe from it until everyone is safe from it. In order to best defend national sovereignty and improve regional integration through international blocs such as CELAC, unity between all the leftist governments in Latin America will be necessary moving forward.

https://orinocotribune.com/new-pink-tid ... ary-unity/

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Argentina: An Agreement of More Submission
February 6, 2022
By Carlos Aznárez and Roberto Perdía – Jan 30, 2022

On Friday last week, President Alberto Fernández announced the new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by which he set the will of his government to extend the payment of the debts contracted by former right wing President Macri, and agreed to a series of commitments with the international financial organization where the US has the leading voice.

Since our incorporation into the IMF in 1956, this is the 22nd agreement, and in all of them there are mutual commitments to “lay the foundations for a sustained development”.

In none of the previous 21 agreements was this fulfilled. A disturbing question comes to mind: If it has never been achieved so far, why would it be achieved with this agreement? Could it be because now the “Peronist grandfather” Joe Biden is governing (as some officials here consider him to be) or because the IMF has “become better?” We have another, cruder, simpler and more logical answer: They are trying to find justification for what they have done, a new infamy and a betrayal of the Homeland.

The odious debt: illegitimate, illegal and fraudulent

The popular movement has always questioned the foreign debt, particularly the one taken after the 1976 coup d’état. It was this debt that led to a ruling by Federal Judge Jorge Ballesteros, who described it as illegitimate, illegal and fraudulent, and referred it to Parliament for it to take the necessary measures. What the parliament did was to scrupulously take care of the enemies’ interests, ensuring that nothing was investigated, that the debt was paid back, and that nobody was punished.

After the “argentinazo” of December 19 and 20, 2001, Adolfo Rodríguez Saa took office and announced before the Legislative Assembly the suspension of the debt until it was investigated. A couple of days later the president was abandoned by his own party and colleagues, and being cornered by the forces of economic power, he resigned. For the enemies of the people… things went back to where they should be.

Years went by, and there were agreements, payments, write-offs, swaps and other mechanisms that were the instruments of successive failures and of our progressive and growing decadence.

Macri made a leap in that relationship by receiving a “loan” for $57 billion, $44 billion of which arrived and is now the subject of debate. This “loan,” in addition to violating our laws, was made against the IMF’s own provisions. The payments that have already been made and this most recent agreement reaffirm this swindle, of which those who are responsible are known—the ones who contracted it and those who now validate it, over and above its insurmountable nullities.

Commitments agreed to

Without knowing yet the fine print of this agreement and with some rough outlines of the commitments to which the government agreed, we can get an idea of the course decided by the government.

A control of monetary emission means intervention in the functioning of the Central Bank; public expenditure will be subject to quarterly controls; salary and pension raises must respect fiscal goals; the narrowing of the exchange rate gap so that it does not exceed 30% opens the way to devaluation; demand for the elimination of the fiscal deficit in three years; demand for the continuity of the payment to banks of LELIQs and other financial institutions, with rates higher than inflation, which ensures bank profits, exactly what Alberto Fernández had assured to reduce in order to increase the payments to pensioners.

Consequences of the agreement

After a brief period of respite, the country’s economy will be trapped in the traditional “conditionalities” imposed by the IMF. They will lead to our submission, the stagnation of the nation and the poverty of the people. Our common goods, known as natural resources, are the guarantee for the fulfillment of the debt, because that is where the dollars are “generated” that the government needs to pay.

The extractivist plundering and the attack on the social ecology are the direct and immediate consequence of this agreement.

The political consequences of this agreement will be felt.

This agreement, like so many others, will not be fulfilled soon. Beyond some transitory advantages, the program arising from the IMF’s tutelage will suffer the same fate as the previous ones.

Ignoring our long history in this respect, its effects will fall on the backs of our people and will mark the destiny of the current government.

The agreement by the “soft ones” led by the president is accompanied by the “hard ones” such as the vice president and most of the parliamentary opposition. Their differences and “cracks” do not reach these really important issues.

The unions and pro-government social organizations run the risk of mortgaging their future by supporting this agreement.

An urgent response: Unity and its banners
The ruling party, the partiocratic opposition, the economic forces of power and the press at the service of these sectors have constituted themselves into a SINGLE DEBT PARTY.

The governing party, the trade unions and the social organizations that support it must know that they will be branded with fire as the ones responsible for trying to whitewash an odious debt and an illegal payment. The historical weight of this surrender will fall on them. The legislators still have the historic opportunity of not validating with their vote the approval of this shameful submission.

To the historic enemies of the people, we only say that they should reflect on this behavior that—if confirmed—anticipates dark and dangerous times for the whole country.

As active members of the political and social organization OLP-Resistir y Luchar, we emphasize: In the face of such an aggression against the people, the maximum possible people’s unity must rise up. We must not be fooled into thinking that Macri can return. Macri is already back, he is in this agreement.

The debt and this agreement are the instruments to get us into prolonged debt, to dominate us and to take control of our natural resources for several decades.

The necessary unity has to consolidate itselft and gather all the forces in a Front against the IMF and extractivism.

Featured image: Demonstration against the IMF in Buenos Aires, on May 25, 2021. Photo: Gaston Neck (Wikimedia)

(Resumen Latinoamericano – English)


https://orinocotribune.com/argentina-an ... ubmission/

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Trapped in IMF debt, Argentina turns to Russia and joins China’s Belt & Road

Argentina is trapped in $44 billion of IMF odious debt taken on by corrupt right-wing regimes. Seeking alternatives to US hegemony, President Alberto Fernández traveled to Russia and China, forming an alliance with the Eurasian powers, joining the Belt and Road Initiative.


ByBenjamin NortonPublished21 hours ago

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Argentina China Russia belt and roadArgentina's President Alberto Fernández meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping in February 2022

The United States constantly intervenes in the internal affairs of Latin America, organizing coups d’etat, destabilizing independent governments, trapping nations in debt, and imposing sanctions. Washington sees the region as its own property, with President Joe Biden referring to it this January as “America’s front yard.”

Seeking alternatives to US hegemony, progressive governments in Latin America have increasingly looked across the ocean to form alliances with China and Russia.

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández did exactly that this February, taking historic trips to Beijing and Moscow to meet with his counterparts Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

Fernández signed a series of strategic agreements, officially incorporating Argentina into Beijing’s international Belt and Road Initiative, while expanding economic partnerships with the Eurasian powers and telling Moscow that Argentina “should be the door to enter” Latin America.

China offered $23.7 billion in funding for infrastructure projects and investments in Argentina’s economy.

In the meetings, Fernández also asked for Argentina to join the BRICS framework, alongside Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Xi and Putin reportedly both agreed.

“I am consistently working to rid Argentina of this dependence on the IMF and the US,” Fernández explained. “I want Argentina to open up new opportunities.”

The Argentine president’s comments and meetings with Putin and Xi reportedly angered the US government.

Argentina is trapped in odious debt with the US-controlled IMF

Argentina is a Latin American powerhouse, with significant natural resources and the third-largest economy in the region (after Brazil and Mexico, both of which have significantly larger populations).

But Argentina’s development has often been weighed down by debt traps imposed from abroad, resulting in frequent economic crises, cycles of high inflation, and currency devaluations.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) – a de facto economic arm of the United States, over which Washington alone has veto power – has significant control over Argentina, having trapped the nation in huge sums of odious debt.

In 2018, Argentina’s right-wing President Mauricio Macri requested the largest loan in the history of the IMF: a staggering $57.1 billion bailout.

Macri was notorious for his corruption, and this was no secret at the time. By agreeing to give such an enormous sum of money to Macri’s scandal-plagued government, the IMF knew it was ensnaring Argentina in debt it would not be able to pay off. But this was far from the first time the US-dominated financial instrument had trapped Argentina in odious debt.

In December 2021, the IMF published an internal report admitting that the 2018 bailout completely failed to stabilize Argentina’s economy.

But when Argentina’s center-left President Alberto Fernández entered office in December 2019, his country was ensnared in $44.5 billion in debt from this bailout that the IMF itself admitted was a total failure. ($44.5 billion of the $57.1 billion loan had already been disbursed, and Fernández cancelled the rest.)

The Argentine government has tried to renegotiate the debt, but in order to do so the IMF has imposed conditions that severely restrict the nation’s sovereignty – such as appointing a British economist who “will virtually be the new economic minister,” acting as a kind of “co-government,” warned prominent diplomat Alicia Castro.

Seeking ways around these US debt traps, Fernández decided this February to turn to the two rising Eurasian superpowers.

Argentine President Fernández travels to Russia to meet with Putin
On February 3, Argentine President Alberto Fernández travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

“I’m certain Argentina has to stop being so dependent on the [International Monetary] Fund and the United States, and has to open up to other places, and that is where it seems to me that Russia has a very important place,” Fernández said, explaining his motivation for the trip.


Fernández added that, for Russia, Argentina “should be the door to enter” the region, telling Putin, “We could be a venue for the development of your cooperation with Latin American nations.”

The two leaders discussed Russian investment in the Argentine economy, trade, railroad construction, and energy technology.

Fernández also thanked Moscow for collaborating with his country in the production of its Sputnik V covid-19 vaccine. Argentina was the first country in the western hemisphere to do so.

The Argentine president even pointed out in their meeting that he has received three doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. Putin added, “Me too.”

Putin said the two countries agree on many issues, calling Argentina “one of Russia’s key partners in Latin America.”


Argentine President Fernández travels to China to meet with Xi

Just three days after meeting with Putin, President Alberto Fernández travelled to China on February 6 to meet with President Xi Jinping.

In this historic trip, Argentina officially joined Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, a massive global infrastructure program.

Fernández and other top Argentine officials signed agreements for $23.7 billion in Chinese financing, including investments and infrastructure projects.

The funding will be disbursed in two parts: one, which is already approved, will provide Argentina with $14 billion for 10 infrastructure projects; the second, for $9.7 billion, will finance the South American nation’s integration into the Belt and Road.

There are three joint Chinese-Argentine projects that were reportedly at the top of Fernández’s list: creating 5G networks, developing Argentina’s lithium industry, and building the Atucha III nuclear power plant.


Fernández also discussed plans for Argentina to produce China’s Sinopharm covid-19 vaccine, in addition to Russia’s Sputnik V.

Argentina and China signed a comprehensive memorandum of understanding, including 13 documents for cooperation in areas such as green energy, technology, education, agriculture, communication, and nuclear energy.

Fernández and Xi discussed ways to “strengthen relations of political, commercial, economic, scientific, and cultural cooperation between both countries,” according to an Argentine government readout of the meeting.

The two leaders apparently hit it off very well, with Fernández telling Xi, “If you were Argentine, you would be a Peronist.”


Argentina’s incorporation into the Belt and Road comes mere weeks after Nicaragua joined the initiative in January, and Cuba in December.

Latin America’s growing links with China and Russia show how the increasingly multipolar international system offers countries in the Global South new potential allies who can serve as bulwarks against and alternatives to Washington’s hegemony.

While right-wing leaders in Latin America keep looking north to the United States as their political compass, progressive governments are reaching across the ocean to the Eurasian powers of China, Russia, and Iran, building new international alliances that weaken Washington’s geopolitical grip over a region that the US president still insists is its “front yard.”

https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/06/i ... belt-road/

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The Siege of El Estor: Resistance to the Continuation of an Extractive and Repressive Neoliberal Status Quo in Guatemala
February 6, 2022
By Ben Gutman – Feb 1, 2022

First-hand reporting and analysis of the Maya Q’eqchi’ resistance movement against multinational corporate exploitation and in defense of land, nature, and the inalienable right to exist.

As we drove north from Cobán towards Chisec in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz, my comrade, a local organizer, began pointing out the different Maya Q’eqchi’ communities and describing their ongoing struggles. Some villages are under siege by the government for refusing to vacate their lands. These besieged communities targeted by mass arrest orders are denied freedom of movement as community members who venture outside their village risk kidnapping and arbitrary detention by police and military. Within other communities, fierce conflict has erupted between neighbors and family members, some of whom have been paid off by oligarchic landowners or “finqueros” to sow chaos and facilitate an eventual mass eviction. Other villages no longer exist. Only the burned out frames of former houses remain following the violent removal of all residents. Our final destination was Monte Olivo, an indigenous Q’eqchi’ village that has continued to defend its land and the local Dolores River from oligarch-funded paramilitary attacks and state-sponsored terrorism for decades.

In the case of Monte Olivo, such attacks are carried out to repress and displace indigenous land defenders on behalf of Guatemalan oligarchs and Western governments financing the Santa Rita hydroelectric project. Since its inception in 2008 by the Santa Rita Hydroelectric Company (owned and operated by the Guatemalan oligarchic López-Roesch family of German origin), the project has been plagued by open conflict with the local population. In 2012, this UN-sponsored endeavor gained nearly 50 percent of its capital investment from the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank in addition to funds provided by the New York-based $100 million private equity fund, the Latin Renewables Infrastructure Fund (LRIF). The LRIF’s investment sources included the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the German Development Bank (KfW), the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets, and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. For these international “development” institutions and corporate interests, the profits from exploitative mining, hydroelectric projects, and invasive export crops like African Palm are worth the brutal repression of indigenous Guatemalans whose subjugation to extreme violence has been endemic for some time.

A legacy of foreign intervention and the demolition of Guatemalan democracy

After centuries of genocidal colonial exploitation the 1944 Guatemalan popular uprising sparked a major shift towards inclusivity and egalitarianism. This “October Revolution” toppled a U.S.-backed military junta and brought an end to decades of repressive dictatorship led by General Jorge Ubico, a close ally of the United Fruit Company (UFC), who served the interests of wealthy landowners and compared himself to Adolf Hitler. After the second revolutionary president Jacobo Árbenz enacted Decree 900, a 1952 agrarian reform law that benefited approximately 500,000 peasant and indigenous Guatemalans to the detriment of the UFC, the CIA (led by UFC board member Allen Dulles) launched Operation PBFORTUNE, the precursor to the 1954 Operation PBSUCCESS which violently toppled the Árbenz government in the United States’ first Latin American Cold War intervention.

While visiting two political prisoners being held in the Cobán jail, one of the men told me that his imprisonment was the result of a legacy of violence and corruption unleashed by the 1954 CIA coup. Indeed, violence was directly facilitated by foreign powers, particularly the United States and Israel, during the 36-year internal conflict and genocide in Guatemala (1960-1996). More than 80 percent of all victims were indigenous Maya civilians and 93 percent of all killings were carried out by military forces, according to the United Nations-backed truth commission. December 29, 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of a peace accord that brought an end to the internal conflict, but “if any peace prevails in Guatemala, it is a peace resembling war.”

Resistance in the face of corporate exploitation and extreme state-sanctioned violence

The environmentally destructive Fenix nickel mine in El Estor has operated under the ownership of four different international mining companies since 1964 and is currently illegally run by the Guatemalan Nickel Company (GNC), a subsidiary of the Swiss-based Solway Investment Group. Since its arrival in 2011, Solway has consistently used violence and intimidation in an attempt to silence local opposition to the mine. As a result of the continuation of mining operations despite its ordered suspension by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court, on October 4, 2021 the ancestral authority known as the four Q’eqchi’ Councils in the municipality of El Estor in the Izabal department declared a formal state of resistance against the mine and the corporate cultivation of African Palm oil on indigenous territory. After 17 days of peaceful resistance following the October 4 declaration, the National Civil Police (PNC) forcefully evicted a community encampment created to block the passage of mining materials to the Fenix mine. Shortly thereafter, the Government of Guatemala declared the second state of siege in El Estor within the past 14 months, passing Decree 9-2021, which allowed for the mobilization of 500 soldiers and 350 PNC to crack down on “civil unrest” and “restore order and public security”. Months of state-sponsored terror has ensued.

The Convergence for Human Rights Coalition has reported disproportionate use of force by police, soldiers, and agents of the Public Ministry against the community and journalists including the use of tear gas against women and children, physical attacks, illegal detention, and destruction of property. In early December when I was in Cobán, I spoke with a journalist returning from El Estor who said he was repeatedly harassed, detained, and assaulted by police and military. I also spoke with a community leader and former political prisoner from El Estor who claimed that more than 50 community members had been killed since the siege began including by being run over by military vehicles.

After a paramilitary group burned down Q’eqchi’ homes outside El Estor and police evicted the remaining villagers to clear land for the NaturAceites African palm company, viral videos sparked nine U.S. congressional representatives to release a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging for the evaluation of “U.S. support and training for the Guatemalan police and military.” The letter makes clear the significant possibility that U.S. military equipment, including vehicles, Pegasus software and biometric data sharing technology, are being used to surveil and target indigenous and political opposition leaders in Guatemala.

Ending a vicious cycle: U.S. security funding & neoliberal development, repression, displacement, forced migration, and repeat
In June 2021, Vice president Kamala Harris traveled to Guatemala to tell the Guatemalan people not to come to the United States with assurances of addressing the “root cause” of migration. However, it is abundantly clear that this was a perverse cooptation of progressive terminology as the Biden administration intends to do the exact opposite. Harris has translated policy advice from Wall Street and Big Tech into a continuation of neocolonial exploitation in Central America through $1.2 billion in private sector investment from some of the world’s most egregious human rights violators like the Cargill corporation. Cargill’s top palm oil supplier Wilmar International Limited, has been implicated in acts of violence, intimidation, and home demolition in Indonesia that mirror the violent evictions carried out on behalf of the NaturAceites African palm company near El Estor.

In coordination with Harris’s “public-private partnership” publicized as the “Call to Action” for Central America, an “independent” NGO, the “Partnership for Central America (PFCA)”, which partners “closely with the U.S. State Department”, also announced “significant commitments to address the root causes of migration”. The PFCA’s board of directors includes Klaus Schwab, the Founder & Executive Chairman of the elite Davos-based World Economic Forum, who openly advocates for a “Great Reset” towards a system of global technocracy based on stakeholder capitalism. Representatives from other predatory capitalist institutions on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley include the Executive Chairman of Mastercard Ajay Banga and the President of Microsoft Brad Smith. From 2010-2019, Microsoft made $14.6 million from contracts with ICE. A little more than a year after 300 Microsoft employees signed a letter calling on the company to cancel these contracts in the midst of Trump’s family separation policy, Microsoft-owned Git Hub renewed a $200,000 ICE contract.

Claims that militarized “smart” borders, private sector investment, and a continuation of the neoliberal development model will deter migration are thoroughly contested by decades of repression, displacement, and forced migration experienced in indigenous communities like Monte Olivo and El Estor. Until this development and security model is dismantled and indigenous and peasant communities are allowed to work the land of their ancestors in peace, the violent status quo will continue in perpetuity. For individuals seeking ways to challenge this status quo, standing in solidarity with indigenous communities defending their land and the environment throughout the Americas should be a top priority.

Ben Gutman is pursuing a MA in Global Communication, specializing in Latin American politics and social movements, at the George Washington University. He received his BA in Political Economy with a minor in Global Poverty and Practice from UC Berkeley. He can be contacted at gutmanbm@gwu.edu.

Featured image: Thousands of members of the Army, the National Civil Police (PNC), the Navy and the Air Force, impose a state of siege in El Estor, against the civilian population demanding their rights. Photo: Telesur.


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A Map of Latin America’s Present: An Interview with Héctor Béjar
FEBRUARY 7, 2022
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Dossier no. 49

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Túlio Carapiá and Clara Cerqueira (Brazil), Fruits of the Earth, 2020.
In the midst of the pandemic, 162 artists from 30 countries and 27 organisations contributed to the Anti-Imperialist Poster Exhibitions. They responded to a series of open calls to make posters that give expressions to four defining concepts of our time: capitalism, neoliberalism, imperialism, and hybrid war. It was an experimental process, jointly organised by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the International Week of Anti-Imperialist Struggle. To illustrate this dossier, we highlight some work of artists from the Americas who contributed to the process.
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Lizzie Suarez (United States), Abolish Neoliberalism, Resist Imperialism, 2020.


Introduction

Four emblematic coups have now been substantially reversed: Chile (1973), Peru (1992), Honduras (2009), and Bolivia (2019). Each of these coups was driven by political forces of the far right backed by the military and by the United States government. Presidents Gabriel Boric of Chile, Xiomara Castro of Honduras, Luis Arce of Bolivia, and Pedro Castillo of Peru join a range of presidents who represent political forces of the left. Each of them fought electoral campaigns against nasty, fascistic political forces with close ties to the United States government. It was clear that Washington wanted to see these fascists in power to advance its agenda of squeezing the left across Latin America. But Arce, Castillo, Castro, and Boric emerged victorious based on broad coalitions of workers and peasants, the impoverished urban precariat, and the declining middle class. Mass mobilisations defined their electoral campaigns from the highlands of Bolivia to the Caribbean lowlands of Honduras.

The Fraying of Neoliberalism

Chile became the laboratory for neoliberal policy after the coup led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the socialist project of President Salvador Allende in 1973. Pinochet brought in a group of free-market economists called the Chicago Boys to hastily give US-based multinational companies the best deal possible (particularly for Chilean copper), to allow the Chilean oligarchy to have an extended tax holiday, and to privatise most essential public services and programmes (including pensions). What enabled the Pinochet coup regime to last till 1990 was the brute force inflicted on organised labour and socialist sectors as well as reasonably high copper prices. The turn to democracy after 1990 was managed by an agreement amongst liberals called the Concertación not to dismantle the neoliberal project, but merely to have the army withdraw to the barracks.

The surrender of liberals to Pinochet-era policies was not simply a Chilean phenomenon. The Third World debt crisis in the 1980s and the demise of the USSR in 1991 throttled the ability even of left forces to propose any new socialist project. It was in this period that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) became an important player in Latin American politics, pushing austerity regimes upon societies that had no capacity to tolerate public sector cuts as a condition to access financing. When the IMF demanded austerity in Peru in the early 1990s, right-wing President Alberto Fujimori dismantled Congress and the judiciary and seized power (known as a self-coup). No such coup was necessary in other countries in the region, largely because liberals in these countries conceded to IMF policies without a nudge. A few months before Fujimori’s self-coup, Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez adopted the IMF package with deep cuts in fuel subsidies at its heart. This package resulted in a mass uprising, the Caracazo, which inspired a young military officer by the name of Hugo Chávez to enter political life. The young Chávez was seized by the violence that Pérez used to discipline the population into IMF austerity.

Chávez spoke not only for the Venezuelan people when he decided to run for the presidency in 1998; his voice carried down to Patagonia and up to the Mexico-US border. He unapologetically condemned neoliberalism, which he considered to be a policy of mass starvation. Chávez’s electoral victory on an anti-neoliberalism platform and his articulation of a continent-wide Bolivarian policy of unity – named after the great liberator of Spanish America Simón Bolívar – inspired a range of political forces across Latin America and the Caribbean. It is remarkable how quickly countries in the region elected left political formations in the years that followed: Haiti (2000), Argentina (2003), Brazil (2002), Uruguay (2004), Bolivia (2005), Honduras (2005), Ecuador (2006), Nicaragua (2006), Guatemala (2007), Paraguay (2008), and El Salvador (2009). Although these formations were not all as far to the left as Chávez and the Cuban Revolution, they certainly began to open new directions out of a frayed neoliberalism. The combination of the US illegal war on Iraq (2003), the global financial crisis (2007–08), and the general fragility of US global power provided the international context for the rise of what was called the Pink Tide.

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Hiroto Morais (Brazil), Hybrid War Against Nossa América (‘Our America’), 2020.

A Season of Hybrid Wars

The fragility of US hegemony did not mean that the United States would allow these projects to develop without a challenge in what it has claimed as its ‘backyard’ since the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. The first salvo against the Pink Tide took place in Haiti, where President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was removed by a vicious coup in 2004 (he had previously experienced a US-backed coup in 1991 but returned to power in 1994). Aristide was effectively kidnapped by the US, France, and Canada and sent off to South Africa while the authorities in the country conducted a purge of his political allies.

The US coup against Aristide was followed five years later by a coup against the Honduran presidency of the liberal Manuel Zelaya, who was violently removed from office and sent off to the Dominican Republic. These coups came alongside a quieter and harsher strategy of hybrid war, through which the United States joined forces with the right-wing oligarchy of Latin America to use economic war, diplomatic war, communication war, and a series of other hostile acts to isolate and damage their adversaries.

The techniques of hybrid warfare had already been developed against Cuba since the 1960s: attempted isolation by excluding Cuba from the Organisation of American States in 1962 (with Mexico being the holdout), suffocation of the Cuban economy by sanctions and a blockade (broken by the USSR’s international solidarity), a communications war that included disparaging the country’s communist leadership, and acts of overt aggression including invasions (such as the Bay of Pigs in 1961) and 638 assassination attempts against Castro. This became the template for the hybrid wars launched against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and elsewhere with new forms of lawfare (using the legal establishment as a weapon) being deployed against the left project in Paraguay with the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo in 2012 and in Brazil with the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and the imprisonment of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2018. A self-coup in Ecuador by President Lenin Moreno in 2017 came alongside the withdrawal of legal proceedings against US multinational oil companies and the surrender of Julian Assange to British authorities in exchange for an IMF-back credit infusion. The creation of the Lima Group in 2017 – engineered by the US and Canada – sought to undermine the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, such as through the theft of Venezuelan resources and the creation and attempted installation of fake President Juan Guiadó to challenge the legitimacy of the Venezuelan political process. The US government waged a fierce war against the people of Latin America and the Caribbean camouflaged behind the language of ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy’.

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Francisco Daniel (Brazil), Wake Up, Latin America. It’s Time to Rise Up!, 2020.


The Return of the Left

The left in Latin America has never been unitary. Older currents were greatly damaged by the dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s, with thousands of cadres and sympathisers killed and entire traditions of thought and praxis lost to new generations. What was recovered in the 1990s came out of the resilience of the Cuban Revolution, the visionary leadership of Chávez, and the new social movements that emerged in opposition to austerity and to racism (particularly against indigenous communities in the hemisphere), as well as for the expansion of social rights (notably women’s rights and the rights of sexual minorities) and for a harmonious relationship with nature. Different traditions of left thought developed, with different references of what counted as the left, including a strong current inspired by the example of the Zapatistas in Mexico and their emergence in 1994.

The importance of Chávez is that he was able to bring together these various currents and bridge the political suspicions between those who favoured political activity through parties and those who favoured political activity through social movements. It was in the wake of Chávez’s immense political advance in Venezuela and in the continent that other such left social formations began to emerge. The high point of the great unity between left forces in the hemisphere came at Mar del Plata (Argentina) in 2005 during the 4th Summit of the Americas, where Chávez led Latin American nations in rejecting the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). At the Anti-Summit nearby, Chávez stood with Bolivia’s presidential candidate Evo Morales, Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona, and Cuban singer Silvio Rodríguez to condemn the Washington Consensus. Since Brazil, the largest economy in the region, joined with Argentina and Venezuela to oppose the FTAA, another road seemed likely.

However, with the collapse of commodity prices since 2010 and the death of Chávez in 2013, the US imperialist agenda seized an advantage. The coup against Evo Morales in 2019 was carried out in the name of ‘democracy’, oddly backed by liberal forces who felt comfortable standing with racist, fascist fundamentalists who – as the self-proclaimed president put it – ‘dream[t] of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous rites’. It was this sector that carried out the coup who were deemed the ‘democrats’ of Bolivia over the democratically elected indigenous president. By portraying Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as the ‘troika of tyranny’, the United States was able to drive a wedge within the left, peeling away sections that now felt uneasy with or caved to the punitive actions dealt for being in alliance with these revolutionary processes. The success of the hybrid war in sowing these divisions delayed the return of the left in many countries and allowed the neofascists – such as President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil – to take power. The divides remain intact, with progressive forces in Chile, Colombia, and Peru eager to distance themselves from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela using the vocabulary provided by US propaganda.

Nonetheless, the fatal impossibility of permanent austerity enabled left forces to reassemble and strike back. Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) did not collapse but resisted the coup regime with bravery, fought to hold elections during the pandemic, and returned to power in Bolivia with a majority in 2020. While the left and left-liberal forces in Honduras had been battered after the coup in 2009, they fought hard in the elections of 2013 and 2017, losing, experts say, due to widespread election fraud. Xiomara Castro, who lost in 2013, finally won in a near landslide in 2021. In Peru, a very fragile coalition gathered around the candidacy of a teachers’ union leader, Pedro Castillo, who won a narrow victory against Keiko Fujimori, the right-wing candidate and the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, who conducted the self-coup in 1992. While in Bolivia the roots of the movement to build socialism are deep and have been fortified by the gains achieved under the fourteen-year leadership of Evo Morales, these roots are much shallower in Honduras and Peru. Pedro Castillo has already been largely isolated from his own movement and the agenda he has been able to advance has been decidedly modest.

Commodity prices, whose revenues had provided fuel for the Pink Tide of twenty years ago, remain low. But there is now a changed context across the region, namely a more engaged China. China’s interest in expanding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) across Latin America has provided new sources of investment and financing for development in the region. It is widely accepted in Latin America that the BRI project is an antidote to Washington’s largely discredited IMF project and agenda of neoliberal austerity. With little original capital to invest in Latin America, the United States has mainly its military and diplomatic power to use against the arrival of Chinese investment. Latin America, therefore, has become a major front in the US-imposed cold war on China. In each of the region’s new left projects, China will play a significant role. That is why Xiomara Castro has said that an early visit for her will be to Beijing and why Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega decided to recognise the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate representative of China in the United Nations system. There is no doubt that, from Mexico to Chile, the question of Chinese investment has altered the balance of forces and will likely bring together political groups that would otherwise not tolerate each other. The US is trying to portray China as a ‘dictatorship’ to appeal to those sections of the progressive majorities that have already been trained to be suspicious of the Cuban and Bolivarian revolutionary projects.

In 2022, there will be crucial elections in Brazil and Colombia. In Brazil, Lula leads all the polls and is likely to return to the presidency unless sabotaged by the hybrid war – again. Lula has been significantly radicalised by the attack against him: if he wins, he will likely be less willing to compromise with Brazil’s entrenched oligarchies and will therefore likely be a firmer ally of the revolutionary processes in Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as well as left governments elsewhere. Comments made by Lula and Dilma suggest that they seek to develop a closer relationship with China to balance the suffocating impact of US power. Colombia, an old ally of the US where violence has been used by an illiberal oligarchy to maintain power, might see the victory of the popular left candidate Gustavo Petro. Anti-austerity protests in Colombia have defined the country’s politics long before the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely set the terms for the electoral campaign. If Lula and Petro win, Latin America will come closer to establishing a new regional project that is not defined by US-driven economic austerity, resource theft, and political submission.

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Kimberly Villafuerte Barzola (United States), Kawsachun pachamama! (‘Mother Earth, We Shall Live!’), 2020.


An Empire in Decline

To grasp the dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean, we turned to Héctor Béjar, the former foreign minister in the cabinet of Peru’s President Pedro Castillo. Béjar is one of the most distinguished intellectuals in the hemisphere, having written with great feeling about his country’s history with special emphasis on the left and the possibilities for social change in our time.

In 1961, at the age of 26, Béjar travelled to Cuba to train as a guerrilla. The next year, he and a few of his comrades, including Javier Heraud, Julio Dagnino, Alaín Elías, and Juan Pablo Chang, formed the National Liberation Army (ELN), which sought to overthrow the wretched situation in Peru. Upon returning to Peru, he was sent to prison and faced with the possibility of a seventeen-year sentence. In 1969, he won the Casa de las Américas prize for his classic book, Perú 1965: Apuntes sobre una experiencia guerrillera (‘Peru 1965: Notes About a Guerrilla’s Experience’).

It is a measure of Béjar’s great commitment to social justice and his intelligence that he was pardoned by then President Juan Velasco Alvarado in 1970 and asked by Velasco to work on a land reform agenda. The failure of Velasco’s attempt to democratise Peru led Béjar and others to create the Centre of Studies for Development and Participation (CEDEP) whose journal Socialismo y Participación (‘Socialism and Participation’) Béjar edited from 1977 to 2009. This journal was a key reference not only for developments in Peru, but also across the region. Béjar summarised his work with the journal in a series of classic books, including La revolución en la trampa (‘The Trapped Revolution’), 1976; La Organización campesina (‘Peasant Organisation’), 1980; and Mito y Utopía: relato alternativo del origen republicano del Perú, (‘Myth and Utopia: An Alternative Account of the Republican Origins of Peru’), 2012.

President Pedro Castillo invited Béjar to join his government as foreign minister, which he did. However, Béjar’s term lasted mere weeks, beginning on 29 July 2021 and ending on 17 August 2021. The brevity of his term is best understood by the limited space for manoeuvre available to the Castillo government, which immediately came under immense pressure to remove the most respected left intellectual in Peru from his government.

José Carlos Llerena Robles, a member of La Junta and of ALBA Movimientos (Peru), spoke with Béjar about the current political situation in Latin America and the Caribbean on behalf of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. They spoke for three days, producing a fabulous discussion about some of the issues raised in this introduction. What you will read in A Map of Latin America’s Present: An Interview with Héctor Béjar (dossier no. 49) is an abbreviated version of that conversation.

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Colectivo Wacha (Argentina), Imperialismo Not Found, 2020.



Part 1: Latin America and US Imperialism

José Carlos Llerena Robles: How would you characterise the catastrophic situation in Latin America in terms of the left and popular movements after the death of Comandante Hugo Chávez in 2013?

Héctor Béjar: Each country has its own reality; each country is unique. But I would not make a negative assessment – on the contrary. If I were right-wing, I would be worried. The PRD (Dominican Revolutionary Party) continues to govern the Dominican Republic. The Cuban Revolution and the Bolivarian Revolution remain undefeated. There is Nicaragua, where the Sandinistas just won elections. You have President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in Mexico. Xiomara Castro just won in Honduras. In Chile, Gabriel Boric, a left-wing candidate who emerged from the popular movement, won. In Bolivia you have President Luis Arce, in Argentina you have President Alberto Fernández, and Barbados just proclaimed itself a republic.


I think the overall situation is positive when you compare it with the situation in the 1970s, when there was a system of liquidation, of the systematic assassination of left-wing leaders, which in some ways continues in Colombia even today, and which always remains a threat. But if you compare that with the current situation, you find that the left – what we call the left in Latin America and the Caribbean – has gained tremendous headway, and what we call the right is in a situation of tremendous popular and conscious abandonment in political terms.

Another thing, of course, is the economic system; the world still belongs to the banks. In the cultural world, the left has everything, the right has nothing. In the political world, there is a standoff. I believe that there is a profound process in Latin America, a kind of great march. So, it is difficult to make a sweeping generalisation. One must look closely and study the characteristics of each process in the region. In some places the left has had to moderate its language because it needs to win over other political strata in alliances. This is what just happened in Honduras, for example. In other places, this is not the case. But still, the region is increasingly pink.

From the Cuban Revolution in 1959 until the death of Che Guevara in 1967, the Latin American left wing had rural and urban guerrilla forces. These guerrilla groups had socialist programmes. The death of Che and, of course, the coup against Salvador Allende in 1973 marked a whole new era: an era of dictatorships, the dictatorships of Operation Condor, which was a plan to eliminate tens of thousands of activists between 1975 and 1983 that was carried out by the region’s military in collaboration with the United States. There was a mass elimination of the Tupamaros in Uruguay, of the Montoneros in Argentina, and of the urban guerrillas and Carlos Marighella in Brazil. The whole process was reinvented, we could say, and a left wing typical of transitional processes emerged. This left was marked by Franco’s transition to democracy in Spain and the Moncloa Pacts, which united the left with the centre to suspend strikes in the country. It was marked by the Brazilian transition from the military dictatorship and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, which is a whole process in itself. It was marked by the Argentinean transition led by Raúl Alfonsín, which failed at first, and then it was marked by a regrouping of Peronism around the Kirchners. In Chile, it was marked by a controlled transition, the centrist coalition called the Concertación. This was a period in which, as I said, the left had to pay a very high price in order to gain entry into the political system after the guerrillas’ military defeat.

We have not yet left that period; across Latin America, we are still marked by the Chilean Concertación, by the Moncloa Pacts, and by the Brazilian transition from the dictatorship. This is not only the case in Latin America – it is also the case in South Africa, for example. These are processes that agree to forget the past when the transition takes place. But, as we know, the past is never forgotten. This is the case in Spain, where the truth about the Spanish Civil War and Francoist repression is still hidden; no one dares to uncover it. There has been no truth commission in Brazil or Uruguay. The only courageous figures have been the Kirchners in Argentina, who dared to put the Argentine dictators in prison. That is an exceptional case. Pinochet died in his bed and was honoured by the Concertación. But that is politics, isn’t it? You pay the price, and I believe that the Latin American left is paying that price. I do not mean that it should not pay the price, nor am I saying that it is a betrayal or anything like that; I mean that reality forces it to do that.

The situation as a whole is not a standoff. I believe that when one speaks of a standoff, one speaks of a static situation, and I do not believe that is the case; rather, it is a seesawing, a fairly dynamic situation. The danger that one cannot overlook, the most significant risk in all this, is that the people begin to detest the political system in general and begin to identify the left with the political system. As a result, electoral abstention is increasing throughout Latin America. There are some exceptions, such as Honduras, but that is an exceptional situation due to the circumstances that country has lived through.[1]

JCLR: What are the challenges and threats for the popular camp that wants to carry out these necessary political, social, and cultural transformations with a revolutionary perspective? I ask this in relation to your characterisation of the new progressive wave, in which different left forces apparently privilege technical over political aspects and somewhat forego popular elements, as we have seen in Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. They end up generating a standoff with the sentiment of the people and being displaced by right-wing, neoconservative, and ultra-neoliberal alternatives.

JCLR: What we call the popular camp varies from country to country. Of course, what I know best is the popular camp in Peru, which is very similar to the one in Bolivia. There is a ‘popular bourgeoisie’. Smuggling, all the different types of trafficking, the mining industry, commerce, and micro-commerce generate enormous amounts of money that flow into the popular camp. Subsequently, this produces what we can call emerging bourgeoisies, or emerging mafias if you like, because all this is tainted with corruption. At the moment, it is very difficult to make a distinction between the different sectors that are part of the popular camp in countries like Peru. The popular camp ranges from sectors in extreme poverty – people who do not have enough to eat – to people who have a lot of money. This term, popular bourgeoisie, may seem contradictory, but I am trying to express something of the social reality.

I do not think there is a single left in Latin America; rather, there are many lefts, ranging from those that one does not know whether they are really left or whether they are right-wing, centre-right, or far-left. Then there is the sphere of popular movements, which does not define itself as left-wing, but which, in practice, is on the left, and that seems to me to be the most important thing. The people of Yauri, a town in southern Peru that has seen protests against the polluting copper and gold mining industry, are probably very Catholic, conservative, and likely right-wing on points that are very costly to the left, but they are part of the left. Why? Because they protest against mining pollution. For example, if you look at the politics of the Nicaraguan left, of Sandinismo, Nicaragua is extremely conservative in terms of sexual and reproductive rights. So, I think we have to conduct a major process of political rapprochement. In the case of Peru, the masses are not left-wing. They are popular masses. Among them there are certainly people of the left, of course, but I would not define a rondero (a kind of peasant rural guard and President Pedro Castillo’s main support base) as a man of the left, per se. When it comes to talking about marriage, he is extremely conservative and surely a devout Catholic. And there is no way you can talk to him about abortion or racism – because there is racism on both sides.

In some parts of Peru there is a kind of anti-Lima regionalism as well; I do not know if this can be linked to the racism in Lima against the provinces. So, there are many things that intertwine and that the right wing takes advantage of at times. If they were intelligent, they would take advantage of them much more.

I think we must conduct a detached analysis of how what we call the popular movement is developing – what exactly is a popular movement and what is not. In the last few years in Peru, during the times of greatest mobilisation, there are still thousands of people who have not been mobilised. Let’s not forget that Lima has ten million inhabitants and I have not yet seen a demonstration of a hundred thousand people in Lima.

JCLR: How do you see this analysis of what a popular movement is – with all its diversity in the South American, Mesoamerican, and Caribbean region – to be connected to the possibility of building a continent-wide project? We can recall, for example, the legacies that remain alive of Simón Bolívar, José Faustino Sánchez Carrión, Hugo Chávez, and, recently, Evo Morales. Each of these figures spoke of a plurinational Latin America opposed to imperialism.[2]

HB:
I believe that this should be promoted, of course, but it would require action on many different levels. There would have to be many movements within a movement. For example, the existing communication between the Aymara people of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile is powerful. That is an entire world in itself, where the only thing you have to do is to give it political content, because this sector has tremendous economic power and an enormous cultural identity. And this is also the case with other sectors, although not to the same extent. For example, today popular movements use the internet. In the case of the Amazonian indigenous peoples, they are globalised. So, I think it is quite easy to establish regional, Latin American, and Caribbean bodies because they already exist globally. There are global indigenous networks. They have a presence in the United Nations. They have a voice. They have positions. Trade unions are another component; although trade union movements have been extremely weakened, there are still trade union organisations in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the little that remains in Peru, and so on. Then there are progressive governments, which have the São Paulo Forum and the Puebla Group. In television, teleSUR seems to me to be extremely important; it is something that must be treasured like gold and developed. We should also have a Latin American publishing house to develop Latin American thought. That is yet to be done. And then we have all the official bodies – UNASUR, CELAC, etc.[3] There is a series of different bodies that can be strengthened simultaneously, each in its own field, to create a broad but multifaceted movement.

JCLR: Considering your experience with the guerrilla struggle in the sixties and seventies in the heat of the Cuban Revolution, when the imperialist enemy was confronted with certain characterisations and a certain configuration, I’d like to ask you: what do you think is happening on the ‘other side’ today? Even though US hegemony is losing ground to the advance of China, it continues to sink its ferocious talons into Nuestra América (‘Our America’)[4] and the Caribbean, and we are now seeing a kind of ‘neoliberalism of war’ that oscillates between drug trafficking and a war on drugs, with Colombia at its epicentre.

HB:
I have always thought that the best way to fight the enemy is to get to know them. Peru does not really have an international politic and neither do its left-wing forces. They do not know what is going on in Europe or what is happening in the United States, and that is unforgivable. One must know what is happening in the United States. It is a duty because the Empire is your enemy. So how can you not be familiar with it? You must get to know it, get to work there, and establish a relationship with the critical social movements that exist in the United States and that are growing.

The United States has lost importance – it is an empire in decline. US investment is no longer important in Latin America and the Caribbean. I would say that today its talons are almost exclusively its military, trained and educated by the might of the United States military; they are nothing more than this because the United States is not only immersed in the economic crisis, but also in an enormous political crisis. There is also a kind of standoff in the United States. Movements questioning the status quo are emerging at all levels. There is a generalised weakening of the old Democratic and Republican parties. There is a disengagement of the American people from professional politics. And that weakens the persona of what we have known as US imperialism. And, well, what happens is that we Latin Americans refuse to recognise this situation and we do not have a politic towards the United States.

The old concept of imperialism is of no use; it is of no use to repeat that the United States is imperialist and that you are anti-imperialist. What you need is to get to know the United States and see how you can isolate those groups that are still very dangerous, those that are based on US intelligence agencies and militarism. In addition, of course, the focus is no longer formal US investment, but rather informal networks, which are another important area of US intervention: the drug market and arms trafficking in Mexico. Colombia continues to be a province of the United States. It is a criminal country where social leaders are systematically murdered, and of course it is the world’s leading exporter of cocaine.

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Whitney Richards-Calathes (Jamaica), Different Ships, Same Destruction, 2020.

(Continued on following post)
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 11, 2022 3:37 pm

(Continued from previous post.)

Part 2: Peru

JCLR: How would you characterise the political situation that we are currently experiencing in Peru? In your book Vieja crónica y mal gobierno (‘Old Chronicles and Bad Government’), you state that Peru today is the result of two hundred years of an initial and illusory independence and then a failed process of building a republic, and that we are divided into mafias and plebs.

HB:
In Peru, a distinction must be made between society and the electoral system. Society mobilises because the dominant groups plunder Peru, especially through mining, from oil exploitation to timber exploitation. When it comes to the outside world, the Peruvian productive apparatus is dominated by monopolies. Peruvian society mobilises in opposition to this because what these monopoly groups do to carry out their activities inevitably affects the daily and productive life of Peruvian society. The moment someone poisons the water and you can no longer drink it, or you find out that your children have lead in their blood because they start to bleed from the nose or start to have psychological problems, then you resist and protest. This resistance exists within a society that is generally very passive. In that sense, I use the word pleb not in a derogatory sense but as something more or less indefinable. Social movements mobilise; in some cases they are dormant and in other cases they are effective in their resistance and protest, but they are always in a state of latency. These networks continue to exist. So, you have three elements: the plundering economic groups, the more or less indifferent society, and the networks that mobilise within that indifferent society.

A political system is built based on this social system that is dominated by oligarchic groups. These groups – which serve the interests of economic groups such as banks and companies – are essentially the lawyers and the politicians of businesses. In this system there are ultra-conservative groups on the one hand, and, on the other, what could be called a left that is relatively indefinable. This left is headed by the most active groups, which are divided into two: on the one hand, a moderate left that can barely be distinguished from a kind of Creole social democracy or from a more or less civilised right or centre right, and, on the other hand, a cholo,[5] provincial, very unsophisticated left, which is a redder left. In its best moments, the Peruvian electoral left has not surpassed 30% support, which was also the case with Castillo.

The Castillo government finds it difficult to govern because it lacks political culture. It is lacking world knowledge, and it lacks management experience of the mechanisms of the state – which it has no reason to have – that have been managed by others, precisely those who have been electorally defeated. That is the current problem in Peru. But I cannot finish this description without noting that, overall, Peruvian society today is a society with very little political stature.

Peru has experienced an enormous setback since the application of the neoliberal programme in the 1990s. This has meant an impoverishment of education, an impoverishment in teaching training, a very clear impoverishment and open corruption of military sectors, generalised corruption of the country, and corruption of the state. Therefore, anyone hoping to manage the state will be met with a corrupt state, but also with a corrupt society, because when we talk about the corrupt state, we forget that corruption is always two-edged: there is the corrupted and the corruptor. So, a corrupt state means that those who manage the state are corrupt.

Peruvian business owners took control of the state a long time ago. We have had business owners as ministers and the notorious revolving door system, in which executives of big business are ministers today and company directors tomorrow. So, we cannot mention the word ‘state’ without adding that this is a state colonised by business, a state that has served and continues to serve these interests. So, when an outsider like Pedro Castillo arrives, obviously he is not going to be able to handle this because he has to manage some 2,500 operators of economic groups that are embedded in the main state agencies. This is the issue of today, if you ask me. I have said this a thousand times and Castillo himself said it during the electoral campaign: I insist that the only way forward is to overcome this spider’s web in which Castillo has been caught up. It is simply a case of breaking through this web and reaching and activating that latent popular network and sectors. But Castillo does not want to do that, because apparently he believes that by being on good terms with the right wing and the international right, this relationship will mean that he can survive. I think the visit of the Organisation of American States’ Luis Almagro in November 2021 is very significant here. It is quite clear to me that it will be a different Castillo who survives; it will not be the Castillo of the electoral campaign.

The popular movement operates among the indifferent masses. These masses are indifferent above all because they are concerned with subsistence; they have to live from day to day. To add to this, there is a small and aggressive right wing: one that is archaic, primitive, fascist. Of course, this is likely the last gasp of what remains of the old Peruvian right. Peru is a country dominated from abroad. What interests global power is Peru’s minerals, and you need very few people to extract minerals. Everything else is surplus from the point of view of business owners.

Peru has tremendous culture dating back thousands of years. I continue to insist that Peru is a cultural power but a political dwarf because, politically, we are paying the price of sixty years of useless, neoliberal governments that have left us with a destroyed, limited country. Congress and the media are underdeveloped. Peru has science, Peru has technology. But what has become of creating a ministry of technology, which was a central component of Castillo’s campaign? Nothing. Peru has extremely valuable people, but they are systematically pulled away from the government not only by the right, but also by the left. So, we could say that this is a government of the left, but we are stretching the definition of the word ‘left’. There is also an aggressive right wing in the country; this results in great mediocrity.

So much has been destroyed in Peru: schools have been destroyed, education has been destroyed, businesses have been destroyed. Only the mines and the agro-export companies are left. Everything else has been destroyed. What we call popular networks exist latently, but they do not have a constant, institutional life. So, in this situation, what is the only thing that is left? In my opinion, the family, which is also in crisis. But there are still extended families that function, that also go beyond the borders of Lima and Peru and link the provinces with the capital and with the rest of the world. Family networks are formed because they are based on trust. Peru is shaped by these networks, which have a mafia-like character. I do not give mafia a negative connotation – I use the word to explain the logic, the rationality of a social situation. These networks are separate from the liberal state.

The liberal state is marked by the distinction between private property and public property. But the organisation of the family does not distinguish between private property and public property, and it encroaches on public property. Both poor families and rich families encroach on public property. Rich families encroach on the state and manage it for their own benefit; poor families encroach on what they can in the street, in the squares, everywhere. There are no limits. So, in the end, this is what we call corruption. That is the root of the Peruvian state in its current configuration. The separation of the public and private does not exist in Peru; that distinction is definitively broken with in many ways. President Castillo is another example of this when he brings in his wife, his nephew, his fellow countrymen, because he trusts them. But he is not doing anything unique. That is what former President Alejandro Toledo (2001–06) did and what former President Alan García (1985–90, 2006–11) did, with the difference that they were white or cholo, in the case of Toledo. And what about former President Fernando Belaúnde (1963–68, 1980–85)? Look at the number of Belaúndes in Belaúnde’s government who are still working in the state. The Belaúndes are a clan. Castillo attracts attention because people are demanding from Castillo what they did not demand from previous governments.

What Aníbal Quijano called coloniality is in fact the colonial mentality, the colonised mentality, which I think we largely share.[6] When we talk about a colonised mentality, we are talking about a mentality that stems from our dependence on Spain. We cannot only accuse those in power in Peru of this; rather, I believe that this colonised mentality encompasses a large part of Peruvian society. This is another one of the realities that we refuse to accept.

Peru is a country whose ruling classes have been extremely conservative; they have been Hispanicists to the extent that Spain was fascist, but they did not hesitate to be anti-Hispanicist during the Spanish Civil War, when Spain was a republic. Hispanism or anti-Hispanism effectively has a class consciousness as well, and that was later transferred to the relationship with England and then with the United States.[7] Today, the colonised mentality has a lot to do with a series of economic and political circumstances and activities in Peru. It is linked to those who tell you, for example, that we cannot live without investors. When they talk about investors, they are not talking about Peruvian investment, because the leading investors in Peru are migrants; Peruvian migrants – those who are abroad, those who are contributing almost five billion dollars a year directly to Peruvian families – are investors. The other investors are the small-scale Peruvian entrepreneurs. And yet, when they talk about investment, they are only talking about the mining companies, which contribute the least to Peru’s economy. That can be demonstrated, especially when it comes to the tax structure.

That is where a colonised mentality is manifesting itself, but that is only one aspect of it. This concept extends to many other arenas and is linked to the fact that we have inherited colonial racism from the colonial mentality; that is to say that we are now distinguishing between a white bourgeoisie and a cholo bourgeoisie. There is a white or whitened bourgeoisie that drives white power in Peru versus a cholo bourgeoisie, which is not white. That may seem a bit caricaturesque and unpleasant to say, but it is happening. There are a lot of things that are noticeable in restaurants, in the functioning of cities, and we have very clear racial and racist differences in education and health. Even though a cholo bourgeoisie with a lot of money – perhaps more money than the white bourgeoisie – has appeared, it has not managed to enter the core of the political, psychological, and media system in Peru, where the old colonialist patterns are still in force.

JCLR: In your book, you describe the government of Velasco Alvarado (1968–75).[8] How can we understand this unique and peculiar moment as it relates to previous governments? How does it relate to what we are experiencing now, when there are demands for a second agrarian reform (following the first reform during the Velasco years)?

HB:[/b]During the Velasco years, the stars aligned: the theory of Latin American dependency with Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in the late 1960s and everything that we know about that theory; the Second Vatican Council (1962–65); the civil rights revolutions in the United States from the 1950s–60s; the whole European discussion that culminated in the university revolutions of 1968; and we could go on. There was a complete questioning of capitalism then that nobody undertakes now. All of that questioned capitalism itself and I think that had a decisive influence on the armed forces. It was an extraordinary moment that occurred not only in Peru: in different ways, it was happening in Bolivia, in Argentina with the second Perón government, in Chile with Allende, in Bolivia with Juan José Torres, and in the Dominican Republic with Armando Tamayo and Juan Bosch. There was the first attempt at a revolution in Nicaragua. There had already been the Cuban Revolution before that. In short, all that, plus the popular peasant struggle in Peru, produced those seven years of Velasco. Though these years came to an end, they were nonetheless a clear exception in this two-hundred-year history. This was a process that the left did not understand. There was a lot of anti-militarism. Who could believe that the military was going to hand over power to the people? It was surprising. Who could believe that the military wanted to stage a revolution? Very few people.

Since the 1930s and even before José Carlos Mariátegui,[9] there had always been a difficult coexistence within the Peruvian left between an extremist view of reality and what could be called a moderate view of reality. This continued to be the case during the 1970s under Velasco; it gave rise to the two attitudes for and against Velasco and created a crisis in the years after his government with the emergence of Sendero Luminoso or Shining Path, founded in 1969. The current left, lacking interest in this issue as well as historical documentation and the desire to study history and spark a debate on this issue, has simply preferred to bury it. This is because it knows it is at a disadvantage against the right, which can make the most of any admission that the Shining Path was left-wing to say, as they are saying now, that the left as a whole is terrorist. So, it is a rather complex issue that is nevertheless ongoing.

Part of this issue is also the other side’s analysis of what happened on the adversary’s terrain – the army’s terrain. This is connected to Peru refusing to examine its past, like those old families who sweep their family crimes under the carpet, because, in the end, both the crimes committed by the Shining Path and the crimes committed by the army are part of the same country. Those who led this affair moved between the two sides: there were Shining Path members who became soldiers and there were soldiers who became Shining Path members. The Shining Path infiltrated the army, and the army’s intelligence services infiltrated the Shining Path. On what scale? We do not know, precisely because we have refused to have a real discussion on this issue. I argue that if we are really interested in examining the emotional, psychological, historical, and political roots of terrorism in Peru, this applies both to the Shining Path, to the Peruvian Armed Forces, and to Peruvian society as a whole. We also cannot ignore the fact that the Shining Path’s actions were used by other sectors of Peruvian society to settle scores. A large part of the actions that appeared to be actions of the revolutionary guerrilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) or Shining Path were in fact not committed by either group. Rather, they were committed by other groups that settled scores among themselves and simply assassinated you and put a hammer and sickle on your corpse. We have not had a detailed, objective historical analysis of that either, and that is because we do not want to.

I do not believe that the left has renounced the period of armed struggle; I think that it has simply been forced to adapt to new circumstances. And we must also recognise that the armed struggle degenerated. If we briefly look at the guerrilla experience in Argentina after Che’s death, for example, we will find the very contentious experience of the Montoneros, which ended in bloodshed. I do not want to get into that because it is a very complicated issue that would deserve much more documentation. I just want to say that there was an impasse, and during that impasse there was apparently no other democratic way out for the left than under Raúl Alfonsín. The same thing happened in Uruguay. So, I think that the political circumstances and the situation in Latin America forced the left to rebuild itself. And that, of course, is not done without a cost. In Peru, the cost was the Shining Path and what we mislabelled an internal armed conflict, which in reality was an internal war that implicated a sector of the left.

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Greta Acosta Reyes (Cuba), Women Who Fight, 2020.

Part 3: Thought

JCLR: How do you see the left in Peru and on the continent engaging in the battle over culture and in the battle of ideas? For example, this is accentuated in Cuba, where sectors of the artistic community have questioned the Cuban Revolution.

HB:
There are two basic ideas. One is the expansion of rights, by which we mean human rights. If we say we want a democracy that is different from a democracy governed by banks and guarded by the armed forces, we are talking about a democracy in which the old liberal idea of citizenship is fulfilled. Rights are not static; they are dynamic, they grow, they are renewed over the years, and therefore they expand. Political progress is in effect the result of the expansion of rights. That is the first idea. The second idea is that we must not move backwards. However, the world has clearly regressed and is going backwards in many cases, such as with labour rights. In addition, rights should be seen as collective and not just individual.

HB:[/b]Peru is a cultural power; it has a very ancient culture, which to a large extent is upheld today, and which has also been revived. This power is linked to many forms of collective life. Left-wing forces have done well to connect to these forms of collective life and to identify with the diverse cultural expressions of the Peruvian people and their advances in order to understand them and not only have an elitist idea of culture. There is an idea that cultured people are those who read books, write novels, or those who dance or sing or make music – but that alone is not culture. There are forms of culture that are connected to everyday collective life. This is a very important concept, which fortunately the left has adopted and understood in recent times.

The United States is a country that plays a role as a producer of ideas of a certain kind. Through foundations that fund people like Mario Vargas Llosa, who is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society of Neoliberals, grants and international prizes are awarded to writers and intellectuals. These foundations also produce new kinds of social science. This is part of the cultural struggle.

The Cuban Revolution, as you say, has had and continues to have this strength, but in this cultural struggle it is almost natural that there should be dissidence, and the difficult thing for a revolutionary process is how you handle dissidence. So, how do you handle it? Culture is a blossom, as Mao said, so let all the flowers bloom; that is fundamentally what has to be done. In countries that are under siege, blockaded, like Cuba, there are limits. If you start to question the social system in which you live, then you come up against the limits created by the revolution itself. In our countries, this bourgeois, capitalist democracy also has limits, doesn’t it? All countries have them, which is unfortunate, because I am rather fond of complete freedom of thought.

How do you evaluate the emergence of Vox in Spain and the use of different tools and devices of mass and popular culture to promote this fascist wave that is perhaps stronger in Europe than here in Latin America?

I think the right wing in Europe and also in Latin America has two aspects: a retrospective view of its ‘greatness’ and a fear of the present. This return to ‘greatness’ is a reactionary vision. Viktor Orbán of Hungary talks about the great Magyar Empire. Thatcher was a precursor of these ideas; she wanted to return to the days of greatness of the British Empire. Trump talks of the great America that of course never was. The Spanish right talks of Hispanism, of the Hispanosphere. All of this has a colonialist vision. The other side of this is the fear of the foreign, especially in the case of Europeans: the fear of the Islamic, the fear of Muslims, of Islam, the fear of migrants. All of this is at work in the case of the United States and in the case of Spain as well. The ultra-right in Spain thinks it is white and evokes its abhorrence of the Moorish, of the dark-skinned. The new French movement talks about the Renaissance. The Poles of imperial Poland are no exception; there was a Polish empire that lasted only a short time but that still appeals to the distrust and resentment towards Russians. I am studying history to better understand the basis of the European and Latin American ultra-right because they also invoke history. This is above all a historical debate.

JCLR: In Venezuela and Bolivia, it could be said that intellectuals have shown little understanding of popular processes that break with academic and intellectual moulds and of what is or is not a revolutionary process. Even in the recent case of Bolivia, they have ended up consciously or unconsciously, or rather voluntarily or involuntarily, yielding to destabilising coup strategies promoted by US imperialism and executed by local oligarchies. What is your analysis and assessment of the role of intellectuals in Latin America?

HB:
I would say that there is great intellectual poverty on the part of the right wing. There is a lack of right-wing intellectuals everywhere, but this is much more dramatic in Peru. You cannot compare this to a time when you had Jorge Basadre; Raúl Porras, who was clearly a Hispanicist, but an intellectual; and Víctor Andrés Belaúnde, who was absolutely reactionary, but he was an intellectual who had a very broad cultural background. Today, you cannot find anything in Peru in terms of a conservative intelligentsia.

I think what we find is more of a kind of insecurity on the part of intellectuals, a lack of definition. I would argue that this is motivated by two elements. Firstly, I do not think that any intellectual likes to make mistakes, so they are reluctant to take risks and they are very insecure about the evolution of social processes. In other words, a process of change begins, and they believe – they fear – that this process will fail or become a dictatorship. Of course, this undermines an image of themselves that is very dear to them and that they intend to maintain. An intellectual’s relationship with their audience is very costly to them, so they do not want, or they are afraid, to take risks. And that means they have a very timid vision and that they also lose sight of processes. They usually become aware of processes when they have already happened; they cannot foresee them, and it is not because they do not have the ability to, but perhaps because they do not want to. Secondly, all intellectuals depend on funding. We all know that the current world funding networks for intellectual production, as well as for scientific production, depend on monopoly interests, on world power. So, if you are a man or a woman who criticises the system too much, you are not going to get grants, nor are you going to be invited to seminars or be consulted by governments. It is even possible that universities themselves will isolate you or not hire you, because right now the job stability of university professors is non-existent, and, just as there are no labour rights, there are no intellectual rights either. Under these conditions, they do not want to take risks. I see these as the fundamental reasons for the lack of analysis. But I do not want to adopt a mechanical view of the matter: there are many people who criticise legitimately and honestly, or who also have the right not to express an opinion, to wait. I am not one of those people who demand something that I know a person is not prepared to give.

In the case of Peru, it is essential to study what is happening in social movements. But we do not really have reliable studies about this. Statistics are highly manipulated in Peru and social studies are very limited, and so a large part of what one says – and I include myself in this – are assumptions, presumptions, not even hypotheses. So, you operate as if you were groping for an answer, not calculating what might be. This is an enormous deficiency that Peru has.

In Karl Marx’s third thesis on Feuerbach, he talks about the fact that it is essential to provide the educator with political education. This is closely linked to popular movements educating the educator. How can this political education be envisaged? Perhaps the intelligentsia that is committed to supporting a process of change such as the one we are currently experiencing in Peru can take this on so that its contribution can be effective, efficient, and concrete.

There is a mutual distrust, a mutual estrangement, that goes back a long way. Before Mariátegui, and from Mariátegui and Haya de la Torre onwards, intellectual work was separated from political work.[10] That is why Amauta, the cultural and literacy journal founded by Mariátegui, only lasted for four years, until 1930. And that is a pity, isn’t it? On the one hand, the intellectuals left, and on the other hand, the politicians left. Since politicians are busy doing politics and do not think – they think only in political terms – there is a rapid risk of the decline of the politician him or herself. And since intellectuals do not engage in politics, they do not connect with reality, and therefore their thinking becomes more or less hollow. It is a pity. And this is a tragedy for the left in Peru today.

For me, Noam Chomsky is a point of reference, as are economists who are liberals but critical of neoliberalism like Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, as well as Manuel Ugarteche and the works of professors at certain universities. But, unfortunately, they are written in economic language and are not accessible to the masses.

JCLR:One of the symbols of the mobilisations to defend the vote for Pedro Castillo was the pencil, a symbol of popular culture. These pencils were made by the people, featured in posters with graphics designed by different artists and in music that also somewhat transcended Lima’s leftism. There was popular music from different places. There were those who said that they had not seen such a Mariátegui-inspired process so alive in such a long time. In short, it had been a long time since culture had been so explicit in a struggle, and even less so in an electoral campaign. How did you experience that?

HB:
Cultural production by the popular sectors has a long history in Peru. Graffiti, screen-printing, theatre groups, pop rock and hip-hop music – all that precedes Castillo. Perhaps we could even say that an electoral campaign like the one you describe is a product of that, not the other way around. It is that kind of popular cultural production that also produces a popular candidacy. Castillo struck me as an interesting phenomenon from the start. He has been a new element in traditional Peruvian politics, though there are also earlier examples of this. The popular consciousness as expressed by Castillo and by other emerging groups in Peru, such as the new popular bourgeoisie and the mafias, is a new component of the historic bloc.


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Pedro Sartorio (Argentina), Untitled, 2020.



Endnotes

[1] Translator’s note: Twelve years after the National Party took power in the 2009 military coup, Hondurans resoundingly rejected the neoliberal system and widespread government corruption and voted in Xiomara Castro on the promise of change in 2021 with a historic turnout of 68% voter participation.

[2] Translator’s note: Venezuelan military and political leader Simón Bolívar (24 July 1783–17 December 1830), known as the ‘Liberator of the Americas’, led the independence struggle against the Spanish Empire in what are today Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia. His thought inspires Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.

Peruvian politician José Faustino Sánchez Carrión was one of the writers of the country’s first constitution following independence from Spain and a leading figure in the establishment of the republican system of government.

[3] Translator’s note: The Union of South American Nations (UNSAUR) was created in 2004 as an intergovernmental regional organisation.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is a regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states founded on 23 February 2010 at the Rio Group–Caribbean Community Unity Summit and established on 3 December 2011 with the signature of The Declaration of Caracas. It is the only regional bloc to bring together all 33 states of Latin America and the Caribbean and exclude the United States and Canada.

[4] Translator’s note: Nuestra América, or ‘Our America’, is a construct linked to promoting the regional integration of Central and South America and forging a Latin American identity as a project opposed to European and US cultural imperialism. The concept stems from Cuban national hero José Martí’s 1981 essay of the same title.

[5] Translator’s note: Cholo is a term used in parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru as a synonym for Mestizo, specifically a person of mixed indigenous (mostly Quechua or Aymara) and European heritage. In Peru it is also used to mean an indigenous person. While the term has historically had a discriminatory and racist tone, it is becoming increasingly appropriated by some of these communities as a sign of identity and pride and is used by some political forces as representative of the common people.

[6] Translator’s note: Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano (17 November 1930–31 May 2018) developed the concept of ‘coloniality of power’ to describe the power structures resulting from European colonialism. His work has influenced decolonial studies and critical theory.

[7] Translator’s note: Hispanicists are specialists in Spanish culture or, here, those who love or admire Spain. Hispanidad, or Hispanism, refers to a liberal conservative movement to reassert the cultural unity of Spain and Latin America based on supposed common values and cultural attitudes, especially those with political objectives. Spain’s Vox party leader, Santiago Abascal, has promoted the concept of the hispanósfera (‘Hispanosphere’) as an adaptation of the concept Anglosphere, a term coined by Eurosceptic circles of British conservatism since the 1990s.

[8] Translator’s note: Peruvian General Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado (16 June 1910–24 December 1977) served as the president of Peru after a 1968 coup d’état against the Fernando Belaúnde government. His populist military government contrasted with other military regimes in the region, bringing major change to Peru. The reforms implemented by his government nationalised transport, communications, and electric power; limited the US economic influence in Peru; and established worker-managed cooperative on former privately owned farms.

[9] Translator’s note: Intellectual, journalist, activist, and philosopher José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira (14 June 1894–16 April 1930) is known as the first Peruvian intellectual to apply the Marxist model of historical materialism to the problems Peru faced and is considered to be one of twentieth century Latin America’s most influential socialists. His book Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928) is still widely read today.

[10] Translator’s note: Víctor Haya de la Torre (1895–1979) was a Peruvian politician, philosopher, and writer who founded the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana, APRA) political movement, today known as the Peruvian Aprista Party (Partido Aprista Peruano, PAP), the oldest political party in Peru.

https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-h ... n-america/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:53 pm

“It’s time for Our America”: ALBA Movements to hold third Continental Assembly in Argentina

Argentina will host the third assembly of the platform of Latin American people’s movements amid the shifting political panorama in the region

February 14, 2022 by Zoe Alexandra

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Over 150 delegates from people’s movements, trade unions, and left political formations from across Latin America and the Caribbean will gather in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, from April 27 to May 1. The occasion is the third continental assembly of the platform ALBA Movimientos, where the body will seek to determine its strategies for the next period.

ALBA announced the assembly in a communique wherein they stated that “13 years since the Letter of the Social Movements of the Americas, from Belém do Pará (considered the moment of inception of the platform), in a context of crisis of the international order, pandemic, and changes in Our America, it is indispensable to take a deep look at the situation faced by the people and popular movements, as well as the challenges that we face towards strengthening integration of the peoples on a regional level.”

The statement adds that “Our assembly should first respond to a central question: how do we bring the peoples of the continent together to fight for a common project, with the forces that we have in this moment; and how do we build a correlation of forces to defeat imperialism and work towards the triumph of the people for a second and definitive independence in Our America.”

Over the four days of the Assembly, delegates will debate the pressing tasks of the platform within the current context, strategies for expansion, and methodologies for taking the work forward. One of the central objectives of the Assembly is to analyze the current moment in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to understand the tasks facing people’s movements.

Setbacks

Since the last Assembly held in December 2016, there have been vast transformations across the region produced by shifts in internal politics and the geopolitical balance of forces.

One key development was the significant strengthening of far-right and conservative forces, ranging from electoral victories to intensified destabilization efforts against progressive and revolutionary governments. The cycle began with the election of Mauricio Macri in Argentina in 2015, the (fraudulent) victory of Juan Orlando Hernández in Honduras in 2017, and the triumph of Iván Duque in Colombia, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and Sebastian Piñera in Chile in 2018,

In this same period, the regime of unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela, which began in 2014, intensified and caused the country to enter into a prolonged social, economic, and political crisis. The measures were accompanied by constant destabilization actions ranging from threats of military intervention from the United States to the imposition of a parallel president. Cuba faced similar challenges as the Trump administration reversed all progress that had been made to lessen sanctions and open up relations between the two countries.

The progressive government of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in Bolivia suffered a coup d’état following the elections in 2019 which was given legitimacy from the Organization of American States (OAS).

An entirely different type of setback for progressive forces took place in Ecuador when the formerly progressive Lenín Moreno made a political about face, with support from the US and the OAS, and began a political witch hunt against members of Rafael Correa’s administration, took out a loan with the IMF and imposed harsh austerity measures, and ended asylum for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Victories

However, in the past couple years, as the pandemic has ravaged the world and laid bare the deep contradictions of the neoliberal order and the overwhelming inequalities in the region, there have been significant people’s victories on the streets and in the ballot boxes.

The mass uprisings in Chile, Colombia, and Haiti not only managed to bring their countries to a standstill, but brought international attention to the demands of mobilized sectors on the streets, as well as the disproportionately violent responses of the repressive states. The uprising in Chile has already brought about significant structural and institutional changes with the creation of the Constitutional Convention which will rewrite the Pinochet-era constitution and the recent electoral victory of progressive Gabriel Boric in December 2021. Colombia’s 10-week-long national strike was a moment of reckoning for progressives across sectors and finally saw fractures in the consensus support for the political tendency of Alvaro Uribe Velez, which for decades has inflicted violence and repression in response to all forms of political dissent and social struggle. The progressive Historic Pact led by Gustavo Petro is ahead in the upcoming elections in the country.

The persistent mass mobilizations in Bolivia following the coup forced the de-facto government to call elections in October 2020 and saw the reversal of the coup with the election of the MAS ticket in just one year following the violent removal of Evo Morales from power.

The people of Honduras also defeated the 12-year coup-imposed dictatorship in 2021 with the electoral victory of Xiomara Castro of the Libre Party. This was the culmination of consistent mobilizations against corruption, austerity measures, human rights violations, and in defense of Indigenous land and nature.

Other significant progressive electoral victories included the triumph of the Frente de Todos led by Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández in Argentina in 2019, the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico in 2019, the re-election of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation in Nicaragua in 2021, and the victory of Pedro Castillo of the Free Peru Party in 2021.

These victories have once again changed the political map in the region, beating back the conservative offensive, and brought with them new challenges for movements. How movements across the region will engage with these governments, make their demands heard, and defend them when the inevitable imperialist and conservative attacks come, is a pressing question, making the upcoming ALBA Assembly even more pressing.

In the communique ALBA emphasized that “The III Assembly will mark a new moment so that the Platform can overcome obstacles and continue working to achieve the Union of the Great Homeland, with more organizations, better tools of action and incorporating new lines of struggle, continuing always with the horizon of Indigenous-Afro socialism for and from the peoples.”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/14/ ... argentina/

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“The Plurinational State of Chile”: The First Step in Restoring Native Peoples’ Long-Forgotten Rights
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 14, 2022
Gustavo A Maranges

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The Commission on the Political System of Chile’s Constituent Assembly has passed an initiative to turn the South American country into a Plurinational State. It was passed with 19 favorable votes, only three votes against, and a similar number of abstentions. This is the first step to include such a progressive achievement into the new Constitution, which should be set to vote on in the second half of 2022. There are a lot of wrongs to be right but at least, finally, there is a framework to do just that.

“I wanted to thank you because for us, the indigenous peoples, it is a historic day. What was just passed is a demand that has been standing for many decades. It is a great step not only for the Mapuche People, but for the wide diversity of indigenous people of the country, and especially for the Rapa Nui People (living in the Island of Pascua),” the Mapuche Constituent Representative and one of the promoters of this Initiative,” Rosa Catrileo said.

Opposite to the image that most people have about Chile around the world, the South American country is the home to at least 11 native peoples. Namely Mapuche, Aymara, Rapa Nui, Lickan Antay, Quechua,Colla, Diaguita,Chango, Kawashkar, Yaghan, Selk’nam, and a Chilean Afro-descendant Tribal People. They all together account for almost 13% of the population, which has been systematically excluded and, in many cases, repressed by the government.

All these peoples have similar histories to their North American counterparts who were hunted since colonial times. Like in Chile all the administrations of the US have neglected their responsibility towards these peoples who were in all the regions of the United States long before anybody else. They rather chose to erase the indigenous traditions and cultures since it was out of any capitalist logic, which meant the original inhabitants were an impediment to capitalist expansion.

This was a systematic cultural and physical extinction strategy. However, the most twisted part is that, after being unfairly deprived of their land and traditions, they were criminalized for demanding respect and justice for their peoples. These policies paved the way for the massive repression that both the governments’ of the US and Chile pushed ahead, leading to thousands of arbitrary incarcerations, broken treaties mass murders and impoverishment that remain unpunished to this day.

Vivid evidence of this continued practice is the fact that, since October 2021, Chile’s Congress has kept the four southern provinces as exceptional states; coincidentally all of them are Mapuche lands. The military turned the region into a battlefield, repressing with real bullets the demonstrations of indigenous communities for their rights, something that President Sebastian Piñera has called “terrorist activities”.

The Constituent initiative is the first step toward ending all these human rights violations. It will be the first time in the country’s history that the native peoples and their legacy will be considered part of the nation’s legal frame work. In 1993, the government committed to passing the Indigenous Act but failed to fulfill its commitment and just used it to dampen down the native peoples’ struggle for a while.

Declaring Chile as a Plurinational State means that the government will be obligated to enforce the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes, above all, the right to self-government and self-determination. It implies the possibility of establishing their own independent judiciary, educational system, and economic and political institutions. It also declares that native lands cannot be used for military purposes without previous agreement unless it is a matter of public interest. Chile’s Constituent Initiative additionally advocates for special political representation of native peoples since they have been marginalized and denied equitable conditions to access these positions in the State.

Moreover, the UN Declaration mandates against displacements and charges the government the responsibility to repair, by effective mechanisms, the damages suffered by these communities in terms of lands, natural resources, and cultural exclusion. This specific matter was addressed by another Constituent Initiative that calls for the restitution of lands, territories, and natural resources. It will create a Plurinational Commission for Cadastre, Demarcation, and Indigenous Land Titling to process the demands. Then, the cases will be taken to the Special Court on Indigenous Lands, Territories, and Ancestral Waters, which is the second proposal of this Initiative.

Both Initiatives have to be discussed now in the plenary of the Constituent Assembly, which can propose changes in the text and pass it or send it back to the respective Commissions for deeper changes. Then, they will have a second chance to be passed or finally dismissed. Thus, there is a long way to go before this becomes true, and it depends on the position of 155 Constituent Representatives. The promoters of the initiatives have been said to count on the support of 118 out of the 155 representatives, which is more than the necessary 103 votes to include the texts in the Draft Constitution. However, nothing is done until it is done

Last but not least, it is worthy to point out that a cornerstone in this process is the newly elected President Gabriel Boric, along with the Congress composition. Boric has not taken a stance on the issue yet, as he has done with other matters, and much of the results will depend on his will to enforce the necessary changes in the institutional policies towards the native peoples. On the other hand, Congress will be in charge of issuing the Acts aimed at enforcing the constitutional precepts. A right-wing Congress like the current one will be a major obstacle for the performance of these rights.

For the moment the Chilean people have reasons to celebrate because this is the first step, but this is just a battle and not the final victory in the struggle for social justice for the indigenous of Chile but at least there is now an open window to change the relationship of forces.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/02/ ... en-rights/

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Argentinian Intelligence Leak: Macri Government and US Planned for Invasion of Venezuela (Military Drills)
February 15, 2022

Editorial note: Bellow we translate the full report published by Argentinian journalist Horacio Verbitsky, from the news oultlet El Cohete A La Luna, exposing the military operation planned by Argentina to invade Venezuela in 2019, following Washington’s directives. In order to preserve a focus on materials related to Venezuela, a few paragraphs have been excluded.

Between April and July 2019, the [Argentinian] Army carried out the Puma Military Drill, which contemplated the invasion of Venezuela. The exercise was carried out in seven sessions at the Campo de Mayo garrison and by videoconference with the parachute brigade from Córdoba, the 10th Mechanized Brigade from La Pampa, and the commandos of the Special Operations Force, also from Córdoba. It included coordination with units of the Navy and the Air Force. In command was General Juan Martín Paleo, who was then commander of the rapid deployment force. Since March 2020 he is Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the [Argentinian] Armed Forces.

This exercise coincided with the United States escalation against the government of President Nicolás Maduro, which included the recognition of then president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, as “interim president” of Venezuela. The first session conducted by [General] Paleo was held on April 15, 2019. On April 30, Guaidó led a military uprising called Operation Libertad. A [very small] group of [Venezuelan] soldiers helped with the escape of opposition politician Leopoldo López from house arrest. He was taken to a highway near a military base, where he was sheltered pending pronouncements from other units, a repeat of the 2002 coup attempt.

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Attempted coup led by Juan Guaidó on April 30, 2019. Photo: Twitter.

In Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, president of Argentina at the time, spoke up in favor of the coup plotters, did not recognize President Maduro, and treated Guaidó as head of state. However, more than 80% [in reality, closer to 99%] of Venezuela’s Armed Force remained loyal to the government.


In the Puma exercise conducted by General Paleo, South America was referred to as South Patagonia. Venezuela was Vulcano, and its conflicting authorities were NM and JG, that is, the initials of Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó. However, when the operation was described, the map was that of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the names of its main cities were kept unaltered. In this paleolithic TEG Colombia became Ceres, both Guyana and Suriname was Tellus, Brazil became Phoebus, Peru and Ecuador were Faunus, Chile was Juno, Argentina was Ares, and Uruguay was Bacchus. Paraguay and Bolivia were not represented on the map.

When the authorities of the Ministry of Defense, led by Agustín Rossi since December 2019, questioned him about the exercise, Paleo said that it concerned the planning of security for the G-20 meeting in Buenos Aires. This version does not hold: the G-20 met on November 30 and December 1, 2018, and the Puma military drill was held between April and July 2019. Now, aware of El Cohete A La Luna’s questions, he [Rossi] said that he was responding to an order from the then Chief of Staff, General Bari Sosa, to plan humanitarian assistance to Venezuela. Once again, due obedience.

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Argentinian General Juan Martin Paleo. Photos: Twitter.

Humanitarian assistance and human rights are the usual excuses of the United States for its interventions anywhere in the world. In the planning of the Puma military drill, the Rapid Deployment Force was part of a multinational force, created by an imaginary United Nations resolution (which never happened in reality). The United States resorts to multilateralism when it receives adequate support. Otherwise, it forms a coalition of so-called voluntary nations that act unilaterally, as in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In addition to the rapid deployment force, with its Command Company and Intelligence Section, members of the 6th Airborne Parachute Brigade, the 10th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and Special Operations Force commandos also participated in the drill.

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Cartography to plan the invasion of Venezuela. Photo: El Cohete A La Luna.

Trump’s strategy

In December 2017, President Donald Trump signed a National Security Strategy document. The central points that had guided the actions of the United States since the attack on the Pentagon and Wall Street in September 11, 2001 were terrorist threats and drug trafficking. Trump replaced these with the global confrontation with hostile powers such as China, Russia, and Iran. That presidential document states the militarization of foreign policy. The United States aspires to “Lead in Research, Technology, Invention, and Innovation” for which it must “Promote and Protect the U.S. National Security Base” against the penetration of “competitors such as China.” It also claims that the United States will take on the “anachronistic leftist authoritarian models” of Venezuela and Cuba because they deal with the US competitors China and Russia, who seek to “expand military linkages and arms sales across the region.” However, China also seeks to attract the region into its orbit through “infrastructure investments and trade strategies.”

Trump’s CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, who later became Secretary of State, supported Juan Guaidó’s call for the Venezuelan military to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro and thus favor “a peaceful transition to democracy.” Former Acting FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe revealed in his book The Threat that during a 2017 meeting Trump said the United States should go to war with Venezuela. According to McCabe, Trump’s verbatim phrase was: “They have all that oil and they’re at our back door.” In addition to the economic motivation, Trump was concerned about the vote of Cuban and Venezuelan exiles in Florida.

At the request of the United States, since 2017 Argentina had participated in the so-called Lima Group, which claimed that the constitutional order had been ruptured in Venezuela, and the Inter-American Democratic Charter should therefore be applied to it. In 2018, there was an attempt to assassinate Maduro with missiles fired from drones, as he was leading an outdoor military ceremony.

The main promoters of the military solution to the Venezuelan political crisis were the representative of President Donald Trump for Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, and the National Security Adviser, John Bolton. They were convinced that the Venezuelan military would desert the government and overthrow Maduro. To encourage them, they publicly promised to ignore any crime they had committed.

On February 23, 2019, the US and Colombian governments accused the Caracas government of setting fire to a truck carrying humanitarian aid from Colombia. But in March, the New York Times revealed that the video of the fire had been digitally manipulated to hide that the flames had been caused by a Molotov cocktail thrown by a Guaidó supporter.

The promise of the Southern Command

In May 2019, while General Paleo commanded the second and third session of the exercise of the Argentine Armed Forces to invade Venezuela, Admiral Craig Faller released the strategic document of the [US] Southern Command [SOUTHCOM] under his charge, entitled Enduring Promise for the Americas.

When speaking about the influence of the Southern Command in the affairs of our countries, there is not always an awareness of the significance that the region holds for the United States. A fundamental source of information is the Southern Command itself, in both the presentations of its commander before the Senate commissions of his country, and the public documents on strategy.

In 2004, the then head of the Southern Command, General James T. Hill, reported that the region (and within it basically Venezuela) provided a third of the oil imported by the United States—that is, more than all the countries of the Middle East combined; it provided a commercial exchange equivalent to that which the United States had with all of Europe and, by 2010, it was estimated that it would exceed that which the United States would have with Europe and Japan combined. In 2001, the United States sold more to the Mercosur countries than to China and India combined.

In the 2019 document, Admiral Faller wrote that “the countries of the region maintain trade relations with the United States of more than $1.8 trillion each year.” This constitutes triple the volume of merchandise trade between the United States and Europe, which according to official statistics from the European Union, in 2018 was $673 million.

Faller’s report also says that between 2013 and 2017, “US direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean exceeded $655 billion,” or an average of $130 billion per year. In 2018, according to the UNCTAD [United Nations Conference on Trade and Development] report, the total of direct foreign investment of any origin in Latin America was $151 billion.

In June 2019, Faller visited Buenos Aires and warned cadets from the Joint War College of the Armed Forces against the threat from China and Venezuela. That month, Paleo led the fourth, fifth, and sixth sessions of the military drill. In July, before the United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Faller pointed out that China is trying to displace the United States as the main partner in the region. The mission of the Southern Command is to prevent it. Paleo led the final session of the Puma military drill during that time.

“Vulcano” [Venezuela] is about to ignite. Military drill “background”
General Paleo described the situation in the following words:

“A situation of regional instability has been generated in the countries of South Patagonia due to strong economic and political crises that are the focus of attention of the main international and regional organizations.”

“In the framework of this complex scenario, extra-regional actors have sought to increase their influence in the emerging countries of South Patagonia, whose strategic natural reserves place them at the center of their interests.”

“Likewise, the crisis and destabilization have accelerated from the political point of view in some countries of the subcontinent. This degenerated into internal partisan bidding, the emergence of armed movements, an increase in the presence of organized crime and narco-terrorism with proven influence from third countries.”

“The case of the greatest internal commotion in the region occurs in Vulcano. The government has resorted to a foreign policy with the clear intention of seeking the support of extra-regional actors in order to remain in power. This behavior, ignoring internal claims and those of the main international organizations, has provoked a strong rejection and its consequence was the application of various sanctions.”

“The internal situation of Vulcano is framed by a lack of a representative entity for its dual government (NM and JG) and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, due to political disorganization and the lack of services and basic needs such as electricity, food, water, and medicines.”

“There is a breakdown of discipline in Vulcano [Venezuela] Armed and Security Forces due to profound differences between those who support the government and those who do not, leaving their tasks limited to the defense of specific national strategic objectives.”

“The government has resorted to the use of paramilitary groups to maintain control over the population, although it still has partial support from its armed and security forces.”

“The paramilitary groups carry out tactics of disinformation, propaganda, and manipulation of energy, food, and medicine supplies as a means of political capture of the population.”

“The countries of South Patagonia are member states of the United Nations Organization, where Febo and Ares this year are part of the Security Council.”

“In addition, the continent has a regional organization of the states of South Patagonia (OREPAS) to fight against shared problems of poverty, economic development, and civil protection. Ares (Argentina) and Febo (Brazil) are countries that impose their regional leadership and lead OREPAS (OAS) in order to promote integration and political stability within the region.”

“There are countries with border problems with Vulcano, such as Tellus (Guyana) and Ceres (Colombia). These states are supported by opposing extra-regional powers. This limits MERCOPAS (sic) and the UN from generating possibilities of humanitarian support to Vulcano.”

“The failed attempts at diplomatic solutions by regional and international organizations and the lack of the guarantee of human rights in Vulcano led the UN to issue resolution No. 1918/19 (MINUSVU) for intervention with a provisional multinational stabilization force.”

“The President of Ares, with the authorization of the National Congress, decided to respond to the UN request (decree No. 2005/19-Troops to participate in MINUSVU) for the integration of a provisional multinational force alongside other countries of South Patagonia (Phoebus and Juno), with the firm determination to strengthen the sovereignty and integrity of Vulcano, stop all violations of human rights, and collaborate with a broad political consensus to achieve a safe and lasting government transition.”

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The device to be mobilized by Paleo. Photo: El Cohete a la Luna

Ernesto Guevara and Zacarias Macabeo
“The Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ares (Argentina) established Military Strategic Directive 04/1, ‘Security for the flow of humanitarian aid to Vulcano.'”

“The Rapid Deployment Force (FDR) has been designated by the Ares Army to integrate the provisional multinational force (FMP) as a ground component and plans are to be prepared for the enlistment of an Ares task force (FTA), to order, and their subsequent use in Military Peacekeeping Operations (OMP) in Vulcano (Venezuela) territory.”

The mission of the force, according to General Paleo, would be to provide defense for the operation, securing the humanitarian aid corridors. He envisioned three corridors. The one that would correspond to Argentina would be along the border with Ceres, that is, Colombia. That is where, in reality, the provocation of the burned trucks [with alleged humanitarian aid] took place.

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The Argentine Army would invade through the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Photo: El Cohete a la Luna.

General Paleo said that “before NM’s [Nicolas Maduro] refusal to hand over the government due to its lack of representation before Congress and its weakening due to the interim President JG’s [Juan Guaido] international recognition, Vulcano has fallen into an institutional crisis. The security forces and armed forces of Vulcano have decided not to intervene in internal matters. This friction between the population and the government spurs NM to take the streets of the main cities. These demonstrations are repressed with paramilitary forces related to the government, called Simonist [maybe in reference to Simon Bolivar] popular collectives.”

“Because of the precision (sic) of the Simonist popular groups for exercising control of the population, they have carried out acts against human rights through repression and control of services and basic needs. A large population is occupying refugee camps in neighboring countries and the displaced are increasingly moving towards less developed sectors.”

“The solution that Vulcano is experiencing does not envision a peaceful settlement despite all the diplomatic measures carried out by the main regional countries and international organizations. This triggered the need for United Nations intervention with the Multinational Rapid Intervention Forces (MIRF). The purpose of the MIRF is to ensure humanitarian assistance to the population and to create the conditions for free and transparent presidential elections to be held as soon as possible.”

When defining “the Force in Opposition,” General Paleo wrote that “the main insurgency forces, their main headquarters (sic) are located on the western border of Vulcano with a radical left tendency and links to drug trafficking. The means of financing these groups are kidnappings, extortion, and doing business along the borders they share with Ceres [Colombia].”

“Among the main leaders are individuals known as Jerónimo Paz, Zacarías Macabeo, Ernesto Guevara, Julián and Carlos Chileno. It has troops of around 1,000 combatants in the states of Apure, Táchira and Barinas, in the western sector of Zulia, Mérida, Portuguesa, Cojedes, and Carabobo, and in its capital, Caracas. They also use the forest reserves of San Camilo and Ticoporó. It maintains a strong relationship with criminal groups in Ceres that they do not represent in their country of origin.”

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Intelligence report on Venezuela and Extra-Regional “threats (Russia and Cuba).” Photo El Cohete A La Luna.

What he calls “popular Simonist collectives,” or armed paramilitary groups, carry out guerrilla attacks, characterized “by offensive actions. The mobility, activity, and reliability of the forces employed are of greater importance than the numerical strength. Rarely does it come to a decisive fight. It is carried out using surprise actions and quickly interrupted and retracted shocks. The guerrillas launch their attacks from their base of operations, their location is not fixed with a system of alternate positions.”

Regardless of the political and moral assessment appropriate to a plan to invade Venezuela—in which Argentine soldiers would do the dirty work for the United States—from a tactical point of view, a little over two years after the end of the Puma military drill, the alleged events on which it was based have proven to be erroneous. The situation in Venezuela has stabilized, the United Nations did not arrange to form any multinational intervention force, and the political forces of the ruling party and the opposition have settled their differences at the polls. The flow of migrants from Venezuela to Argentina has been reduced. Since his inauguration as President-elect, Alberto Fernández has objected to the options presented by the United States, and had the opportunity to say so face-to-face with Elliot Abrams.



Featured image: Imaginary map used for the Argentinian military drill Puma, in which a “humanitarian” invasion of Venezuela is sketched out. Photo: El Cohete A La Luna.

(El Cohete a la Luna)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

https://orinocotribune.com/argentinian- ... ry-drills/

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Argentine Patagonia Threatened by British, Israeli & US Citizens
February 14, 2022
By Stella Calloni – Feb 11, 2022

While the Argentine government maintains its protest against its British counterpart over the extension of the military base located in the Malvinas Islands archipelago, colonially occupied by Great Britain since 1833, a serious incident between civil guards of a foreign businessman who illegally purchased more than 12,000 hectares in the Patagonian province of Río Negro, Argentina, and protesters who rejected the usurpation of Lago Escondido, a paradisiacal site and a reserve of drinking water, exposed the alienation and occupation of the extremely rich territory of Argentine Patagonia.

Expedition Marches for the sovereignty of Lago Escondido began six years ago, led by the Interactive Foundation to Promote the Culture of Water (FIPCA). Protesters must now cross fords and mountains, as British businessman Joe Lewis has closed all access roads to the historic lake.

Some 20 people from different social and union organizations joined FIPCA in a mobilization last Sunday led by former lieutenant Julio Cesar Urién, who was detained during the last military dictatorship for his relationship with Peronism.

The group was violently confronted by armed civil guards on horseback as the demonstrators were traveling along the only road that is open, according to the judicial decision.

Among the demonstrators was the doctor and Peronist leader Jorge Rachid, also an adviser to the government of the province of Buenos Aires, who was knocked off his feet.

This highlighted what is happening in Río Negro and other Patagonian provinces, where British companies that initially pretended to be Argentine, illegally bought large tracts of land. This is the case of Benetton, which, with the complicity of the Carlos Menem government in the 1990s, acquired two million hectares in the south and today intends to encroach on the scarce lands that have been left to the Mapuche community, which has been resisting the usurpation for years.

This is a story of the 21st century, which seems to refer to other times. Patagonia is threatened by British, Israeli, and US citizens. The businessman Lewis is the fifth-richest person in the world and built a landing strip where state-of-the-art warplanes can arrive, as has been denounced here for a long time.

Former President Mauricio Macri, a friend of Lewis, spent vacations at the businessman’s farm when he governed this country, and during his administration the lawsuits against this illegal occupation since 2011 were ignored, filed away, and forgotten.

Yesterday, Buenos Aires was the scene of another Expedition March for the Sovereignty of the Escondido Lake in front of the Casa de Río Negro [seat of the provincial government] using the slogans “English out of our territory!” and “the Malvinas are Argentine, Lake Escondido also.” The demonstrators claim local sovereignty over the entire territory of Patagonia, and in the same way the issue of persecution of the Mapuche people—who are being cornered within a few hectares—was revived, after the former minister of security of Macri’s government, Patricia Bullrich, described them as “terrorists.”

Yesterday’s march expressed solidarity with those who fight in the south for complete sovereignty. The deputy of the Parliament of the South, Hernán Harispe, recalled that sovereignty is not defended in pieces, and that this occupation entails the creation of a colonial enclave in Patagonia.

The disappearance and murder of Santiago Maldonado, a young artisan who supported the Mapuche in August 2017, as well as the murder of Rafael Nahuel in November 2017, whose community defended their right to usurped land, were also recalled in local media.

The call was also supported by Peronist organizations that denounced the criminal activity of Nicolás van Ditmar, an Argentine businessman who manages Lewis’ ranch, who has even threatened, with his paramilitary forces, judges who have acted in defense of national sovereignty in the south of the country.

Featured image: Photo composition of Laguna Torre (Argentina) and a protest against a dam in Patagonia. Photo: Al Mayadeen.

(Al Mayadeen)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

https://orinocotribune.com/argentine-pa ... -citizens/

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They denounce coup attempts against the president of Peru

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The Peruvian Prime Minister made a call to eliminate discrimination in Congress and to cease destabilizing actions. | Photo: @pcmperu
Published 13 February 2022

The prime minister pointed out that a segment of Congress is trying to ignore Castillo's democratic triumph, and is pressing for his vacancy or resignation.

The newly appointed Prime Minister of Peru, Aníbal Torres, reiterated this Sunday the coup attempts against President Pedro Castillo by some sectors of the Congress of that country that are being promoted.

At a press conference held in the Ccapacmarca district, the high-ranking official said that “you are seeing that in the capital, a part of Congress, a few congressmen, do not want to recognize the victory of Pedro Castillo, which is your victory. They want to ignore it."

To which he added that from the Executive they want to end the discrimination of which the president is being a victim, whom a fraction of Congress tries to ignore after his triumph in the democratic elections of 2021 and in correspondence request his vacancy, and exert pressure to force his resignation.


“We extend our hands to them. We do not want to continue arguing about these problems, but to discuss national problems, to solve the problems of the people, postponed by 200 years of republican life,” Torres deepened.

Who also detailed that peasants are reasonable people, with the capacity for dialogue to expose their problems and understand others. "I am a farmer like you, it is about reaching an agreement and promoting investment in order to generate work, economic growth, and with it social development," the prime minister remarked.

Torres detailed that there is a sector of Parliament that tries to ally itself with the opposition right to destabilize the country; and he urged them not to generate any more climate of instability.


As evidenced by the meeting held by these factions and the German Friedercich Naumann foundation, previously denounced for interference in the Peruvian political context.

In this sense, congresswoman Margot Palacios, belonging to the ruling party, Peru Libre, filed a complaint for alleged violation of the constitution to her right-wing counterpart María del Carmen Alva and other congressmen such as Patricia Juárez, Hernando Guerra García, Jorge Montoya, Alejandro Muñante , Norma Yarrow, José Williams, Carlos Anderson, Lady Camones and José Arriola; all with participation with the German foundation.

“They claim they are Democrats but they are not. A democrat respects the will of the people and in that will, Pedro Castillo was elected president for five years," Palacios said.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/peru-den ... -0013.html

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:41 pm

Along The Belt And Road: Breaking The Cycle Of Underdevelopment In Latin America
By Carlos Martinez


The last few months have seen a significant expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although this region of the world is not the most obvious fit for an undertaking that was originally modeled on the Silk Road—a network of trade routes linking East Asia with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe—the reality is that the countries of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean share many of the same needs as their counterparts in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.


Most Latin American countries won their formal independence from Spanish and Portuguese colonialism in the 19th century, but they found themselves in the shadow of an incipient North American imperialism. The Monroe Doctrine, first articulated by President James Monroe in 1823, denounced European colonialism and interference in the Western Hemisphere, not on the basis of anti-colonial principle but with a view to buttressing US hegemonic designs. Since that time, the U.S. has tended to consider Latin America as its “backyard”—a collection of countries subjected to the control (direct or indirect) of Washington.[1]


Eduardo Galeano wrote that the transition from colonialism to neocolonialism made little difference to Latin America’s position within the global capitalist economy. “Everything from the discovery until our times has always been transmuted into European—or later, United States—capital, and as such has accumulated on distant centers of power. Everything: the soil, its fruits and its mineral-rich depths, the people and their capacity to work and to consume, natural resources, and human resources.”[2]

Galeano’s words were written almost 50 years ago, but they still ring true. The U.S. continues with its hegemonic strategy in relation to Latin America, a strategy which seeks to make the region’s land, natural resources, labor and markets subservient to the needs of US monopoly capital. The U.S. has shown a consistent interest in Mexican labor, in Chilean copper, in Brazilian land; but it has been indifferent to the needs of the people of these countries to development, to a decent standard of living, to social justice. And when the U.S. fails to get what it wants through quiet pressure and economic coercion, it does not hesitate to use force, for example supporting coups against the elected governments of Bolivia[3] and Venezuela,[4] or imposing illegal sanctions on Nicaragua[5] and Cuba.[6]



As a result, Latin America continues to suffer significant underdevelopment in many areas. The emergence of China as a major investor and trading partner is therefore proving to be indispensable for the region’s economic progress.



Steadily Increasing Economic Ties Between China and Latin America



In the last two decades, economic links between Latin America and the People’s Republic of China have been expanding at a dizzying rate. Bilateral trade in 2000 was just $12 billion (one percent of Latin America’s total trade); now it stands at $315 billion.[7] In the same time period, China’s foreign direct investment in Latin America has increased by a factor of five.[8]


Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, 21 of the 33 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region have signed up to the China-led global infrastructure development strategy. Infrastructure projects have been a particular focus for Chinese firms. Writing in Foreign Policy in 2018, Max Nathanson observed that “Latin American governments have long lamented their countries’ patchy infrastructure.” China has “stepped in with a solution: roughly $150 billion loaned to Latin American countries since 2005.”[9]


Chinese investment has been widely recognized across the region for its positive economic and social impact, particularly in terms of facilitating government projects to reduce poverty and inequality. Kevin Gallagher, in his important book The China Triangle, writes that “Venezuela has been actively spending public funds to expand social inclusion to the country’s poor. The country… was able to fund such expenditures given the high price of oil in the 2000s—and due to the joint fund with China.”[10]


A similar story can be told about transformative social programs in Bolivia, in Brazil (under the Workers Party governments led by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff) and elsewhere. Brazil under the Lula and Dilma governments (2002-2016) won global acclaim for its unprecedented campaigns to tackle poverty, homelessness, malnutrition, and lack of access to education and healthcare. As part of its rejection of the Washington Consensus and its embrace of multipolarity and South-South cooperation, Lula’s administration massively expanded economic ties with China. Then foreign minister Celso Amorim said the Brazil-China relationship formed part of a “reconfiguration of the world’s commercial and diplomatic geography.”[11]


Chinese investment has proven particularly attractive to those governments in the region that seek to protect their sovereignty and improve the living standards of their populations. Investment from the international financial institutions (most notably the IMF) has typically come with punishing conditions of privatization, deregulation, and fiscal austerity. China’s development loans, on the other hand, come with no such strings attached. Gallagher affirms that Chinese banks “do not impose policy conditionalities of any kind, in keeping with general foreign policy of nonintervention.”


Support During the Pandemic


Aside from trade and investment, China gives over $5 billion in aid to Latin America each year. Since the start of the pandemic, China has provided around half the region’s COVID-19 vaccine doses, [12] with a number of countries including Chile, El Salvador, Brazil, and Uruguay relying almost exclusively on Chinese vaccines.[13] Indeed, as early as July 2020, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced a one-billion-dollar loan to support vaccine access in Latin America.[14]


Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has spoken of his gratitude for Chinese support with vaccines, testing kits, ventilators, and personal protective equipment, “We’re very grateful to China, to the Chinese government, to the President of China…We asked him for support with medical equipment, and a huge number of flights with medical equipment have arrived from China.”[15]


Cuba Joins the Belt and Road Energy Partnership


Cuba and China established diplomatic relations in 1960, just a year after the Cuban Revolution. However, the relationship was complicated by the emerging Sino-Soviet split, and the two sides had little to do with one another in the 70s and 80s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, compounded by a deepening blockade by the U.S., Cuba faced an unprecedented economic crisis. China’s economy, on the other hand, was starting to take off, and it stepped in to provide Cuba with urgently-needed investment, trade, and aid, starting with the supply of a million bicycles.[16]


In 1993, awarding former President Jiang Zemin the Order of Jose Martí, Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke passionately about the successes of Chinese socialism: “Only socialism could have been capable of the miracle of feeding; clothing; providing with footwear, jobs, education, and healthcare; raising life expectancy to 70; and providing decorous shelter for more than one billion human beings in a minute portion of the planet’s arable land.”[17]


Since the early 1990s, bilateral trade has grown steadily, and China now accounts for around 30 percent of Cuban imports and exports.[18] China invests heavily in telecommunications, mining, and energy in Cuba, and Chinese consumer goods are very popular on the island. Cuba exports sugar, nickel, and other goods to China.


Most recently, Cuba has joined the Belt and Road Energy Partnership, a Chinese-led program designed to strengthen coordination around energy investments and promote clean energy. David Castrillon, Research Professor in international relations at the Externado University of Colombia, observes that “Cuba, like so many other countries in the Global South, faces both the basic needs of the population for access to electricity, as well as the global demands to transition to more sustainable energy sources. It is in this context that cooperation with a country like China is so important, as China not only has the experience and expertise in developing these high-quality sustainable energies, but also the willingness to work hand in hand with other countries.”[19]


With limited natural resources and suffering under a US economic blockade that has persisted for over 60 years, Cuba has benefited tremendously from its deepening win-win relationship with China. As Chinese President Xi Jinping said when visiting Havana in 2014, China and Cuba are both socialist countries, and the common ideal, beliefs, and objectives have tightly united the two peoples together. The two should be “good friends, good comrades, and good brothers forever.”[20]


China and Nicaragua Resume Diplomatic Ties


On December 9, 2021, Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Denis Moncada announced the resumption of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Nicaragua. As Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, noted, “The two governing parties and two countries share revolutionary friendship and brotherly bonds.”[21]


There is enormous scope for the two countries to advance economic cooperation, particularly in infrastructure construction and renewable energy. Following the announcement of bilateral relations, the two sides signed several cooperation agreements, including a memorandum of understanding on cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the 21st Century Maritime Cooperation.[22]


Speaking at the official reopening of China’s embassy in Nicaragua, Moncada stated, “We are sure that we will continue working together, strengthening each day the fraternal ties of friendship, cooperation, investment, expanding communication channels with the Belt and Road, strengthening peace, stability, security, development, and progress for the mutual benefit of our peoples and humanity.”[23]


Nicaragua is another country that has suffered terribly as a result of US intervention, destabilization, and sanctions. Increasing coordination with China will certainly help it to break out of underdevelopment and solve the needs of its people.


A Rising Tide of Multipolarity


With the expansion of Chinese investment and trade, Latin America has the historic opportunity to break out of its status as a “backyard” of the U.S. to climb the ladder of development and to affirm its status as a key player in an increasingly multipolar world. Kevin Gallagher has noted that Latin American governments no longer consider it necessary to submit to the neoliberal Washington Consensus or to endure US domination “in large part because they believe they have an alternative in China.”[24] The late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez considered that an alliance with China constituted a “Great Wall against American hegemonism.”[25]


In stark contrast to the U.S., China treats other countries on the basis of equality and works to develop mutually beneficial relationships. Since Chinese loans don’t come with punishing conditions of austerity and privatization, Latin American governments have been able to leverage China’s investment and purchase of primary commodities to spend at an unprecedented rate on reducing poverty and inequality. As such, from Chile to Bolivia to Venezuela to Mexico, the relationship is producing tangible benefits for ordinary people in the region.




[1] Alexander Main, “Is Latin America Still the US’s ‘Backyard’?,” CEPR, accessed Jan. 18, 2022. https://www.cepr.net/is-latin-america-s ... -backyard/
[2] Eduardo Galeano. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1997), pp. 190.
[3] Mark Weisbrot, “Silence reigns on the US-backed coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia,” The Guardian, accessed Jan. 18, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... can-states
[4] Julian Borger, “US ‘gave the nod’ to Venezuelan coup,” The Guardian, accessed Jan. 18, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/ ... .venezuela
[5] Chuck Kaufman, “Sanctions Kill! End US Sanctions on Nicaragua,” Alliance for Global Justice, accessed Jan. 18, 2022. https://afgj.org/nicanotes-sanctions-ki ... -nicaragua.
[6] Ramona Wadi, “The Illegal US Blockade on Cuba Hinders the Island’s Economic Development,” Politics Today, accessed Jan. 18, 2022. https://politicstoday.org/the-illegal-u ... velopment/
[7] Pepe Zhang and Tatiana Lacerda Prazeres, “China’s trade with Latin America is bound to keep growing. Here’s why that matters,” World Economic Forum, accessed Jan. 19, 2022. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/ ... caribbean/
[8] Ciara Nugent and Charlie Campell, “The U.S. and China Are Battling for Influence in Latin America, and the Pandemic Has Raised the Stakes,” Time, accessed Jan. 19, 2022. https://time.com/5936037/us-china-latin ... influence/
[9] Max Nathanson, “How to Respond to Chinese Investment in Latin America, Foreign Policy,” accessed Jan. 19, 2022. https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/28/ho ... n-america/
[10] Kevin Gallagher. The China Triangle: Latin America’s China Boom and the Fate of the Washington Consensus (New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 85.
[11] Hal. Brands. Dilemmas of Brazilian Grand Strategy (United Kingdom: Lulu.com, 2012), pp.12.
[12] “China Has Supplied 64% of Bolivia’s Covid-19 Vaccines,” Kawsachun News, accessed Jan. 20, 2022. https://kawsachunnews.com/china-has-sup ... 9-vaccines
[13] Dan De Luce, “China is using vaccines to push its agenda in Latin America, and the U.S. is behind the curve, experts say,” NBC News, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chin ... s-n1268146
[14] Karol Suarez, “China offers $1 billion loan to Latin America and the Caribbean for access to its Covid-19 vaccine,” CNN, accessed Jan. 20, 2022. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/23/amer ... index.html
[15] Sara Pablo, “Acercamiento de México y China podría generar tensión con EE.UU.: experto,” Voz de America, accessed Jan. 20, 2022. https://www.vozdeamerica.com/a/america- ... 66012.html
[16] Michael Voss, “Cuba past and future: The Special Period,” CGTN, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://america.cgtn.com/2018/04/17/cub ... ial-period
[17] F. Castro, Castro Presents Jose Marti Order to Jiang Zemin, Fidel Castro Speech Database, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://australianmuseum.net.au/chinese ... nting-h533
[18] Scott B. MacDonald, “Cuba’s Changing of the Guard and Sino-Cuban Relations,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, accessed Jan. 19, 2022. https://www.csis.org/analysis/cubas-cha ... -relations
[19] Sergio Held, “Cuba eyes cooperation with China on clean energy,” China Daily, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/2021 ... 7dbff.html
[20] “China, Cuba walk together in building socialism.” Xinhua, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. http://www.news.cn/english/2021-08/31/c_1310159352.htm
[21] “Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on December 10, 2021,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_6 ... 66671.html
[22] Liu Xin and Wan Hengyi, “Nicaragua rides wave of China, reaffirming BRI,” Global Times, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202201/1245705.shtml
[23] “China Reopens Embassy in Nicaragua, Invites Nicaragua to Belt & Road,” Kawsachun News, accessed Jan. 21, 2022. https://kawsachunnews.com/china-reopens ... -belt-road
[24] Gallagher, op cit, pp. 233
[25] Jonathan Watts, “Chávez says China deal ‘great wall’ against US,” The Guardian, accessed Jan. 29, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/ ... uela.china

https://www.brasilwire.com/along-the-be ... n-america/

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Ecuadorean Police Raid the Council for Citizen Participation

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Police officers enter the Citizen Participation Council, Quito, Ecuador, Feb. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @fabriciovelav

The Council President Almeida said her institution is victim of a smear campaign carried out by right-wing politicians who seek to seize the Council to appoint pro-government officials.

On Tuesday night, the Ecuadorean national police and officials of the Public Prosecutor's Office raided the headquarters of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS), an institution in charge of appointing control authorities, such as the Controller General.

Using Facebook, the CPCCS President Sofia Almeida denounced the raid, which occurs at a time when her presidency has been challenged by Hernan Ulloa, a councilor who was proclaimed CPCCS President by councilors who would be supporting President Guillermo Lasso.

The Prosecutor's Office justified the search by arguing that it sought to collect physical and digital documentary evidence on an alleged crime of "non-consensual access to computer systems," which would have been reported by citizens whose names remained anonymous.

“They didn't let me in even though I'm CPCCS President. Nor did they respect my position as counselor. I wanted to see what was happening in the computer area of ​​the CPCCS and verify that everything was in order,” Almeida said.

The tweet reads, "This is how they celebrate the blow to the Function of Transparency and Social Control. This is the clear sign that the rule of law has disappeared in Ecuador. President Guillermo Lasso takes the CPCCS with the full support of the Police.”

Previously, through the "Enclave Politica" program broadcast by teleSUR, she warned that the CPCSS is "victim of a smear campaign" carried out by right-wing politicians who seek to seize the Council to appoint pro-government officials.

On Feb. 9, Almeida was removed from her position through a controversial legal action taken by counselors sympathetic to the Executive Branch. This happened while the Police surrounded the building, creating a scene that social networks qualified as a "dictatorial" performance. Upon learning about her removal, Almeida denounced the disrespect for the independence of the institutions.

Similar to what happened on that day, Hernan Ulloa, an official who would seek to favor the Lasso administration, asked the head of the National Police to provide him support to enter the CPCSS headquarters in Quito on Tuesday.

Published 16 February 2022 (2 hours 30 minutes ago)

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0002.html

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Peru Sanctions Repsol with Over 80 Million Dollars

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Peru announced that sanctions against Repsol could reach 80 million dollars. Feb. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@perunewslatters

Published 15 February 2022 (14 hours 2 minutes ago)

Modesto Montoya, Environment Minister disclosed on Tuesday that the government started the sanctions process against the Repsol corporation, in relation to its responsibility regarding the oil spill.


On Tuesday, the Peruvian Environment Minister Modesto Montoya announced that the process to impose sanctions against the Repsol corporation has started because of the infringement of remediation actions after the oil spill across the Peruvian coast.

The Minister stated that sanctions to be imposed against the Spanish energy company, for not restoring the existent conditions of the Peruvian sea previous to the oil spill could reach an estimated amount of 80 million dollars. "They have not complied with the clean-up requirements, with the recovery (of the affected areas), and with the deadlines that have been set," Montoya said to the press.

He noted that the company is only assuming the clean-up of beaches and not on the clean-up of the polluted sea caused by them. "We visited the islands where guano birds are found, and the firm has done nothing so far," the Minister underlined.

Further, Montoya noted that apparently the company "is looking for an excuse not to comply with (such requirements), but this will not be possible, because international laws protect us." He highlighted another report to be submitted to determine whether operations will be restored at Repsol.

One month after the spill of #petróleo caused by Repsol, the Minister of the Environment, Modesto Montoya, spoke to the population and said the following: "The fines to Repsol could reach up to 304 million soles."

"The company has to prepare a report so that they (the loading and unloading operations) can be definitively restored. I hope they have presented it," Montoya exposed.

The Environment Minister announced that an evaluation would be performed in a flight over the affected area for verifying sea conditions one month after the environmental disaster.

It is estimated that Repsol spilled more than 11 000 barrels of crude oil at La Pampilla maritime terminal.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0020.html
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:32 pm

Latin America is Rejecting U.S. Assistance
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 13, 2022
Kawsachun News

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Commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), General Laura J. Richardson testifies before the House Armed Services Committee. March 8, 2022.

Latin America and the Caribbean is partnering with China on multi-billion dollar development projects and while turning down assistance offered by the United States.

21 of 31 countries of the region, both friends and foes of Washington alike, have joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to the dismay of U.S. lawmakers. Congressional Representative Lisa McClain sought an explanation for the phenomenon at this week’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on National Security Challenges and Military Activity in North and South America.

McClain, a Republican representing Michigan, remarked on the failure of the U.S. Build Act (2018), which had been introduced in an attempt by Congress to counteract China’s BRI.

McClain described a scenario of refusal of the Build Act in her questioning of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, Melissa Dalton:

“As far as I can tell, and I may be incorrect, but there seems to be little interest by the underdeveloped nations to utilize the U.S. Build Act over China. Why do you think these nations have been so hesitant to utilize the U.S. to help fund their initiatives?”

“We’re offering help.. and they’re not taking it. So when I talk.. it’s like we need to provide assistance. We need to provide assistance. We need to provide assistance. Then we provide assistance and they don’t want it. So, is that really the issue or is there something I’m missing?”

“But we have to get them off of China and our adversaries and we have to spend some time on why, because it really isn’t…” said McClain, before being stopped by the Chair of the meeting as her time had expired.


For her part, Dalton replied that she would have to defer to the State Department, “who is on the front lines of engaging with partners on that particular issue.”

The new head of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), General Laura J. Richardson, testified that four months into her post, “the biggest eye-opener for me has been the extent to which China and Russia are aggressively expanding their influence in our neighborhood.”

According to General Richardson’s figures, the People’s Republic of China invested 72 billion dollars over a five year period (2017-2021) in Latin America and the Caribbean:

“It’s off the charts and I can read a couple of the projects, the most concerning projects that I have are the 6 billion and projects specifically near the Panama Canal. And I look at the strategic lines of communication; Panama Canal and the Strait of Magellan. But just to highlight a couple of the projects, the nuclear power plant in Argentina, 7.9 billion; the highway in Jamaica, 5.6 billion; the energy refinery in Cuba, 5 billion; the highway in Peru, 4 billion; energy dam in Argentina, 4 billion; the Metro in Colombia, 3.9 billion; the freight railway in Argentina, 3 billion. These are not small projects that they’re putting in this region. This region is rich in resources.”

It’s not only global south development and infrastructure that has sent U.S. lawmakers into a panic. China’s space mission, military capacity, cyber capabilities, and close relationship with a set of Latin American countries were also discussed as cause for concern for Washington, which is now troubled over its waning influence throughout the Americas. General Richardson also noted that U.S. allies have been strengthening cooperation with Russia, saying, “Recent visits between the presidents of Brazil and Argentina with Putin in Russia demonstrate a concerning potential broadening of Russian ties in the region” in addition to the recent visits by a high-level Russian delegation to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

On the military front, the SOUTHCOM Commander noted Russian defense and intelligence cooperation with Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela as an immediate concern for the United States.

While the topic of the hearing was “National Security Challenges and Military Activity in North and South America”, no countries were mentioned more than Russia, mentioned 82 times, and China, which was mentioned 50 times, during the session.

The House Armed Services Committee hearing can be seen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJV7ogmqcNM

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/03/ ... ssistance/

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 01, 2022 2:01 pm

Quintana: Latin America to Experience Phase II of the Cold War
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 27, 2022
Kawsachun News

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Former Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana gives a talk on NATO in Lauca Ñ. March 26, 2022.

Former Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana gave a talk on NATO and an analysis of the current conflict to the 6 Federations of the Trópico of Cochabamba (campesino union) and members of the community of Lauca Ñ (rural Cochabamba), at the request of Evo Morales. This 75-minute talk was given alongside other presentations on the occasion of the release of a new book, “Evo Operación Rescate”, authored by journalist, economist and Director of CELAG, Alfredo Serrano.

Evo, who leads as President of the 6 Federations union as well as the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) has called for internal workshop seminars on the history of NATO to deepen the understanding of campesinos who, like the rest of Latin America, will undoubtedly be affected by the conflict.

In his talk, Quintana expressed rejection of official narratives propagated by the hegemonic media, force fed from the north, and instead urged an examination of history. Quintana says that “gringo policy” towards Latin America will put in motion a “witch hunt in the region” in which Washington will say, ‘Either they’re with the West, NATO and the US, or they’re against us.’ Within this context, governments that opt for neutrality in the conflict will be put in the category of pro-Russia and subject to US blackmail, intimidation and pressure.

Below is a transcription of a small portion of Quintana’s presentation. Check our social media for subtitled videos from other parts of the talk.


Se llevó adelante el Taller de información y análisis del papel de la OTAN y EE. UU. en los conflictos entre Rusia y Ucrania en el Trópico de Cochabamba. Agradecemos al exministro Juan Ramón Quintana, y al diputado Héctor Arce que fueron los disertantes. pic.twitter.com/VaFuDJw3Z4

— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) March 25, 2022


Juan Ramon Quintana:

This conflict, comrades in Latin America, of course has effects. I would say that the first consequence here is that we are going to notice its geopolitical effects and we are going to experience the second phase of the Cold War. We are going to experience a cold war in a different way. What’s going to be the message of the West and what is going to be the gringo policy in the midst of this conflict?

‘Either they are with us or they are against us.’

‘Either they are with the West, with NATO and with the United States, or they are against us.’

And there is going to be a witch hunt in the region. Even governments that opt for neutrality in this conflict are going to fall into the category of suspicious and therefore pro-Russia.

And when this context occurs, the gringos more than anyone know that they have to use a policy of blackmail, intimidation and pressure against the countries that are considered pro-Russian. And what will happen to those countries, comrades? They’ll block loans. There will be unilateral sanctions, sanctions which are being developed at great speed. Unilateral sanctions are the masters of the world. Any measure with which the gringos do not agree with: unilateral sanctions. Sanctions against the Cuban people, sixty years; against the Venezuelans, twenty years; against the Nicaraguans, ten years. Today, more than a thousand sanctions against the Russians.

And who sanctioned the United States and the European Union for the brutality of the wars in the Middle East, in North Africa. Who imposed sanctions on them?

So, politics in Latin America is going to heat up. It’s going to heat up through militarization, comrades. We are not going to be exempt from new coups because there will simply be governments that do not align with Western and North American policies and the coups will come against the pro-Russians.

Surely the U.S. will find a term, like their “failed states”, for those governments that sympathize with Putin. And the coup, destabilization, interference, and the millions and millions of dollars from Europe and the United States will come to foment the destabilization of our democracies in Latin America.

The most direct consequence of this conflict, of this kind of geopolitical tsunami caused by this conflict, is going to be greater pressure on strategic natural resources: oil, gas, minerals. Consequently, we are going to continue to be, unfortunately, we are going to make our way into the category of victims of capitalist voracity to appropriate natural resources.

Comrade Evo said that the 2019 coup had to do with lithium and this conflict is proving that comrade Evo was right, because in 2019 they coup’d us so that lithium would become the property of transnational companies due to the energy conflict in Europe. The English, the Germans and the gringos all stuck their hands in here, all wanting the dictatorship to transfer Bolivia’s lithium to big transnational companies. Lithium will become, as they say, the most desired dish.

Comrades, and note that this conflict is shaking the stock market, it is affecting prices, it is changing the prices of oil, gas, and food, and this will have consequences in our region. We’ll need to prepare ourselves to face these consequences. Lastly, the obviously direct consequence is that in this game of power the right-wings are going to be most benefited, because today’s political corpses will be given a dose in order to resurrect the right-wing, obviously so that they will fight in favor of the anti-Russian and anti-Chinese project.

I haven’t dealt with the issue of China, but just as it’s happening with Ukraine and Russia, the same will happen in the case of Taiwan and China. I insist, the target today is Russia and China. They’ve forgotten about their ‘War on Terrorism’. What they are trying to do today is survive.

The West, European Union, United States, NATO. What they are trying to do is survive through their political, economic, financial and cultural crisis because the West has not given any answer to humanity. The West today is synonymous with war, destruction, weapons, atomic arsenals.

What is the culture of the West? We’re coming from, as comrade Hector (Arce) said; for 500 years they have been mutilating our ears, cutting off our noses, cutting off our hands, dismembering us, leaving horses to dismember us. That’s what the West left with us, comrades.

And that culture of destroying Nature, Mother Earth, does not cease. It does not cease in its compulsive materialistic appetite to wage war to appropriate other people’s strategic resources.

Therefore, there is a culture war. We are in the middle of a cultural war, brothers and sisters, and that implies the reaffirmation of our identity. That implies preserving the Plurinational State, this political project. That implies continuing to fight, dear colleagues, for our coca, to continue fighting for our lithium, to continue fighting for our gas, to continue fighting for the nationalization that has cost this country so many deaths, and to continue fighting for this political project, because this political project it is the antithesis of Western culture, which is a culture of death. It is a culture of war, it is a culture of confrontation, it is a culture of business over the corpses of humanity.

Juan Ramon Quintana’s 75-minute analysis of the role of NATO can be watched in Spanish on Radio Kawsachun Coca’s Facebook and YouTube. The presentation of the book “Evo Operación Rescate” can also be streamed on Facebook and YouTube.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/03/ ... -cold-war/

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THE DECLINE OF THE US IN THE REGION PROVOKES THE OPERATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN COMMAND
31 Mar 2022 , 1:28 pm .

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General Laura Richardson and Colombian General Jorge González Parra, Chief of the Colombian Joint Chiefs of Staff, sign the Commitment and Cooperation Framework at the Southern Command headquarters (Photo: Stephen Z. Gardner / Southern Command)

STRATEGY: BALKANIZE EVERYTHING

In 2019, the Southern Command published its strategy for the region , and had already directly identified the six actors with whom it was going to antagonize more aggressively, and who have been mentioned in this note. The high command says:

"China and Russia want to form a world in accordance with their authoritarian order, and they are undermining the principles of democracy, sovereignty, human rights and the rule of law. China uses harmful economic influence, Russia spreads disinformation to sow discord, and Iran has exported state-sponsored terrorism to this hemisphere. Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua -- encouraged by support from China and Russia -- further destabilize the hemisphere and threaten democratic governance."

Since these three Latin-Caribbean countries are the ones that attract the most attention to the Pentagon in the region to carry out operations "in all areas, including special operations, cybernetics, information operations" (Laura Richardson dixit ) with the aim of balkanizing the relations of these countries between Yes, and among the Eurasian powers, we must point out the activities that the Southern Command and its "friendly governments" have been carrying out on the territorial borders of these three states, since they have been developing rapidly.

It is striking that there are larger operations on the borders with Venezuela, specifically two of importance and one of them related to a high-impact violent event in Colombia.

Near Bogotá, on Saturday night, March 26, there was an explosion at the Arborizada Alta Immediate Attention Command, in Ciudad Bolívar, an act that outgoing President Iván Duque described as a "terrorist attack." Immediately, the Uribe mayor of the Colombian capital, Claudia López, requested "the Government of Venezuela to identify, capture and extradite any member of the residual group Front 33 of the FARC dissidents so that they answer for this cowardly and criminal attack." Said guerrilla group has not claimed responsibility for the event, nor have the Colombian authorities provided reliable evidence that the government of President Nicolás Maduro shelters guerrilla groups in Venezuelan territory.

Almost immediately, on March 28, the head of the Southern Command received the Commander General of the Colombian Military Forces, General Luis Navarro. The press release saysof the command unit: "Richardson and Navarro discussed defense cooperation between the United States and Colombia. Navarro also met with other senior leaders of the Southern Command and was briefed on the command's mission and cooperation with the forces For many decades, U.S. and Colombian forces have worked together during exercises, humanitarian assistance missions, professional exchanges, and security operations to counter transnational threats." With "transnational threats", we know, they refer, among others, to the governments of Nicolás Maduro, Miguel Díaz-Canel and Daniel Ortega and to the Eurasian leaders.

Naval Forces Southern Command and the U.S. 4th Fleet conducted a maritime "anti-submarine warfare training" exercise with the Colombian Navy in the Caribbean Sea from February 27-28, which included the Virginia USS Minnesota (SSN 783) and the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Billings (LCS 15). The Minnesota and Billings were joined by the Colombian navy submarine ARC Pijao (SSK 28), the frigates ARC Independiente (FM 54) and ARC Almirante Padilla (FM 51), and Colombian maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters. Says a press releaseof the Southern Command: "The exercise served as a joint exercise with Colombia, in which both countries exchanged knowledge to maximize communication and understanding of the tactics and procedures shared by each one to facilitate the conduct of naval operations against emerging threats in the region".

The Minnesota is undergoing a homeport change from Groton, Connecticut to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. But the alarm sounded, above all, because it is a nuclear-armed submarine, a unit that for the first time takes part in naval military exercises in Caribbean waters in conjunction with a signatory country (Colombia) of the Treaty of Tlatelolco., which "prohibits the development, acquisition, testing and placement of nuclear weapons in the Latin American and Caribbean region" and whose area of ​​application "is the sum of all the territories of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean ". In this way, the Colombian State violated a treaty that was negotiated during the years of the Cold War, because "the Latin American and Caribbean States perceived that the possible interference of nuclear weapons would make the region a target of possible nuclear attacks and would fatally provoke a ruinous arms race.

In the border countries of Cuba and Nicaragua there have also been intense activities by the Southern Command, although less significant in terms of intimidation and even violation of regional agreements.

Especially in Honduras. Since Xiomara Castro took over the presidential reins, the Southern Command has strengthened cooperation ties with the Honduran army under different programs , General Laura Richardson met with the president , the Honduran and United States military high command signed a bilateral agreement in the Under the Central America Task Force, a Joint Task Force established engagements with Honduran NGOs and held training exercises with firefighters from the Soto Cano Air Base Squad.

The relationship of military dependency of some countries in the region with respect to the Pentagon is deepening at a time when the US hegemony is losing spaces in the economic, financial and commercial aspects, but also politically, in other global latitudes. The political decisions of the Joe Biden administration to try to undermine Russia and China are not only extended in Europe and Asia but also in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Under that umbrella, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba are in the crosshairs of the different operations that the Southern Command carries out both officially and covertly, especially on the Bolivarian Republic, which in the transcript has been dismantling camps, logistics and financing of the Colombian Armed Terrorist Drug Trafficking Groups (TANCOL) in the border states of Apure and Zulia.

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, as it has greater room for maneuver to influence amidst the chaos. In this sense, the main pivots of Latin-Caribbean integration are being attacked, even more so with the strengthening of the alliances of the "troika of tyranny" (as described by the warmonger John Bolton) with the emerging powers of the nascent multipolar world.

https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/el-d ... omando-sur

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Once Again, Right Wing Fails to Impeach Peruvian President Pedro Castillo
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 29, 2022
Peoples Dispatch

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President Pedro Castillo arrives at the Congress of the Republic to participate in the debate on the vacancy motion (Photo via: Presidencia del Perú on Twitter)

The vacancy motion presented by the opposition party Popular Renewal against leftist President Pedro Castillo failed to gain the votes necessary to oust him


On March 28, the plenary session of the Peruvian Congress met to debate the vacancy motion against President Pedro Castillo, which was presented by the right-wing opposition Popular Renewal party on March 8. After over 8 hours of intense debate, as anticipated, the unicameral parliament voted to reject the motion that sought the removal of the leftist president from office. Only 55 of the 130 legislators voted in favor of impeachment. 54 voted against, 19 abstained and two were absent during voting. The president’s critics needed 87 votes to oust Castillo, who stood accused of corruption and moral incapacity to govern, among other charges.

The plenary began with President Castillo’s defense address. He himself appeared before the legislature to exercise his right to defense, a process that could have been conducted by his lawyer. During his brief speech, Castillo said that he decided to go to the Congress to “show maximum respect for the constitutional state and its control tools” and that his fight “is not for power, which is temporary,” but instead “to serve the country.” Although Castillo didn’t stay for the whole session and asked his lawyer to respond to the accusations, he rejected them all.

In his defense, Castillo stated that the vacancy motion against him had no valid basis, and that it was a “compilation of versions of a section of the press, statements without any corroboration, speculation and imaginary links without support in the facts.” He pointed out that 4 of the 20 accusations had already been discussed and discarded by the Parliament during the rejection of the first vacancy motion. He added that he was being blamed for acts that he did not carry out and that the accusations themselves referred to a third person.

Castillo also pointed out that the vacancy motion has become, since his election, a “central point of the political and journalistic agenda, which should not continue.” He stressed that the rejection of the motion would not mean the end of the ongoing investigations and ratified his will to continue collaborating with the investigations related to alleged corruption and other charges. Finally, Castillo called on the legislators to “abandon the environment of turbulence” and “work together to combat the true enemies of the country: corruption, poverty, discrimination, inequality, insecurity, violence against women.”

Following the rejection of the vacancy motion, Castillo welcomed the decision of the parliamentarians and once again called on them to work together for the benefit of the country. “I salute that good sense, responsibility and democracy have prevailed. I recognize the parliamentarians who voted against the vacancy, and I respect the decision of those who voted in favor. I call on everyone to close this page and work together for the country’s great challenges,” tweeted Castillo.

Saludo que haya primado la sensatez, la responsabilidad y la democracia. Reconozco a los parlamentarios que votaron en contra de la vacancia, y respeto la decisión de quienes sí lo hicieron. Llamo a todos a cerrar esta página y trabajar juntos por los grandes desafíos del país.

— Pedro Castillo Terrones (@PedroCastilloTe) March 29, 2022


In addition to the ruling Free Peru party and its allies Together for Peru and Democratic Peru, which hold 44 of the 130 seats, various legislators of the center-right We Are Peru and Alliance for Progress parties also voted against the motion and in defense of the stability of the country. Meanwhile, all the legislators of the far-right Popular Force, Popular Renewal and Go on Country parties, among other center-right parties, voted in favor of the vacancy.

The members of the ruling coalition celebrated the failure of the vacancy, and called on the opposition for agreement. Meanwhile, the main promoter of the vacancy motion, Jorge Montoya, declared that his bloc would investigate the motives of the 19 legislators who voted in abstention, indicating that there would be another attempt to remove Castillo.

This was the second vacancy motion against Castillo since he took office eight months ago. It was approved for debate with 76 votes in favor, 41 against, one abstention and 12 absent, on March 14. The first vacancy motion, which was presented in November 2021 by the Popular Force, Popular Renewal, and Go on Country parties, failed to garner enough votes to be admitted to the Congress in December 2021.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/03/ ... -castillo/

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Argentina, the IMF and the Big Debt
March 31, 2022
By Gustavo A. Maranges – Mar 27, 2022

Sometimes we make decisions only thinking about the immediate situation, while forgetting the repercussions they may have in the next 5-10 years. We think that it will all just work itself out. We tend to be optimistic at best, but the reality is that we are inconsistent. When it comes to the decision of an individual, the consequences of that decision rarely affects a considerable amount of people. However, when it comes to that of the government of a country, a single measure can change the lives of millions for generations to come.

Argentina is a country that knows what this means, especially when we talk about the economy. The South American country’s economic history has un-erasable footprints of Neoliberalism and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) associated policies.

Recently, President Alberto Fernandez’s government completed a re-negotiation with the IMF on the payment on a $44 billion loan, even though he was not responsible for it, but now it is his administration’s biggest problem. The debt was acquired by former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) only one year before he finished his term. Today, three years later, Argentinians have seen very few benefits, compared to the large amount of problems this loan has generated.

Thanks to the recent agreement with the IMF, Argentina will have four and a half years before paying back the loan to the financial institution. However, the challenges are not small. Not a single penny of the foreign currency received from the loan remains in Argentinian banks. Therefore, financing the debt will require a lot of effort from the national economy, which shows recovery signs while it is also facing rising inflation and lower-than-usual employment growth.

According to government statistics, between 2007 and 2019, each point of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth generated 45,000 new jobs. However, the 10.3% GDP growth in 2021 only created around 190,000 jobs, meaning just 19,000 new jobs per percentage point.

In February of this year, the level of employment slightly exceeded the pre-pandemic levels (February 2020). However, this figure does not take into account the decline in purchasing power or the precariousness of the conditions of the working class. It means that the country’s economic growth does not turn into better living conditions for the workers and their families as it did before.

On top of that, inflation has skyrocketed in Argentina. In the last month alone, prices rose by 7.7%. This set off alarms since during the whole of 2021, and in the first two months of 2022, inflation had remained below 2%. Now, the government will have an additional problem to control while implementing the Productive Development Plan towards 2030.

The plan was designed to guarantee the necessary stability and economic growth to fund the multi-billion-dollar IMF loan. Alberto Fernandez’s strategy aims at developing the national productive forces and not only for the economic growth. However, his tenure ends in 2024, and nothing guarantees that the return of a neoliberal government will keep this plan running.

Macri came to power in 2015 and broke 12 years of real transformations in the redistribution of wealth in Argentina. It is incorrect to say that in his four years in office the country went back to 2003 levels, although we can say for sure that he revived the darkest moments of Argentina’s national financial history. The new Plan for Productive Development towards 2030 intends to create the foreign currency incomes to replace many of what Macri’s allies sent abroad and squandered in private debt payments.

Alberto Fernández’s strategy seems to be tuning into Argentina’s real conditions. However, its success or failure will largely depend on the outcome of the 2023 Presidential Elections. Then, it is convenient to review recent history lessons and carefully analyze the consequences of the decisions of the political actors. The only thing that will move them away from their alliances with the oligarchs and reliance on the IMF, is a united movement of the people with a leadership that has their best interests at heart.

Featured image: Unions march against IMF loan in Buenos Aires, photo: Bill Hackwell

https://orinocotribune.com/argentina-th ... -big-debt/
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