Americanism v ALBA
The developing dynamic of events in Latin America through 2007 and into
2008
is very different from 2006, a year noteworthy for its dramatic
presidential elections.
But the underlying issues driving the dynamic remain unchanged. In its
2007 report on the Millenium Development Goals (1), the UN comments,
"the report shows that the decline in poverty levels in Latin
America and the Caribbean has been only marginal from 10% in 1990 to 9%
in 2004. At the same time income inequality continues to be the
greatest among all developing countries and the poorest fifth of the
population account for just 3% of national consumption."
That averaged-out poverty estimate there is grossly misleading. In
Central America or
Bolivia over half the population live in poverty. In
Mexico, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement, poverty is
actually increasing (2). The report confirms what
everyone knew already. After over 20 years of structural
adjustment programmes and reckless advocacy of "free trade" imposed
under the Washington Consensus, levels of
poverty and inequality in Latin America are at least as bad as they
ever were and in many countries are probably worse.
The illusion of good intentions cultivated and promoted by US
governments and their
European and Pacific allies has always veiled their determination to
maintain the crushing economic advantage accumulated through centuries
of
genocide, slavery and colonial domination. Aid programmes of the
European Union, the U.S, and Pacific countries
like Japan or Australia have thus always been a key element of the
rich-country-welfare debt-plus-aid model of economic domination. With
the resurgence in Latin America of political movements determined to
secure a decent life for the impoverished majority, those aid
programmes are
now more and more needed for a different kind of leverage.
Previously, rich country
debt-plus-aid rackets had two main functions. The debt element
effectively locked less developed countries into grossly unjust
dependency and the aid element camouflaged the injustice under a
humanitarian gloss. The model was foisted on the region's peoples
via corrupt anti-democratic, anti-humanitarian right-wing or centrist
governments, graven in the
image of their patrons, the governments of the US and the
European Union. Since the 2006 electoral round, the
debt-plus-aid model has been shown up by the ALBA (Alternativa
Bolivariana de las Americas) countries - Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia,
Nicaragua and some Caribbean island nations - for the
international gangsterism it always was. So now the aid programmes are
taking on an aspect of stake-building to counter-balance ALBA's
cooperation and trade model based on social justice, originally
worked out by Venezuela and Cuba.
Modulating the white noise
It has taken a while for the US to work out an effective strategy to
counteract ALBA. With Condoleezza Rica and John Negroponte distracted
by events elsewhere, the role of enforcer has fallen to Thomas Shannon,
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Shannon
has
undertaken to modulate the diplomatic white noise emanating from
the State Department and beamed at Latin America. ALBA seems to have
forced the US to abandon its blatant "do want we want or else..."
diplomacy for an ostensibly more agreeable, willing-to-negotiate stance.
But no one should be fooled. The change is scarcely press-release deep.
Beneath skulks constantly the permanent menace of
covert action, destabilization plans and military coercion. Shannon is
carefully re-configuring the psychological component of US fourth
generation warfare in Latin America.
He gave an excellent example of this style in recent remarks
on Nicaragua. Under the coalition government led by Daniel Ortega,
Nicaragua is now formally a member of ALBA . Shannon said, " We want to
make clear to Nicaraguans that we have a commitment to Nicaragua, to
its
people and to democracy and on that basis we're going to draw closer to
Nicaragua rather than distance ourselves.....With regard to Nicaragua's
relations with other countries we think that is a sovereign decision of
Nicaragua.... So long as this decision respects our hemispheric mission
to
defend democracy, protect human rights and recognise United Nations
Security Council resolutions in the case of Iran, these closer
relations will not have a negative impact on our bilateral relations."
(3)
Consider that statement's credibility in the light of the
crimes of the Bush regime and its allies against the peoples of
Palestine,
Lebanon and Iraq and their threats against Iran. Clearly, for Latin
America, Shannon is offering a genetically modified latter-day variant
of traditional Americanism. One recalls what Malcolm X said during a
speech in Ghana in May 1964, " I just try to face the fact as
it actually is and come to this meeting as one of the victims of
America, one of the victims of Americanism, one of the victims of
democracy, one of the victims of a very hypocritical system that is
going all over this earth today representing itself as being qualified
to tell other people how to run their country when they can’t get the
dirty things that are going on in their own country straightened
out." (4)
His words are more relevant today than ever, when the proponents of
Americanism and their allies have definitively abandoned even the
pretence of upholding long-standing international humanitarian and
human rights norms. Now undisguised, their hypocrisy and sadism
is obvious
to everyone living outside the cosy bubble of consumer
capitalism. European Union and US governments are accomplices in
the genocide of the Palestinian people. They jointly deny Iran its
fundamental rights as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty. Together they collude in the massacre of civilians in Iraq and
Afghanistan and ignore massacres
perpetrated by
their UN mercenary proxies in Haiti. In Europe, they threaten Russia
with their aggressive plans for anti-missile
systems.
Unforgettable
In Latin America and elsewhere, countries determined to leave poverty
and injustice behind recognise the cynical, inhuman reprise of US and
European governments' historical role as mass-murdering
colonisers. When a sweet-talking US State Department salesperson
like Thomas
Shannon refers glibly to "a battle of ideas" (5) he clearly flatters
himself that he represents something other than two centuries of
genocidal mayhem. But the cruelty and suffering are what tens of
millions of
people in Latin America, its victims, remember. Only the perpetrators
pretend to forget.
Just from the last fifty years, people recall the thousands
murdered and tortured by the US supported Pinochet dictatorship in
Chile, the 30,000
disappeared by the US supported Argentinian military junta, US
and European support for dictators like Papa Doc Duvalier, Anastasio
Somoza, Hugo
Banzer, Alfredo Stroessner, the CIA overthrow of the Arbenz government
in Guatemala and subsequent support for genocidal ideologues like Rios
Montt, John Negroponte's encouragement of Alvarez Martinez in his dirty
war in Honduras, Ronald Reagan's terrorist Contra war against
Nicaragua, the invasion of Panama, the invasion of the Dominican
Republic, the CIA assassinations of Omar Torrijos and Jaime Roldos,
the thousands killed during the IMF-provoked Caracazo in Venezuela, the
coup against Joao Goulart in Brazil, support for the overthrow of
Villeda
Morales in Honduras, the training and funding of mass murdering
militaries in El Salvador and in Colombia, the thousands of Colombian
Union
Patriotica members killed there by US supported murderers, fifty years
of genocidal
blockade and terror against the people of Cuba.
That off-the-cuff list is very far from being complete. So Shannon is
right when he talks about a struggle of ideas. His idea is a deepening
of savage corporate capitalism, concentrating ever more wealth
and power
for the benefit of US and allied
multinational corporations. His mission is to re-sell the
failed debt-plus-aid model despite US and European colonial and
neo-colonial history and its various contemporary re-enactments. While
he prioritises dictatorship via the UN
Security Council, his ALBA antagonists, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Evo
Morales and Daniel Ortega resolutely defend their countries'
self-determination and
the defence of their peoples' social, economic and cultural rights
equally
with civil
and political rights.
Coping with ALBA
Bush regime strategy to cope with that reality includes several
tactical
lines of
attack. One is to consolidate the rich-country debt-plus-aid stake in
more vulnerable ALBA countries like Nicaragua and Bolivia. Another is
the unrelenting war of attrition by rich-country mainstream corporate
media and
their
local counterparts not
just against ALBA country governments but also against countries
likely to
sign up to
ALBA, like Ecuador. Economic and political destabilization measures
against ALBA and allied governments are also constant. Regionally, US
military preparations continue far beyond any legitimate need for
self-defence or
cooperation in anti-narcotics operations.
The corporate media war's main fronts are to discredit the
integrity of ALBA's proponents and to distract local opinion with
mendacious fear-mongering. The RCTV case in Venezuela
was
part
of this campaign. In Nicaragua, the Sandinista-led government is
constantly under attack while its poverty reduction and income
redistribution programmes
go unreported. Nicaraguan opposition parties are trying to get a
measure voted
through the National Assembly restoring tax breaks for corporate media
companies removed by the new government. The rationale for this
corporate welfare is to promote "freedom of expression", exploiting the
hypocritical fear-mongering furore over the non-closure of RCTV
in Venezuela. By contrast, total silence has greeted the Mexican
government's advertising boycott of the prestigious independent 33-year
old "Monitor" radio news programme which has forced it off the airwaves.
Destabilisation is the fundamental principle of US government strategy
against ALBA and is unlikely to vary whoever succeeds George Bush as
President in 2009. Apart from the relentless corporate media onslaught,
the US government and its allies actively or passively foster political
moves aimed at promoting crisis around issues of governance. That
is why so much of USAID's cooperation budget is devoted to
"strengthening democracy", to justify various modalities of
intervention through non-governmental organizations,
non-representative, self-appointed representatives of "civil society".
US government proxies like the International Republican Institute and
the National Democratic Institute channel US government funding into
diverse kinds of electoral intervention. European Union outfits also
contribute in this area. Germany for example manages this kind of
intervention through the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. (6)
The new intervention - same as the old one
While the governments of Venezuela and Cuba are relatively well placed
to resist these kinds of interventions, countries like Nicaragua and
Bolivia are much less so. In Nicaragua, apart from the constant
corporate media assault and opposition political machinations, the
government is also facing outright economic sabotage by foreign energy
multinationals like Spain's Union Fenosa and the Coastal Power
subsidiary of the US El Paso Corporation. Local media in Nicaragua
argue that
Coastal Power has effectively shut down 100 megawatts of generating
capacity leaving Nicaragua's obsolete, under-capitalised generating
system in chaos, with regular power cuts of 8 hours or more at a
stretch. Union Fenosa is widely perceived as in effect blackmailing the
Nicaraguan authorities into concessionary measures with the threat of a
US$200m international arbitration lawsuit if they rescind the Spanish
multinational's distribution monopoly.
Both cases stem from the Sandinista-led government's efforts to get a
better deal for the country's electricity consumers. In the case of
Union Fenosa, the Spanish government is providing political backing for
its energy multinational. In the case of Coastal Power, the Nicaraguan
government wants a review of the irregular bargain-basement terms of
the company's acquisition of privatized State generating
capacity. The US government will certainly back El Paso
Corporation in any dispute resulting from the crisis, just as Spain's
government has backed Unión Fenosa. The instability provoked by
the energy crisis is compounded by employment volatility. Maquila
companies in Nicaragua shed 6000 jobs recently. But a report by
Nicaragua's
Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce reckons that while the
Central
American Free Trade Agreement has so far resulted in a 0.1% net decline
in Nicaragua's exports to the United States, tax exempt maquila
exports increased 16%. (7)
In Bolivia, local US proxies are hard at work trying to destabilise the
country through demands for autonomy from the country's wealthier
provinces, principally Santa Cruz. At the end of June Bush regime
supporters in the US Congress helped contribute to uncertainty for
Bolivia's economy by refusing to extend the Andean Trade Preference and
Drug Eradication Act for more than eight months. That move also
causes uncertainty for Ecuador but is double-edged for the US since
denying preferential trade to Ecuador and Bolivia may jeopardise US
military access to those countries. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa
has already announced that the lease on the US military base at Manta
will not be renewed when it expires in 2009. Very likely for that
reason the US is building up its military presence in Colombia where it
now has three bases at Tres Esquinas and Florencia in the
Caquetá department and at Villavicencio in the department of
Meta. (8)
ALBA goes inter-continental
For their part, the ALBA countries are making a diplomatic fight of it.
At a recent summit of Central American countries, Nicaragua's Daniel
Ortega won regional recognition from his neighbours for ALBA. The
summit's final declaration announced, "a recognition by the Central
American countries of those countries and cooperants who offer
permanent support. Likewise, we have been informed of the help Nicaragua
is receiving from member countries of ALBA, like Cuba and
Venezuela, in the field of energy and trade and in other areas of human
development based on the principle of equitable trade and taking into
account current inequalities, thus opening up opportunities for the
process of regional integration." (9)
This declaration paves the way for other Central American countries to
participate in ALBA. The international importance of this is manifold.
Just a week after that declaration Vladimir Putin visited Guatemala and
confirmed Russia's intentions of developing Russia's links with Latin
America. He and Guatamalan President Oscar Berger put concrete shape to
the rhetoric by announcing dozens of university scholarships for
Guatemalans to study in Russia and plans to increase that cooperation
in future. (10) The Russian connection points up ALBA's importance for
US
global geopolitical objectives.
Both Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez have visited Iran in the last month
or so. President Chavez also visited Russia. It is inconceivable their
discussions with Presidents Putin and Ahmadinejad did not touch
on possible coordination of tactics in the UN in support of Iran
against the assault on its rights to nuclear power by the US government
and the European Union, apparently at the behest of nuclear
rogue-State, Israel. Coincidentally, President Da Silva of Brazil has
just re-launched decades-old plans for a third nuclear power plant and
for the construction of a nuclear submarine. (11)
In that context, Thomas Shannon's remarks insisting that Nicaragua
respect UN Security Council resolutions take on a much wider dimension
than Nicaragua's bilateral relations with Iran. Latin America in
general and the ALBA countries in particular are developing their
diplomacy in ways that mark a decisive abandonment of traditional
patterns of US dominated Latin American foreign relations. Venezuela
recently concluded agreements with Iran for US$4 billion of joint
investment projects. (12) Daniel Ortega has sought help from Iran for
investments to resolve Nicaragua's desperate energy crisis and its
hopelessly under-capitalised generating system. Those various relations
are bound to have their effect on UN manoeuvres around sanctions
against
Iran.
ALBA has long been more than a limited regional exchange between
Venezuela and
Cuba. Its framework offers unrivalled opportunities to regional
governments extremely concerned at high oil prices and resultant energy
problems with their inevitable impact on transport and productivity. Its social and cultural components make the standard
rich-country debt-plus-aid model look incorrigibly mean and
self-serving. Its
inter-continental reach multiplies many times the diplomatic punch of
its individual member countries. Last week the Bush regime's Trade
Promotion
Authority to fast-track bilateral trade agreements expired. That
probably sinks chances of the US Congress ratifying the much-heralded
trade deal with Colombia. Although Americanism still dominates
mainstream analysis of Latin American affairs, Thomas Shannon has his
work cut out to prevent further loss of US influence in the region.
Notes.
1. Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio, Informe de 2007, Departamento
de Información Pública de Naciones Unidas – DPI/2464 F, 2
de julio de 2007
2. "Con el TLC ha aumentado la pobreza en México",
María Eugenia Trejos, Bilaterals, June 24th 2006 -
http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=2154
and "Se disparó la pobreza rural durante el gobierno de Vicente
Fox", INFODEMEX, Argenpress, 02/08/2006
3. "EEUU aplica "softpower" con Ortega", Radio La Primerisima, July
10th 2007 - http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/general/16513
4. "Malcolm X on Wealth of Africa" -
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/460.html
5. "Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon: "Battle of Ideas" in
Americas Driven by Expectations" Scott Miller, Washington File, Bureau
of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.
May 6th 2006.
6. "Las injerencias de Alemania en Latinoamérica : Con guante
blanco" - german-foreign-policy.com, in Rebelión, July 1st
2007.
7. "Cafta sin rendir los frutos esperados" Gustavo Alvarez, El
Nuevo
Diario, July 7th 2007.
8. "Nueva Base Militar de EE.UU. en Colombia ", Altercom /
CEPRID
July 1st 2007.
9. Presidentes de Centro América y México aprobaron
resolución sobre el ALBA, Radio La Primerisima June 30th
2007, - http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/general/16109
10. "Ratifica presidente ruso interés por América
Latina", Prensa Latina, July 4th 2007
11. "Lula resumes nuclear programme to make Brazil 'world power'", AFP,
July 11th 2007 -
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/287451/1/.html
12. "Venezuela and Iran to Join on $4 Billion Oil Project", Steven
Bodzin, Bloomberg, July 10th 2007 -
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aDMXZnYHbZ50&refer=news