Western envoys express concern over El Salvador crisis

[Judi Lynn]

Nelson Renteria
Reuters
12:18 a.m. EDT, July 11, 2012

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The U.S. and British ambassadors to El Salvador raised concern on Tuesday about a deepening political crisis in the Central American country that has pitted the Supreme Court against Congress.

The crisis centers on a decision last month by El Salvador's top court to annul the election by Congress of 20 new judges.

The court's decision prompted the ruling leftist party of President Mauricio Funes, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, which controls Congress, to refuse to accept the ruling.

That has led to media speculation that El Salvador may be vulnerable to a possible coup.

More:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-us-el-salvador-politicsbre86a03z-20120710,0,3396087.story

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[Peace Patriot]

1. Oh, right, the U.S./U.K. are "concerned" about the "deepening crisis."

Rotters has surpassed itself in re-typing State Department faxes.

What's really going on is probably this: U.S./U.K. operatives got to the judges with successful offers of villas in Miami (or is it ranching estates in "the Malvinas"?). They tried to get to the legislators (as in Honduras and, recently, Paraguay) but, no dice--couldn't bend them, cuz El Salvador's elections have become too honest and transparent and real representatives of the people can actually get elected, but the judiciary is another story. Likely (as here) it is controlled by fascist appointees. They could be bent (are likely born bent, anyway). And here we have yet another "divide and conquer" disruption of the democratic process, aimed at toppling yet another leftist government, in the interests of the transglobal corporate, bankster and war profiteer monsters who rule over us.

Panetta's strategy has become clear. The Bush Junta failed disastrously in Latin America due to the crudity of its methods (for instance, threatening both Venezuela's and Brazil's oil reserves with the reconstitution of the U.S. 4th Fleet in the Caribbean; or trying to start a war between Colombia and Venezuela/Ecuador by the U.S./Colombia bombing Ecuador; or funding/organizing a white separatist insurrection against the Morales government in Bolivia, right out of the U.S. embassy, etc.)

Panetta--an agent of the Bush Cartel (tight with Bush Senior) (as opposed to the Bush Junta)--is a subtler player. He not only appears to have ended the war between the Pentagon and the CIA that Cheney/Rumsfeld started, and put the CIA back on its feet, but he is pursuing the strategies they always favored--infiltration, bribery, reliable intelligence on who is bendable (or born bent) and where the local legal, political, social weak points are, who to funnel resources to (money, guns, media), and coordination among dark and semi-dark agencies within the U.S. corporate/military establishment as well as between the U.S. and other dark establishments (obviously, in this case, the U.K., which, as the U.S.'s "poodle," gets to eat scraps from the banquet table). (One wonders what it will be, in this case--juicy little tidbits of "privatized" telecommunications, ten cents off the back of every sweatshop worker (their bus ticket? their lunch?), or just the general satisfaction of smashing another leftist democracy in LatAm and the great prospects that this opens up regionally?)

We're seeing it in Libya.
We're seeing it in Syria.
We saw it in Egypt (though I think that first try may have backfired).
We're seeing it in Iran.
We saw it in Honduras (in the aftermath of a Bush Junta-designed coup).
We just saw it in Paraguay.
We've been seeing it in Venezuela (though I don't think it will work there).
We saw it in Haiti (though I think that was more H. Clinton's handiwork).
Now we're seeing it in El Salvador.

U.S. bribery, better intelligence (for dark purposes) and subtler, long term "divide and conquer" tactics. In fact, I think we saw the very onset of this Panetta (Bush Cartel, Bush Senior) policy in Colombia, in Panetta's first days at the CIA as 'Obama's' appointee. (I don't think Obama had any choice as to CIA Director.) Panetta's first visible travel as CIA Director was to Bogota, where I believe he removed the crude Bush Junta operative (and obvious mafia boss), Alvaro Uribe*, and vetted and approved the milder rightwinger with a cleaner image, Manuel Santos (who seems to be carrying out Big Pharma's long term plan re legalization of drugs, in prep for U.S. "free trade for the rich" in the trillion+ dollar cocaine business). Immediately, Santos made peace with Venezuela. That Bush Junta policy--stirring up war between Colombia and Venezuela--was clearly not working (instead of "isolating" Venezuela, was "isolating" Colombia). With Uribe's saber-rattling, border incidents, lies, crude Rumsfeldian "dirty tricks," infiltration of "Black Eagles" (rightwing death squads) into Venezuela, secret U.S./Colombia military agreements and other threats in the past, the U.S. can concentrate on serious subversion of Venezuela's democracy, stripping Venezuela of allies (Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador) with, among other things, fake constitutional crises, and, long term, "dividing and conquering" the bigger leftist alliances (Venezuela and Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina) that are such a thorn in the side of our transglobal corporate and war profiteer monsters.

The U.S. is very clearly doing this in the Middle East and Northern Africa--subtler subversion, by identifying pliable rebel groups or creating rebel groups--providing them with funds, training, equipment (including weapons where needed) and other resources--to disrupt countries who won't "play ball" with our corporate masters. To disrupt--to foment civil war and benefit from the chaos in various ways, including subverting local leaders or creating local leaders to empower as U.S. puppets. This policy involves subtler or more "laid back" use of the U.S. military (as in Libya) while yet expanding the parameters of U.S. lawlessness (drone bombings anywhere they damn please, to eliminate anybody they damn please--for targeted assassination or fear-instigation). (Personally, I think one target is the informal, community-based Islamic financial systems, which our banksters can't get a handle on.**)

Some of these regimes make easy targets--as to propaganda--because, though the countries may have stable, working relationships among various groups, they are not democratic (or not very democratic) by our lights, and their system (whatever it is) can be demonized. (Example: Iranian police shoot a protestor dead--in what was likely a CIA-connected protest, in any case--and the U.S. of course makes hay out of that, to accuse Iran of despotism, while the U.S. drone-bombs dozens of civilians, in Afghanistan, week after week, and these are deemed "mistakes." In fact, Iran's government works quite well for most Iranians--is semi-democratic and largely consensual--and the extent to which Iran's leaders are anti-U.S., they have VERY good reason to be, considering the history of U.S./U.K. interference in Iran. They also have good reason to be fearful considering what the U.S. recently did to Iraq, right next door.)

In this hemisphere, however, the U.S. has to subvert not only countries that are committed to democracy but countries that are committed to "New Deal"-type democracies wherein everyone benefits! Bush Junta-bludgeon methods don't work. The Bush Junta throws the U.S. 4th Fleet at them and Brazil--Brazil!--counters by calling for a joint LatAm military force by which to defend their resources and their sovereignty. It is a tricky business to subvert and dominate Latin America these days, where real democracy has caught on like a wildfire, sweeping the corpo-fascists out of power in numerous countries. The Bush Junta sent down a dictate to Latin American leaders that they must "isolate Chavez," and the president of Argentina replied, "But he's my brother!" and the president of Brazil replied, "They can invent all sorts of things to criticize Chavez, but not on democracy"!

The new leftist leaders in Latin America are not only committed to democracy, and are not only committed to "New Deal"-type democracy, they are united in these commitments and have made great progress in pulling together for mutual strength. So that unity--which had been strengthened and advanced by the election of leftist governments in Honduras, Paraguay and El Salvador--has to be cleverly, slowly, patiently dismantled, beginning with the newest and weakest members of the leftist alliance. That is what is happening. And U.S. ambassadors greeting this instance of the unfolding "divide and conquer" policy with "concern" is the very height of hypocrisy. It is "Alice in Wonderland"--ish. It is the very opposite of the truth. They welcome it. They are "players" in this game.

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*(I think Panetta had another problem with Uribe: He knows too much about Bush Junta crimes in Colombia. Thus, Panetta landed him on a silk cushion and has provided him with protection, for instance, helping the chief witness against Uribe on illegal domestic spying flee the country and get instant asylum in the U.S. client state of Panama.)

**(Early on, I think U.S. torturers and murderers were after those in Islamic networks who could link the Bush Junta to the 9/11 money trail or other aspects of 9/11. Now the torture dungeons, murders and drone bombers have a wider range of targets. The process of who the U.S. decides to blow away in other countries is so secret that we have no idea who is making these decisions or why--and the corpo-fascist press just goes along with this language, "suspected terrorist"--never asking whether "suspects" should be murdered, let alone asking if these "suspected terrorists" are really "terrorists"--or let alone condemning the "collateral damage." The collusion between the corpo-fascist press and imperial death-dealers is mind-boggling. Of course, we knew this from the Bush Junta--and items like the New York Slimes inventing WMDs in Iraq. But it hasn't changed. U.S. actions are just--my point above--subtler, harder to see, better master-minded--and thus it's harder to see the media collusion as well.)

[Judi Lynn]

2. We are definitely seeing the pattern under Panetta working now, no doubt about that.

The methods have clearly become more subtle, as you said, now that they've retired the primitive approach of the Bush administration.

Hope the Americas can make the necessary adjustments in confronting these new efforts to keep hope alive for the citizens.

Your comments are deeply appreciated.