Reply #23: Leftists were just elected in El Salvador, Guatemala & Paraguay--which was almost unthinkable

[Peace Patriot]

just a few years ago. El Salvador was a major fascist war zone in the 1980s, and, early this year, the voters elected the leftist guerrillas' party (those who fought the fascists with arms) to the presidency. They had long ago disavowed violence, but still, this is a sign of the tremendous change that has swept over Latin America.

Paraguay had suffered under 61 years of oppressive and corrupt righwing rule, including a long period of heinous dictatorship. The name of their country had become a joke about where war criminals flee to (besides Miami). They elected a very leftist president just last year. (Some said it was impossible, that he couldn't pull the fractious leftist parties together; they were wrong.)

Guatemala is another example of the unthinkable happening--a leftist government getting elected, after all those years of dreadful rightwing rule and dictatorship (and mass slaughter of the indigenous during the Reagan "reign of terror").

Leftists were elected in Ecuador and Bolivia just before that, and, in both of those cases, the Constitutions were re-written to broaden political empowerment, and have since been approved overwhelmingly by the voters.

During that period (circa 2006) Chavez was re-elected in Venezuela with nearly 60% of the vote. Meanwhile, the more long-standing leftist governments--Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile--led the effort to band together to begin economic/political integration through the newly formalized South American "common market," UNASUR (after some regional trade groups were formed--Mercosur, ALBA). One of the first activities of UNASUR was to defend the Morales administration in Bolivia against a Bushwhack-funded and organized white separatist coup attempt. This event was the ikon of a remarkable new policy of the big countries helping the little countries--in all kinds of ways, politically, defending democratic institutions, economic development projects, loans and aid. Brazil and Argentina, for instance--Bolivia's chief gas customers--made very clear that they would not recognize or trade with the white separatists in Bolivia (who were trying to commandeer Bolivia's rich gas resource). Brazil and Venezuela put up the money for a major new highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through Bolivia (which will make Bolivia a major trade route), and Chile settled a long standing dispute with Bolivia, granting Bolivia access to the Pacific. Also, Brazil helped Paraguay's new leftist president re-negotiate Paraguay's hydroelectric contracts with Brazilian firms, to make them fairer to Paraguay. And Venezuela helped several countries out of onerous World Bank/IMF debt.

An additional leftist victory had occurred in Uruguay (yet another surprise), bringing Uruguay in as an ally of all of these other leftist countries. Meanwhile, in Honduras, a "centrist" president turned leftist, and began advocating a better deal for the poor.

This is NOT a "cyclical trend." This is a Big Historical Trend--a tide of history. Latin America has declared its independence and is proceeding on a path of its own--with goals of social justice, cooperation amongst themselves (many, many examples of this), greatly improved democratic institutions (much cleaner, more transparent elections than ours, for instance), and rejection of US domination and bullying.

This Big Trend is irreversible except by war--which is why those seven new US military bases in Colombia, and this fascist coup is US client state, Honduras, are so worrisome. The Bushwhack policy was to take what it wanted by force, and, in Latin America, by two attempted coups (Venezuela, 2002; Bolivia, 2008), by militarism (using the "war on drugs" to totally brutalize and oppress Colombia's poor majority, in preparation for a US/Colombia "free trade for the rich" deal), and by dirty tricks, psyops, massive funding of fascist groups, and, those failing, by instigating a war (which they tried to do early last year, with the US/Colombia bombing/raid on Ecuador). I think their war plan is still "on the table," and that Obama's stated policy of peace, respect and cooperation may or may not be sincere, or that Obama may or may not have the power to implement it, if it is sincere. And I know for a fact that many of Latin America's leaders are wondering the same thing--including "center-leftists" like Lulu in Brazil and Batchelet in Chile.

All political leaders and parties have ups and downs. That is normal. But these are not normal times, nor is the overwhelming leftist democracy movement in Latin America "normal" in this sense ("business as usual" politics). The stakes are very, VERY high--both for the people of Latin America and for their exploiters (local rich elites, US and other global corporate predators and US war profiteers--as well as, to some extent, rich European investors, which have looted these countries through the World Bank/IMF.) The latter--the exploiters--are pouring their own and US taxpayer resources into defeating these leftist governments. John McCain was funneling $43 million to Honduras' coupsters alone (through his US taxpayer funded "International Republican Institute/USAID). And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Billions are being spent to undermine Latin American democracy, destabilize and "divide and conquer" these countries, and defeat leftist candidates.

And the grandest stake of all is Planet Earth--an issue of critical importance in Latin America (and to us all, certainly). Will national governments develop the strength and sovereignty to fend off global corporate plunder and pollution, and to resist the temptation for short term economic gains through their own environmental mistakes? This is one of the main issues driving leftist success in Latin America, and we had better hope that the left succeeds in protecting the environment, cuz the right sure ain't gonna do any such thing.