Venezuela Pulls Out of Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Ecuador May Follow

[Peace Patriot]

2. The U.S. controls the OAS and U.S. bloviations about "human rights" are absurd!

Consider Guantanamo Bay, where hundreds of prisoners still languish with no charges against them, and where some have even been "cleared" for release, but never get released.

Consider U.S. torture dungeons around the world.

Consider the U.S. slaughter of one hundred thousand innocent people in Iraq in the first weeks of "shock and awe" bombing alone.

Consider that NO ONE HAS BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE for these and other heinous crimes!

Consider the U.S. larding the Colombian military with $7 BILLION in military aid --one of the worst human rights violators on the planet. Consider the on-going murders of labor leaders, peasant farmers, community activists and other advocates of the poor, and the brutal displacement of FIVE MILLION peasant farmers, in Colombia, as prep for U.S. "free trade for the rich," under the guise of the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs."

Consider the anonymous drone bombings in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and other places, often killing innocent bystanders, and with no legal recourse whatsoever for the "targets" or for the dead.

Consider the vast NSA spying on Americans, in blatant violation of the Constitution and numerous laws.

Consider the federal and state forfeiture laws by which persons stopped for minor traffic violations can lose their money, their cars, their homes, and even lose their children, before they ever see a courtroom.

Consider the rate of incarceration in the U.S. of African-American citizens, with draconian sentences, for minor crimes. Consider the rate of incarceration overall, hellish prison conditions, "privatization" of prisons, and executions of prisoners--the scandal of the civilized world.

Consider the exclusion of the public from electoral vote counting, with the cancer of corporate-run 'TRADE SECRET' voting systems all over the U.S., now monopolized by one, private, far rightwing-connected corporation (ES&S, which bought out Diebold). Not to mention the fascist Voter ID laws.

Consider the unemployment rate and poverty, and on-going segregation, of African-American communities in the U.S.

Consider the disgrace of profit-first health care.

Consider the deterioration of our schools, prisons and other public institutions, once the best in the world, now, in many cases, nightmares of bullying and violence.

Consider some of our allies--Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Israel, Colombia--all gross human rights violators.

The U.S. bloviating about "human rights" is ludicrous. And the U.S. controls the OAS.

The U.S. wants to bring down the socialist government of Venezuela, which has dramatically expanded educational opportunity, dramatically improved workers' wages and benefits and pensions for the elderly, which has brought health care to poor rural and urban poor populations for the first time; which has dramatically expanded human rights in every respect, and which was designated "THE most equal country in Latin America" on income distribution, by the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean." The U.S. refuses to acknowledge Venezuela's last election--in an election system that Jimmy Carter called "the best in the world"--yet one more tactic, like its bogus hot air about "human rights"--to achieve its purpose: destruction of Venezuela's democracy--a REAL democracy, unlike our own--and installation of rightwing leaders who will do U.S. bidding, that is, for instance, turning the oil back over to Exxon Mobil, and getting rid of all these social programs, to make way for corporatization and privatization like we have here.

I completely support this move by Venezuela, and I hope that the rest of Latin America follows suit. Why should Latin America's international organization be based in Washington DC? Why should Latin Americans pay ANY attention to U.S. demands, on human rights or anything else? Why should the U.S. have a say in Latin America AT ALL, on any issue? U.S. hypocrisy has gone beyond the pale into "Alice in Wonderland" madness. And its control of the OAS on this and other matters is a standing insult to Latin American sovereignty--and that insult is bloody well INTENTIONAL, as with the NSA spying on the president of Brazil!

Time for them to move on. They have the people, the resources and the "New Deal"-like policies, overall, to become a prosperous powerhouse of real democracy and real wealth sharing, like we once were. WE are the bad actor in the hemisphere and in the world--not Venezuela, nor any of the other countries with leftist governments in Latin America. THEY genuinely revere human rights. Our government does not. THEY lead with ideas and peaceful trade. Our government leads with its corporate-hijacked military might on a predatory path to resources and domination. They believe in the "rule of law"--passionately and with good reason. Our government BREAKS the law--habeas corpus, gone; privacy, gone; protection from search and seizure, gone; protection from torture, gone; the right to vote, essentially gone--when it isn't using the law to help the uber-rich. Their governments REGULATE corporations and "organized money" (as FDR put it) for the common good. Our government is run BY corporations who are permitted to loot us blind.

I wish it were otherwise. I wish my country stood for human rights, in word and deed. I wish that my country was a partner with social justice governments in Latin America, not their antagonist. I wish that my country was not a threat to democracy, social justice and peace in Latin America. But the record is simply too clear--there is too much evidence--that the U.S. means only ill in Latin America, not good, and acts only in the interests of the rich, here and there, NEVER the poor, NEVER the excluded, NEVER those whose human rights have been so horribly violated, so often with U.S. military and government assistance and support.

When U.S. government officials speak of "human rights" in Latin America, bats and spiders and other creepy-crawling things ought to be flying out of their mouths. It is downright ghoulish.