US Ambassador to Brazil Warns Lula about Venezuela Issues

[Judi Lynn]

US Ambassador to Brazil Warns Lula about Venezuela Issues

Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004


By: Martín Sánchez, Venezuelanalysis.com

Brazilians demonstrate outside the Embassy of Venezuela in Brasilia, on Monday March 8, to show support for President Hugo Chavez, and to reject "US intervention" in Venezuela.
Photo: E.B.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caracas, Venezuela, Mar. 09 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- Last Sunday, United States Ambassador to Brazil Donna Hrinak, gave a strong caution to the Brazilian government with relation to the South American giant's relationship with Venezuela and Cuba.

During a conference at Florida International University last Sunday, Hrinak said that her government expects Brazilian President Lula da Silva to convince Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to adopt a “democratic solution” to the current political situation.

Hrinak was referring to the process of referenda currently underway in Venezuela to recall several lawmakers and President Chavez. After counting and validating 3.4 million signatures collected by opponents of Chavez, electoral authorities are requesting about a million of those listed in petitions with irregularities to confirm or deny their willingness to sign and their identity, in order to decide if the recall on Chavez should take place. Political opposition to Chavez and the commercial media, accuse the President of manipulating the process of recall.

Hrinak warned President Lula to "carefully calibrate his opposition" to certain political issues such as the current situations in Venezuela and Cuba, which are part of the main focus of the Bush administration in Latin America.
(snip/..)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1219


Ambassador Hrinak

(She really looks like a decent sort. Too bad _Bush is pushing her to spread his poison. Too damned bad. She's been in foreign service since 1974. Here's more on the ambassador:
&imgrefurl=http://www.nd.edu/~kellogg/news/larchive2.html&h=300&w=200&sz=26&tbnid=kRY1zaxL-hMJ:&tbnh=111&tbnw=74&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522Donna%2BHrinak%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN">~~~~ link ~~~~

[izzie]

1. Down she goes, Federal ownership of the oil will never go over.

Bush and Co, want an oligarehie

[izzie]

2. Is that sp. right? oligarchies?

Well? Rule by the upper-class.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Yep, you got it. I checked, just to make sure. Oligarchies. n/t

[0007]

4. You got it right

[eablair3]

5. sounds like Brazil is a little pissed over those comments

from the article at your link:

Marco Aurelio Garcia, President Lula's International relations advisor, was outraged by the U.S. Ambassador’s comments. "I don’t think those kinds of comments are appropriate for an Ambassador to say. Brazil and the U.S. never had better relations, but it is obvious that we have different perceptions on several issues," Garcia told Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

According to Garcia, "there are different positions with regard to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, the World Trade Organization, and in the case of Venezuela, we do have different methods; we tend more towards negotiation than to intervention."

Garcia defended Brazil’s approach to the political situation in Venezuela by saying that "Brazil has good communication with both the government as well as with the opposition, and that is not the case in of the United States. Therefore we can help a lot."

Brazil is part of the so called Group of Friends of Venezuela, which was created to act as mediators in the Venezuelan political crisis.

Brazilians demonstrate in support of Venezuela

In reaction to Ambassador Hrinak's comments, several Brazilian social groups, intellectuals and political leaders participated in a demonstration this Monday in front of the Venezuelan Embassy in Brasilia, to show their support for Venezuela's "Bolivarian revolution", and to repudiate "US intervention" in Venezuela and Brazil.

____________

one had to know that this type of thing was coming from the U.S. There have been a lot of so-called political revolutions in Central and S. America in the last few years. Those in WashDC have always viewed that area as "their backyard" and they have proven that they will take any and all steps to back those type of "revolutions" down, including murder and assassination and disappearances.

The only thing that surprises me about these comments to Lula and Brazil is that they didn't come sooner.

I think Chomsky had said before that those that have been in positions of power in the U.S. government are real concerned about a more leftist government taking hold and providing a real example of what could be done for people - like providing them health care and education and a better life. So, even smaller countries like say Granada, or some slightly larger ones like Haiti cannot be allowed to become successful for their people. The U.S. must crush them to prove that its version of the "free enterprise" system is the ONLY way to go. Chomsky said the smaller the country, the bigger the threat. If some small country develops and flourishes with things like free education for all and universal health care, then it will be a big threat to the U.S. as people will ask if it can be done there, why not here.

Brazil and Venezuela are not small at all. They are two of the biggies in the region. So, if the those in power in the U.S. took all those terrorist actions in the past in places like Granada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, .. think what those in power now will be willing to do in a place like Venezuela and/or Brazil.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. Explanation: Lula is one smooth fellow.

"The only thing that surprises me about these comments to Lula and Brazil is that they didn't come sooner."

Lula hardly ever said anything confrontational towards the USA, unlike Chavez or Kirchner. Whenever he and * meet it's all pleasantries and conversations about country life etc. When talking about specific issues like FTAA, Venezuela, oil, Iraq etc... it's another matter. And usually it's not the Prez who does the talking then.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. USA to Brazil: We Schumacher, you Barrichello, mmkay?

Brazil to USA: No. You Schumacher, we Montoya. Go **** yourselves.

[The Zanti Regent]

8. Looks like the AmbASSador is another Otto Third Reich puppet

Otto don't like Lula, so obviously Otto is planning to get rid of Lula.

[Say_What]

9. Not really, check this out.

This is from another board--too busy lately to do my own research. Thanks to a poster, also a DU reader, we have some interesting information on this woman and who will replace her in Brazilia. (Not good news.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The story behind this woman is an intriguing one, and it shows what
happens when a career diplomat gets ground up and spit out by the Bushista
regime.

First, a link about who this woman is, and she is outstanding.
http://www.nd.edu/~kellogg/news/larchive2.html

-------------------------------------------------------------
Next, one finds out that she had been the U.S. ambassador in Caracas just a
couple of years ago where she got into a jam because the Bushistas objected
to a speech by Hugo C. at the United Nations one month after Sept. 11, 2001.
She was obviously ordered by the House of Powell to raise hell with Chavez.
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=9369
--------------------------------------------------------------
Then we find out that she was yanked out of Caracas and was extremely
pro-Lula when she was sent to Brasilia; so much so that Rightiefundies at
Newsmax called her;
-----------------------------------------------------
Our Leftist in Brasilia

Most shocking is the fact that elements in the Bush administration,
including U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Donna Hrinak, is an ardent Lula backer,
Brant reveals.

Brant says that Hrinak's sympathies for Lula's Marxist party are "so
notorious that the running joke in Brasilia was to ask whether she would
show up at Lula's inauguration in a red dress."

(more on)

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/6/3/110714.shtml

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Then we find out that her days are numbered as ambassador to Brazil from a
newspaper in Asuncion, Paraguay:

Hrinak será reemplazada en mayo. Ella asumió su cargo en el 2001 y ya en sus
primeras declaraciones defendió a Lula da Silva, en aquel momento candidato
a presidente, frente a las críticas que llegaban desde su país por su pasado
izquierdista.


(Hrinak will be replaced in May. She assumed the post in 2001 and in her
first statements defended Lula da Silva, at the time a candidate for the
presidency, from critical remarks coming from her own country because of his
(Lulu's) leftist past.)

http://www.abc.com.py/articulos.php?fec=2004-03-08&pid=98216

-------------------------------------------------------------

So she is on the way out. A career diplomat who speaks four languages and
has vast experience in Latam.

But wait. Guess who is going to replace her?

For this we have to go to Costa Rica.

Why it's none other than John J. Danilovich, a good ole Bushista longtime
pal. So we get a political appointee replacing a career diplomat in a
critical country that at the moment is not too palsy with the Bushies.

------------------------------------------------------------

. The current U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, John J. Danilovich, will be
moving to a much larger country in the Americas. The White House recently
said that it will nominate him to be U.S. ambassador to Brazil. Prior to his
appointment to the Costa Rica position, Danilovich worked in the
international shipping business and lived in London, where he was chairman
of Republicans Abroad for President Bush. He served on the board of
directors of the Panama Canal Commission from 1991-1996 and was chairman of
the transition committee that handled the transfer of the Panama Canal to
the Panamanians. Danilovich has a master's degree in international relations
from the University of Southern California and a bachelor's degree in
political science from Stanford University.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040209-8.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

So what do some Costa Ricans think of of him?

Danilovich es de esa escuela diplomática estadounidense que no sólo sospecha
que los latinoamericanos somos tontos, en su caso está convencido de que
nuestro cociente intelectual merece poco respeto. A los pocos días de llegar
al país amenazó veladamente con represalias si seguían adelante procesos
que, a su juicio, perjudicaban a inversionistas estadounidenses. En el caso
de la academia de policía, publicitada por el embajador casi como un
kindergarten, amenazó con llevársela a otro país si el convenio no era
ratificado por el parlamento antes de que finalice al año: "hay otros países
que tienen mucho interés en que la academia esté en su zona.

(Danilovich is from the U.S. diplomatic school that not only suspects that
Latin Americans are stupid; in this case he is convinced that our
intellecutal capacity deserves little respect. A few days after he arrived,
he threatened reprisals if, in his opinion, (legal) measures were carried
out against U.S. investors. In the case of the police academy which was
publicized by the ambassador as a kindergarten, he threatened to take it to
another country if the agreement was not ratified by parliament by year's
end. "There are other countries who are very interested that the academy be
in their area."

http://www.moir.org.co/ALCA/embajador_danilovich_costa_rica.htm

FYI the reference to the academy is for the International Law Enforcement
Academy. Some say it is a version of the School of the Americas installed in
Costa Rica. Google ILEA if you want to learn more. (There is even one in New
Mexico).

---------------------------------------------------------

The Brazilians are not going to be thrilled to have this gringo Bushista
visiting Itamaraty (the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia). I did not have time
to really look into this background, except to notice that he is a total
Bushista. He is probably a millionaire who contributed to the Bushies and
was rewarded with the Costa Rica ambassadorship.

But with this Bushista going into Brasil, I personally see relations between
the Bushistas and Lula da Silva going downhill.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Oh, Christ. I just looked for his photo, and found it, unfortunately!

So he help maneuver the Academy into place in Costa Rica...

Police Academy Debate Stirs
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
[e-mail]

After a year of lying dormant, the opposition movement to establishing a U.S.-run International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) on Costa Rican soil started to grumble back to life this week, as the project approaches judgement day in the Legislative Assembly.

Advertised by the U.S. as a training facility to prepare regional law enforcement agents to identify and combat transnational crimes, the proposed academy would be the first of its kind in Latin America, and the fifth ILEA in the world. The academy's curriculum has not yet been determined, and would depend on what regional law enforcement leaders decide are priorities for combating international crime, according to the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. government claims ILEA is civilian and has no military function or objective. The academy would not teach live weapons training and its students will be judges, prosecutors and civilian law enforcement agents, the embassy stressed.

Critics of the proposed cop school, however, fear ILEA would act as a Trojan Horse for U.S. hegemony and military expansionism. The academy is often likened to the infamous School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia, which trained and graduated some of Latin America's most ruthless military strongmen and abusers of human rights from the '70s, '80s and '90s.

Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois, founder of the activist group SOA Watch, warns that the police academy in Costa Rica would serve the same function as the Fort Benning military academy that he has worked to expose and close down for the last 13 years. He charges that the academy will be used to train Latin American "watchdogs" to protect U.S. interests in the region.
(snip/...)

http://www.ticotimes.net/archive/08_22_03_nb.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's hard to imagine they have need for yet another one of these places, at the very time Americans are trying to convince Congress we don't really want or need the SOA now.

Thanks for posting this info. It's not common knowledge, by any means. There's probably a reason for that!

I can't believe they've launched a campaign to smear Donna Hrinak, who's been in the State Department since 1974, and are trying to brand her as a "commie." God, that gets old, doesn't it?

If someone won't knuckle under and do the bidding of the rightwing idiots, they start shrieking "communist" at the person who withholds their gratification. Poorly raised people. If their parents had been more conscientious, they could have spared the world some holy terrors, I'm convinced.

[Say_What]

12. Another SOA --just what LatAm needs....

Sounds just like SOA to me.

<clips>

Date: 2002 0618

Text:
Washington -- The United States and Costa Rica have recently signed an agreement to create an international law enforcement academy for the Americas.

The academy, known by the acronym ILEA, would be located in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose with the purpose of training police officers throughout the Americas to handle transnational crime issues, such as drug trafficking, money laundering, sexual exploitation of children, and violence against women.

The agreement, signed June 6 in San Jose by U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica John Danilovich and Costa Rican Public Security Minister Rogelio Ramos, must first be approved by the Costa Rican legislature before it goes into effect, said an official from the U.S. State Department.

The school would be run by the U.S. State, Treasury and Justice Departments, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The San Jose ILEA would be the fifth such U.S.-run academy in existence. Other academies are in Budapest, Hungary; Bangkok, Thailand; Gaborone, Botswana; and Roswell, New Mexico.

http://usembassy.or.cr/ilea5.htm

[Judi Lynn]

14. Excellent Haitian-looking painting.

Funny about involving State, Treasury, Justice, and the DEA in this step beyond what was already far too much.

We are DEEPLY involved in catching people, bringing people to justice, putting people in prison, building more prisons, looking for ways to get MORE people in jail, etc., etc.

At SOME POINT this really has to stop. These rightwing idiots are destroying absolutely every aspect of the lives we have known, not to mention the pure hell they've unleashed upon the world.

Anyone who supports this is mad.

Back to that painting. The charaacters are so graceful, so gentle. It REALLY makes you even sicker thinking of what _Bush has done to Haiti's people, and their only loved ones.

[Say_What]

15. It's from Cuba... here's one from Haiti

Equally as beautiful... :)

[NashVegas]

10. kick

..

[yellowcanine]

13. Maybe it is time for Lula to recall the Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S.

for "consultations" about how to respond to this threat from the U.S. Also, a protest to the OAS and the U.N. Security Council may be in order. Time to call the bluff of the Bushists.