Venezuela Has Leftist-Led Plans To Help Rebuild Haiti

[WriteDown]

Source: WSJ

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela said Sunday that it and its leftist allies are going to help re-build earthquake-torn Haiti, perhaps challenging similar re-construction plans being largely led by the U.S. and the United Nations.

Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has been critical of the U.S. relief efforts in Haiti ever since shortly after the quake struck Jan. 12, killing some 150,000 people or more.

During his "Hello, President" television program Sunday, Chavez said unilateral efforts by Venezuela to get food, fuel and other supplies to the Haitians have been stymied by the U.S., and he said he's getting tired of it.

"Venezuela's humanitarian shipment had to be sent by water then by land through the Dominican Republic because our ships can't dock at any Haitian port because those that are (in working condition) have been taken by the Yankees," the president said.

Chavez said his Haiti re-construction plan is for Venezuela, Cuba and other members of the left-leaning regional trade group ALBA to build hospitals and schools and to help develop agriculture projects.

ALBA "is already in Haiti, but now we're going to make a specific strategic plan for the short- and medium-term," Chavez said. He said ALBA members would also seek assistance from African nations.

Attempts to reach the Haitian government about Chavez' plans were unsuccessful.....

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100124-702890.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

---

"We're not going to allow the gringo empire to take over Haiti. We won't," said Chavez, who referred to the area surrounding Haiti and the relief efforts as a "battlefield."

[Wilms]

1. Excellent news.

Thanks for posting this, especially since you need to be signed up.

[SandWalker1984]

2. Leftest-Led Plans...really? Can they get any more biased than that?

[bemildred]

3. Why oh why is the WSJ spreading Chavez' propaganda like this?

Have they no shame?

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Ah how history lovingly repeats itself

...

marshall Plan, marshall Plan... did I call it or what?

It was not conspiracy... just knowing a LITTLE history.

[RedCloud]

5. I read something about a bloody revolution back in 1776, pre -corpocracy.

I guess those suckers didn't "work through the system" either.

[aquart]

7. Uh............

Red Cloud. Nice name. One of the reasons for the American Revolution was British refusal to let us expand beyond the Appalachians. The point of America was poor Europeans could get rich.

[aquart]

6. Not a problem for me. They have oil money. We have debt.

Go for it, Chavez!

But try to do it without starting a war. We might be looking for an excuse.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Nah it will not end in any shooting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7563892

By the way it got really weird this morning, trolling Mexican press... I officially crossed into the twiling zone when a few of the left leaning papers were applauding the 82nd and not parroting Hugo...

That was WEIRD.

[JackRiddler]

13. Please don't include the American people in your sick idea of "we"

We don't want imperialist wars. We never have.

[depakid]

25. Of course Americans have wanted imperialistic wars

They elect the people who start them- sometimes by rather large margins. More recently,look how many wanted to go into Iraq.

I'll take it a step further- as energy resources begin to run low and get prohibitively expensive, don't you think that Americans will want their military to do what it takes to protect their non-negotiable way of life?

[Chemical Bill]

27. I read of a poll about war for oil.

It was a few years ago, and IIRC, the majority of Americans polled said that the war in Iraq would have been justified if the price of gasoline fell. Disgusting, isn't it.

Bill

[JackRiddler]

47. Maybe you should not believe everything you read.

I read another one about how they thought there was a link between Saddam and 9/11.

Those who think so may be stupid, but they are also in part the victims of their leaders, their government, their military, the media system, and a compliant segment of the academy.

[aquart]

26. You really need that little emoticon to tell you how to read, right?

I don't use them. You'll have to cope.

But, as a point of fact, the American people are represented before the world by the American government, freely elected. If WE pursue a policy of war, WE will die with the strangers WE kill, and WE will be the ones bankrupted. So stand aside and wash your hands of US if you must...but when rage overwhelms OUR victims and they come gunning for US, they won't spare YOU. Not as long as you are here, enjoying OUR resources.

[ronnie624]

39. *

:thumbsup:

[JackRiddler]

45. Sorry, I missed the part where voting for Obama meant approving a war with Venezuela.

Also, where it meant that if a Nigerian with a bomb (whose father warned the US about him) got on a plane without a passport in Belgium, "we" would be left with no choice but to bomb Yemen.

I read you well enough. You're constructing "we" narratives for an unaccountable, largely cryptocratic imperial system, and singing lullabies (to yourself, mostly) about how it's a democracy, it's what "we" (in our infinitely well-informed wisdom) really want.

[carla]

28. Then take control

of YOUR GOVERNMENT. As if being a "good German" means your innocent of the regime's crimes. Sheesh! Freedom carries responsibility. Americans will never be free so long as they refuse personal responsibility for the "engine of freedom" that their government pretends to be. Unpleasant? Perhaps, but essential. Otherwise the world's people will continue to view "USA" with a jaundiced eye.

[JackRiddler]

46. Do you know me? No. Do I make assumptions about you? No.

[boppers]

8. Well, it's semi-racist drivel, but if he can help, more power to him.

Haitians need help more than we need Chavez to respect Americans.

Of course, if he fails, that will be "our fault" too, but even attempts at help are desperately needed.

[Goldstein1984]

9. Good for Venezuela. Good Chavez.

Good for Cuba. Good for Bolivia. Good for any other "evil" socialist "dictators" wanting to help the people of Haiti.

Chavez doesn't hate Americans, he hates our government. He has a lot of Americans agreeing with him on that. I know I smelled sulfur at about the same time he did.

Based on what I'm reading, too many educated eyes are on Haiti right now for it to become another case study in IMF/WTO disaster capitalism.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Nah think Marshall Plan c. 1947

me loves some real politik early in the morning.

On the bright side, they cannot do Disaster Capitalism

:hi:

And I did call that one...

[Goldstein1984]

12. Good morning!

Although, still evening in Alaska.

It'll be interesting to watch post-earthquake Haiti.

I was thinking of post-tsunami Sri Lanka: Fishing villages replaced by resorts.

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Some of that will happen

but ALBA and the US are on a collision course...

The Mexican press got down right am I on the looking glass? I mean a left leaning paper actually not being critical of the 82nd... they were actually like glowing and stuff... I went... this is NOT the right wing rag right?

[Goldstein1984]

15. "...but ALBA and the US are on a collision course..."

This is what I think our military interest is in Columbia. Now I read the U.S. is backing off in the War on Drugs, after 40 years!

I think Venezuela/ALBA/Latin American Socialism are on a collision course, and I'm going to be buying Venezuelan war bonds.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. There will not be a war

at least not a hot war. And if there are, proxy are good for government work.

Hugo is not suicidal, and neither is Evo Morales, or for that matter our current leaders.

But as my prof used to put it, many ways to skin cats.

But people round these parts better wake up and smell the coffee, they are sounding pretty foolish right now by using same talking points.

[Duende azul]

21. That doesn't depend on Venezuela / ALBA

Of course the US will not resort to war if they find a less image-damaging way to impose their will.
In that regard they managed the coup in Honduras pretty well.
The US rightwing laid out the path to follow in Haiti from day one on. And the democratic admin follows along.
Three main strategic goals were stated:
Limit the influence of Venezuela and Cuba.
Further impose the neocon agenda in Haiti.
Keep Haitian refugees out of the US.

Whether the US will pursue their goals through coups or through open war is nothing Latin America will have much to decide on.

So it's up to the US citizens to stop their government from going that route. But since even among the good folks on DU the imperial attitudes towards Latin America seem widely accepted, there is little hope for sanity.

See how the framing of your Marshall plan references doesn't question the US pursuit of dominance?

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. Great powers do what they do in the world stage

for their own interests.

Do you need me to translate this? And you think there will be war? I have a bridge to sell you. In the present conditions, when the American Empire is in decline... you kid me right?

History moves on, and in the end there will be MULTIPLE spheres of influence in Latin America...

But you think there will be a war? Okie dokie.

A secret one... that one is old news and been going on for a while... but a hot one? You kid me?

People really need to abandon the old talking points and pay fucking attention... or if you think they are isolated and made fun off now, wait, it will get far worst.

[Goldstein1984]

32. "More than one way to skin a cat"

Or, as our Latin American neighbors say:

Cada uno tiene su modo de matar pulgas (Each person has their own way of killing flees).

Honduras was a diplomatic fumble. If we keep selling good people out to corporate interests, and if people like Jim DeMint keep traveling to foreign countries to conduct Brotherhood and Milton Friedman foreign policy on our behalf, we might find that all of Latin America erupts simultaneously.

We have some good friends from Columbia, and she tells us that, contrary to how it is portrayed, the government their is on a pressure cooker of a peasant uprising. I have no direct evidence, but that is what I believe our military presence in Columbia is about--preparing to keep Latin America safe from socialism, and to keep capitalist-friendly governments in power, and to assist with keeping peasants in their place.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. I could go into Mexico

and tell you the same exact story.

I insist people better stop the old talking points. What happened the last two weeks changed how things are done.

Mark my words, globalization, as we know it, changed on a dime. Why? Those social pressures.

There is a saying apt here, no hay mal que dure mil anos ni idiota que lo aguante...no ill will last one hundred years, nor a fool that will support it.

[Goldstein1984]

41. I think I could make a thread last forever talking to you

When my wife and I were diving in Mexico a few years ago, we had the chance to speak with a Mayan woman selling fruit. Liz tried to speak what little Spanish she knows (I know only enough to ask directions, exchange common courtesies and make small talk), and the Mayan woman responded in English that she speaks only Mayan and English, not "that cursed language." That comment, and her willingness to make it with a Mexican soldier carrying a machine pistol standing only a few meters away, told me a lot about the fragility of Mexico.

My travels in Mexico have been limited, and I rely a lot on news reports and the opinions of friends (Anchorage, Alaska has a large hispanic population), but I think the whole region is a political house of cards, and we'll do ourselves no favors by following our past practices of supporting despots.

The future of Latin America is with Chavez, Morales, Zelaya and others.

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. Mark my words it is not with them

but it is not with us either. And why things changed the way they did last week.

I grew up down there, remember this. And some of my patients were Mixtec... hell Dona Maria was a curandera and my contact with the community when doing public health.

Now you really want to learn more of Mexico... and why that Mayan woman will not speak Spanish? Read on the Mayan Mexican Wars of the 19th century. This is not new.

Here is some info on the Caste War of Yucatan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_War_of_Yucat%C3%A1n

And there are a few specialized books on the subject. Which by the way ladino middle class kids in Mexico never read... why the uprising in Michoacan was such a surprise... not to me. I knew of it. Simply put it is a continuation of that.

[Goldstein1984]

43. Sending a PM

Would love to know more.

[Usrename]

16. I don't get the Marshall Plan reference at all.

What do you mean by that? Is Haiti in a postion to turn away the US in favor of assistance from ALBA? I don't understand.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. The reason for the Marshall Plan was to reduce and

diminish the influence of Communism in Europe at the end of the war.

We either rebuilt them or the Communist parties would have won multiple elections, starting with Italy.

This is the kind of real politik we have not seen in a long time.

I started getting the WTF is going on? Did some readying and then it dawned on me... and I will thank my poli sci prof from when back when. He was the most cynical son of a you know what ever... but he always said... nothing that the great powers do, is done just because... there is a reason. He was an AF vet and a company man.

Which was funny, when a right winger challenged him for being a liberal. Nothing funnier than seeing a sixty something with a colorful history dress down the chickenhawk. In private he was a right winger and a cold warrior, but a fascinating man to listen to.

On the plus side, the people of Haiti WILL benefit, and they will not care.

[Wilms]

19. Great post.

And I hope the most about the people of Haiti benefiting.

But I got a pretty close look at a disaster zone a few years into recovery...or I should say *cough* recovery.

What emerged was more corruption and a boomin' upper class.

It ain't easy, I know.

[Usrename]

20. So you think Haiti will benefit?

Why exactly? Not to be too thick or anything, but why do you think that Haiti will be better off dealing with Wall Street rather than Hugo?

I honestly don't get your drift. Do you think commies are out to take over Haiti or something, and that somehow the Haitains will be better off with a little more American imperialism visited upon them? I honestly don't get it. What is in it for the people there? Are you thinking that American developers will turn Haiti into an island paradise? Or that the American taxpayers will subsidize reconstruction there?

I don't get it. Do you think that we will do more to rebuild Haiti than we did to rebuild the Ninth Ward? You know Hugo volunteered assistance during horror and shame of the Katrina aftermath, too, and he was turned down then, don't you? Do you think that helped the survivors there?


"On the plus side, the people of Haiti WILL benefit, and they will not care."


I just cannot make any sense out of that statement.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. The same way Germans and Italians

did... exactly the same way.

And truth be told nobody on the ground will know why the usual play is well off. Even Naomi Klein was surprised that Disaster Capitalism has been short circuited, yes she made that exact statement.

But this Marshall Plan is about Venezuela and it's increasing influence in the Caribbean. This WSJ unfortunately is not that off, readying the Venezuelan press...

They get it... Americans don't. They read history, we don't.

[Duende azul]

22. The Marshall Plan was only one side of the coin in postwar Europe.

There were terror, undercover ops, coups after WWII (Gladio, Greece...) to assure those who mostly contributed to overthrow fascism in Europe didn't get their say in the buildup of the new Europe.

[NuttyFluffers]

24. thank you. the Marshall plan was far more vicious than we reminisce.

it was also just as brutal in Japan (and later on a similar, though smaller and deliberately dwarfed, version for S. Korea). and further, the only real way it prospered was from further military engagements and buildup elsewhere. there's a saying in Japanese historian circles that post-war Japan pretty much 'thanked god' for the Korean War; it was a huge boon to their economy, while at the same time ramping up fear, and allowing corporate marriages with right wing politics to stifle all dissent into one homogenized industrial engine. S. Korea say the same thing, 'thank god', for the Vietnam war; it had similar effects for their society. the only real exception is that S. Korea had an actual military dictatorship managing things up until the late 1980s, whereas Japan has worked off of a monolithic party well funded from the states to establish a velvet gloved stranglehold on politics (up until pretty much recently).

i like the outward idea of the Marshall plan, but i have no delusions that it's all sweetcakes and niceties. there's a very definite reason we sent soldiers is such numbers... "beware Greeks bearing gifts."

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Yes and your point

The people on the ground did not quite care, now did they? They had bread and water, and full tummies and jobs.

That has been going on for a while now all over south america, but for the people on the ground you think they will care?

And you think the other side didn't engage in the same tactics? Why it was called a COLD WAR.

Jeezus age, history 101 is not history 101 I see.

[dipsydoodle]

23. Power of Community

They could learn at a lot from Cuba.

Cuba began a slow recovery focused not on finding new energy sources, but on rejecting consumption in favor of sustainable growth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Community:_How_Cuba_Survived_Peak_Oil

[Odin2005]

29. No fan of Chavez but I'm LOLing at the blatant bias of the WSJ

[UTUSN]

30. They were already without water/electricity - what more can he take away?!1 n/t

[Wilms]

31. .

You have buddies that think you're cool?

:eyes:

[laureloak]

33. Chavez propaganda thread.

[Socal31]

38. He is the world's greatest troll.

A racist one at that.

[ronnie624]

40. Gringo

is a Spanish word used in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, generally to denote people from the United States. The term can be applied to any person who is known, or assumed to be from the United States regardless of race, or it can denote a strong association or assimilation into American society and culture.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo>

[WriteDown]

44. True, but still a disparaging remark about a people. nt