TPM: About that Bush Family Ranch in Paraguay...

[Joanne98]

truthista's Blog
About that Bush Family Ranch in Paraguay...
By truthista | bio
http://americaabroad.tpmcafe.com/blog/truthista/2007/jan/10/about_that_bush_family_ranch_in_paraguay

A government office forbidden by law from disseminating information domestically was the mouthpiece of choice for the administration to deny rumors that the Bush family purchased thousands of acres in a remote portion of northern Paraguay.

According to CNN, the State Department's USINFO Counter-Disinformation/Misinformation Team, led by Todd Leventhal, "helps U.S. embassies identify and rebut other nations' disinformation, most often fabrications about the United States planted in foreign newspapers or television shows and, these days, on the Internet."

The State Department's response is posted on the USINFO website in its "media archives." Curiously, the official denial (below) was not issued separately but was appended to an earlier statement responding to equally persistent rumors of a U.S. military base in Paraguay.

Alleged Bush ranch in Paraguay

In October 2006, newspapers in Paraguay, the Cuban news service Prensa Latina and others circulated allegations falsely claiming, variously, that:

* Former President George H.W. Bush owns 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) in the Chaco region of Paraguay, or

* Current President George W. Bush owns 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) in the same region, or

* Timothy Towell, former U.S. ambassador to Paraguay from 1988 to 1991, administers the 70,000 hectare ranch on behalf of former President Bush.

These supposed land acquisitions were often claimed to be associated with alleged U.S. designs on the Guarani aquifer or the Mariscal Estigarribia air base.

There is no truth to any of these allegations:

* The White House has stated that the rumors about President Bush are not true.

* The office of former President George H.W. Bush has confirmed that the allegations about former President Bush are not true.

* Ambassador Towell has confirmed that he does not administer any land in Paraguay on behalf of either former President George H.W. Bush or current President George W. Bush.

(excerpt from "United States Has No Plans for Military Base in Paraguay," U.S. State Dept.)




Note that, while Timothy Towell's response apparently came directly from him, the responses of the President and former President were issued by anonymous persons in the "White House" and the "office" of George H.W. Bush. This is a classic method for creating plausible deniability. If the allegation is not true, why not issue the denial directly rather than through an obscure web page?

In the same document, the State Department describes as "myth" reports that the U.S. plans to "intervene" in regions of Paraguay including the tri-border region and Ciudad del Este.


Other allegations in the "U.S. base" myth are that the U.S. plans to intervene in Cuidad del Este - a Paraguayan city of about 200,000 people located in the tri-border area of Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil - and/or seeks to control the Guarani Aquifer, a large fresh-water reserve which lies beneath those countries. In reality, the United States has no designs of any kind on Cuidad del Este, except to support programs to create jobs in the formal sector there. The United States has no interest in the Guarani Aquifer, which the U.S. government recognizes as an important resource for the inhabitants of the region.

The State Department's claim is questionable. If U.S. involvement is primarily for commercial development, then why was Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, heading up talks with Paraguay in August, 2005?

http://americaabroad.tpmcafe.com/blog/truthista/2007/jan/10/about_that_bush_family_ranch_in_paraguay

This is really interesting. There is definetly something up in Paraguay.

[central scrutinizer]

1. Calling Dr. Mengele

He is probably hiding on one of the Bushco properties

[tularetom]

2. Does Paraguay have a mutual extradition treaty with us?

Just askin'.

[Joanne98]

6. I don't know.

[SpiralHawk]

3. sniff, sniff, sniff: I smell republicon bullshit. As usual. Such liars

Something is UP in Paraguay, and the Skull& Boner Bush Boys and their Occult Cabal Cronies are no doubt in the thick of it.

[jeff30997]

4. Good riddance!

Get lost you fascist piece of shit!

[peacetalksforall]

5. But, we know these truths:

. The close family friend, Rev. Moon, already owns land there.
. One or both of the twin daughters recently visited there.
. U.S. Military bases have been built there and are manned. (Ostensibly, to keep an eye on 'terrorists' who are crossing back and forth on the borders of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay. That is according to a quote from the military or whoever handles criticism of the opening of bases in landlocked countries, especially one that has the largest aquafir in this hemisphere if not the world).
. Many articles say the reason for the bases is to invade Bolivia - lotsa gas. Oil, gas, and water - and throw in some minerals and/or gems - and you have something that any earth resource sponsor would love. Sponsor = entities who have no qualms about destroying a country and its people for a corporate and stockholder goal.

[Joanne98]

7. I going to see if I can find it with google earth..

Maybe they have built some stuctures...

[bonito]

8. I wonder what their up to also. n/t

[NMDemDist2]

10. fresh clean water

the land in question lays over one of the largest fresh water underground aquifers in the world

[Joanne98]

9. Paraguay wikipedia. Did you know it has a deep water port?

Paraguay River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguay_River


The Paraguay River near AsunciónThe River Paraguay (Río Paraguay in Spanish, Rio Paraguai in Portuguese) is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil and Paraguay and running close to the border between Brazil and Bolivia as well as being the border between Paraguay and Argentina. It runs over a course of approximately 2,549 kilometers (1,584 miles) from its headwaters in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso to its confluence with the Parana River north of Corrientes. Due to the shape of the country, Paraguay is located on the west side of the river in the north of that country (Brazil on the east), while in the south Paraguay is located on the east side of the river (with Argentina in the west).


Map of the Paraguay RiverThe River Paraguay is born south of Diamantino in Mato Grosso, Brazil. It follows a generally southwesterly course, passing through the Brazilian city of Cáceres. It then turns in a generally southward direction, flowing through the Pantanal wetlands, the city of Corumbá, and then running close to the Brazil-Bolivia border for a short distance. The river runs close to the border but is actually located within the Brazilian side.

From the city of Puerto Bahia Negra, Paraguay, the river forms the border between Paraguay and Brazil, flowing almost due south for approximately 220 kilometers before the confluence with the Apa River.

The Paraguay makes a long, gentle curve to the south-southeast before resuming a more south-southwest course, dividing the country of Paraguay into two distinct halves: the Gran Chaco region to the west, a largely uninhabited semi-arid region; and the eastern forested departments of the country, accounting for some 98% of the country's inhabitants. As such the river is considered perhaps the key geographical feature to the country with which it shares its name.

Some 400 kilometers after flowing through the middle of Paraguay, at the confluence with the Pilcomayo river and passing the Paraguayan capital city, Asunción, the river forms the border with Argentina, flowing generally south-southwesterly for another 275 kilometers before it reaches its end, joining with the Parana River.


Uses

Deep water port on the River Paraguay in Asunción, ParaguayThe River Paraguay is the second major river in the Río de la Plata watershed, covering a vast area of land that includes major portions of northern Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay, parts of Bolivia and the entire country of Paraguay. Unlike many of the other great rivers of the Parana basin, the Paraguay has not been dammed for hydroelectric power generation, and as such it is navigable for a considerable distance, second to the Amazon River only in terms of navigable length on the continent. This makes it an important shipping and trade corridor, providing a much needed link to the Atlantic Ocean for the otherwise landlocked nations of Paraguay and Bolivia. It serves such important cities as Asunción and Concepción in Paraguay and Formosa in Argentina.

The river is also a source of commerce in the form of fishing and providing irrigation for agriculture along its route. It also serves as a way of life for a number of poor fishermen who live along its banks and make the majority of their income selling fish in local markets, as well as supplying a major source of sustenance for their families. This has created issues in large cities such as Asunción, where poverty stricken farmers from the country's interior have populated the river's banks in search of an easier lifestyle. Seasonal flooding of the river's banks forces many thousands of displaced residents to seek temporary shelter until the waters recede from their homes. The Paraguayan military has been forced to dedicate land on one of its reserves in the capital to emergency housing for these displaced citizens.


Controversy
The Paraguay River is the primary waterway of the Pantanal Wetlands that encompass southern Brazil, northern Paraguay and parts of Bolivia. Although largely ignored by the international media in favor of more famous wetlands along the Amazon to the north, the Pantanal is actually the world's largest tropical wetlands ecosystem and is largely dependent upon waters provided by the Paraguay. Owing to its importance as a navigable waterway serving Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay it has also been the focus of commercial and industrial development in those nations.

In 1997 the governments of the nations in the Río de la Plata basin proposed a bold plan under the Hidrovia Inter?Governmental Commission (CIH) agency to develop the rivers into an industrial waterway system to help reduce the costs of exporting goods from the area, in particular the soybean crop that the area has embraced. The plan proposed constructing more hydroelectric dams along some of the waterways, along with a massive effort to restructure the navigable waterways - most notably the Paraguay - through dredging of the waterway, rock removal, and channel restructuring.

Studies indicated that the rechanneling of the Paraguay would have lowered the river levels by several feet and have a devastating impact on the Pantanal wetlands, but the member nations of the CIH were determined to go ahead with the plan. An effort by the Rios Vivos coalition to educate people on the effects of the project was successful in delaying the project, and the nations involved have agreed to reformulate their plan. The final plan is still uncertain, however, along with the final effect it will have on the Pantanal and the ecology of the entire Río de la Plata basin is currently undetermined. The controversy as to whether or not the project will have a disastrous effect on the ecology, as well as the potential economic gains, continues to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguay_River

[Joanne98]

11. Well, I've been flying around Paraguay ....

It's really cool.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Well, from the Dept. of Methinks Thou Doth Protest Too Much,

their denials at least let us know what they've been worrying about.