|
Then the rightwing (pro-corporate, "neo-liberal") Chilean government of billionaire president Sebastián Piñera high-handedly undid that settlement.
Meanwhile, Peru (rightwing, "neo-liberal" government run by the corrupt Alan Garcia regime) also tried to throw monkey wrenches into that agreement.
This all goes back to a war that occurred a hundred years ago.
The rightwing always causing trouble--divisiveness, anger, unfairness, kneejerk "nationalism" ("We're No. 1! You're nothing!"), bullying the weak or those at a disadvantage, puffing themselves up.
The leftwing always looking for SOLUTIONS--cooperation, peace, negotiation, "raising all boats."
And I think it is no coincidence that the troublemakers, Chile and Peru, are among the few U.S. allies in the region. U.S. corporations and war profiteers HATE the leftist governments that now have majority power in Latin America. Anything that causes trouble for them serves U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests, but, more than this, the new cooperative spirit that leftist leaders have brought to the region is a specific target of those U.S. interests, for, among other things, that spirit--the cooperative spirit of the leftist democracy revolution--creates collective regional clout in dealing with bullying and domination by the U.S., through instruments like the IMF/World Bank, the WTO, U.S. banksters and the "blue-eyed wonders of Wall Street," specific U.S.-based transglobal corporations like Exxon Mobil and through the Pentagon's ambitions in the region and its "war on drugs" facade.
Michele Batchelet reached the agreement with Bolivia--to give Bolivia back a tiny, tiny bit of sovereign land on the coast to launch boats and create a bit of sea trade--in the context of a U.S. instigated/funded/organized white separatist insurrection in Bolivia, with the U.S. (Bush Junta) trying to topple the Morales government and split Bolivia in two, with the white separatists controlling Bolivia's main gas reserves (Bolivia's chief natural resource). Morales threw the U.S. ambassador and the DEA out of Bolivia, for their collusion on this violent insurrection, and UNASUR, headed by Batchelet, in its first official action, intervened, in strong support of the Morales government, and helped end the insurrection. Morales, the first Indigenous president of Bolivia, has something like a 70% approval rating in Bolivia--and represents an enormously important political revolution on a par with the end of apartheid in South Africa. The leftist governments of Brazil and Argentina (Bolivia's chief gas customers) also brought economic pressure to bear to end the violent insurrection. Brazil, Venezuela and others put up money to connect Bolivia to the new superhighway coming across South America from Brazil. And Chile/Batchelet settled this century old dispute to give Bolivia access to the sea once again.
After Venezuela in 2002 (the people peacefully defeating a U.S.-backed coup d'etat), this was the most important event in Latin American history--the region uniting to defeat a U.S.-backed coup and to bolster the government that was under attack with economic and political aid.
It is this cooperative spirit that is now under attack by rightwing governments. And I think that it is the No. 1 strategy of the U.S. State Department, for serving U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests in the region, to "divide and conquer" the newly cooperating countries. Their biggest fear is that these leftist governments will create a "level playing field" in Latin America (--South America is well on its way to this already) in which U.S. -based transglobals have to compete for contracts and resources and have to obey the rules and regs of truly sovereign, democratic countries. They, of course, abhor democracy, as well as cooperation and unity among their traditional victims.
Batchelet (Chile) tried to "raise all boats"--giving Bolivia a break, a chance at a bit of sea trade. Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Nestor Kirchner (Argentina) joined in, helping to keep Bolivia together and its gas resource in tact. Several others joined in, in different ways. More rightwing bloodshed was averted. Democracy held. Bolivia, with its first truly democratic government, was launched as a healthy ally and trading partner.
One other feature of democracy that the U.S and its corporate/war profiteer masters abhor is the use of Latin American natural resources to benefit the poor majority--a very strong feature of the new leftist governments. They are committed to social justice within their borders, as well as to social justice among nations, with no one bullying anyone else and all benefitting.
All this must be undermined, sabotaged, lied about and defeated, to make the super-rich richer and to enhance their ungodly power. This seemingly small, local dispute is not small and local at all. It is a paradigm of the struggle taking place in Latin America. I suspect that that is why Evo Morales is taking this dispute to the OAS. It could well be a test case as to whether or not the U.S.-dominated OAS can serve the interests of the people of Latin America, versus the new Latin America-only regional group, CELAC, which does not have the U.S. or its lackey Canada as members.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
