http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/15375_america.html
America vs. USA
04/28/2005 13:09
Left-wing politicians of South and Central America who reject the
concepts of "liberalism without frontiers" and call for the construction of a
"social state" are becoming increasingly stronger as the United States seems to
be too busy exporting revolutions to Southwest Asia and countries of the former
Soviet Union.
Those politicians include Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez, Chile's
president Ricardo Lagos, Brazil's president Luis Inacio Lula de Silva,
Argentina's president Nestor Kirchner, and Tabare Vazquez, president of
Uruguay.
Cuba was the hotbed of "leftist" and anti-American policies in the past.
Nowadays Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is causing a major headache to
the White House. Mr. Chavez is a "destabilizing influence" on Latin America,
according to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It would be hard to
disagree to Dr. Rice's assessment since it is Mr. Chavez who foiled the
attempted coup d'etat and established closer relations with Fidel Castro. He
also launched an active propaganda campaign to spread the social ideas among
the political leaders and populations of Latin American countries. He even
dared object to U.S. policies in Southwest Asia and pledged his support to the
plans of Iranian leadership "to continue the development of nuclear energy
sector and conduct research in that field." Moreover, Venezuela's president
recently put an end to military cooperation between Venezuela and USA by saying
that American military personnel "involved in subversive activities against the
Venezuelan authorities and the national military command" should leave his
country.
The regime in Ecuador toppled on April 21st. U.S.-backed president of
Ecuador Lucio Gutierres was dismissed by national parliament following a wave
of popular protests that swept across the country shortly after Mr. Gutierres
disbanded the Supreme Court on April 15th and declared the state of emergency
in Quito, the country's capital.
Millions of people took to the streets in Mexico City on April 25th. The
Mexican government actively implements neo-liberal reforms and supports
U.S.-sponsored globalization policies. The protesters filled the streets
following the news about the abuse of power charges brought against Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mayor of Mexico City who is also the left-wing opposition
leader. The National Assembly of Mexico decided to strip Mr. Obrador of his
duties at the recommendation of the Prosecutor General"s office on April 7th.
However, three weeks later a court of first instance was reported to have
overruled the prosecutors" request to arrest the mayor. His powers as the Mayor
of Mexico City were later confirmed by members of the legislative body of the
capital who refused to obey the orders of the federal parliament. Finally,
millions of people in Mexico City joined the "march of silence" to support the
mayor. According to Mr. Obrador who already announced his candidacy for the
2006 presidential election in Mexico, the recent attacks against him were
staged by Mexican President Vicente Fox and certain political groups in
Washington which want to keep him off the presidential race. Recent opinion
polls show that Mr. Obrador has good chances to win the election. Today up to
60% of Mexican electorate are reportedly ready to cast votes in favor of Mr.
Obrador.
The charges against Mr. Obrador could seriously challenge his plans to
run for president since the Mexican law prohibits a person under investigation
or trial from seeking positions with a governmental office. The administration
of the Mexican president repeatedly stated that the government had nothing to
do with the legal problems of Mr. Obrador. But the statements had no effect on
the mayor"s supporters who keep saying that the authorities orchestrated the
attacks on Mr. Obrador. They claim he was acting for the benefit of the people
when he started the construction of a hospital road on the land that was later
found to be somebody"s private property. He allegedly encroached on private
property by ordering the construction company to go ahead. His instructions
resulted in legal action taken against him by the authorities.
Experts say that a conflict involving the federal government and the
politician supported by more than a half of the population could lead to
political instability in Mexico. However, Mr. Obrador made it quite clear that
he was ready to hold talks with President Fox and therefore he would rather
avoid any revolution or political unrest. Under the circumstances, it would be
to his advantage if he could wait for the election time so that he would come
to power in a legal manner. Given a broader swing to the left in public opinion
in Latin America he could in all probability be elected Mexico"s next
president. On the other hand, such an outcome would be a great disappointment
to the United States whose influence on Latin nations has been on the wane.
U.S. administration still has a chance to correct the situation by
staging another coup d"etat like the Americans did in Chile in 1973 or set off
a controlled destabilization just like in Salvador or Nicaragua in the 1980s.
They might as well send U.S. Marines to enforce "law and order" the way they
did in Panama and Grenada. They might plot something similar to "the orange
revolution" in Paraguay that ousted its president in March 1999 following the
public protests sparked off by the assassination of the vice president. The
public protests were organized by Youth for Democracy, a youth movement that
seems an identical twin to Pora and Khmara youth movements of today's Ukraine.
A new political trend seems quite obvious no matter how the latest
developments in Ecuador and Mexico are going to end up. USA is beginning to
lose in Latin America while being far too busy propagating democracy in the
Eastern Hemisphere.
Dmitry Bagiro
On the photo: U.S.-backed president of Ecuador Lucio Gutierres was
dismissed by national parliament following a wave of popular protests that
swept across the country
Read the original in Russian: (Translated by: Guerman Grachev)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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