U.S. Military in Paraguay Prepares To “Spread Democracy”

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Military in Paraguay Prepares To “Spread Democracy”
by Benjamin Dangl
September 16, 2005

Controversy is raging in Paraguay, where the U.S. military is conducting secretive operations. 500 U.S. troops arrived in the country on July 1st with planes, weapons and ammunition. Eyewitness reports prove that an airbase exists in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay, which is 200 kilometers from the border with Bolivia and may be utilized by the U.S.
military. Officials in Paraguay claim the military operations are routine humanitarian efforts and deny that any plans are underway for a U.S. base. Yet human rights groups in the area are deeply worried. White House officials are using rhetoric about terrorist threats in the tri-border region (where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet) in order to build their case for military operations, in many ways reminiscent to the build up to the invasion of Iraq. (1)

The tri-border area is home to the Guarani Aquifer, one of the world’s largest reserves of water. Near the Estigarribia airbase are Bolivia’s natural gas reserves, the second largest in Latin America. Political analysts believe U.S. operations in Paraguay are part of a preventative war to control these natural resources and suppress social uprisings in Bolivia.

Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel commented on the situation in Paraguay, "Once the United States arrives, it takes it a long time to leave. And that really frightens me." (2)

The Estigarribia airbase was constructed in the 1980s for U.S. technicians hired by the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, and is capable of housing 16,000 troops. A journalist writing for the Argentine newspaper /Clarin/, recently visited the base and reported it to be in perfect condition, capable of handling large military planes. It’s oversized for the Paraguayan air force, which only has a handful of small aircraft. The base has an enormous radar system, huge hangars and an air traffic control tower. The airstrip itself is larger than the one at the international airport in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital. Near the base is a military camp which has recently grown in size. (3)
(snip/...)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=20&ItemID=8744

[DELUSIONAL]

1. Draft coming? The rich aren't paying their fair share of taxes

And the military is here -- there and everywhere gas/oil and now water reserves exist. Bushie wants to invade oh any country with an oil burden to relieve them of that burden. So what happens when the next hurricane on steroids hits? Their National Guard is off fighting one of bushies wars.

Future generations will not have many kind words for this generation.

[Missy M]

2. The US is beginning to permeate every corner of the world with our

military. The bush administration seems particularly interested in South America's natural resources. How is it we can go into various countries with our military and in each case claim it is to insure democracy, yet with our presence back a political figure of OUR choice and do whatever it takes to install that person in power. I would hardly call that democracy. There will come a time when the world turns on the US for the bush administration policies and it seems to be happening already. Think of what all this must cost the American taxpayer.

[The2ndWheel]

12. Beginning?

Bush administration policies?

This has been going on for at least a century. And if you really want to get technical, it's been going on since 1492. And actually before that even, since everything that happened before the Columbus expansion west led to that trip. So really ever since humans began centralizing and consolidating power into whatever "civilization" is.

It would be nice if you could blame it on the Bush administration. They're just the most recent group to do it.

[Missy M]

14. I am talking about the bush administration going into these....

countries under the presumption of creating democracies but the world knows the real reasons. Yes, it has been going on hundreds of years or thousands for that matter, but it is a different time now. Most countries have now been established for hundreds of years, including the countries in South America, and we have no right interfering in how they are run. We certainly don't have the right to go after their natural resources and use democracy as an excuse. I know many in PNAC believe the natural resources and food of the world is there for the strongest people, nation whatever you want to call it, and should be taken at any cost. I guess they believe in survival of the fittest and the rest be damned.

[The2ndWheel]

24. Completely agree

However...

"but it is a different time now. Most countries have now been established for hundreds of years, including the countries in South America, and we have no right interfering in how they are run."

It may be 2005, but power still works the same. The West/Northern Hemisphere gets to tell other countries how to run their land through the WTO and the rest. Whether it's by the gun, or by the pen, we still do it. It may or may not be for the right reasons, but the powerful countries can demand this and that from weaker ones.

Do we have the right? Sadly, whoever has the biggest stick has always had the right, and will always have the right.

But on the other side of the coin, the people with no sticks have just as much a right to fight back.

And that cycle is why humanity is a freak show.

[shanti]

26. it's all in the PNAC

"all war, all the time"!

[oblivious]

3. "Spread democracy". "Humanitarian efforts". What does that mean?

- control elections to ensure right winger wins
- control natural gas fields
- control fresh water resources
- develop closer relations with Paraguayan military

[buzzsaw_23]

4. Coup attempt in Bolivia

is around the corner and I suspect we will see a spike in paramilitary activity at Colombia-venezuela border in order to create an incident. Patterns of incitement and planned chaos.

*Coup Warning in Bolivia*

"The proximity of the Estigarribia base to Bolivian natural gas reserves, and the fact that the military operations coincide with a presidential election in Bolivia, has also been a cause for concern. The election is scheduled to take place on December 4 2005. Bolivian Workers’ Union leader Jaime Solares, and Movement Toward Socialism (M.A.S.) Legislator Antonio Peredo, have warned of U.S. plans for a military coup to frustrate the elections.  Solares said the U.S. Embassy backs rightwing ex-President Jorge Quiroga in his bid for office, and will go as far as necessary to prevent any other candidate’s victory. (9)"

Uh, uh excuse me now but where is the NY Times and other 'liberal' media. Oh yeah I get it.


From d.a. levy
"Really"
                     the police try to protect
                     the banks - and everything else
                     is secondary"

[TroubleMan]

5. You got it

This has everything to do with Bolivia.

They can't let "those brown people" control their own country. Especially with our natural gas on their land.

[jus_the_facts]

6. The MOONIES landed earlier...we're continuing to back them up is all.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8997

*snip*

PARAGUAY: The Reverend Moon has carved out a section of Paraguay that is twice the size of Luxembourg. Seamus Mirodan went to see it

Reverend Sun Myung Moon, spiritual leader of the Unification Church, self-proclaimed Messiah, multimillionaire and a generous contributor to the US Republican Party, has been showing a strong interest over the last five years in little-known Paraguay at the centre of the South American continent.

Since 1999, Rev Moon has built his personal empire which begins on the marshy banks of the River Paraguay and stretches beyond the hazy, level horizon through 600,000 hectares of arid land - equivalent to more than two Luxembourgs - punctuated by solitary clusters of withered trees and sad bushes which struggle desperately for air.
A Cult of Christianity

Theologically, the Unification Church is, at best, a cult of Christianity. It does not represent historical, biblical Christianity in any way. Leader Sun Myung Moon's theology can only be described as insane.

Given the fact that the Unification Church rejects the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, teaches heresy, and engages in unbiblical practices, Christian churches can not have unity and/or any form of cooperation with the Unification Church or its front groups.

The scorching sun beats relentlessly on one of Latin America's most desolate zones. It is here in the northern province of Chaco, directly above the GuaranI aquifer, the largest resource of fresh drinking water in the world, where Moon's associates claim he wishes to build an ecological paradise.

*snip*

Allegations from local law enforcement officials support this claim. The so-called Dr Montiel, Paraguay's drugs tsar from 1976-89, said: "The fact that they came and bought in Chaco and on both sides of the Brazilian border is very telling. It is an enormously strategic point in both the narcotics and arms trades and indeed the available intelligence clearly shows that the Moon sect is involved in both these enterprises."

Paraguay is the major drugs port through which virtually all the cocaine produced by Bolivia and Peru passes. In the world's second most corrupt country, "the ease of buying influence is second to none", said Montiel. "Corruption reaches dangerous levels and he who wants transparency in Paraguay is a dead man. Indeed the famous Iran contra affair was operated from Ciudad del Este" on the south-east Paraguayan border with Argentina and Brazil.

The same year saw the inauguration of Rev Moon's local media empire: Tiempos del Mundo, a newspaper distributed in the majority of the major capitals across South America. At the opening of the offices in Buenos Aires, George Bush snr was guest of honour and referred to Rev Moon, one of his major benefactors at the time of his first electoral campaign, as "a man of honour". Indeed the reverend forged strong links with the Republican Party, not least by opening the Washington Times in 1982, estimated to lose some $50 million a year and once described by Bush as "so valuable in Washington, where we read it every day".

Rev Moon's first involvement in the continent came during the late 1970s when his organisation donated the first $100,000 to Oliver North's Nicaraguan Freedom Fund. The religious leader was implicated in many of the so-called Contra scandals during the Reagan-Bush administration.

[Amonester]

9. "Hail to the Moon king"

"The deeply weird coronation of Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a Senate office building -- crown, robes, the works -- is no longer one of Washington's best-kept secrets.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By John Gorenfeld

June 21, 2004 | You probably imagine your congressman hard at work in the Capitol debating legislation, making laws -- you know, governing. But your newspaper probably didn't tell you that one night last March, members of Congress hosted a crowning ritual for an ex-convict multi-billionaire who dressed up in maroon robes and declared himself the Second Coming."

<snip>

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/06/21/moon/index_np.html


"Second Coming" of what, Iran-Contra? Hitler?? Anti-Christ (as **'s the first to claim the "title"...)?


:puke: Who'd "vote" for THAT?? :mad:

[killbotfactory]

7. And the region says "no thanks"

"spread democracy" what a fucking joke.

[barb162]

8. What??????

[SoCalDem]

10. Southern Brazil & al Qaeda.. Just yesterday

I heard a republican "terra-ism expert" just causally say.."everyone knows that southern Brazil is a hotbed of al qaeda activity".. At the tine it sounded just plain ODD, but it makes more sense now.. they are "setting the stage" for a major intervention in SA.:grr:

[WhiteTara]

11. start looking for bodies on the streets

when "Democracy" comes, death seems to follow.

[shance]

13. Was this why Rumsfeld was in Paraguay a few weeks ago?

n/t

[buzzsaw_23]

15. More from Bolivia

Coup attempt in Bolivia?

by Luis Gomez

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA, APRIL 17 2004: It wasn't a secret, but for a while, nobody was paying attention: there are groups plotting to destabilize the government of President Carlos Mesa, that are considering a coup d'etat in order to finalize the sale of Bolivian gas to Chile despite the outpouring of popular will against such a deal expressed in last October's insurrection.

Of course, U.S. government officials have a lot to do with it (beginning with the Viceroy David N. Greenlee, his friends in the CIA, and even officials from the gringo agency USAID). It took a counterintelligence memo, put together by confidential Bolivian and Chilean sources, specifically accusing those foreign companies and politicians - to bring this matter to light. Then Congressman Evo Morales denounced the coup attempt, and the questions began.

<snip>

In the midst of these pressures from the right (and from international capital), are several U.S. actors that, in recent weeks, have been putting public pressure upon both Mesa's administration and the social sectors, sticking their noses more and more into Bolivian affairs. A good example, to begin with, would be the recent conflict in Yungas, where the coca growers blockaded the roads and stopped the construction of an anti-drug base in La Rinconada financed by the Bush Administration. As Narco News South American Bureau Chief Alex Contreras reported as it was happening, the blockades begun on April 5th ended in an agreement between the farmers and government minister Alfonso Ferrufino. The focus of this agreement is a more profound dialogue between coca growers and the government, a freeze on forced eradication in Yungas, and suspension of the construction of the barracks at La Rinconada.

<snip>

"Intelligence personnel at the US Embassy (CIA) are working with other intelligence agencies (Chile-Israel) to destabilize the government of President Mesa. Objectives: Stop the Referendum, the Constituents' Assembly, passage of a new Hydrocarbons Law and achieve the sale of gas through Chile," the counterintelligence report says. To achieve these objectives, agents of the CIA are working on "various hypotheses and action plans." In reality, there are three concrete plans, each of which not only attacks the government of Carlos Mesa and the sovereignty of Bolivia, but also shoots to kill against the will of the people."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=52&ItemID=5388

[raysr]

19. Makes ya "proud" to

to be an "american" doesn't it? Out spreading "democracy" where it isn't wanted or needed in order to secure other nations resources.

[kineneb]

16. sounds suspicious...

Uh, folks, does all of this foreign "intervention" stuff sound vaguely familiar? Kind of like the last days of Rome? When they had overreached the capabilities of their military forces and the empire failed from the rot within?

What I want to know is: who are the "barbarians," and how can we help them?

At this point, the forces of chaos look preferable to the forces of BushCo.

Remember the Teotoburg forest!

[Say_What]

17. 'Denials and Immunity' and US government blackmail

From the article:

..."The national government has not reached any agreement with the United States for the establishment of a U.S. military base" in Paraguay, states a communiqué signed by Paraguayan Foreign Minister Leila Rachid. The U.S. Embassy in Paraguay has also released statements officially denying plans to set up a military base in the country. (5)

The Pentagon used this same language when describing its actions in Manta, Ecuador, now the home of an $80 million U.S. military base. First they said the facility was an archaic "dirt strip" which would be used for weather monitoring and would not permanently house U.S. personnel. Days later, the Pentagon stated that Manta was to serve as a major military base tasked with a variety of security-related missions. (6)

Paraguayan political analyst and historian Milda Rivarola said that, "in practice, there has already been a (U.S.) base operating in Paraguay for over 50 years." The U.S. armed forces have had an ongoing presence in the country, she said. "In the past, they needed congressional authorization every six months, but now they have been granted permission to be here for a year and a half." (7)

On May 26, 2005 the Paraguayan Senate granted the U.S. troops total immunity from national and International Criminal Court jurisdiction until December 2006. The legislation is automatically extendable. Since December 2004, the U.S. has been pressuring Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Paraguay into signing a deal which would grant immunity to U.S. military. The Bush administration threatened to deny the countries up to $24.5 million in economic and military aid if they refused to sign the immunity deal. Paraguay was the only country to accept the offer. (8)


Paraguayan officials greet Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld upon his arrival Aug. 16, 2005 at Asuncion Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, Paraguay. Rumsfeld is touring parts of Latin America to discuss bilateral military cooperation in the region. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald

[OKthatsIT]

20. Link?

[Say_What]

22. It's from the original article that JudiLynn posted...

:-)

[Say_What]

18. Progreso Weekly: Paraguay, the Pentagon's new beachhead

<clips>

...The base that isn't

...Not surprisingly, Paraguay's neighbors Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia are questioning the project, fearing it may go beyond the war on drugs, corruption and disease. Those countries are within easy range of Boquerón, if an air attack or land invasion is launched from Paraguay. In a show of concern, Brazil in late July staged military maneuvers along its border with Paraguay to make sure it could deal with an incursion from that sector.

Bolivia's preoccupation is particularly intense, because that country has large fields of oil and natural gas; the provinces of Santa Cruz and Tarija are home to the second largest gas reserves in South America. Further, a presidential election Dec. 4 will pit proponents of both the nationalization and the privatization of those energy sources.

Bolivian industrialists intent on privatizing and exporting the country’s gas have begun a campaign in those provinces for a secessionist referendum. If the region votes to become independent, the gas most likely will be privatized; massive demonstrations are sure to follow. And if civil unrest erupts, the Pentagon will be in a strategic position to intervene from its base in Paraguay, ostensibly to protect the interests of U.S. energy corporations.

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=analisis_noticioso_ant&otherweek=1125896400

[Judi Lynn]

23. That's a great resource: Progresoweekly.com

One of its major figures, Francisco Aruca, is living proof you can be a Cuban-American without being dishonest and violent! He's also horrendously courageous in the face of violent mobs, death threats, personal physical assaults against him and his employees and his property (bombings). I deeply admire him.

From your article:

Three weeks later, on May 26, the Paraguayan Congress granted the participating U.S. troops legal immunity from prosecution for any crimes against civilians they may commit while in Paraguay, including, but not limited to, destruction of property, rape, torture, and homicide. The decision to grant carte blanche to the American visitors was made by the legislators behind closed doors, without debate or publicity.
(snip)

The United States has always maintained a military presence in Latin America, of course. Right now, it has four permanent bases in the region, which it euphemistically calls Cooperative Security Locations: Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; Aruba, Curaçao; Comalapa, El Salvador; and Manta, Ecuador. Boquerón, Paraguay, could be its fifth.

It is instructive to recall how the Manta base came into existence, in 1999. At first, the Pentagon presented it as a "dirt strip," a facility devoted solely to anti-drug operations and weather monitoring. The base would operate only during daytime, the Pentagon said, and would not be a permanent home for U.S. troops. Later, the Pentagon "clarified" its original statement and announced Manta would serve as a major U.S. military base entrusted with various security-related missions.

So far, more than $80 million has been invested in Manta, which has become one of the best-equipped airports in Latin America. The base reportedly played a liaison role in the 2002 coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
(snip)

Very shabby way to use the money the taxpayers area forced to pay the government, wouldn't you say?

[Pikku]

21. Their "reasons" make no sense

Officials in Paraguay claim the military operations are routine humanitarian efforts and deny that any plans are underway for a U.S. base. Yet human rights groups in the area are deeply worried. White House officials are using rhetoric about terrorist threats in the tri-border region (where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet) in order to build their case for military operations, in many ways reminiscent to the build up to the invasion of Iraq.


Terrorism?
Mariscal Estigarribia is is in the Paraguayan Chaco, which is very sparsely populated (about .3 of a person per square kilometer). The tri-border area where people were rounded up after 9-11 is hundreds of miles away, in Ciudad del Este, on the other side of the country.

Health & humanitarian work?
In a place where there are so few people? Why not help out in eastern Paraguay, where people live? That's where nearly all the Peace Corps volunteers and other aid organizations are working.

Drugs? More likely. I've heard that the Chaco is a good place to base drug trafficking activities. But damn, that's a big base to bust a few drug runners.

Most likely is that Paraguay may be the best place for the U.S. to put down South American roots. The government has been US-friendly since the Stroessner years. Putting the base in the Chaco guarantees that no one who doesn't need to see the base or its activities, will.

[Judi Lynn]

25. A thumbnail sketch of Paraguayan dictator Stroessner for DU'ers

who haven't taken the time to check up on him:

ALFREDO STROESSNER
President-for-Life of Paraguay
Alfredo Stroessner came to power in 1954, but European correspondents who visited Paraguay during his rule used the term the "poor man's Nazi regime" to describe the Paraguayan government. The parallels may have been more than a coincidence, for many Nazi war criminals, such as Joseph Mengele, had settled there with Stroessner's blessing.
From the Nazis the Paraguayan military leamed the art of genocide. The native Ache Indians were in the way of progress, progress represented by American and European corporations who planned to exploit the nation's forests, mines, and grazing lands. The Indians were hunted down, parents killed, and children sold into slavery. Survivors were herded into reservations headed by American fundamentalist missionaries , some of whom had participated in the hunts.
Between 1962 and 1975, Paraguay received $146 million in U.S. aid. Paraguayan officials seemingly wanted more, however, for in 1971, high ranking members of the regime were implicated in the Marseilles drug ring, with Paraguay their transfer point for shipments from France to the U.S. In the 1980s America finally condemned Paraguayan civil rights abuses and drug trafficking. Stroessner still looked as if he'd be dictator for life but in 1988 one of his closest generals, Andres Rodriguez, a known drug dealer, took over after a coup. Rodriguez promised to restore democracy, and President Bush called the 1989 elections "a democratic opening," but opponents declared them "a massive fraud." Rodriguez's Colorado party won 74% of the vote.
(snip)

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/SouthAmerica.html

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

Random citizens are simply NOT aware of what kind of "leaders" the right-wing U.S. Presidents have been keeping in power in Latin America and the Caribbean, and how important it is that the countries finally get their identities back WITHOUT U.S. interference ever again.

Just because MEpublican presidents can command control of the largest collection of weapons on the planet doesn't give them the right to control other countries. That's NOT FREEDOM, and that's NOT DEMOCRACY, no matter how many times scum like _Bush say it.

I hope this time the American public finally learns what it needs to know in time to keep this MEpublican president from repeating the crimes of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and the elder _Bush.

[BSDRebel]

27. Is "democracy" an STD?

I keep hearing about the dangers of "spreading democracy". I just want to be safe, you know. Should I use a condom? :)

[Kailassa]

29. When America actually has democracy it will spread.

When my sons were young, a hippyish friend came to visit with her little boy. After a few cuppas, we noticed the boys outside pointing sticks at each other and going: "bang bang". She tore out there, picked her son up and belted him, until we pulled him away for his own safety, shouting while she whacked, "you know how mummy hates violence, how dare you play guns, how many more times do I have to thump you before you learn not to play violent games?"

BTW, I'm not suggesting that is typical behaviour for hippies in general.

If Bush wants to teach countries about democracy he should start at home. In Australia the only thing stopping us splitting our sides laughing at your pathetic imitation of democracy is that many of us have enough connections with individual Americans to feel for you and know that you deserve better.

[Roland99]

28. Yet another move to get US control of worldwide water rights.

Water....the new oil.

[Judi Lynn]

30. There's a huge water issue at stake. Definitely.

US Base in Paraguay Protects Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Land

August 12, 2005
Wayne Madsen / Madsen Report

http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/edit/index.php?op=edit&itemid=3032

WASHINGTON, D.(August 9, 2005) — With US troops currently protecting Halliburton’s oil operations in Iraq and the CentGas pipeline in Afghanistan, US troops are now being sent to Paraguay, complete with immunity from criminal prosecution by Paraguay or the International Criminal Court, to protect the millions of acres of Paraguayan water and land resources bought over the years by religious cult leader Sun Myung Moon.

It is not coincidental that Moon’s Unification Church has many followers within the Bush administration. Last month, 500 US troops arrived in Paraguay to expand the Mariscal Estigarriba air base to handle large US military transport planes. Moon’s land acquisitions in Chaco Province are just north of the huge Guarani aquifer, one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water.

In addition, Moon has acquired large tracts of land on the Brazilian side of the Paraguayan border. Local villagers in Paraguay and Brazil claim that most of Moon’s land acquisitions were fraudulent and illegal.

Moon’s World Unification Church operates in Paraguay under a corporate contrivance called the Victoria Company. Paraguay has also announced that everyone entering and leaving Paraguay will be photographed and fingerprinted. Not coincidentally, the new border control system is being financed by South Korea.
(snip/...)

http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?itemid=3032

The Itaipú hydroelectric power plant is the largest development of its kind in operation in the world. Built from 1975 to 1991, in a binational development on the Paraná River, Itaipú represents the efforts and accomplishments of two neighboring countries, Brazil and Paraguay. The power plant's 18 generating units add up to a total production capacity of 12,600 MW (megawatts) and a reliable output of 75 million MWh a year. Itaipú's energy production has broken several records over the recent years, after the last generating unit was commissioned in 1991. The generation of 77.212.396 MWh a year in 1995 will again be surpassed in 1996, and the new record will be around the 80 million MWh a year mark.

The magnitude of the project can also be demonstrated by the fact that in 1995 Itaipú alone responded for 25% of the energy supply in Brazil and 78% in Paraguay. The power plant is also a major tourism attraction in the Foz do Iguaçú area, having received around 9 million visitors from 162 countries. The Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu, also home of the famous Iguaçú Falls, is located at the Western tip of Paraná State, right by the border with Paraguay and Argentina.
(snip/...)

http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/Modern/itaipu.html

[jokerman93]

31. After the oil wars

After the oil wars come the water wars. Too bad PNAC has no intention of crowning crazy Sun Myung as Messiah and King of the World, despite his close ties with Bush sr., his supplements to the Repub party or his lackey Washington newspaper.

(Cheeper to use digital FX when the time comes. :sarcasm:)

Can we read the writing on the wall? Could be it's later than it seems...

:kick: