Iran, Bolivia sign agreements, call for closer relations

[Prometheus Bound]

Source: Xinhuanet

Iran, Bolivia sign agreements, call for closer relations
2010-10-28 01:55:22
TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Bolivia inked five Memorandam of Understating (MoUs) here on Wednesday, on the last day of the three-day visit by Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales.

Among them, a consular agreement was signed by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Bolivian Economy Minister Luis Arce Catacora, and an initial agreement for the establishment of a joint Iranian-Bolivian bank as well as a line of credit deal was inked by Iranian Economy Minister Seyyed Shamseddin Hosseini and Catacora, local satellite Press TV reported.

Meanwhile, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported that, according to the agreements, Tehran and La Paz will further boost their cooperation in mining and industry.

<snip>

In a meeting with Iranian traders on Wednesday, the Bolivian president called for investment of Iranian companies in various development projects in his country. He underlined the need for exchange of technological and scientific experiences with Tehran, adding that Iran's useful technological experiences should be transferred to all Latin American countries.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/28/c_13578644.htm

---

Iran vs Bolivia: Leaders' footy match
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11635476

[RZM]

1. Looks like they played a friendly football match too

Hey Evo . . . THAT was the time to knee your opponent in the nuts.

[Peace Patriot]

2. This is seeming to me like a "Declaration of Independence" by South America...

...from U.S. foreign policy dictates. First it was Venezuela, then Brazil, now Bolivia creating their own independent foreign policy and their own economic ties with Iran, in defiance of the U.S. intention to isolate and boycott Iran.

I have to say that I approve of this approach to Iran, if what we want is a peaceful world. Iran, from what I can tell, has no territorial ambitions, and, in this respect, is far less of a menace to the world that our own country, which invaded and occupied Iraq--slaughtering about a hundred thousand innocent people--for no good reason but in order to steal Iraq's oil and to plant the U.S. boot in the Middle East; is still in a very hot war in Afghanistan, killing dozens more civilians week after week after week; has ringed the world with U.S. military bases; has used its bully power in many countries, on behalf of U.S. multinational corporations and war profiteers, and has broken many international laws (not to mention our own Constitution). Who is the lawless one? Who has caused, and is still causing, mass suffering? And what has Iran done to merit isolation, embargo and other punishment (including living under constant threat of U.S. attack, with an example of what that will mean right next door in Iraq)? I wouldn't want to live in Iran and, as a woman, I wouldn't have much freedom there. But I also know the history of U.S. bloody interference in Iran, including the deliberate destruction of Iranian democracy in the mid-1950s and installation of a bloody dictator, the 'Shah' of Iran, to deliver all the profit from Iranian oil to western corporations--a horror of torture and oppression that lasted 25 years! The U.S. should stop messing with Iran and get its own energy house in order! And if the U.S. government really wanted to do something for women's rights in the Middle East, it would sever all ties with Saudi Arabia! Killing more people is not going to improve anybody's human rights!

In any case, whether I agree with the foreign policy of rapprochement and trade with Iran, or not, this is the trend in South America, and one that we need to pay attention to, along with the overall leftist democracy movement that has swept the region. South Americans, and, to an increasing degree, Central Americans, are fed up with U.S. domination, which has gained them nothing but impoverishment, loss of sovereignty and the corrupt, failed, murderous U.S. "war on drugs." Latin America is in organized rebellion against U.S. dictation, in case you hadn't noticed--and, if you haven't noticed, it may be through no fault of yours, since our corpo-fascist media is so utterly propagandistic about this remarkable, peaceful revolution, falsely portraying it as a matter of "strongman dictators"--obsessing on Hugo Chavez, for instance, because he is so vocal (and utterly ignoring the transparency of Venezuela elections, and the achievements and popularity of the Chavez government)--"black-holing" the genuinely democratic aspects of this widespread revolution, and the ordinary people who have brought it about--and leaving our own people utterly clueless about the growing unity, cooperation and economic/political integration that is taking place "south of the border," involving many leaders and countries, and aimed at an EU-type organization and a common market that does not include the U.S. Why does it not include the U.S.? For the very reason of U.S. hostility to Latin American democracy, sovereignty, social justice and general prosperity.

[Judi Lynn]

5. The movement toward unity, solidarity, progress continues as we've learned Brazil elected Dilma

Rousseff earlier today, a woman who, like Nestor Kirchner, Michelle Bachelet, Lula da Silva's brother, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo's brothers and fathers, imprisoned and tortured by right-wing regimes. Lugo was exiled because of his politics. Uruguay's new President Jose Mujica was himself a revolutionary, just like Dilma Rousseff.

Evo Morales was also imprisoned and beaten nearly to death earlier in his own career, after serving in his country's military as a young man.

These new leaders have suffered, and become very strong. They have seen what right-wing regimes do to their countrymen/women when they get the power. It's a very old, vicious, bloody story to anyone who looks for the truth. Too bad so many Americans either don't know, or don't care enough to find out, or BOTH.

Hope those who've been the planners, plotters of inhumane acts against the people of the Americas will know that NOW far more people are aware of their history in the Americas, the news has taken long to get here, since they tried so hard to bury it, but those of us who know about it are by god never going to forget, and never will Latin American people, who know about it, as well, since they care about their own parents, siblings, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, neighbors, schoolmates, teachers, those who were harrassed, tormented, terrorized, maybe murdered for getting in the road of right-wing power lust. Fascists just don't handle power well, as they have bitter, small, greedy spirits.

Those of us who know about this sordid history have already told others, and some of those may research the information, then tell others. The secrets are getting OUT now. They will try to do their evil deeds and the world will still learn about it, as we are learning what people like Kissinger, Nixon, Reagan, the _Bushes have done.

Best wishes, faith, courage to Latin Americans in their effort toward their own freedom, FINALLY.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Good news for Bolivia lately!"Peru gives landlocked Bolivia a piece of Pacific coast to call its own

Peru gives landlocked Bolivia a piece of Pacific coast to call its own
Peruvian leader, Alan García, signs deal with President Evo Morales allowing Bolivia to build port on small stretch of sand

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 20 October 2010 17.55 BST

http://static.guim.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/sys-images/Business/Pix/pictures/2010/10/20/1287590540768/Alan-Garcia-Evo-Morales-005.jpg

It might be a strip of sand without even a jetty but a small stretch of the Pacific coast now harbours Bolivia's dream of regaining a coast and becoming a maritime nation.

The landlocked Andean country has won access to a desolate patch of Peru's shoreline, fuelling hopes that Bolivia will once again have a sea to call its own.

President Evo Morales signed a deal yesterday with his Peruvian counterpart, Alan García, allowing Bolivia to build and operate a small port about 10 miles from Peru's southern port of Ilo.

The accord, sealed with declarations of South American brotherhood, was a diplomatic poke at Chile, the neighbour that seized Bolivia's coast and a swath of Peruvian territory in the 1879-84 war of the Pacific.

"It is unjust that Bolivia has no sovereign outlet to the ocean," said García, flanked by Morales in front of lapping waves at Ilo. "This is also a Bolivian sea."

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/20/peru-gives-bolivia-pacific-shore

[Prometheus Bound]

4. That's such a lovely report.

When I look at all the anger here in east Asia about various uninhabited islands claimed by various countries - with Japan currently mad at Russia, China furious with Japan, Vietnam fighting with China and so on and so on, a story like this of one country giving a piece of land to a neighbor because it's the right thing to do, it warms my heart. Well, the poke at Chile was good too.


Great pic.