This is actually a recent by Jackson Deihl, a canny neoliberal propagandist for the Post. He comes off as a centrist liberal, but as you can see, he really knows all the tricks of neoliberal propaganda. Here is the WaPo URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14729-2005Jan16.htmlWe really should spread the word on this column, as it is a good example of neoliberal propaganda striking back at a HUGE threat to neoliberalism--South American leftism.
Trouble In Our Back Yard
In Latin America, Democracy Is Faltering
By Jackson Diehl
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page A17
The Bush administration expects to focus much of its attention in a second term on promoting a political transformation of the Arab Middle East. But it may also have to spend some time on a parallel problem: preventing the unraveling of the democratic change the United States successfully nurtured a generation ago.He has now established the series of subversions and coups of the Reagan era as "democracy". That Reagan era stuff killed tens of thousands. Aint "democracy" great? "Nurtured", huh, Diehl? "Nurtured" with the blood of thousands of innocent peasants killed by American-trained and funded mercenary assassins. You're a real sweetheart, Diehl....
As Ronald Reagan began his second term 20 years ago, the United States was struggling to foster democracy in Latin America.
Love those word connotations: "Struggling". Let's keep track of those in this article! And wherever Reagan "fostered democracy" blood ran knee deep....
Amid deep skepticism in Washington, Reagan's team promoted imperfect elections in Central America while trying to train the feckless army of El Salvador to defeat insurgents. "Imperfect elections"? Is that what you call it when you train a bunch of assassins to kill thousands?
Now Latin America's buried tradition of authoritarian populism is making a comeback, fueled by sluggish economic growth, corruption and weak leadership. In the past few weeks, what had been a slowly deteriorating situation has begun to snowball:
Fueled by citizens starting to get a whiff of what has been going on, you mean...
• In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez has responded to his victory in a controversial recall referendum by aggressively moving to eliminate the independence of the media and judiciary, criminalize opposition, and establish state control over the economy. He is also using his country's surging oil revenue to prop up the once-beleaguered Cuban dictatorship of Fidel Castro, sponsor anti-democratic movements in other Latin countries and buy influence around the region. Last week he literally declared war against privately owned farms, sending troops to occupy one of the country's largest cattle ranches.
He is also using the oil billions to help the poor. No mention of that here though. Man, this Diehl is one cool propagandist. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. And as for those cattle farms, they now are homes to thousands of hungry peasants. Gee, my heart really bleeds for those cattle ranchers....
In Bolivia, the Chavez-funded Movement Toward Socialism has already driven one democratically elected president from office through violent protests. Last week it was working on his successor, Carlos Mesa, who faced paralyzing strikes by the leftists that closed off roads to the capital for two days.
Strikes are the only way to hurt the corporations and the business class, and that is the only way to get change. That is how Denmark did it, too.
Here is another veiwpoint of what Diehl is talking about:
from:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/Throwing_Out_President.htmlhere are some excerpts:
....
Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada fled La Paz in a helicopter October 17 as hundreds of thousands of Bolivians overran the streets of the capital city demanding his resignation and prosecution. Like so many others of Washington's fallen henchmen, Sanchez de Losada scrambled aboard an airplane and scurried to a safe haven in the U.S.
The ex-president left behind a country in turmoil where the stakes remain high, not only for Bolivia's neoliberal rulers, but also for U.S. imperialism and its effort to impose the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The struggle will continue, as opposition forces wait to see if Bolivia's new president, former Vice President Carlos Mesa, will put into practice the reforms Sanchez de Losada offered at the last minute in a futile bid to stem the tide of revolt.
In the three weeks of mass protests leading up to the president's ouster, Bolivian troops killed more than 80 protesters and injured hundreds more. At the heart of the struggle lay the popular rejection of the government's contract with a transnational consortium to export natural gas to the U.S by way of Chile and Mexico. The consortium, Pacific LNG, is comprised of British, Spanish and Argentine corporations. A U.S. company has been awarded the contract to transport Bolivian gas from Chile to Mexico.
The Pacific LNG contract legalizes foreign piracy and pillage of Bolivia's most important natural resource. Under its provisions, Bolivia would keep only 18 percent of the $1.5 billion in annual income expected to be generated by gas exports to the United States. Many Bolivian economists believe the percentage should be a standard 50 percent. The gas sold to Pacific LNG, moreover, has been fixed at a price well below current market value. The difference means a loss of additional billions of dollars to Bolivia over the life of the Pacific LNG contract. It was Sanchez de Losada who, two days before his first presidential term expired on August 6, 1997, signed over ownership of Bolivia's hydrocarbons to the transnationals.
>>>>>>
OK, back to neoliberal propagandist Jackson Diehl:
A decade ago Latin America's stronger democratic leaders could be counted on to rally against such authoritarian movements with the help of the United States, using the vehicle of the Organization of American States.
"Democrats" are "stronger". OK, Jackson, we get the picture!
Just three years ago the OAS adopted a democracy charter that allows for collective action against member states that violate such principles as an independent judiciary. But even the strong democracies, like Brazil and Chile, have grown weaker: Both have leftist presidents who frequently strike poses against President Bush's policies but have little stomach for taking on a menace such as Chavez. Even if they were to challenge the Chavistas, the Latin democrats would find few followers in the OAS assembly. Venezuela has bought off a raft of governments with subsidized supplies of oil.
OK, Jackson, democrats are stronger, and leftists "strike poses". I see.....
All of this puts the Bush administration in a difficult position. If it assertively challenges the anti-democratic leaders, it may find itself alone, shunned by Latin leaders and accused by liberals in Washington of reviving Yanqui imperialism. Working from Castro's playbook, Chavez already uses Bush as a foil and excuse for persecuting democratic opponents. But quiet diplomacy doesn't work either. The Bush team has tried to quietly reach out to Chavez in recent months while urging his neighbors to stand up to him -- only to see his reckless "revolution" accelerate. Ignoring the trouble in Ecuador and Bolivia hasn't made it go away.
"Quiet diplomacy," huh? here is what REALLY happened, courtesy of our friends at counterpunch:
>>>>>>
You can set your watch by it. The minute some halfway decent government in Latin America begins to reverse the order of things and give the have-nots a break from the grind of poverty and wretchedness, the usual suspects in El Norte rouse themselves from the slumber of indifference and start barking furiously about democratic norms. It happened in 1973 in Chile; we saw it again in Nicaragua in the 1980s; and here’s the same show on summer rerun in Venezuela, pending the August 15 recall referendum of President Hugo Chávez.
Chávez is the best thing that has happened to Venezuela’s poor in a very long time. His government has actually delivered on some of its promises, with improved literacy rates and more students getting school meals. Public spending has quadrupled on education and tripled on healthcare, and infant mortality has declined. The government is promoting one of the most ambitious land-reform programs seen in Latin America in decades.
Most of this has been done under conditions of economic sabotage. Oil strikes, a coup attempt and capital flight have resulted in about a 4 percent decline in GDP for the five years that Chávez has been in office. But the economy is growing at close to 12 percent this year, and with world oil prices near $40 a barrel, the government has extra billions that it’s using for social programs. So naturally the United States wants him out, just as the rich in Venezuela do. Chávez was re-elected in 2000 for a six-year term. A US-backed coup against him was badly botched in 2002.
http://counterpunch.org/cockburn06262004.html>>>>>>>
Back to Diehl:
So what can be done? One option is simply to wait for Chavez and his populist imitators to crash and burn, as they have throughout Latin American history, while seeking to shore up democratic Latin governments in the meantime.
translation: send in hit men to kill Chavez, or failing that, fund the oppostion to hire mercenaries to destroy the Country from within, a la Central America.
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