Noriega's game plan in Bolivia exposed

[aneerkoinos]

(Mods, I know I'm in breach of the rules here, but the original thread is two pages away on the front page and I wan't this as much as exposure as possible, as these are very exceptional times. Use your judgement and delete if you don't think this exception is justified).

Reposting my comments to an earlier eye-opening thread, this one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1532063&mesg_id=1533813
Because this needs all the attention.

"Seems that Noriega's plan is that Vaca Díez, next in line after resigning Mesa, takes power, declares Marshal law and starts massacring the demonstrators. This would no doubt lead to civil war (Aymara warriors and other social movements would sure as hell not back down and the army and police would split down). Vaca Diez would then call military help from outside "to protect the constitutional order and democracy", guess who?

Gladly, it does not seem that this plan is going forward, Generals of Bolivian army are not game and would rather choose Chavez as their role-model. Hence Noriega's frustrated outburst at Chavez, accusing him of what is going on in Bolivia.

This speculation is based on especially this piece from Al Giordano of Narconews:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/8/91629/48549"

"The real US plan seems to be to take control of only the Bolivian oil and gas fields located in the eastern province of La Paz, not the whole country which would be too costly. This must be the logic behind demand for "autonomy" from the rich La Paz oligarchy (with orchestration and support from CIA, NED etc. etc.), seceding from the poorer part of the country and becoming US vassal.

In other news, Bolivian social movements occupy peasefully the hydrocarbon fields and installations.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/8/145449/0216

This is it guys, global oil war round two. Lets hope Bolivian Generals stay united and loyal to the people, and keep telling Noriega to go fuck himself."




Response from Al Giordano to the info I sent him (links to the original Paraguay story and to the DU thread):

"I very much appreciate your keeping the fire burning at this crucial
hour. I sent the original La Jornada story on the Paraguay thing to
our journos in Bolivia, and they appreciate it too. The next 48 hours
are going to be super heavy. All the attention and scrutiny we can put
on it will be to the benefit of the angels and limit the maneuvering
room of the devils in the shadows. This is one of the biggest stories
unfolding I have ever seen. Keep up the pressure! And Thanks!

Al Giordano"


Spread the word, good people of DU, we can make a difference! The power fears light, but there is no time to waste!

[Vladimir]

1. God help the Bolivian government if they start an

all out civil war over this...

[aneerkoinos]

2. God help

all Bolivians. My heart is heavy with worry, but hope lives.

[Vladimir]

4. I gotta say

if this does become a civil war, and there is outside intervention, I hope certain other South American countries lend some fraternal assistance to the progressive Bolivian forces. But I sincerely hope it won't come to that, and that the army will refuse to shoot its own...

[Gay Green]

11. Yes, God help the Bolivian government

A civil war there would be BushCo's opportunity for a "Spanish Civil War"... and he won't be financing the Abraham Lincoln Brigade! :scared:

[mitchtv]

14. a couple of hundred truckloads of armed Indians is

more than the Bolivian Army is prepared to deal with. The troops are all indians too. La Paz sits in a crack in the altiplano with few ways in or out.

[K-W]

15. Right, but thats when they would call in US support from paraguay NT

[mitchtv]

16. I just don't think that Brazil would permit it

Argentina or Chile either. The War of the Gran Chaco 1928-35, was a disaster for all parties. Paraguay won but at considerable. The two poorest countries in SA. A short history: http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v1/v1n3/chaco.html

[K-W]

19. Why would the US ask Brazil's permission?

If the Bolivian government asked for help putting down a terrorist insurgency the rest of South America will act like rest of the Middle East when we attacked Iraq, they wont like it, they will oppose it in thier own nations, but they wont do anything to stand in the way, they cant.

[Vladimir]

28. Maybe they can and maybe they can't

unlike in the Middle East, most of the governments in South America are democratically elected (in one degree or another) and a number of them suffer from the same fundamental tensions as Bolivia. Depending on the popular mood, they may have little choice about standing in the way if and when the shit hits the fan. But this is partly why I am hopeful that the Bolivian government won't call in the help, and partly I'm just hoping against hope.

[aneerkoinos]

34. Brazil

Let's remember Brazilian army is now doing US' dirty work in Haiti, Lula's governement has continued neoliberal policies and also Brazilian oil-companies have their interests (=loot) to protect in Bolivia.

I'm more hopefull that Argentina would offer effective opposition to US plans. Chile and Bolivia are still mortal enemies.

[Coexist]

3. kick

have you used the media blaster for this?

[Karenina]

5. Kick!

:kick:

[aneerkoinos]

6. No

Whatsdat? You seem to know, so please by all means use it to spread the story (sounds like something that an American would have better credentials to use, and I'm not).

[aneerkoinos]

7. Correction

I forgot to breath slowly and made an asinine mistake in my overeager haste (Bad Example!):

It's not eastern province of La Paz (the capital), but Santa Cruz!

:spank:

[aneerkoinos]

8. Kick!

Any nominations, guys?

[aneerkoinos]

9. US embassy in Bolivia

Quick perusal found only this telephone number, perhaps someone can find others:

http://lapaz.usembassy.gov/english/commercial.htm

Feel free to call (or email), holding fast to your tinfoilhat!



Paraguay embassy, anyone? ;)

[Chicago Democrat]

13. kik

[Matilda]

10. Kick for this!

Thank you - makes a lot of sense. Al Giordano's pretty cluey, I'm
inclined to believe what he says.

[Chicago Democrat]

17. kik

[BeFree]

12. This from narcosphere:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/8/91629/48549
end of article, and explains A LOT .....~.~

But the Bolivian generals told Vaca Diez to pound sand: They said, according to our sources, that they were tired of being the villains of history, causing coup after coup, massacring their own people. (This - and perhaps copious amounts of alcohol - explains Vaca Diez's crestfallen voice during his Monday night press conference.

US Ambassador Roger Noriega is red-faced angry that the Bolivian military won't get to work assassinating Evo Morales, Felipe Quispe, Oscar Olivera, the entire city of El Alto, and Authentic Journalists who are covering the story. And Noriega blames Chavez!

Noriega blames Chavez because Chavez - a military soldier admired by many just like him across the hemisphere - has set the gold standard of how to put an Armed Forces to work on behalf of the people instead of against them. And simply by surviving the coup attempts against him, and by continuing his kinder-gentler non-repressive military model, Chavez has showed by example that Latin American military organizations need not be repressors as they have historically been.

That is why, kind readers, Noriega and Washington blame Chavez: not because of any evidence of direct involvement, but because the Bolivian military is balking (so far) at murdering its own people. Damn Chavez! Let one Latin American president reform his military and before ya know it, others are gonna wanna do the same! And then democracy breaks out all over the place, and what is a decaying Empire to do?

[bemildred]

20. Cool. Nothing is more dangerous than a good example.

Props to the Generales if this is true. Perhaps they
have found their true calling.

[NuttyFluffers]

23. if i could mail a stuffed animal and chocolates to these generals, i would

how amazing! they don't want to participate as the marshal pawns of cruel overlords anymore. they are tired of taking the blame from history. amazing. this is great. if only we could reward such courage. i'd like to send care bears and chocolates...

[mitchtv]

18. I call Bolivia "the Poland of South America"

She has lost wars and or territory to Peru, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay. In the 70s when I was there, Bolivia had the unique distinction of having more presidents than years of independence, additionally she was the first to rebel for Independence and last to achieve.I remember 6 presidents in 48 hrs in the early 70s

[Dirk39]

21. Kick! And for those of you, who understand german...

http://www.dianita.de/tagebuch.html

This is a german girl, living in La Paz right now, writing a diary.

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Robbien]

22. What are her general impressions about what is going on?

Is she aware of how the US is trying to get Bolivia under our control?

[Dirk39]

24. Hello Robbien,

she's aware of that, but most of her impressions are very personal as about the police, who has evidently problems to fight against their own people. If my english would be better, I would try to translate it all: like her story about an old drunk women attacking the police for being traitors and everybody is laughing esp. the police guys. "You're stealing my time. I want to walk our streets without having to start discussions with stupid police-officers, who steal my time."

But as I said, it's very personal and very political. And honestly, I don't want to reduce her comments to a political statement.

I guess everyone, who follows the news in Europe is aware of how the richer regions of Bolivia do try to seperate themselves from the rest. But hardly anybody is aware of the role the U.S. is playing in this game.

Forgive my english, it's late.
Dirk

[Robbien]

26. Ha! "You are stealing my time"

What a great story and a great lady. She's on a mission and isn't going to have a little thing like police hassling her get in her way.

Wish I could read German because that diary sounds like a must read.

And your english is just fine Dirk. Its always good to see you here on DU.

[Condor]

31. Try this babelfish translation

Thanks for the diary, it was a good read.

For anyone not proficient in german, try the altavista babelfish translation. It's far from a good translation, but it's understandable enough.

http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dianita.de%2Ftagebuch.html&lp=de_en

(Click on "vintages" to read the separate postings)

[burrowowl]

25. May God

see fit to punish Noreiga and his enablers accordingly.
But it would be encouraging to see them on trial and given life-imprisonment on this earth.

[eridani]

27. Kick. Very important. n/t

[0007]

29. How come I can smell John Neroponte?

[aneerkoinos]

30. Sen. Scott Brown to Paraguay

So, what to make of this?


" Brown said the trip was planned after officials from Paraguay visited Massachusetts late last year and then requested he visit their country.

"Major Brown, he's uniquely qualified to provide assistance to them" because he is a lawmaker, lawyer and member of the military, Smith said.

Brown said he is on active duty while in Paraguay, and the military is paying for the trip. His assignment is scheduled to run from June 5 to June 10.

On Friday, Brown said he planned to meet with Paraguayan officials including President Nicanor Duarte Frutos and to speak at conferences on topics such as defense policies and politics."

More:
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=56935

[Vladimir]

32. Don't you just love the patronising tone

of Maj. Brown's rhetoric... bringing civilization to the savages, he fancies himneslf as doing. Fuck him, fuck the Bolivian government, and fuck Paraguay if it intervenes against the protestors.

[Jose Diablo]

33. Now I wonder

Who's economic interests is Sen Brown representing here. Anybody have a handle on how much campaign money Brown has recieved and from whom?

[aneerkoinos]

35. Who is this guy?

Dem or Reb? A Negroponte wannabe?

[Jose Diablo]

36. Up and coming Repuk

Check this out:

http://www.republicanvoices.org/scott_brown_part_one.html

Another fiscal conservative.

Edit: Smells like a Straussian.

[aneerkoinos]

38. Ah, neocon

"When in college had liberal leanings".

Same stench here, which you mention in your edit.

[aneerkoinos]

37. Narconews latest

"Kind readers: A little more than a week ago, a very important news item almost slipped under radar.

In late May, in the nearby country of Paraguay, that nation’s Congress was convened in secret, after midnight, according to a May 31 report by the Argentine correspondent for the Mexican daily La Jornada. The reason: to rush through a law “that will permit United States troops to enter this South American country for 18 months, with immunity for all personnel that participate in activities of training and advising, including civilian personnel.”

Remember, kind readers, that under U.S. law, the number of North American troops who can be in nearby Colombia is limited to the hundreds: and they’re busy enough there already with a fifty-year civil war.

What Vaca Diez is attempting is nothing less than creating the justification for the U.S. military to invade his own country of Bolivia, perhaps to protect strategic oil supplies, perhaps to “strenthen democracy,” as Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush harped about on Tuesday in Florida at the Organization of American States meeting, or perhaps in the name of the “war on drugs” and eradicating the humble coca leaf once and for all."

More, much more:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/9/84257/46598


I pasted just the part of story that ever vigilant DU helped to bring to light, and which shall now be read by everyone in the fast class!

[Vladimir]

39. Another kick

for Bolivia's "zero hour".

[aneerkoinos]

40. Al does havet a good pen n/t

[Vladimir]

41. And another for the move to GD

:kick:

[Robbien]

42. Found a blog of a guy posting from Bolivia

I am writing this from an Internet Cafe on the Plaza Principal of Cochabamba, where some 3,000 people are gathered after a march to the city center. The Congress session in Sucre has been delayed until this afternoon. Huge crowds have reportedly descended on the city to prevent Congress from going into session.

The chilling expression on the lips of my friends here is, a las puertas de la guerra civil, at the gates of civil war. Could the Congress be so stupid as to install a new President, when that action will surely spark violent confict. But the question on the other side is, What strategy does the US government and the Bolivian elite have left to protect the powers on which both feed here?

The Bolivian left has painted itself into a corner. The demand for Carlos Mesa to resign was a miscalculation of potentially bloody proportions. Mesa has been the thin blue line between Bolivia and military repression. The left here erased that line by calling on Mesa to leave without a guarantee that the leaders of Congress would pass the Presidency to the Supreme Court and to nw elections. Even that, I think, was a miscalculation. The left is unlikely to do any better in elections in August than it died in 2002 when Evo Morales peaked at 22%.

A chess player does not race across the board to capture a knight without checking to see what is going on with his king. Now all of Bolivia is left naked in the middle of a chessboard in which the forces here who would like to use the army to settle things are close to having a checkmate on their adversaries.

read on . . .
http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2005/06/nation-holds-its-breath.html

[Karenina]

43. Hmmm...

:kick:

[GirlinContempt]

44. KICK and links

http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/bolivia-revolutionary-assemblies090605.htm

http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/bolivia-peoples-assembly090605.htm


Appeal for messages of support to Bolivia

We wish to express to our Bolivian brothers and sisters that their
courageous stand is a source of great inspiration to the workers,
peasants, students and youth of the world. Therefore we are appealing to all our readers to send a clear message of support to the Bolivian people. Raise the question of the Bolivian Revolution in your trade union branch, party branch, local associations, etc., get resolutions of support passed and send them on to us. We will publish them on our website and forward them to Bolivia. The workers and peasants of Bolivia must be made aware of the fact that the workers of the world support them.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

45. kick

[BeFree]

46. Just heard in the U.S.

A friend of mine told me that his brother, an Army Special Forces Officer, while on leave back home, got a phone call demanding his presence at a nearby Army base because he was to immediately ship out.

12 hours after the phone call his brother was outta here. What's interesting is that said brother was trained for South American duties and was stationed in South America.

My friend said his brother wouldn't/couldn't talk to him about his training or duties. Said he was bound to secrecy.

Now, working on just an educated guess here; I'd bet the soldier was needed for possible action in Bolivia.