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countries on Obama's itinerary for his upcoming trip to Latin America. (El Salvador, Chile and Brazil.)
El Salvador is in a very dicey position at the moment, with death squads active across the border in Honduras, since the U.S. supported rightwing coup in that country. Honduras is the traditional U.S. steppingstone for mustering and sending death squads into neighboring countries to eliminate leftist leaders. El Salvador and Nicaragua are both vulnerable--both with leftist governments.
El Salvador has already exhibited some evidence of being bullied by the U.S. in the train of the Honduran coup. Funes was considering joining ALBA--the Venezuela-Cuba organized barter trade group, that has about 12 members including Nicaragua and Ecuador. Immediately after the Honduran coup, he withdrew El Salvador's application. Joining ALBA was one of President Mel Zelaya's "crimes"--one of the real reasons he was removed from the country at gunpoint, with U.S. help. (Another was raising the minimum wage--U.S. corps hate paying sweatshop and ag workers a decent wage.) This could be interpreted as cowardice on Funes' part, but maybe he was just being smart. Why give the fuckers an excuse? Watch and wait.
One other possibility--or part of the mix--Funes is too young to have fought in the "dirty wars" (though his party was the guerrilla group) and maybe even too young to remember the U.S. slaughters of the '80s. He maybe thinks that the U.S. is intent on civilized discussion and wouldn't knife him in the back with a smile on its face, or be mustering death squads and drones to secure its "circle the wagons" area--Central America/the Caribbean--while Obama puts a happy face forward?
What to make of these official El Salvador meetings in Cuba--the matter of the OP--in light of all this? Obama has also stated that he wants openings with Cuba (though very limited). So this is not likely a Funes counter-assertion of independence, aimed at Obama's pending visit--although it could be. It's interesting that El Salvador and Cuban officials discussed "the challenges" that the two countries face "under the current international situation." There is only one international "challenge" (translation: threat) against either of them--U.S. aggression and domination. The "current international situation" consists of the fascist coup in Honduras aided by the U.S., filthy U.S.-run 'elections' in Haiti and other foul anti-democratic bullying, the U.S. 4th Fleet prowling the Caribbean, the U.S. military presence in Honduras, U.S. military operations in supposedly demilitarized Costa Rica, the Pentagon building all sorts of military bases in Colombia, the U.S. "war on drugs" disaster in Mexico, many indications of U.S. hostility toward leftist governments, and, in general, a picture of the Pentagon as the "enforcer" of U.S. "free trade for the rich" in Central America/the Caribbean.
On the other hand, Funes could be contemplating El Salvador becoming--I was going to say, an agent for U.S. infiltration of Cuba, but I will try to be put this more neutrally, because I don't really know what's on Funes' mind--a useful partner with the U.S. as to improving U.S. relations with Cuba. This could be a plus for El Salvador businesses, and it has many advantages for El Salvador, for instance access (or more access) to Cuba's medical system (one of the best in the world). As a sort of neutral party--like Switzerland, or like Costa Rica used to be--El Salvador could become the "broker" in this relationship (U.S./Cuba).
Something like this is probably on the agenda of both countries--the U.S. and El Salvador--as to Obama visiting tiny El Salvador--as opposed to all the other countries we've wrecked, the ones where "friendlies" are installed--Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru--or the ones that have gotten smart and elected leftist governments--Guatemala, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay.
Exception: Brazil, too big to ignore, though it just elected a new leftist president, Dilma Rousseff--successor to that wily, kickass leftist Lula da Silva--who is potentially even more leftist than Lula. Brazil remains the U.S.'s "great white hope" for "dividing and re-conquering" Latin America, despite Lula's adamant refusal to play that game. Can they make any headway on that score with Rousseff? Not likely, but they have to try. And Brazil's wealth (protected from Wall Street by Lula) and huge natural resources--not to mention landmass and population--present exploitable opportunities for our corporate rulers, if Obama/Clinton play their cards right. (Lula was more open to U.S. corporate deals than, say, Chavez or Morales.)
Obama's other choice was Chile, where a rightwing billionaire was recently elected president (--elected possibly because the voters became disgusted with the socialist party's overly "centrist" compromises, though the socialist party's leader, Michele Batchelet left office, termed out, with an whopping 80% approval rating--go figure). Anyway, Obama will be comfortable in Chile amidst the rightwing billionaires, and he will probably get a photo op with the 33 miners, though the head of that miraculous rescue just yesterday criticized Obama for claiming too much glory for the U.S. because one U.S. company was helpful in it.
Ah, me. I am so-o-o-o disenchanted with Obama that I can hardly contain myself. I want to hope that he was not entirely insincere in his early, stated policy of "peace, respect and cooperation" in Latin America. Even 1% sincerity would be a plus, at this point. And I don't expect that. I agree with Lula da Silva, who said, recently, in his last speech as president, that "U.S. policy has not changed" (under Obama), i.e., it is the SAME as the Bush Junta's--bloodshed, mayhem, domination, threats and U.S.-supported rightwing coups, in the interest of U.S. multinational corporations and war profiteers. The democracy cosmetics that the Obama/Clinton/Panetta team slaps on these U.S. atrocities may even make it worse, for the underlying horrors are harder for most people to discern.
I STILL hold out the meagre hope that Obama is simply powerless to do what's right, and if he is a righteous leader (which is very hard to tell), is working in subterranean ways to reduce U.S. carnage and oppression and hold off the nazis, in whatever ways he can. But I'm a fool sometimes, about the USA and who really rules it.
I guess what I'm saying, specifically, is that it is NOT A VERY GOOD OMEN that Obama has chosen El Salvador to visit--not good for El Salvador, not good for the region. And it raises questions about Funes. Could be he's just seeing to El Salvadorans' interests, as a good president should (for instance, helping on the important issues around El Salvadoran immigrant workers in the U.S. and remittances), or it could be that he's sold out the leftist movement in El Salvador to become a Costa Rica-type traitor to the region, like Arias and Chinchilla. These meetings in Cuba could be a good sign, could be a bad sign. I really don't know. But it's something to be alert for, especially when Obama lands in El Salvador.
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