From Volume 8, Issue 2 of EIR Online, Published Jan. 13, 2009

Ibero-American News Digest

Argentine Governor on Drug Decrim: 'We Are Not Holland'

Jan. 9 (EIRNS)—The Argentine government's attempt to implement George Soros's policy of decriminalizing possession of drugs for personal consumption, is encountering some stiff opposition, starting with the governor of the country's most populous and economically important province, Buenos Aires.

"We are not Holland, or the European Union," said Gov. Daniel Scioli in late December. Of course addicts should get proper medical attention, and not just be tossed in jail to rot, he said. "But we have to be very careful about the message we send society." More than 50% of the crime committed in the province is drug-related, he added. "We must discourage the use of drugs. I'm against decriminalization of any drug."

Several other governors, along with Catholic Church leaders, provincial and national legislators, and anti-drug activists are also speaking out, including those who are otherwise allies of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. To date, the President has kept a low profile on the issue, letting Justice Minister Aníbal Fernández be the very vocal proponent of decriminalization and Soros's fraudulent "harm reduction" theories.

Nor is there any consensus within the government itself, since the director of the President's own anti-drug agency, Sedronar, also opposes decrim. It is against this backdrop of mounting opposition to the Soros policy, that unconfirmed media and other reports are circulating of a possible cabinet reshuffling, which could see Aníbal Fernández out of a job, or relegated to a lesser position.

Paraguay Turns to Colombia for Anti-Drug Aid

Jan. 6 (EIRNS)—The radical leftist, anti-U.S. "alternative" media which the former Nazi-collaborator George Soros so generously finances, is going berserk over the fact that Paraguay's new President, Fernando Lugo, has sought assistance from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in combatting Paraguay's vast narcotics and contraband trade, which have spawned tremendous violence and security problems in this impoverished country.

Lugo's overture to Uribe, seen in his Sept. 29 visit to Bogota, is key. Soros's allies have succeeded in isolating the Colombian President because of his refusal to give in to the drug legalization and "harm reduction" garbage that most other Ibero-American Presidents have eagerly embraced. Paraguay is one of four permanent members of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), and the other three—Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina—now promote Soros's "harm reduction," as a policy of state.

But in the joint declaration which Lugo and Uribe issued, following their very cordial Sept. 29 visit, the emphasis was on strengthening bilateral cooperation to fight terrorism, "its sources of financing, as well as the various manifestations of organized transnational crime, the global problem of drugs and related crimes, illicit weapons, ammunition and explosives traffic," money-laundering, etc.

Colombia will help train Paraguay's National Police, and the high-commands of the Colombian and Paraguayan armed forces will establish a vehicle for permanent communication, to help them better deal with "common threats." The two Presidents took special note of the February 2008 Memorandum of Understanding signed between each nation's special anti-money-laundering agency, to strengthen their cooperation in pursuing the resources that finance terrorism.

Such alternative anti-U.S. media as Indymedia, a recipient of generous grants from Soros's Tides Foundation and the Open Society Institute, are hysterical over Lugo's actions, charging that the former Catholic bishop, who was elected on a leftist platform, is really a CIA lackey in disguise, doing the bidding of the U.S. "Empire" and preparing to "Colombianize" Paraguay under Uribe's tutelage.

Brazil's Lessa Points Finger at 'Quadrillion' Derivatives 'Pigsty'

Jan. 9 (EIRNS)—Brazilian nationalist economist and former President of the state-owned BNDES development bank, Carlos Lessa, told Terra magazine on Dec. 17 that the cause of the international financial crisis is "the froth of $640 trillion" in derivatives, according to estimates of the Bank for International Settlements, "although nobody knows how much they really are. In the U.S., there are analysts who say that it's a quadrillion. You can't even pronounce that, can you?" he joked with the interviewer.

"The festival of madness which occurred in the derivatives market, the stock market, the futures market can no longer exist. That is going to be wiped off the face of the map," Lessa continued. "Mankind will not commit hara kiri. Human society does not commit ritual suicide. If that pigsty of all that financial speculation led to such a mess, the world will reorganize itself to be able to continue to exist. In that reorganization, nation-states are going to be very important."

Lessa added: "Usually a crisis like this one generates an intense intellectual flowering. The question always arises: 'So where did we go wrong? Boy, did we delude ourselves!'"

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