In this issue:

South Americans Denounce 'Bush Preemptive Doctrine'

Guadalajara Weekly Publishes LaRouche Call for Cheney Resignation

Neo-con Nuts Step Up Campaign Against Brazil

Brazil Shoots Down Proposal for Emergency Summit of Americas

Brazilian Capital Shut Down by Criminals Days Before Election

O'Neill's Success Stories Are Dying

Central American Nations Face Economic Ruin, Malnutrition

Argentine Rail and Port Workers Call for Rebuilding Rail System

From the Vol.1 No.31 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published October 7, 2002

IBERO-AMERICAN NEWS DIGEST

South Americans Denounce 'Bush Preemptive Doctrine'

Leaders in Brazil and Argentina stepped forward last week to condemn the new Bush security doctrine of preemptive war against potential enemies. Some examples:

*Brazilian Senator Delfim Netto tore into what he called the "Bush-Koehler Doctrine" in an op-ed run in Folha de Sao Paulo Sept. 25, referring to U.S. President George W. Bush and International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler. Delfim attacked the new Bush security document for outlining a dangerous and highly subjective doctrine, radically different from previous doctrines, which asserts that the U.S. will not permit any nation to challenge its military superiority, and is prepared to attack first.

World bodies are pushed aside in this strategy, he wrote. At best, they can play the role of ratifying the unilateral decisions taken by the United States, and if they don't, they will lose "influence" and "financing." The international bureaucracy could live without the first, but not the second.

Then, with reference to Koehler, Delfim stated, "Not less aggressive (and perhaps not independent from this 'Bush' doctrine) was the surprising declaration by the super-bureaucrat charged with maintaining 'the international financial order,' that a U.S. war against Iraq could have 'positive effects' for the global economy, as long as it was short and just against Iraq, because then the situation would be clearer. For whom? Why for the international investors!"

"The amorality of a financial 'market' which, at the cost of millions of deaths, could celebrate a 'rapid' and 'aseptic' war which eliminates the undefined situation which makes financial investors hesitant, never was so flagrant and indecent."

*Former Brazilian Foreign Minister Luis Felipe Lampreia, now president of the Brazilian International Relations Center (CEBRI), in an address before 200 American and Brazilian businessmen attending the annual conference of the U.S.-Brazil Business Council in Sao Paulo, expressed indignation over the refusal of President Bush to congratulate German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on his re-election victory. "Imagine then what could happen to other leaders who get elected.... This could lead down dangerous paths."

"It is necessary for persons of certain influence to act so that this navigation does not get more turbulent than it already is," Lampreia added.

*Argentina's former President Raul Alfonsin wrote an op-ed in Clarin Sept. 26, titled, "The U.S. Puts the World in Danger." Alfonsin blasted Bush's new "preemptive war" doctrine as tossing international law out the window, and said it threatens to lead to the resurgence of dangerous ideologies. Alfonsin argued, albeit in a circuitous way, that "powerful countries" such as the U.S. are resorting to "hegemonic pretensions, undisguised amoralities and violations of civil rights" in an attempt to hide their inability to control an unravelling financial system. What has happened inside the U.S. since Sept. 11—attacks on civil liberties, arbitrary jailings, summary trials, etc.—not only threatens U.S. democracy, but "the Republic itself appears to be threatened."

Implicitly, Alfonsin referred to the U.S. as a new Roman Empire, and warned that this new doctrine poses grave risks for the world, including "the inexorable escalation of violations of international law."

Guadalajara Weekly Publishes LaRouche Call for Cheney Resignation

Guadajara's Politica published Lyndon LaRouche's call for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to resign ("Iraq Is the Fuse, but Cheney Built the Bomb"), in full in its latest issue, dated Sept. 30. Politica is the weekly magazine of the daily 8 Columnas. On Sept. 17, Politica published the text of a LaRouche in 2004 mass leaflet "The Pollard Affair Never Ended," and earlier, covered a conference in Guadalajara of the LaRouche-associated MSIA.

The call for Cheney to resign is featured in a two-page spread, with headlines reading, "The 'National Security Strategy of the U.S.' fraudulent and useless," and, "Documents demonstrate an unconstitutional declaration of war against Iraq." A display quote reads: "The policies which these two documents contain became public in the spring of 1990, as the output of a team led by then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Although not successful, the documents represent the insane obsession pursued by Cheney."

Neo-con Nuts Step Up Campaign Against Brazil

Another Iran-Contra operative is promoting a U.S.-Brazil confrontation should "Lula" da Silva win Brazil's Presidential elections. The latest "a time bomb ticks in our hemisphere" raving was penned in the Washington Times Oct. 1 by Faith Whittlesey, director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Ambassador to Switzerland under President Reagan, who was up to her neck in fundraising for Ollie North's Iran-Contra schemes. Now at Princeton's Institute of World Policies, Whittlesey's op-ed is a rehash of the articles written by fellow Iran-Contra operative Constantine Menges, detailing Lula's ties to the Sao Paulo Forum, ties to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro of Cuba, etc.

The U.S. must act to stop "what Mr. Menges recently called the possibility of a 'nuclear armed axis of evil in the Americas, including Mr. Castro, Mr. Chavez, and a radical da Silva regime in Brazil," she demands. Her proof? Lula has "favored nuclear weapons for Brazil and a much closer relationship with Communist Cuba and China," and, twisting Lula's words, she claims, on Sept. 13, "he said Brazil should move toward resuming its nuclear weapons program by leaving the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

Whittlesey charges that Washington remains "passive" in the face of this threat because of John Maisto, the current head of Latin American affairs at the National Security Council (a hard-core Project Democracy operative, but of a different stripe). She makes clear that this neo-con gang wants Maisto ousted, and replaced by one of their own—perhaps Menges himself? She charges that Maisto, as Ambassador to Venezuela during the Venezuelan election, countered Menges' warnings about Chavez. Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy charges that Maisto is "known for his soft line on narco-terrorism and other security issues," and "a major roadblock to realization of the President's agenda. The U.S. should deny Lula a visa when he tries to come to the U.S., but Maisto probably wouldn't do that."

Brazil Shoots Down Proposal for Emergency Summit of Americas

With the support of Mexico and the United States, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien sent a confidential letter to the heads of state of the Americas (minus Cuba) in mid-September, proposing a summit be held in Mexico City in May—way ahead of the next scheduled summit in 2005 in Argentina—to ensure that the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) stays on track in the midst of the crisis, the Miami Herald's Andres Oppenheimer reports. But Brazil said no, and without Brazil, why bother?

Brazil's Ambassador to the U.S., Rubens Barbosa, told Oppenheimer that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso did not think it was "proper" to commit the next President to such a summit, without consultation.

Canadian, U.S., and Mexican officials "are clearly not happy about it. There is a growing fear in diplomatic circles that, much like German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's campaign speeches against Bush's plans to attack Iraq have put a damper on U.S.-German relations, the Brazilian candidates' anti-free-trade tirades may poison U.S.-Brazilian ties," Oppenheimer threatens.

"Wild rhetorical outbursts" have been made against the FTAA in the campaign, and not only from "Lula" da Silva. "Will Brazil embark on a disastrous populist-isolationist experiment? Will it drive a wedge in U.S.-Latin American relations?" Oppenheimer frets.

Brazilian Capital Shut Down by Criminals Days Before Election

Although authorities are still investigating, it is believed that the day-long "curfew," or lockdown, of Brazil's capital city of Rio de Janeiro Sept. 30, was executed by the "Red Command" of Fernandinho Beira-Mar, the Brazilian drug kingpin protected by, and working for, the Colombian FARC, until his capture in Colombia one year ago. Beira-Mar is in jail in Brazil, but not out of action, as authorities discovered when he ran a prison revolt in September.

What happened is stunning. More than 50 neighborhoods of the city and a few surrounding municipalities shut down. Stores and shopping malls closed; buses stopped running; 50,000 school children stayed home, or were sent home early from 235 schools. The streets of Rio were deserted. Relatively little force was required to enforce the closure. A certain number of machine-gun-toting gang members reportedly delivered orders that the city was to shut down, in the early hours of the morning. Businesses that opened reported receiving threatening phone calls, ordered them to shut. Three buses were burned, and a couple of homemade bombs were thrown at one university. In one area, shops were plastered with notices signed by Beira Mar's "Red Command," reading: "Stay closed. At risk of reprisal." Word-of-mouth to a population which fears the power of this "parallel state," took care of the rest.

The Panorama Politico column of O Globo asked: And what if Fernandinho Beira-Mar prohibited the people from voting? The first round of elections was to take place Sunday, Oct. 6.

O'Neill's Success Stories Are Dying

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill warned Ibero-American finance ministers that only "accountable leadership" would allow their countries to deal with economic crises and other "challenges." By this, of course, he meant adopting all of the nation-wrecking policies advocated by the IMF. Speaking in Washington on Sept. 27, O'Neill told his Ibero-American counterparts that "strong leadership" combined with "good policies"—free trade, open markets, "rule of law," "economic freedom," etc.—are "what is necessary in times of crisis." After incessantly repeating the words "strong leadership" and "accountable leadership," O'Neill then lectured his colleagues thusly:

"Several of you have turned your economies around in the last decade, creating growth and prosperity and opportunity for your citizens ... with local, accountable leadership, everything is possible." O'Neill then ran down the list of most of the countries Lyndon LaRouche and EIR have identified as being destroyed by exactly the policies O'Neill is peddling, lavishing praise on Costa Rica and El Salvador, lauding Chile and Mexico for "sound fiscal policies," and reserving special praise for Brazil—which is on the brink of default—for its "disciplined fiscal policy, financial sector consolidation, labor code modernization," and "commitment to sound economic policy." "These are all lessons in what leadership can accomplish," O'Neill concluded. The glaring exception in his list was Argentina, which merited no mention at all.

It was, as Clarin's Washington correspondent described it Sept. 28, "like a professor" addressing a group of children.

Central American Nations Face Economic Ruin, Malnutrition

Giving the lie to O'Neill's "Alice-in-Wonderland" picture of Ibero-America (see above), is a report by the World Food Program (WFP) released Sept. 27 showing that the very Central American countries that the U.S. Treasury Secretary calls "successful," are dying. Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are devastated, due to severe drought, and their impoverished populations have no access to necessary health and sanitation services. The WFP's survey found that conditions in this region—where investment in infrastructure is nil—have become so bad over the past 10 years, that families have taken their children out of school, sold their small farm animals, and been forced to reduce food consumption. WFP Regional Director Zoraida Mesa reports that in the region hit repeatedly by natural disasters and drought, many families "have nothing left to sell, nothing left to cultivate, and nothing left to eat." Young people are especially vulnerable, facing "prolonged and repeated exposure to malnutrition," which stunts physical and intellectual growth.

Chronic malnutrition affects 23% of all people in El Salvador (lauded as a great free-market miracle country), 33% in Nicaragua, 38% in Honduras, and 48% in Guatemala. Nearly half of all communities in the drought corridor have no teachers, and 84% have no nurse or doctor. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided emergency food and sanitation services in these countries, but such aid is inadequate, and not intended to address the causes of the devastations: free-market lunacy, and years of disinvestment in infrastructure and real nation-building.

Argentine Rail and Port Workers Call for Rebuilding Rail System

Argentina's railroads must be rebuilt as "a government tool for economic, social, and cultural development, as well as for national defense." This is the demand of the Association of Argentine Railroad and Port Workers, in a call for the rebuilding of the nation's rail system, which has been left to decay as a result of the privatization policies implemented at the behest of the IMF and World Bank. Parts of the national railroad grid sold in concessions to private interests, have simply fallen apart due to lack of investment and maintenance, and the state of disrepair is such that, of the total number of kilometers under concession to private interests, only 6,000 km have been maintained. "The deterioration is such, that the average speed of 100 kph [for freight trains] has now dropped to 40 kph due to lack of maintenance." There has been a decapitalization of $1.3 billion just in terms of track maintenance, for example.

The Association points to the functioning of Europe's railroads, under state control, and the fact that even in Great Britain, the government is re-nationalizing the railroads after the failure of privatization. As an immediate emergency measure, the Association proposes reversing the privatization process, "putting an end to the constraints on budgets, missions and operations of dispersed railroad agencies." At the same time, there should be plans for job creation, "to take on the rebuilding of the main railway trunks, through repair and recovery of the tracks and complementary installations."

The railway workshops, in which personnel are trained for specific tasks and use of new technology, should also be reopened, the Association demands. Freight traffic must be increased, along with passenger service to the country's interior. In this way, "we can consolidate our extensive geography, modernize the existing grid, and promote feasibility studies for new lines, with emphasis on the Patagonian region, and with a geostrategic vision for the country's central region." The "mobilization of regional economies, reindustrialization, and more jobs" are the goals the Association of Railroad Workers seek.

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