Ibero-American News Digest
War Opened Against Brazil Nuclear Program
The April 4 (Sunday) edition of Lazard Freres' Washington Post published a front-page assault on Brazil's nuclear program, charging that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Brazil have reached a "diplomatic impasse" over Brazil's alleged rejection of IAEA inspections of the uranium-enrichment plant which Brazil is in the process of building. The Post article, citing various think-tankers and anonymous Bush Administration officials, threatens that if the Bush Administration lets Brazil develop its nuclear-enrichment program without strict international controls, President Bush's recently announced global plan to restrict nuclear energy to a few powers, will go down the tubes.
One of those cited to this effect was former U.S. nuclear negotiator James E. Goodby, who, on Dec. 31, 2003, co-authored an article in the International Herald Tribune suggesting Brazil might end up "on the short list for an updated 'axis of evil'" for its nuclear enrichment program.
The Post piece was just the beginning. On April 8, the Los Angeles Times ran an editorial ranting against "Brazil's Nuclear Nonsense." "The longer the Brazilian government takes to open the door to inspectors, the more damage it will do to its international image," the editorial warned, threatening economic problems for Brazil should it resist. In his column that same day, the Miami Herald's lead Ibero-American commentator, Andres Oppenheimer, went so far as to suggest that Brazil's program could set off a nuclear arms race in Ibero-America, if not contained.
The media barrage was followed by the announcement that U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will visit Brazil this week, to discuss "non-proliferation issues."
Brazilian officials came back swinging. Brazil's new Ambassador to the United States, Roberto Abdenur (who, fresh from his post as Ambassador to Austria, has been dealing with the IAEA, which is based in Vienna), charged on April 5 that "fundamentalist think-tankers," hardliners who "want to make life complicated for Brazil,... who want to deprive Brazil of nuclear technology," were behind the Post article. Foreign Minister Celso Amorim likewise issued a series of statements, insisting that Brazil "has to have the possibility of protecting the technology developed here.... The country needs energy, and nuclear is a form of that ... there is an attempt to keep the country from developing."
In fact, IAEA inspectors have already been to the uranium-enrichment plant in Resende, and IAEA cameras are already being installed in the plant. Brazil, while permitting IAEA inspectors to do all the tests they want on the uranium entering and leaving the plant, insists on its right to block visual inspections of the centrifuges utilized in the enrichment process Brazil defends this stance on the grounds that its program employs a new centrifuge technology, developed within Brazil, whose functioning Brazil wishes to protect from commercial competitors.
Brazil Shaken by Jacobin Land Seizures, Economic Protests
Protests are exploding across the spectrum in Brazil.
As threatened (see EIW 14 Ibero-America Digest), the Jacobin-style Landless Movement (MST) and allied rural movements sharply escalated their pace of land appropriations, with 20 in the state of Pernambuco on April 4 alone. That same day, thousands of families under the MST's direction occupied 25 hectares of a tree farm owned by the foreign-owned paper company, Veracel Celulose, in the state of Bahia, and began clearing it of trees, and planting beans. Thousands more went into action on April 6 in the state of Sao Paulo, blockading roads, burning tires, and, in one case, occupying a supermarket. Top MST leaders promised that occupations are going to come in the Pontal do Paranapanema region of Sao Paulo, which, as EIR has warned, the MST is targetting to set up as a separate "republic."
Opening another front, 700 wives of junior military officers protested in Brasilia April 4, demanding long-delayed salary increases for their husbands. They chose the monthly changing of the flag ceremony in Brasilia, which drew 3,500 people, for their demonstration of pots, whistles, and banners. Many were wearing black T-shirts embossed with the warning: "We Have Nothing To Lose." Among the nastier slogans seen, were: "I prefer any regime to dying of hunger under this democracy," and "We are not going to die of hunger with a gun in our hands." The Air Force, Navy, and Army Commands subsequently issued statement supporting the urgency of wage increases for the troops, which have not been given for years.
At the same time, over 900,000 public workers in Brazil are threatening a national strike, unless they are given substantial wage hikes. Planning Minister Guido Mantega told the unions on April 6 that the government would increase the amount budgeted for wage increases, but the unions say that is still only half of what they are demanding. Meetings are to be held on April 18, to vote on whether to strike.
Brazil's Finance Minister Backs IMF Against Argentina
"The IMF helped Argentina and Brazil," Finance Minister Antonio Palocci told Argentina's La Nacion on April 7. La Nacion has never been known as a fiercely nationalist newspaper, but even it could not miss the irony of how "more Fundie than the Fund," Palocci, a longtime radical Trotskyite-turned-Finance Minister, sounded in his exclusive interview. La Nacion identified Paloccio as the second most powerful person in the Lula da Silva governmentif not the most powerful.
"Considering that both countries are large debtors, is a joint negotiation out of the question?" La Nacion's correspondent in Brasilia, Luis Esnal, asked Palocci. His reply: "The debts of the two countries have a different dynamic.... What we could do, is discuss some points in common, such as how to strengthen our relations with the IMF. The IMF helped Argentina and Brazil overcome their difficulties and begin to grow. We are, and have to see ourselves, as members of the Fund."
La Nacion insisted: "Brazil is praised by the IMF, but its economy doesn't grow. Isn't this a pressure to adopt a policy more 'à la Argentina'?" Said Palocci" "No, we are very sure that respecting contracts and managing the debt adequately is the correct way for Brazil."
As for the Copacabana Act signed by Presidents Lula da Silva and Nestor Kirchner on March 16, Palocci said he considers it a good document, "because it reaffirms the commitment to fiscal equilibrium, the administration of debts, and the importance of economic growth." But, as La Nacion noted, he made no mention of Argentina's demand that growth take precedence over the fiscal surplus, as also asserted in the Copacabana Act.
Palocci also insisted, fanatically, that "Brazil is not seeking alternatives. We have no 'Plan B' " ready for when Brazil's Wall Street-driven economic policy fails.
He may not, but others in Brazil have a different idea.
Brazil-Bolivia Natural-Gas-Processing Complex Agreed Upon
At the conclusion of the visit to Brazil by Bolivia's Foreign Minister Juan Ignacio Siles, and Mines and Hydrocarbons Minister Antonio Aranibar Quiroga, the two governments announced that they had reached agreement on the "fundamental importance" of creating a bi-national natural-gas chemical complex on their border, an important part of which would be located within Bolivia, where the majority of the gas fields in this region are found. Brazil's Foreign Ministry reported that the idea is to create "a center of regional development," in which Bolivia will be able to add greater valuei.e., industrializationto its enormous gas reserves. It was agreed that a Bi-National Executive Commission is to be established, to work out the details.
The catch is that the governments insist the project must be "economically viable" under today's dominant monetarist criteria, and thus, private interests must build the complex, not government agencies.
It was also agreed during the visit that the Brazilian Cooperation Agency will send a technical team into Bolivia in the coming weeks, to help Bolivia utilize its natural gas in residences and vehicles. One of the most explosive political issues in the country, is the demand that Bolivia's enormous natural gas reserves not just be exported to earn dollars to pay the foreign debt.
A Classic Example of Vulture Fund Looting Schemes
During proceedings April 2 in the court of New York Federal Judge Thomas Griesa, Jonathan Blackman, lawyer for the Argentine government, revealed that NML Ltd., which sued Argentina for payment on a $172-million investment, "is the same as the infamous Elliot Associates." Griesa had demanded that the owners of NML be identified, after the vulture fund had liens placed on 20 Argentine diplomatic properties in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. "If someone were to be declared in contempt of court, who would it be?" Griesa asked. "An office in the Cayman Islands?"
Elliot Associates became notorious for its actions against the Peruvian government in the late 1990s, when it was restructuring its debt. Having gotten a favorable ruling from a Belgian court on its claim that under the pari passu clause, which states that all creditors have equal rights, Elliot Associates initiated action to have all Peruvian government funds abroad be seized, until Peru paid Elliot Associates the full face value on a $58-million bond which it had bought for $11 million. Like vulture fund kingpin Kenneth Dart, Elliot makes a practice of suing governments involved in debt restructuring, in order to make a financial killing.
In the case of Argentina, its NML, Ltd. purchased the $172 million worth of bonds in November 2003, only two days before filing suit against the Kirchner government for repayment!!
Bankers Demand More 'Flexibility' from Chile's Labor Force
Charles Dallara, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for International Finance (IIF), told the April 5 issue of the Chilean magazine Que Pasa, that Chile is a "very good market," among emerging markets. But, the current government isn't implementing sufficient "reforms," and should be doing more in the area of privatizations. Chile's labor force and trade-union movement have already been ripped apart by the IMF/World Bank "labor flexibility" program, which does away with benefits and any structures that might pose resistance to genocide, but Dallara demanded more be done to make the labor force more "flexible," or the private sector will continue to be reluctant to invest.
Cardinal Approves 'Good Violence' of Gibson Film for Children
Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, the Archbishop of Guadalajara, argues that youth see plenty of "bad" violence, so now they should see some "good" violence, i.e., the blood-drenched Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion of the Christ." In his words, as reported by the Mexican daily El Norte on March 29: "I continue to recommend it. The film is a sermon very faithful to the Gospel.... There are films with a lot of senseless violence, and this is violence against an innocent person who saves us. This they should see so that they also understand how far human evil can go."
In September 2003, Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche issued a warning that international Synarchist forces were targetting Cardinal Sandovalwhose family background in the Cristero War is well-knownin an attempt to whip up a Cristero War atmosphere in Mexico, to thus "provoke religious war in Mexico as a way of destroying that nation." The Gibson movie which Cardinal Sandoval recommends will, of course, contribute to exactly that environment.
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