IBERO-AMERICAN NEWS DIGEST
Argentine War Hero Addresses LaRouche Webcast
According to a press statement released May 31 by the campaign committee of Democratic Party Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouche, the Argentine war hero, former Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin, made a special address via phone hookup to LaRouche's Memorial Day webcast May 28. Seineldin is highly regarded by patriots throughout Ibero-America, for his defense of the nation-state.
The LaRouche campaign press release reported in full Seineldin's remarks, in English translation:
"My dearest brother, philosopher of humanity, my good friend, Lyndon LaRouche.
"This is former Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin, speaking to you from the Campo de Mayo military prison in the Republic of Argentina, who sends you, with a very warm embrace, my immense joy at being able to share in your orders, this difficult but marvelous struggle, for the good of humanity, and for a better world.
"You can be absolutely certain that from Ibero-America, together with our mutual friends Marivilia Carrasco, Lorenzo Carrasco, Gerardo Teran, and many others, we are fighting for the triumph of your ideas, and your projects, which are now being accepted, and propagated throughout circles everywhere.
"One of the clearest proofs of this is the integration we have achieved between Argentina and Brazil, which is advancing with a lot of strength, and a lot of faith. And the other one is the acceptance, without a doubt, of your economic proposal, which is the only lifesaver for those nations of Ibero-America, which are currently being destroyed.
"Finally, so as not to extend myself too much, be aware of the fact that we are working to carry the banner of your marvelous message of unity; either we join together, or we hang together. The alternative we face in this crucial moment is: Either we continue with the destruction of the world that has been carried out by the international establishment of the Bushes, the Kissingers, the Soroses, etc., or we lift the standard of the reconstruction of the world with the gentleman and patriarch, Lyndon LaRouche.
"I pray to God and to Mary of Mercy, for the good that you represent to triumph, and that we can save humanity and the human species from the danger which it faces today.
"For God and the great Ibero-American fatherland, Mohamed Ali Seineldin, former colonel."
Prudent To Pardon SeineldinArgentine Defense Minister
"It would be prudent to pardon Seineldin," stated Argentine Defense Minister Horacio Jaunarena, in comments to Clarin. The daily said that Jaunarena thought it would be wise to pardon or commute the sentences of Seineldin and Cuban-linked terrorist Enrique Gorriaran Merlo. "A measure of this type seems prudent to me," he said, but quickly added that anything like this would have to be a "political decision by the President, if he feels it appropriate [as a way of] calming spirits." Jaunarena also emphasized the necessity of "redesigning" the Armed Forces in a "very broad restructuring," in which personnel would be reassigned, rather than fired.
Brazilian President: Promote South American Integration
The promotion of South America's physical integration is the appopriate way to respond to protectionist tendencies in the U.S. and elsewhere, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso told the opening session of the Initiative for the Integration of South America's Regional Integration (IIRSA) conference, which began in Brasilia May 26. Contrasting with some of his earlier criticisms of U.S. protectionist tendencies, Cardoso told businessmen and representatives of 12 South American governments that "an intensification of interrelationships in our own region" and "concrete actions" are the best way to respond to the "uncertainties" of the world situation, according to coverage in the May 27 Jornal do Brasil. Even more than regional trade agreements, which he described as "complex," Cardoso proposed "physical integration" as the best way to "take a leap forward, not backward.... We must advance among ourselves, if we are not able to move forward with the rest of the planet."
IIRSA was founded in August 2000, proposed by Cardoso as a way to replicate Brazil's own "Avanza Brazil" infrastructure program in other Ibero-American countries. IIRSA study groups identified 123 projects in energy, telecommunications, and transportation, some of which are close to completion. The IIRSA plan is based on a concept of creating "axes of development," taken from the "Advance Brazil" program.
Brazilian Establishment's Traditional Pro-U.S. Orientation Breaking Down
The number of Brazilian public statements protesting U.S. "unilateralism" has increased since the U.S.-directed ouster of Brazilian diplomat Jose Maurico Bustani as head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, followed by U.S. protectionist actions. For example:
*Miguel Jorge, vice president of the BANESPA-Santander banking group, issued an open letter to newly arrived U.S. Ambassador Donna Hrinak, protesting that she had refused to comment on the ouster of Bustani, dismissing that as "yesterday's news." "It is a bad habit of the White House to call everything that its representatives don't wish to debate, 'yesterday's news.'... Brazil is upset with Washington's decisions," he wrote. He added a postscript: And, as for your statement that your 17-year-old son came to teach us to play baseball, "I'm sorry to disappoint him. We are never going to learn it."
*Criticism of U.S. "unilateralism" dominated the XIV National Forum annual policy seminar May 9. The most moderate was Foreign Minister Celso Lafer, who commented that "the room for nuances has diminished, with the polarization of the friends-enemies axis." Brazil's Ambassador to Washington, Rubens Barbosa, reiterated that President Cardoso had "questioned the prioritizing of the war against terrorism as something which reduces development to a secondary level, and hijacks the [international] agenda." The Ambassador to Cuba, Luciano Martins, received general applause when he denounced current U.S. global unilateralism as "irresponsible," in the sense of being "unaccountable" to anyone or anything. Development Minister Sergio Amaral stated flatly that "we must admit the hypothesis that the Free Trade Accord of the Americas (FTAA) could be put off, or that it might not be reached." Amaral stated that Brazil will have no reason to reach an accord, if the U.S. refuses to put key products on the table for negotiation.
*The May 13 editorial of O Estado de Sao Paulo, entitled "The U.S. Attacks Again," protested U.S. steel protectionism, declaring that the Bush government "invented trade terrorism," and would not hesitate to use it to "devastate the world market." "There is no reason to discuss cooperation, be it in the area of trade, be it in other areas, with a partner who only knows savageness and unilateral interests."
Uruguayan Leaders Deny Rumor of Freeze on Bank Deposits
According to the May 24 issue of the Argentine newspaper Clarin, Uruguay's President and Economics Minister were both forced to deny wildly circulating rumors that the government would impose a freeze on bank deposits, like Argentina's "corralito." The Central Bank of this small country of just over 3 million people has lost 47% of all its reserves since the Argentine crisis detonated. (This drain includes Argentines who are pulling their money out of the Uruguayan banks, since they can't get at what they have in Argentina.) President Jorge Batlle admitted there is a crisis, "of course," but said this provides a "terrible advantage," an opportunity to put through the reforms which no one wants to accept. The International Monetary Fund is demanding Uruguay sell off its still-strong state sector, which provides jobs for one out of every six Uruguayans.
Meanwhile, the Uruguayan government doesn't have enough votes in the Congress to approve the austerity package recently presented by President Batlle. The package includes proposed hikes of income and other taxes, increased utility rates, and other measures the IMF is demanding as conditionalities for new loans. Fifty votes are required to approve the legislation, and although there are 55 legislators belonging to the government coalition, at least six say they don't support the measures. Alejandra Rivero de Bejerez said her "no" vote was due to the fact that the government's fiscal adjustment package "contains no measures for economic recovery." Uruguay's Constitution stipulates that if the legislation is rejected, it can't be submitted again until next year.
Leaders of the PIT-CNT trade-union federation met with Presidential adviser Carlos Ramela to protest the proposed austerity measures, arguing that the government is demanding "more sacrifice" to continue imposing the same neoliberal measures. The question of how to launch an economic recovery must be addressed, said labor leader Juan Silveira, and what about a "reform of the financial system?" What is the role of the public sector as part of the country's overall productive apparatus? The government won't discuss any of these crucial matters, he charged.
LaRouche Associates Tour Ibero-America
Longtime Lyndon LaRouche associate Dennis Small on May 27 Uruguay's Center for National Advanced Studies, the country's strategic studies graduate school for civilians and military, which operates under the Defense Ministry. Some 85 people attended, as the word went out that "LaRouche's rep" would be speakingmore than the students in this year's class. Small addressed the nature of the world crisis; the significance of Sept. 11 and the way it has been used by the utopian "permanent war" faction in the U.S.; the West Point tradition vs. the utopians; and LaRouche's solution. Those present received Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures.
On May 23, Small had spoken at a forum in Buenos Aires, on the theme "There is an alternative to economic suicide: the LaRouche solution!" Participation overflowed the room, whose capacity was 200 people. Attendances included European and Asian diplomats, military officers, judges, members of different political parties, students, and lots of subscribers and old friends who have followed LaRouche since the 1980s, were present.
Small began by saying, there once was a country where one in three people were unemployed, and banks were closed. It had been a proud country, but its people were demoralized and frighteneduntil they elected a President to provide leadership. That country was the United States, and that President was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The U.S. faced a situation of poverty and crisis like that of Argentina todaywhere people have become angry and, worse, pessimistic and cynical. Cultural pessimism is very dangerous, Small warned. The anger must be turned into the driving force of a mobilization for a solution.
Argentina must bank everything on "the LaRouche option," the only way out of this crisis which is not "Argentine," but a crisis of the global system, Small stressed.
Meanwhile, another longtime LaRouche associate, EIR senior editor Jeffrey Steinberg, was in Monterrey, Mexico for three days, May 22-24, at the invitation of the Monterrey City Council, the Mayor's Office of Guadeloupe (a working-class suburb of Monterrey), and several major universities. He gave a series of well-attended lectures on "The New Violence" and "The World Since Sept. 11," focussed on the global financial collapse and the LaRouche solution, and also addressed an EIR seminar, attended by approximately 80 subscribers and supporters, including a large contingent of young people, mostly university students.
Steinberg's events included numerous media interviews, a lecture sponsored by the Law School at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, a second event at the AUNL campus, at the Biology School, an event sponsored by the Monterrrey City Council, and, finally, a lecture at another private university in Monterrey, on the danger of a global Thirty Years' War religious conflict, and the relationship to the financial collapse.
The situation in Monterrey is dramatic. There have been massive layoffs and shutdowns in the maquiladoras, which surround the city, and the older national industries have also collapsed even more substantially. It is a graphic example of the tremendous potential of Mexico, on the one hand, and, on the other, the accelerating rate of real economic collapse, brought on by the NAFTA free-trade and globalization policies of the past decades.
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