In this issue:

Brazil Moves Physical for Ibero-American Integration

Brazil's Lula Presses Chavez To Opt for Political Solution

Argentine Elections: A Vote Against Menem

New Paraguayan President Faces Daunting Problems

Brazil May Cancel U.S. Access to its Space Launch Site

Peruvian Government Cuts Deal with Coca-Growers

Terrorist Lobby Presses Colombia's Uribe To Release FARC Prisoners

Bush Administration Buys Personal Data on Ibero-Americans

Ashcroft Promotes 'Rule of Law' in Ibero-America

From Volume 2, Issue Number 18 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published May 5, 2003

Ibero-American News Digest

Brazil Moves Physical for Ibero-American Integration

Following meetings with the Presidents of Colombia (in March) and Peru (in April), Brazilian President Lula da Silva met on April 25 with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and on April 28 with Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, in which meetings the issue of physical integration and infrastructure development was high on the agenda. Meetings are scheduled with the Presidents of Ecuador and Uruguay in May, and the new President of Paraguay, Nicanor Duarte, has expressed a desire to work very closely with Brazil. The series of meetings show that "the integration of South America is no longer a sentimental integration, it is a policy which we take very seriously," Lula stated, following his meeting with the Bolivian President.

The final communiqués issued following each meeting, have emphasized their commitment to implementing the bold South American Regional Infrastructure Initiative (IIRSA), launched out of the First South American Summit in 2000. Development of the Venezuela-Brazil-Guyana-Surinam axis is one such IIRSA project mentioned in the Venezuela-Brazil communiqué. For Bolivia, the final communiqué underscored the need for energy integration, announced that studies would be out on the feasibility of establishing a joint petrochemical complex on the border, and the importance of the Corumba-Santa Cruz de la Sierra railroad, and the Paraguay-Parana Waterway, whose completion would permit the development of Bolivia's interior, and provide the land-locked country access to the Atlantic Ocean.

The communiqué announced that Brazil will finalize the details of its plan to forgive the debt Bolivia owes it, in May.

Also notable, is the role which Brazil's Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) is to play in financing key projects, a development role which had been undermined under the Cardoso government. BNDES is offering a $1 billion credit line to Venezuela, to finance the export of Brazilian goods, equipment and services to that country, as well as the financing of infrastructure projects to be completed in 2003 and 2004. It has initially offered $600 million to finance Bolivian integration projects, and is to work with the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), to devise mechanisms to finance various of the Brazilian-Bolivian integration projects.

Little public notice of this interesting line of diplomacy has been taken outside of the region. Associated Press, however, took note on April 29 that Brazil was throwing its weight around on the continent, interpreting this as a "message to the United States" that it intends to negotiate "hard" on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Brazil's Lula Presses Chavez To Opt for Political Solution

President Lula da Silva used his April 25 meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to urge him to accept an agreement with the Venezuelan opposition, as the appropriate resolution to the political crisis in that country. Chavez had expected, it is said, that he would get Lula's automatic backing for his Jacobin ("off with their heads") approach, but his hopes were disappointed. Lula told Chavez that he hoped the agreement recently signed by government and opposition representatives—agreeing that a referendum on whether Chavez should stay in office would be held in August—would be accepted as "the basis for Venezuelans, on their own, to find a constitutional, peaceful, democratic, and electoral solution to their country's problems." Lula also discussed the matter privately with the Venezuelan President.

Although Chavez later made some public remarks suggesting he had no need for such an agreement, and his Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel went further, saying that the government would actually veto the agreement, after Chavez's return to Caracas, Rangel changed his tune, and announced that negotiations would continue.

Argentine Elections: A Vote Against Menem

In an election characterized by very high voter turnout, with almost no "spoiled" ballots, the hated former President Carlos Menem, the man rightly held most responsible (along with his Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo) for Argentina's economic devastation, suffered a significant defeat, despite the fact that he came out the frontrunner, with 24% of the vote.

Despite his prediction that he would win handily in the first round of voting, Menem will now have to face Santa Cruz Governor Nestor Kirchner, who came in second with 22% of the vote, in a May 18 runoff. The winner of that round will assume office on May 25.

EIR's Buenos Aires Bureau points out, that taking into account the vote totals of the other candidates, Nestor Kirchner stands a decent chance of getting over 50% in the run-off, while Menem basically has his 24%, and perhaps the ultra-liberal portion of Mont Pelerinite Ricardo Lopez Murphy's 16.6% total. Though presenting no clearly defined program to rebuild the economy, in the remaining days of his campaign, Kirchner attacked neo-liberalism and IMF "adjustment," called for a return to productive activity, and said that the foreign debt can't be negotiated at the expense of the population's living standards and jobs. Menem has been vehemently pro-free-market, emphasizing the need to ally subserviently with the United States.

Also notable was the fourth-place win of ARI candidate Elisa Carrio, with close to 15%, who campaigned with almost no money or publicity. She won in Santa Fe province, the second most important provincial vote after Cordoba, and also had significant support in Neuquen, especially among youth. Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, President for a week in December 2001, came in fifth with 13.9%. The Radical Party, associated with former President Fernando de la Rua, was wiped off the political map, winning barely 2%, in the worst defeat in its history.

New Paraguayan President Faces Daunting Problems

Amidst economic devastation, Paraguay held Presidential elections on April 27. The victor was Nicanor Duarte Frutos of the ruling Colorado Party, who won with only 37% of the vote—abstention was 40%—has no Senate majority, and faces daunting problems. Unemployment stands at 35%, and a third of the population lives in poverty. It's negotiations with the IMF having not been successful, Paraguay is close to default, inflation is soaring, and the government has no revenue with which to pay public employees. The currency, the guarani, lost half its value vis-à-vis the dollar in 2002.

One consultant described the situation this way: "Every new President gets a honeymoon period, but for sure in our case, some men in dark suits and briefcases with 'IMF' stamped on them, will be attending the honeymoon too, to figure out what to do. We don't have any more band-aid solutions." The IMF is demanding the country privatize its telephone and water companies, and carry out further budget cuts.

Brazil, however, wants to assist in Paraguay's infrastructure development. Reportedly on the table is an offer by Brazil's National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) for a $700 million credit line for the development of Paraguay's infrastructure, and another $700 million to assist Brazilian companies who want to establish themselves in Paraguay. Paraguay's new President, referenced the offer in the context of announcing his intention of strengthening ties to Brazil—Paraguay's most important trading partner, and on which it is financially dependent—and to the regional Common Market of the South, or Mercosur. Mercosur, Duarte said, "is fundamental for us. I agree with President Lula's position that we have to increase the bloc's regional integration, if possible, also integrating it with the Andean Pact. By ourselves, we are nothing."

Brazil May Cancel U.S. Access to its Space Launch Site

Three Cabinet ministers—Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Defense Minister Jose Viegas, and Science and Technology Minister Roberto Amaral—submitted a recommendation to President Lula da Silva on April 23, that the government cancel the Technological Safeguards Agreement negotiated in April 2000, which permits the United States to launch rockets and satellites from Brazil's much-in-demand Alcantara base, located close to the equator. The agreement has been under heavy attack from diverse Congressional offices since September 2001, when Congress learned the terms of the treaty, which, in the words of one Congressman, expressed egregious "contempt for national sovereignty."

As detailed in 21st Century's Spring 2002 article, "Boosting Ibero-America Into Space," the accord prohibits Brazilian personnel from gaining access to areas of the facility during preparations for assembly and launch of U.S. payloads or vehicles; prohibits Brazilian customs officials from inspecting closed containers with U.S. equipment which go to Alcantara; and prohibits Brazil from using any of the monies raised from U.S. commercial launches, for development of its VLS rocket.

The revision or cancellation of the accord would give a boost to Russian, Chinese, French, and Ukrainian efforts to gain launch access, Jornal do Brasil notes.

Peruvian Government Cuts Deal with Coca-Growers

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo met personally on April 24 with the narco-run leadership of the so-called "Federation of Agricultural Producers from the Coca Valleys," after they announced that some 3-4,000 coca-growers who had marched on Lima, would camp out there until the government struck a deal. That Toledo personally negotiated with them, was a major victory for the growers, whose crop is used to produce cocaine. A formal agreement was reached, whose key point is that coca eradication would henceforth be "gradual and agreed upon"—i.e., eradication has to be approved by the cocaleros! This point was immediately given the force of law, by a Presidential decree issued following the meeting.

Hugo Cabieses Cuba, a controller of the George Soros-financed, Andean-wide cocalero movement, declared the accord to be a victory for the coca growers, even though they did not (yet) get everything they are demanding, because they are now established as a valid party with whom the government must negotiate. This victory strengthens the hand of the Soros narcoterrorist apparatus throughout the region, and particularly in Bolivia. Evo Morales, head of the Bolivian cocaleros, had visited Peru on April 15, on the eve of the cocalero march on Lima, to coordinate strategy, and boost the cause of his Peruvian counterparts.

Simultaneous with the cocalero deal came the ouster of one of Toledo's closest personal confidants, Cesar Almeyda T., as head of the National Intelligence Agency. Almeyda had been named to that post at the beginning of February, as part of a Cabinet shake-up which purged key members of the Soros apparatus in Peru from the government. The Soros crowd stated then, that they would oust Almeyda, and regain their full control over the Toledo government.

Terrorist Lobby Presses Colombia's Uribe To Release FARC Prisoners

There is growing pressure, both at home and abroad, for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to release as many as 700 FARC narcoterrorists from Colombia's prisons, as part of a so-called "humanitarian" agreement with the FARC for the release of their hundreds of kidnap victims. More than a month ago, FARC head Marulanda issued a statement, calling on President Uribe to form a new "demilitarized zone" for the purpose of negotiating the "prisoner exchange," and re-starting peace talks, a demand President Uribe immediately rejected out of hand.

Now, however, four former Colombian Presidents—Alfonso Lopez Michelsen, Julio Cesar Turbay, Carlos Lemos Simmonds, and Ernesto Samper Pizano—are insisting that there is no other way to win the release of the FARC's hostages, who include a former Presidential candidate, numerous legislators, elected officials, and prominent business figures, along with hundreds of military and police captives. Two of the former Presidents, Lopez and Samper, insisted that there be no conditions imposed by the government on the FARC, as this would be a "humanitarian," not a political agreement.

Uribe responded to the former Presidents, with the statement that he would "not dance to the FARC's tune. Our tune is to recover security for all Colombians.... Do Colombians want me, their President, to release guerrillas from the jails, to simply hand them over to the FARC so that they can go back to crime? My compatriots must think carefully. Which is healthier for Colombia: to simply let them go back to reinforce the FARC, or for them to be taken from the jails and put in the custody of a friendly country which would guarantee to us that they not return to commit crime" in Colombia?

Bush Administration Buys Personal Data on Ibero-Americans

ChoicePoint, the very private data-system company which became infamous for its purge of the Florida voter rolls, is buying files on Ibero-Americans, and selling them to the U.S. government, Associated Press revealed in an April 13 wire, which, not surprisingly, raised hackles across the region. According to AP, over the past 18 months, some three dozen agencies of the U.S. government have bought access to data on hundreds of millions of residents in 10 Ibero-American countries, from the Atlanta-based ChoicePoint, Inc. ChoicePoint is a spin-off of the notorious Equifax credit-reporting firm.

In the case of Mexico, the data provided includes the driving records of 6 million Mexico City drivers and the country's entire voter registry. The entire citizen-ID database of Colombia's 31 million citizens, including each resident's date and place of birth, passport and national ID number, parentage, and physical description, was also one of the sales.

John Ashcroft's Department of Justice has an overall $67 million, four-year contract with ChoicePoint, most of which goes for purchase of data on U.S. citizens, which, by law, the government is prohibited from collecting. But the foreign records purchased were used by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to round up undocumented immigrants in the U.S., an anonymous INS official confirmed to AP.

ChoicePoint—which refuses to say who it buys the data from south of the border—swore up and down to AP, however, that it not would never turn around and sell the data it collects on U.S. citizens to foreign governments. That just wouldn't be "the right thing to do."

Ashcroft Promotes 'Rule of Law' in Ibero-America

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft bragged to the opening day of the annual Council of the Americas conference on April 28, that the Department of Justice is out there, promoting "the rule of law" in Ibero-America. This includes re-writing the criminal codes of Colombia, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, at least. An Assistant U.S. Attorney General "will be placed in Paraguay" this summer, as a Resident Legal Advisor, to draft anti-terrorism laws, he reported.

Here was the man responsible for the creation of the Guantanamo concentration camp, going on about the benefits of DOJ programs to teach the Colombians about defending "human rights," and carrying out "ambitious legal reforms" required to "offer protection for the legal rights of the accused"! He reported that the DOJ's "Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training," an outfit which clearly bears some investigation, and the "International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program," are involved in this Colombian program.

The Wall Street-run Council of Americas annual conference is taking place, as usual, inside the State Department.

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