In this issue:

Exposé of Bush's Fascist Social Security Scheme Now in Spanish

The Separatist 'Lion' Unleashed in Bolivia

Confirmed: Bush-Cheney Plan to Invade Iran; Separatism and Genocide for Bolivia

Neo-Cons Hype Regime Change for Venezuela

French Water Utility Under Fire in Ibero-America

Ibero-American News Digest

Exposé of Bush's Fascist Social Security Scheme Now in Spanish

Executive Intelligence Review is pleased to announce that it has published a Spanish translation of the entirety of the famous LaRouche PAC "Twins" pamphlet, in the latest issue of its biweekly, Resumen Ejecutivo de EIR. The pamphlet, which features a picture of a little President George W. Bush leaning against a much larger Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile, on its cover, is titled, "Bush's Social Security Privatization. Foot In the Door For Fascism."

The Separatist 'Lion' Unleashed in Bolivia

The fascist display of manipulated "People's Power" in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Jan. 28, has unleashed the deadly virus of "autonomy" upon the country. "This is the first day of national autonomy! Autonomy now!... The lion has awakened," Ruben Costas, head of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee, roared to the crowd of anywhere from 170,000 to 350,000 people who chanted "Autonomy! Autonomy!" as they waved the green and white flag of their province, at the separatist "town hall meeting" in Santa Cruz that night.

Costa's 50-minute harangue was classic, fascist sophistry: "Bolivia is being refounded. Welcome, everyone, to the new Bolivia," he cried, in between Schwarznegger-like attacks upon the corrupt "bureaucratic elite" of the State which has kept "the People" down. "Democracy here and now!... The People ask, and the People must be respected."

The crowd roared approval of the formation of a "Provisional Autonomous Committee," which is charged with negotiating the transfer of powers and resources from the national government to the province. The crowd screamed "Yes," also, in response to two other propositions: that they "authorize" said assembly to convoke gubernatorial elections, if the national government does not do so; and to call a binding referendum on autonomy, should the national government not do so. The "town hall meeting" did not "elect" a provincial governor on the spot, as originally threatened.

Faced with an insurgency which he did not have the power to defeat, President Carlos Mesa went on national television that evening, and announced two major concessions to Santa Cruz. He announced he had signed a decree convoking direct elections of provincial governors, the winners of which he would then appoint as governors. (Under Bolivia's Constitution, the governors of the departments must be appointed by the President.) He also announced a national referendum on whether all departments should be granted autonomy to be held before a planned Constituent Assembly, where a new constitution is to be drafted.

The latter is violently opposed by the "popular" Jacobin forces, who also advocate autonomy for particular interests (Indians, provinces, etc.), but believe they can control power, if the Constituent Assembly is held before autonomy.

There is no basis for a domestic solution to this crisis, until the international system is changed, to restore sovereignty to nations. Over three decades of post-industrial looting have reduced the State to "an intermediary between the NGOs and the multinationals," as one Bolivian official commented privately to EIR last week. Now, he noted, the state is slated to become the negotiator between autonomies. The battle of "every people for themselves" is on.

Meanwhile, cocalero leader Evo Morales has called a mass meeting for next Jan. 31, in Cochabamba, to organize mass protests against Mesa's "sell-out" to oligarchic interests.

Confirmed: Bush-Cheney Plan to Invade Iran; Separatism and Genocide for Bolivia

On Jan. 27, one day before the Santa Cruz Civic Committee's "town hall meeting," EIR threw a polemical hand grenade into the operation to break up the nation of Bolivia, circulating throughout Ibero-America a press release with the above headline as its title. The EIRNS release was posted in full on the website of the independent Bolpress agency. The text of the release follows:

A group of neo-conservative ideologues held a conference in Dubai, UAE on Jan. 5-6, to publicly announce that the Bush-Cheney government is considering an attack on Iran this year. "It is not a question of 'yes or no,'" the conference attendees said, but only "when and how."

This confirms what former Democratic Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche had warned of during the entire period of the 2004 electoral campaign, as a campaign leaflet had stressed: "A vote for Bush-Cheney is a vote for perpetual warfare and economic hell...."

In the Dubai seminar, organized by the Gulf Research Center, the loudest voice was that of neo-conservative Patrick Clawson, of the Institute for Near East Policy, who boasted of his ties to the Bush government. Clawson also maintains close links to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) of Washington, where he is a frequent speaker.

This same collection of neo-conservative ideologues behind the policies of the Bush-Cheney government, and specifically AEI, also have Bolivia in their sights. In the June 2004 issue of the AEI publications Latin American Outlook, the Mark Falcoff has a commentary entitled, "The Last Days of Bolivia?" which concludes: "If current tendencies continue, we could be witnessing the first large-scale alteration of the political map of South America in more than 100 years." Falcoff ends by proposing the division of Bolivia.

Whether or not the business leaders participating in the campaign are witting or not, the scenario for the autonomy of Santa Cruz is a script written by AEI.

According to Falcoff, Bolivia will disintegrate and divide, along its "perhaps irreconcilable" racial and geographic differences, into two countries, according to their principal export product: the high plateau regions which export coca, and the low lands, headed by the department of Santa Cruz, which produce natural gas. According to Falcoff, the coca-nation would be primarily dominated by Indians, and the low lands by people of more "European" origin.

Falcoff is no mere analyst, but has been promoting his scenario in the Chilean press, adding into the equation the old conflict between Bolivia and Chile for an outlet to the sea.

Falcoff—who promotes the Chile model that Pinochet introduced in the name of George Shultz—assured the Chilean press that should the "Republic of Santa Cruz be created, it would have absolutely normal relations with Chile." He said he didn't know what Argentina would do, but Falcoff suggested that if Brazil were to recognize "this new republic," Argentina would have no alternative but to do the same.

To encourage possible border wars, as well as racial wars, is a guaranteed recipe for genocide, Lyndon LaRouche warned at the time. They are trying to unleash perpetual warfare in the region, a war which, once begun, could not be stopped.

And drum-beating for war is precisely what these diligent mouthpieces of the Bush government are doing in Ibero-America. One of them, the exiled Cuban Alberto Montaner, is circulating an article which practically threatens that the Bush government will unleash war across Ibero-America, if the governments of Brazil and Argentina do not support the "efforts" of the U.S. at the OAS, against Venezuela's Hugo Chavez regime. According to Montaner, Chavez will otherwise support Bolivia and Peru against that "bastion of neoliberalism," Chile, in a reenactment of the War of the Pacific."

Neo-Cons Hype Regime Change for Venezuela

The notorious neo-conservative Cuban exile, Carlos Albero Montaner, projected in his Jan. 23 syndicated column, that there could be a new "Latin American War" in coming years, in which over 250,000 may die. Montaner claims Hugo Chavez will be responsible for the war he foresees, but Montaner's war reflects his neo-conservative masters' intentions.

Montaner—most famous for his book, The Perfect Idiot, blaming Ibero-America's woes upon "statists" who refused to accept the free-trade doctrine—threatens that Argentina and Brazil had better decide to back an "intense diplomatic effort" by the U.S., Mexico, and the Organization of American States to bring down the Chavez regime, or they may face war. Chavez aims to provoke war with Chile—using Peru and Bolivia—in order "to destroy that bastion of 'neo-liberalism.'" Montaner's parting threat? "If the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia (1932-1935) left 90,000 dead, that of the Venezuelan caudillo could be capable of tripling this amount."

That this is Wall Street's policy, was made amply clear in the Jan. 21 op-ed column by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, titled, "Should Chavez Be on the List of Terrorism Sponsors?" "President Bush has made it clear that any government that gives safe haven to terrorists is a U.S. enemy," and on those grounds, Hugo Chavez's Venezuela must be treated as such," she argued. "All those tender souls who worry that Chavez will 'cut off the oil' need to be told that he would do himself far more harm than the U.S. if he ever attempted such a power play." (See "Synarchists Promote Andean-Wide Violence," in InDepth, for background on this story.)

French Water Utility Under Fire in Ibero-America

"There's a love that kills," was the quip from Argentine President Nestor Kirchner in response to the president of the French water utility Suez, who insisted that his company "loves" Argentina. Kirchner's government has been in a dispute with Suez over the latter's failure to invest, after it bought up the privatized Aguas Argentinas water utility company years ago. Buenos Aires Gov. Felipe Sola announced Jan. 22, that the government is now considering rescinding the privatization contract for Aguas Argentinas and establishing a new company jointly owned by the federal and provincial governments. "Demands have been made on Argentina by this French company which we aren't prepared to tolerate, neither as a national nor a provincial government," Sola said.

Suez's record in Argentina is appalling. In its original privatization contract, it foresaw no rate increases. But between 1993 and 2003, rates increased by 88% on average, while it invested only 60% of the amount originally promised. In the 17 districts served by Suez in metropolitan Buenos Aires, there are 1.03 million residents without sewers and 800,000 without potable water. Treatment of sewage which was supposed to be maintained at a level of at least 74%, remains only at 7%.

The same pattern was demonstrated by Suez's Bolivian subsidiary, Aguas de Illimani. Bolivian officials report that the French company invested zero capital in Bolivia, despite its contractual obligations, while raising rates on water usage by three times since 1997.

The Argentine government slapped a multimillion-dollar fine on Aguas Argentinas in January, and is refusing to grant Suez President Yves Thibault de Silguy's demand that Argentina allow his firm to increase rates by 60%. To the reported surprise of Argentine officials, when French President Jacques Chirac and Kirchner met in Paris on Jan. 21, Chirac told Kirchner that he should do what he sees best in the with Suez's Aguas Argentinas firm. Chirac said that this "pebble in the shoe" should be removed, and if it meant rescinding the contract, then Argentina should feel free to do so.