Ibero-American News Digest

Visiting Fascists Confronted by LYM in Ibero-America

The LaRouche Youth Movement busted up prominent events by two key assets of the new Fascist International this week: first in Bogota, Colombia, against the Cheney-like former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on Nov. 8, and then in Mexico City the next day, against California's shame, Gov. Arnie Schwarzenegger. The LYM message to both—that Lyndon LaRouche led the Nov. 7 defeat of their fascist kin in the United States at the polls, and they will soon go down, too, as Bush and Cheney are driven out—pleased many, and both interventions were widely covered by the Ibero-American press (see next two items).

Synarchist Aznar Unmasked

First, on Nov. 8, came the move against the former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who had a rough time of it when members of the Colombian LYM interrupted the last of his presentations in that nation, an event jointly organized by his own Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES), the foundation of French Synarchist Jean Francois Revel, and the Good Government Foundation of Colombian Defense Minister and Mont Pelerite Juan Manuel Santos. Present were Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and an audience of 800 former ministers, government officials, bankers, and other elites, as well as the accredited diplomatic corps in Colombia.

Aznar began his standard rant about the blessings of the neoliberal model, only to be interrupted by a LYM member shouting, "Lies. Aznar is a liar. The British neoliberal model has caused starvation, misery, and unemployment to nations. The proof is in the streets and not in statistical sophistry. Look at how Argentina, Mexico, our country have been impoverished."

Aznar, somewhat taken aback, continued his speech, only to be met by another shout: "You ordered the invasion of Iraq and committed genocide," and then, as he attempted to resume, was interrupted yet again by another LYM member: "Jobs are generated with infrastructure. The usurious debt is growing faster than the productive capacity of nations." Aznar finished his speech looking like a frightened rat, the LYM reported.

The discussion period opened with an exchange between a LYM member and President Uribe on how to develop the nation: He must break with the "fascist policies of British liberals like Mr. Aznar," he was told, and instead turn to American System economic policies as Colombia's late 19th-Century President Rafael Nunez had courageously done. The event was closed by a five-minute briefing to the entire gathering from yet another LaRouche youth, on how LaRouche, leading the FDR faction in the Democratic Party in the U.S., intends to overthrow the fascists in the U.S. who have invaded Iraq and who are committing genocide. We are going to get them out of power and into jail, said the LYM organizer. The mandate in the U.S. elections is clear: Bring the troops home and begin the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for genocide.

Schwarzenegger Meets 'Mini-Arnie'

The next day, Arnie "The Deregulator" Schwarzenegger had hoped to be the star of a Nov. 9 event sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, and attended by the governors of Zacatecas, Baja California, Tamaulipas, and the state of Mexico, as well as the director of UCLA and other prominents. The event room at the swank hotel stank of the oligarchism of the business sector that was present, the LYM reports. But scarcely had the Governator entered the room, when a short, male LYM member, put on a dress and Terminator mask, and began parodying the Governator and distributing an invitation to LaRouche's Nov. 16 webcast. Another LYM member began shouting, "Here, look here. Arnie's Mini-me," explaining why Arnie, Cheney, and Bush are crazy fascists.

With the press stunned and security disconcerted, the persecution began. As mini-Arnie was dragged out, big Arnie was told by another LYM member: "You are a fascist and now as weak as President Bush.... Talk about the bankruptcy of the auto sector, of the collapse of real estate," and so forth. When she, too, was kicked out of the room, another group of LYM'ers began distributing leaflets, as another quickly ascended the podium and opened up a 2.5 x 1.5 meter banner right next to the Governator, who by this time had forgotten what he was going to say. Before security was able to drag these organizers out (they left singing, to the tune of "London Bridge": "Bush and Dick are falling down, falling down, falling down, Bush and Dick are falling down, Arnie too"), a LYM member told Arnie: "LaRouche was the reason the Republicans lost; Remember, it's LaRouche!"

Outside, the press were taking statements, copies of the invitations, and lots of photos of mini-Arnie. Coverage of the intervention ranged from Peruvian TV, to Chilean radio, and print media from Mexico to India. The coverage was typified by an ANSA wire, out in Spanish and Portuguese, and headlined "Mexicans shout 'Fascist' and 'Nazi Assassin' at Schwarzenegger," which identified the protesters as the LaRouche Youth, whose message was: "You are a fascist, and you are already as weak as President Bush."

Aznar Had Planned a Far Different Agenda

Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had planned a triumphal tour to Colombia and Guatemala, to offer his nostrums on "economic freedom" and to boast of the "successes" of his 1996-2004 Popular Party (PP) regime in Spain. Just prior to Aznar's departure for Colombia, three PP representatives showed up in Caracas, Venezuela to join the opposition in a Nov. 4 march in support of its Presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, who is running against Hugo Chavez in the Dec. 3 elections, and to participate in a seminar "in defense of freedom and democracy" in Venezuela.

In a tour described as a continuation of his February 2006 visit to Mexico, where he outrageously intervened to lobby on behalf of PAN Presidential candidate Felipe Calderon, the rabidly anti-Muslim, pro-Francisco Franco Aznar announced that he would be focussing on such issues as reforming NATO; "What Is the West?"; the need to create a free-trade-based Atlantic Prosperity Area; and "Ibero-America conceived of as an essential part of the West," as opposed to "indigenist populism." On Nov. 9, Aznar was to receive an honorary doctorate at the Francisco Marroquin University, the Central American headquarters of a nest of University of Chicago-trained, Friedrich von Hayek-loving "economists."

'Ibero-America's Voice Must Be Heard'

That was the message delivered Nov. 4 by Argentine President Nestor Kirchner to the Ibero-American Summit in Montevideo, Uruguay. Kirchner was addressing the annual gathering of Ibero-American heads of state, and the Spanish King and current Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. "The prism of globalization leads us to give greater importance to a sense of community which demands a different, more universal decisiveness—a synthesis which preserves, but at the same time integrates our peculiarities."

Kirchner stated that, "We must increasingly become enamored of building an Ibero-American space." But he warned that, while it is the responsibility of each government to fight poverty, unemployment, and inequality, "the success of development policies depends on being able to count on a more just and fair international financial system, which shows greater solidarity."

Kirchner embraced the proposal made by Zapatero to create an "Ibero-American Fund," that could be used to combat poverty and social and economic marginalization. Exclusion "prevents the creation of a community," Kirchner said, because those excluded "produce as a reaction an identity of resistance, anchored in the past." To overcome this, there must be cooperation and development projects, so that people won't be forced to leave their own countries in search of better opportunities elsewhere. "I absolutely agree" with Zapatero, Kirchner said. "We face enormous challenges ... and it is very important that the Ibero-American voice be heard in consolidating that multilateralism that is so endangered today...."

Uruguay Pays Off IMF Debt

Following in the footsteps of Brazil and Argentina, Uruguayan Economics Minister Danilo Astori announced on Nov. 8 that his government would pay off the entirety of its $1.08 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund, a full two years ahead of time, in order to free itself from "some demands which sometimes become restrictions." He was quick to add that this did not mean a break with the IMF, but that it did end the stranglehold of "conditionalities" that the IMF imposes on debtor countries.

Bush Support Proves Kiss of Death for Nicaraguan Allies

The Bush Administration provided critical help in electing Sandinista Danny Ortega as President of Nicaragua in the first round of voting on Nov. 5. The Administration's imperialist threats, that Ortega was unacceptable to the Bush regime, were not welcomed by the Nicaraguan population. Having one of his opponents backed by the Bush Administration, and the other by Iran-Contra criminal Ollie North, added to Ortega's support.

See "Calderon Has That Old Sinking Feeling," in our InDepth section this week, for a look at other political leaders in Ibero-America who have yet to learn that tying one's fate to Bush and globalization is proving a politically suicidal act.