Ibero-American News Digest

LaRouche on Ecuador Radio: Defeat British 'Coup vs. Civilization'

June 29 (EIRNS)—We must defeat the British imperial forces attempting to run a "coup d'etat against civilization," Lyndon LaRouche told listeners, in an interview this morning on Quito, Ecuador's Radio 530 AM's "Opinion Popular" program, hosted by Patricio Pillajo. LaRouche was referring to the supra-governmental power embodied in British defense company BAE Systems, now at the center of a mega-scandal, involving nations on several continents. "This is a conflict with powerful international financial forces, with which Ecuador is very familiar from the way Ecuador was raped in times past," LaRouche noted.

"What's the relationship of Ecuador to this business?" LaRouche asked, in discussing the imminent possibility that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will be ousted. "South America in general is moving in a direction typified by the proposal for the new banking system. And for certain countries in South America, such as Ecuador, and Bolivia, and so forth, the hope of a recovery from a bad period of life, depends upon some kind of new international arrangements and agreements, agreements which would allow the so-called banking system of the South to function in the way it's intended.

"The fight is to get back to the system of sovereign nation-states, not globalization, and return power to the sovereign governments of the people. And to use that, as a basis for creating new forms of international cooperation among sovereign nations. And that fight has to be waged, but getting rid of Cheney will open the door in that direction."

LaRouche came back again to the importance of the Bank of the South in the interview, which can be read in its entirety at www.larouchepac.com:

"If you look at the precedent set by the President of Argentina, the assertion of the sovereignty of a nation over its banking system, it is my hope, that the Bank of the South would function as a vehicle commonly used by sovereign nation-states of South America, to maintain sovereignty, number one; but as a necessary vehicle of the type I specified back in August of 1982. It is the exchange of long-term credit among nations, for projects in common interest. You need a system of fixed-exchange-rate agreements among nations, in order to do that.

"Practically, the reconstruction of Ecuador from the rape by George Shultz and company requires that. The success of the Bolivian government's attempt to stabilize itself, depends upon something like that. The rebuilding of Peru, depends upon something like that: large-scale transportation projects which are necessary, water management systems, power systems in general, these have to be subjects of international cooperation on infrastructure development. And it must be done by sovereign nation-states. Those nations require a common facility of credit in order to manage this set of relationships.

"Right now, I think that would work, provided that we make the necessary change in the IMF system, in which case, the Bank of the South could serve as the South American component of a new international monetary-financial system, to replace the presently bankrupt IMF and World Bank....

"In other words, to go back to Franklin Roosevelt's view of how to run the world: no colonies, no empires, national sovereignty. Cooperation among sovereigns. And this Bank of the South is a step toward something for that region, which I think is very valuable."

Uruguay To Join Bank of the South

June 28 (EIRNS)—Uruguay's President Tabaré Vásquez has decided that his government will participate in the discussions to found the Bank of the South, the new regional financing entity that will offer credit for development projects. This was announced June 27 by Foreign Minister Reinaldo Gargano, a strong proponent of regional integration who has supported the Bank's creation inside the cabinet, in opposition to the pro-IMF Finance Minister, Danilo Astori.

Up until now, Uruguay has not been involved in the debate on the bank's creation, precisely because of factional tensions inside the Vásquez cabinet. But when the Espectador radio network suggested that the decision was a "personal victory" for Gargano, due to Astori's "reticence" about the project, Gargano firmly stated that "this was a decision of the Executive branch"—not of anyone else. President Vásquez felt strongly, Gargano said, that since the governments of Ibero-America are now involved in a process of integration, "it made no sense for Uruguay not to be involved." Uruguay wants to be involved in the decision-making about how the bank will function and how it can be made to work for the benefits of all of its members, he said.

Brazil Goes Nuclear: Angra 3 To Be Completed

June 26 (EIRNS)—On June 25, Brazil's National Energy Policy Committee (CNPE) decided in an 8-1 vote to complete the Angra 3 nuclear plant, whose construction was halted almost 21 years ago. The only opposing vote came from Environment Minister Marina Silva, a follower of global warming freak Al Gore. Knowing she had no chance of stopping the vote, Silva boycotted the meeting, and sent an underling, instead, to cast her vote.

The decision to complete Angra 3, which will generate 1,350 MW of electricity, with a target completion date of 2013, was a long time coming—the result of an intense factional brawl inside the cabinet of President Lula da Silva. Although the CNPE did not approve any broader plant construction beyond Angra 3, the vote was an admission that the nation's current energy grid, based largely on hydroelectric, cannot guarantee even modest economic growth rates. In a June 14 speech, Lula said that the only way Brazil can promise investors that there will be adequate energy supplies after 2012, is by going nuclear. Nuclear "is clean, non-polluting and doesn't emit CO₂," he said, "and Brazil's [nuclear] technology is perfect."

Interim Mines and Energy Minister Nelson Hubner told the Valor financial daily that with Angra 3, the government intends to domestically enrich all the uranium that this, and all future plants, will require. Brazil has the sixth-largest uranium reserves in the world, he said, enough to supply its nuclear plants for 500 years.

As for the issue of nuclear waste, Hubner reported that it will be deposited in secure vessels, where it can be stored for hundreds of years. "Today," he noted, "the whole world is discussing the reprocessing of waste, for use in generating more energy, or transforming it into other elements that can be used in industry."

Two major industrial associations, the Industrial Federation of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan) and the Brazilian Infrastructure and Basic Industry Association (Abdib), welcomed the decision, noting in particular its importance for Brazil's scientific and technological future. For their part, ecstatic leaders of the Pro Angra 3 Movement, representing labor unions, professional associations, and community groups from the surrounding area of the long-stalled Angra 3 plant, summed up their view: "It's as if we'd won the Sixth World Cup!"

Spanish Cheneyacs Intervene into Argentine Elections

June 25 (EIRNS)—The secretary general of Spain's Popular Party (PP) Jorge Moragas used the occasion of the June 24 victory of millionaire soccer club owner and neo-con Mauricio Macri as the new mayor of Buenos Aires, to publicly attack popular Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, in an attempt to shape the environment leading into the October Presidential elections in Argentina. Macri, a darling of Cheneyac circles around the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, defeated Education Minister Daniel Filmus of Kirchner's Victory Front, and now says he will work on creating a political alternative for October, aimed at providing "political balance" in the country.

The PP is the party of former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, who serves as an international mouthpiece for Dick Cheney's fascist policies, and just spent the last month touring Ibero-America, peddling them as "an agenda for freedom." Moragas, who was invited to the victory celebration by Macri, described the latter's win as a "message of hope for those who think it is difficult to win democratically against populist formulas."

Macri and the fascist, neo-liberal interests behind him do not have a chance of winning the Presidential race. They targeted Buenos Aires, which has never historically been a stronghold of Kirchner's Peronist Party, however, in hopes of recouping some political ground from which to undermine the Kirchner-led effort to rebuild Argentina.

For Macri and Moragas, like Francoite Aznar, "populism" refers to anyone who opposes the International Monetary Fund's policies of unbridled free trade and deregulation. These circles label Kirchner as "authoritarian" and "undemocratic" because he thinks human beings are more important than the free market and the banks. Moragas likened Macri's victory to that of Nicolas Sarkozy in France, particularly emphasizing Macri's commitment to building "solid" institutions and fighting "corruption."

In the weeks preceding the election, Kirchner had said it would be a contest between "two models"—the neo-liberal one which destroyed Argentina in the 1990s, and the current one which prioritizes defending the general welfare, building an internal market, and reindustrialization. One look at the gaggle of fascists who are now offering their congratulations to Macri, including Chile's Presidential aspirant Sebastian Pinera and the head of the Mexican PAN Manuel Espino, makes clear how correct Kirchner was.