Ibero-American News Digest

Clinton Slams 'Reckless' Attempt by Zelaya To Return to Honduras

July 25 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton minced no words yesterday, in characterizing as "reckless," the staged return to Honduras by deposed pro-drug President Manuel Zelaya, earlier that day.

Zelaya had been warned by the United States and the Organization of American States, among others, not to take any action that might lead to violence in highly unstable Central America, at a time when Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was still attempting to negotiate a settlement between delegations representing the two opposing sides in the Honduras dispute—interim President Roberto Micheletti's government and ousted President Zelaya.

On July 23, Arias presented a 12-point proposal, which he called the San José Accord, for consideration by Zelaya and Micheletti. The proposal would allow Zelaya to return as President, but with quite limited powers. Among other things, it calls for creating an international verification commission, to monitor the accord's implementation, and a "truth commission" to investigate the events leading up to Zelaya's June 28 removal from office.

Neither side has formally rejected the plan. But, egged on by a gaggle of the British Empire's "Bolivarian" allies, led by Venezuela's buffoonish President Hugo Chávez, and including Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro, on July 23, Zelaya traveled in a 20-vehicle caravan, followed by a media circus, from the Nicaraguan capital of Managua to the border town of Las Manos. There he briefly set foot on Honduran soil in what he called a "symbolic" return, before stepping back into Nicaragua 30 minutes later.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro accompanied Zelaya to the border, and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, another member of the Jacobin "Bolivarian" gang, had reportedly intended to show up as well.

Secretary Clinton, during her July 24 press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, firmly stated that Zelaya's border stunt "does not contribute to the broader efforts to restore democratic and constitutional order in the Honduran crisis." Although engaged in visits to India and Thailand during this past week, Clinton had made clear through State Department spokesmen that she was closely monitoring the Honduras case.

Lift Patents for Vaccine Production, Argentine President Demands

July 25 (EIRNS)—Speaking before the member governments of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) yesterday in Asunción, Paraguay, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called on the big pharmaceutical multinationals to lift patents on production of vaccine to combat the A/H1N1 virus, in order to save millions of lives.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has already admitted there will not be enough vaccine to meet global demand, the Argentine President said. To therefore keep this "economic instrument," i.e., patents, in place in the midst of a pandemic "would condemn millions of people to death."

Indicating the urgency with which the Mercosur governments view the A/H1N1 pandemic, which has hit their nations very hard, this year the customs union's annual summit included health ministers as well. Mercosur's final communique states that the "production of these [vaccines] must be facilitated for the greatest number of [medical] centers possible, taking into account the institutions already existing in our region, so as to permit governments of the developed, or developing nations to meet the needs of their citizens."

The communique calls on the WHO to "coordinate efforts to expand capacity for the production of vaccines, antivirals and diagnostic kits at reasonable prices, understanding these benefits to be a global public good."

Following President Fernández, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who is also a physician, addressed the issue. She stated her understanding that during a pandemic, the WHO's own bylaws allow for suspension of patents to allow the production of any medicine in generic form.

Soros's Argentine Drug Conference an Assault on Ibero-America

July 21 (EIRNS)—Organizations controlled and financed by the Nazi-trained drug kingpin George Soros are building up the Seventh National Conference on Drug Policy, to be held Aug. 6-7 at the Argentine Congress, as an assault on the entirety of Ibero-America, to ram through the British Empire's drug legalization policies under the guise of "harm reduction" and protecting the public's "health."

EIRNS has already reported that the conference sponsors include Soros's Open Society Institute, the British Embassy, the Dutch Embassy, and the Soros-sponsored and -financed Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy (LACDD)—making clear the far-from-invisible Anglo-Dutch hand involved. Conference supporters brag that endorsement by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) proves their point that drug consumption should be viewed as a "health" issue rather than a criminal one.

The Soros crowd's argument is that a "non-punitive" drug policy is necessary to protect public health and living conditions! The conference website baldly asserts that, given the social and economic inequalities in Ibero-America, attempts to "control" consumption and production have caused "social isolation, disproportionate incarceration of drug users, ... social violence, environmental damage and violation of basic human rights."

A board member of Soros's on-the-ground conference organizer, the Intercambios Civil Association, gushed to the pro-drug daily Página 12 that, while the NGO had organized the conference every year for the past seven years, this year is different. "The topics will be regional ones," rather than only national ones, Pablo Cymerman explained, excitedly naming speakers from Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico.

Página 12 points out that the conference occurs at exactly the moment when the Argentine Supreme Court is expected to rule that the existing prohibition on drug possession for personal consumption is unconstitutional, "a position shared by the national government." President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's Chief of Staff, Aníbal Fernández, who has vociferously defended Soros's decriminalization policy, will also be a conference speaker.