Ibero-American News Digest

Britain's Ibero-American Jacobins Attack U.S. Aid to Haiti

Jan. 22 (EIRNS)—Britain's Jacobin "Bolivarian movement" in Ibero-America has been on a rampage since the Queen's world dictatorship drive was stopped at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December. The latest tirades of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, Bolivia's Previa Evo Morales, and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega have been directed at the U.S. military deployment in Haiti, decrying its central role in providing the logistics required for aid to enter devastated Haiti as an "occupation," an "invasion" which threatens the whole region.

Morales went so far as to announce, on Jan. 20, that his government would request an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to demand that U.S. soldiers be removed from Haiti. But, what can you expect of a government created as a George Soros project, which the London Independent happily reported on Jan. 19 is proposing to permit Bolivian families to grow their own coca in their backyards?

The Brazilian government does not agree, and intends to continue "working hand in hand with the U.S. and the rest of the international community" on helping Haiti, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim stated categorically two days ago.

Likewise, the "Bolivarian" narcoterrorist networks took a significant hit when Ecuadorian military forces raided a camp of FARC narcoterrorists located inside Ecuadorian territory near the Colombian border on Jan. 19, killing three FARC members in the confrontation. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa praised the military for their successful operation. And Colombian President Alvaro Uribe quickly thanked Ecuador's government for the action, noting that it is when these narcoterrorists feel they cannot take refuge in neighboring countries, that they can be driven to give up.

Although no one is saying it, Uribe is referring to the major FARC camp inside Ecuadorian territory which the Colombian government militarily assaulted in March 2008, killing the infamous narco-boss Raúl Reyes. The Ecuadorians howled in protest at the time, hollering that their sovereignty had been violated. Lyndon LaRouche stated then:

"If governments allow an international terrorist organization such as the FARC to use their territory, then they have no complaint when the aggrieved government takes action at the border...."

The Ecuadorian move against the FARC this week stands in stark contrast to the support for the FARC coming from the Venezuelan government, most flagrantly displayed in the early December founding in Caracas of a "Bolivarian Continental Movement," led by the FARC cocaine cartel.

Haiti Was Devastated Even Before the Quake

Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—Some ten days after the earthquake, relief operations are better positioned so as to supply food, water, and medical care in a coordinated way to the estimated 2-3 million people, many injured, left without food, water, and shelter in Port-au-Prince, and other parts of Haiti. And as of Jan. 23, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported no new major epidemiological outbreaks have been identified.

Because Haiti's people were physically weakened and at the edge of starvation before this earthquake, however, it is a race against time to stave off a second wave of mass deaths.

PAHO warns that measles, diarrhea, and outbreaks of respiratory illness are likely, as displaced people move into densely packed areas. Already, before the earthquake, 16% of deaths of children under 5 occurred from diarrhea. Tetanus is a significant concern, given the large numbers of open wounds and low immunization levels; Haiti is among the 10 countries with the lowest DTP vaccine diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis coverage in the world (53%). Only 58% of its infants under one year old are inoculated for measles. Already, Haiti had the highest rates of HIV infection and tuberculosis in the Western Hemisphere; the bacterial disease leptospirosis is endemic.

Haiti stands as a vivid testament to the evil of globalization, a country abandoned. Average life-expectancy for men was only 59 years in 2008; 63 years for women. In some areas of Haiti, over 30% of the population suffered chronic malnutrition—and the numbers were increasing, despite the World Food Program feeding 1.1 million people. In 2006, only 58% of Haitians had access to "improved drinking water sources" (i.e., potable water), and only 19% had access to "improved sanitation facilities" (i.e., latrines, rather than ditches).

Pinochet Team Makes Comeback in Chilean Election

Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—Right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera won yesterday's second round of Chile's Presidential elections, with 51.6% of the vote, against 48.4% for Eduardo Frei, the lackluster candidate of the ruling center-left Concertación coalition.

Piñera, who made his millions introducing credit cards to Chile under the fascist dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, is the brother of José Piñera, who, as Labor Minister under Pinochet in 1981, privatized the nation's pension system—which has since been used as the model internationally for such privatization, such as the failed Bush effort in the U.S.

Like José, President-elect Sebastián has a doctorate in economics from Harvard. Although he has tried to portray himself as a defender of human rights, the expectation is that he may incorporate into his cabinet, or in important government positions, some of the same individuals who were part of Pinochet's economics team.

For the 20 years it ruled Chile, the Concertación didn't alter one piece of Pinochet's free-market economic model. It's no surprise, then, that no one was excited about voting for Frei, whose previous, uninspired Presidency (1996-2000) did nothing to improve the living conditions of the Chilean people, or offer them any hope for the future.

Argentine President: We Will Export Nuclear Plants and Satellites

Jan. 22 (EIRNS)—Inaugurating the new headquarters of Argentina's state-run high-tech company, INVAP, on Jan. 20, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said scientific work is the highest priority for her government, and exporting the most advanced products of that scientific work is the aim.

"It's fine that we export our important raw materials, and that we add value to them, but exporting satellites and nuclear reactors is the greatest essence of 'value-added' for a country.... Science, technology, value-added, and the return of scientists to Argentina has a very first place in this President's agenda."

Fernández de Kirchner proudly reported that, during her Presidency, more than 700 Argentine scientists have returned to work in their country.

Globalization had gutted scientific capabilities in the 1990s, driving some of the most skilled Argentines abroad to find work.

By 2012, some 1,000 people, not counting additional outside suppliers and contractors, will be working at the new INVAP headquarters. Since the mid-1980s, INVAP has produced nuclear reactors for Argentina, Peru, Algeria, Egypt, Australia, and others. Among its current projects, are building satellites (one jointly with NASA) and radars for Argentine airports.