In this issue:

LaRouche Campaign Pamphlet To Feature Brazil Trip

LaRouche Trip Rallies Ibero-American Patriots

Integration Projects High on Agenda of Second South American Summit

Around the South American Continent: Chaos

Mercosur Summit Stuck to Failed Axioms—Nervously

Brazil President: Argentina Is A Nation, Not a Market

Bush Administration Thug Sent to Ibero-America

Soros's Coca Politicians Gain Ground; Cancel Peru Eradication Program

From the Vol.1,No.19 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly

IBERO-AMERICAN NEWS DIGEST

LaRouche Campaign Pamphlet To Feature Brazil Trip

The campaign committee for Lyndon LaRouche, U.S. Presidential pre-candidate for the 2004 Democratic Party nomination, will be releasing the next in a series of "Crisis Pamphlets," which series began with publication of LaRouche's radio interview on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The latest pamphlet will cover LaRouche's strategic interventions in the global crisis, as reflected in his recent visits to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, and Rome, Italy.

In the weeks since LaRouche's visit to Brazil, his warnings about the financial and economic collapse of the United States have become a visible reality, confirming, as LaRouche warned, that the Argentina crisis was not an Argentine phenomenon, but a manifestation of the global collapse. The following excerpt of LaRouche's June 11 speech before the Alumni Association of the Superior War College of Sao Paulo, Brazil, appears in the forthcoming LaRouche campaign pamphlet:

"The area on which I shall speak today is the one that's assigned to me, is the question of the global crisis, and the end of free trade. However, I shall focus this, by attention to a concept which I say is a new case for the application of the principle of strategic defense; which applies not only to military principles of strategic defense, but also applies to the defense of nations, economies, and systems....

"Now first, I can say that, just as a matter of preliminaries ... there are some people who do not yet believe that the present world financial system, the monetary-financial system, is doomed. Because there's a tendency, which has two aspects to it: One is fear, as such; and the other is conditioning, which causes people to deny the existence of a problem which their intelligence would tell them exists...

"We are now at a point that the existing definitions, axioms, and postulates of the system which has increasingly ruled the entire world, for the past 35 years, have now demonstrated themselves to be a catastrophic failure. And for reasons I shall indicate, we are now at the point, where we can not expect this system to last, in its present form, for longer than a few months. It might not even last another week. But we're talking about a few months as the outside possibility for the continuation of the present world system, and that means the United States, as much as any other country in the world. Do not think that Argentina and the United States are in conditions much dissimilar from one another. Argentina is a dependent country, and therefore takes the brunt of what is imposed upon it by greater powers, such as the IMF. But, underneath it all, the United States is afflicted with the same disease as Argentina, and it can be brought down by it. That might not take more than a few months before that process unfolds.

"But, the problem is, that under these conditions, you can hear the possibilities of the Guns of August, once again, not far distant. The months of August, September, and early October, under these present financial-monetary conditions that I know, could be the outbreak of a new kind of global warfare, or spreading global warfare. Just as in the 1930s, and in the 1940s, a world financial crisis, which was partly solved by the United States, but not by other countries, led one country after the other, on the road to war, and it was merely a matter of time."

LaRouche Trip Rallies Ibero-American Patriots

Following LaRouche's trip to Brazil, the President and Vice President of the Association of Retired and Laid-Off Workers of Petroperu, Carlos Repetto Grand and Federico Mena Lopez, sent Lyndon LaRouche a message, which read, in part:

"We have recently learned that on June 12, you—worthy Presidential candidate of the U.S. Democratic Party—were nominated for your relevant merits as honorary citizen of that megapolis which is Sao Paulo, Brazil, which delights us enormously. And thus we would like to offer you our sincerest congratulations for that merited award. Equally, we hope that in the next Presidential election, the American people, tired of their leaders' lack of imagination, will turn en masse to give you their vote, so that you can ascend to the highest post of the most powerful country in the world, and can put your grand ideas in all areas into practice, for the good of the planet Earth."

The greeting was sent in the name of the entire Association, which, they said, "identifie[s] with your frontal attack against that inhumane economic power which is devastating our planet, bringing hunger and misery to all, and making you, unquestionably, the providential man, the just man whom the Supreme Creator gives to our planet every century or so, to mitigate such suffering and to correct such misfortunes."

From Argentina came also a note from the President and Secretary of the Federation of Cooperatives of Corrientes, Ernesto Julio de Simone and Luis Alcides Rossi Querin, addressed to the LaRouche organizers of the Fifth "Brazil-Argentina: Moment of Truth" seminar, expressing their wish to have been able to be present personally.

The farm leaders sent "sincerest greetings to Mr. Lyndon LaRouche," adding, "May his presence in the brother country mark an extremely important step forward in consolidating the common undertaking for the recovery of the entire region, and of all of its peoples in particular, against the savage aggression currently directed by the internationals of power against the sovereign nation-states."

They offered their "firm adherence to this undertaking, in which we have participated with all of our forces from its inception. We hope to see this initiative crowned with the greatest of successes ... [to] extend ... to every corner of Argentina... so that the population can understand the necessity of the geopolitical and economic unity of our nations, and can expand this to all of Ibero-America."

Integration Projects High on Agenda of Second South American Summit

On July 26, South America's Presidents will meet in Guayaquil, Ecuador for a followup summit to the first one, held in Brasilia, in August 2000. At the 2000 summit, coordination of many projects for South America's physical integration, and independent economic development was put into motion, and has quietly continued since then. Real economic development will be top on the agenda again, when they meet on July 26, judging from statements by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga, before and during the just-completed Mercosur summit (see below). In the context of the global financial collapse, there could be some highly nonlinear results emerging from this conference.

During the Mercosur summit, Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga boldly stated that "we can manage with our own resources, without looking to Washington," going on to propose the creation of a South American Development Bank, which will be further analyzed on July 8, at a meeting of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), and then formally presented to the July 26 Presidents' summit in Ecuador.

"Integration is unviable without the physical integration of our countries," Quiroga said in Buenos Aires. Quiroga emphasized that it is very important to have a regional institution able to provide credit to small countries, that "wouldn't depend on the agencies based in Washington." He referenced financing of highway construction to connect Bolivia with Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay "without having to go ... to international agencies, which are subject to all kinds of pressures...."

Completing this interesting picture are the statements made by Fernando Henrique Cardoso right before travelling to Buenos Aires, during a ceremony to inaugurate the Nova Piratininga thermoelectric plant in Sao Paulo. He stressed that his government is committed to the idea of the physical integration of the continent, noting that Brazil is involved in many different infrastructure projects, with Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, and Venezuela. He stated emphatically that the Guayaquil summit will be discussing how to integrate the continent's infrastructure, and ensure available credit for these projects. He also said that Ibero-American nations, including Mexico, are working together to formulate development policies. "We have a vision of a country, that is part of a region. Our national policy is not counterposed to a policy of Latin American integration."

Around the South American Continent: Chaos

In the first two weeks of July, the economic and social conditions across Ibero-America were in crisis. Review the situation in the Andean countries alone:

*Venezuela: Anywhere from 600,000 to over a million people marched in the capital, Caracas, on July 11, to demand President Hugo Chavez leave office, any way he can. The march—which stretched more than 20 blocks—took place without any major incident, despite widespread fears of a repeat of the shootings which occurred on April 11, and led to the temporary overthrow of Chavez. The protesters were not allowed to reach Miraflores, the Presidential seat. Chavez spent the day outside Caracas, on the military base in Maracay which played a key role in restoring him to power in April.

*Bolivia: With the June 30 elections having produced no coalition capable of governing the country, the Presidential candidate who came in second, coca grower leader Evo Morales, told Radio Centro of Ecuador on July 11, that there could be an armed insurrection in Bolivia, "at any moment." Asked if he would head up an armed insurrection, he answered that if he were chosen President, and if someone tried to stop him from taking office, there are forces "which are prepared for this ... but much will depend on the organizations." Morales has repeatedly threatened to organize protests to paralyze the country, should the legislature refuse to pass legislation brought by his party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS). He backs legislation to legalize the coca trade.

The election produced an impasse: former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada won a mere 22.46% of the vote, followed by Morales, who took second place, with 20.94% of the vote, only 721 votes more than the party which placed third, the New Republican Force (FRN). Congress is constitutionally mandated to elect one of the two front-runners, when no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, but both the FRN and Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) of Jaime Paz Zamora have announced that they will not vote for either frontrunner. It appears Sanchez de Lozada may be elected, by default, but with no political base of support to speak of in the Congress, or the country. The new President should be inaugurated Aug. 6.

*Colombia: One day after the Bolivian transfer of power is to occur, President-elect Alvaro Uribe Velez is to take office in Colombia—that is, Aug. 7. However, he faces a situation in which the largest narcoterrorist force in South America, the FARC, defies him to show how his government, with its limited military forces and inadequate international support, can protect the lives of local authorities. The FARC delivered an ultimatum in June to all local officials—mayors, judges, prosecutors, city councilmen—to resign, or be murdered. On July 9, Colombia's Caracol television played an intercepted communication between FARC Comandante Raul Reyes—Richard Grasso's esteemed partner—and FARC military commander "Mono Jojoy," telling him that the ultimatum "has expired," in Reyes's words. "Those who have not resigned, have to be executed. This is a first-order task of the national policy of the FARC."

*Peru: The Alejandro Toledo government is being overhauled after losing a showdown with various regional civic forces who opposed the government's privatization program. Foreign Minister Diego Garcia Sayan resigned July 8, triggering a cabinet crisis. Reports are that Wall Street's Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ("PPK") and Roberto Danino are being dumped from their posts as Economics and Prime Minister (respectively), to be replaced by a new team of more "leftie" Wall Street types, in a deal with former President Alan Garcia of APRA.

*Ecuador: Indigenous leaders hailed coca trade legalizer Evo Morales's spectacular electoral gains in Bolivia, and said this shows that they can elect their own Morales.

Mercosur Summit Stuck to Failed Axioms—Nervously

During the July 5 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the seven Presidents of Mercosur—the Common Market of the South (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, associate members Chile and Bolivia, and invited guest Vicente Fox of Mexico)—insisted that each of their nations has a "different" crisis, and therefore a "common front" is not necessary. But even though no one spoke about breaking with the IMF, reality asserted itself in several ways. Reflecting this were references to the global, and specifically the U.S., economic crisis, and to George W. Bush's lack of interest in the region.

Of particular importance were remarks by Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga and Brazil's Fernando Henrique Cardoso, concerning economic integration, reported above.

In a July 5 press conference, following a meeting of all seven Presidents, President Cardoso said that "each country has its own specific problem; it's not necessary to propose a coalition to negotiate." But the final communiqué signed by all seven Presidents, declares that they analyzed "with concern the current state of the international economic and financial system, which has been one of the sources contributing to the instability of the region, making difficult the possibilities of a sustainable economic development, with fairness and social justice." The communiqué expresses "solidarity with Argentina, a country in which ... these negative effects have reached the greatest gravity."

Finance Ministers and Central Bank presidents met separately for five hours, discussing the world financial crisis, and the region's susceptibility to "economic turbulence." In their communiqué, they called on multilateral lending agencies to help the nations of the region to "manage, in a timely fashion, adverse conjunctural situations."

Brazil President: Argentina Is A Nation, Not a Market

Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso highlighted the failing U.S. economy at the Mercosur summit. On arriving in Buenos Aires July 4, he stated that "at this time, we're not the ones doing poorly; it's the entire world. The difficulties in the U.S. economy are visible, although this doesn't take anything away from the U.S." On July 5, he added, "The U.S. is not in an easy situation now. It has to face extremely delicate problems. If rating agencies were able to rate (as they do in our countries) what is going on there, I think that many American companies would be cut for sure. I'm not happy about this, because when the American or Japanese economy falls, we all suffer. I'm saying that with concern."

In the same July 5 press conference, Cardoso said pointedly, "Argentina is not a market, it is a nation—and you don't destroy nations." Chile's President Ricardo Lagos added that international lending agencies must act quickly. "It's not possible for Argentina to correct what [the IMF] is asking it to correct, and then later, new pressures are exerted."

Bush Administration Thug Sent to Ibero-America

From July 7-12, Assistant Secretary of State Otto Reich paid a visit to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Reich, an Iran-Contra figure whose confirmation was only rammed through the Congress in a post-Sept. 11 frenzy, offered only aggressive repetitions that what is needed, is more "free trade and democracy." With the Presidents of South America openly deriding the Bush Administration's "ignorance" about the region, Reich was greeted with largely nasty press commentary along the way. At a background briefing about his trip on July 3, a Bush Administration official said no agreements or negotiations were on the agenda, but lots of "contacts" with locals.

Reich said in Brazil that that country is an "essential partner" of the U.S.—a laughable assertion given the tensions over trade. Argentina, however, got the hardball treatment which the Bush Administration has been dishing out: "Sign with the IMF, and then we'll talk."

The statement about Uruguay at the July 3 State Department pre-briefing summarized the degree of incompetence and buffoonery ruling Washington's assessment of the situation Ibero-America. The official stated that, in Reich's view, Uruguay (a completely bankrupt nation heading into a social explosion) "represents what we hope the hemisphere will become."

Soros's Coca Politicians Gain Ground; Cancel Peru Eradication Program

Simultaneous with the upsurge of George Soros's coca politicians in Bolivia, the same networks in neighboring Peru abruptly halted that government's program for forced eradication of coca, and suspended the crop substitution program jointly run with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Toledo government cut a deal, freezing the anti-drug programs with associations of coca-growers, who were striking and had threatened to move into the cities, reported the Miami Herald on July 3.

The announcement was made by Hugo Cabieses Cubas, an official of the government's anti-narcotics agency, Devida. He claimed that the programs were "too bureacratic." That Cabieses could be an "anti-drug" official is a scandal in itself. As EIR has reported, Cabieses was a leader of the Andean Council of Coca Producers (CAPHC), a group backed by Soros's drug-legalization machine which unites coca-growers throughout the Andean countries. In 1995, Bolivian Presidential candidate Evo Morales was its president. Bolivian authorities arrested nearly the entire leadership of the CAPHC in April 1995, when they met in Bolivia, and charged them with sedition. Cabieses was among those arrested, and then deported.

The takedown of the Peruvian and Bolivian anti-drug efforts is a major blow internationally to anti-drug efforts, as the anti-drug programs of the previous governments of Peru and Bolivia had reduced cultivation of coca (the raw material from which cocaine is made) by 60-75% in reent years.

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