IBERO-AMERICAN NEWS DIGEST
Brazil's Lula to Argentines: 'We Must Take Control of Our Destiny'
Brazil's President-elect Lula da Silva arrived in Argentina Dec. 2 "bearing a Brazilian message of hope" for the region, as he described it to his hosts. In statements that must have alarmed the financial sharks in London and on Wall Street, Lula spoke about the potential for a real strategic partnership between the two nations, overcoming "artificially created rivalries of the past." In response, he was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Argentines, who see in him the potential for sweeping away the IMF policies which have devastated their nation, and forging a regional alliance to lift both nations out of crisis.
In addition to a speech to a luncheon at the residence of President Eduardo Duhalde, Lula spoke at the office of the Buenos Aires Mayor, where he received a standing ovation from public employees and staff, and later addressed an overflow crowd at the Senate. Lula was emphatic in telling the Argentines not to give in to demoralization, despite the terrible crisis they have faced. Don't give up on politics, he said. "You don't have the right to turn away [from politics], to lose hope; it would be important if, in your next elections, you elect ethical candidates, committed to freedom and sovereignty."
He underscored that, "in recent years, wrong economic and political actions led us to successive crises. In trying to overcome economic crises, we ended up becoming dependent on foreign financial flows. With that, our ability to make sovereign decisions was diminished. We were left at the mercy of speculators, who many times, don't even exactly know where our countries are located." He added that "the message I received from my people in the elections is that this negative period must be left behind. We must retake control of our destiny, and build our future." Argentina and Brazil will build that future "together," he said. Relations between the two countries "must be assumed to be strategic.... The fate of Latin America depends a great deal on this."
In his brief, 24-hour stay, Lula held a private meeting with President Duhalde, which unexpectedly resulted in the setting of a Jan. 14 meeting of both countries' economics and foreign affairs officials to map out plans for rebuilding the four-nation (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) customs union, MercosurCommon Market of the Southwhich Lula stressed would be the basis for furthering Ibero-American integration. There must be "economic coordination" on a macro-regional level, Lula said, combined with a common industrial policy, and eventually a common currency. A Mercosur Parliament is also on the agenda. Without mentioning him by name, Lula chastised Argentina's former President Carlos Menem, who had done everything possible to destroy Mercosur.
"Mercosur must be transformed, not only into an effective customs union, but into a space for convergence of active industrial and agricultural policies. We seek a true integration," Lula said, citing the European Union as a model. "As President, I want us to cease being treated as Third World countries, so that we become economic technological powers. With Mercosur, it will be easier to combat the hunger of many of our brothers." Mercosur, he also emphasized, will negotiate as a blocnot as each individual countrywith the U.S. on the issue of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Argentine and Brazilian businessmen are chomping at the bit to sit down and resolve existing trade and other problems, so economic cooperation can begin. Alberto Echeberry, who was in charge of Latin American affairs under former President Raul Alfonsin, told Folha de Sao Paulo that Argentina could play a vital role in Lula's "zero hunger" program, by selling rice and beans to Brazil. "The zero-hunger plan is the first opportunity for integrating regional production. And, of course, for Argentina, the partnership with Brazil is fundamental for negotiating with other markets," Echeberry said.
Venezuela's Oil Workers Up the Ante; Join General Strike Against Chavez
Venezuela's oil sector joined the opposition's general strike on Dec. 5, upping the ante considerably in a very tense situation, and provoking an hysterical reaction from President Hugo Chavez. The nationwide strike, led by the country's main business and labor federations, which began Dec. 2, was initially called for 48 hours only, but the strike has been extended and continued. The strike is political, demanding Chavez convoke a non-binding referendum on whether he should stay, or leave office early, which Chavez has so far refused to do.
The battle is now coming down to how the strike affects Venezuela's oil production and exports. Scarcity of gasoline supplies inside Venezuela is already being felt in some areas of the country, but the big issue is exports. Venezuela supplies 13% of U.S. oil imports.
As late as Dec. 4, it was still unclear whether oil workers would join the strike, and there was talk among the leadership of winding the protest downeven as protest marches expanded in 15 cities around the country. But on Dec. 5 several oil tankers, manned by anti-Chavez crews from the state oil firm PdVSA, dropped anchor in Lake Maracaibo and refused to move, while others blocked the entrance to the shipping terminal at the Amuay refinery, the country's largest. Output at the Amuay refinery has dropped by 50%, and several other refineries are operating at minimal capacity, due to lack of personnel.
On Dec. 5, the price for international benchmark Brent crude oil rose by 2.5%. Fear that Venezuela won't be able to reliably supply the U.S.the U.S. is counting on Venezuela, in the event Mideast oil supplies are disrupted, should there be a war with Iraqmoved Chavez to immediately deploy the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard to seize the tankers, and to patrol oil installations, under a special "Plan Alcatraz" designed to keep operations going. Chavez addressed the nation to justify the decision, charging that the tanker crews had committed "acts of piracy," and that his government was the target of an "insurrectional strike with secret plans," to sabotage the economy and privatize PdVSA.
Former Oil Minister Humberto Calderon, also a former PdVSA president, warns, "This is looking like the most serious crisis to face the Venezuelan oil industry in its history. It's very dangerous to militarize PdVSA. All of this suggests there could be a more, very serious disruption to exports." PdVSA president Ali Rodriguez said there is about a week's supply of crude and products at bunkers, which means that transportation bottlenecks must be quickly removed. Using inexperienced military personnel to transport products such as liquified gas, or to take over complex refinery operations, poses a big safety risk.
Negotiations between the opposition and the government, mediated by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria have broken downagain. And, despite expectations that the strike might end, after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Dec. 4 voted up the opposition's request that the referendum on Chavez be held on Feb. 2, it continued.
The deadly shooting by three gunmen of anti-Chavez protesters gathered in a main Plaza in Caracas has intensified the crisis.
The LaRouche Doctrine for the Americas
Two new books reflecting Lyndon LaRouche's international policy proposalsin this case, for the Americasare about to be published in Ibero-America.
Under the title The LaRouche Doctrine for the Americas, LaRouche's Ibero-American Solidarity Movement (MSIA) of Brazil is publishing a Portuguese-language book containing the full documentation of Lyndon and Helga LaRouche's historic June 2002 visit to Brazil. The edition includes the four major policy speeches that LaRouche delivered during his week-long stay in the country, including his address upon being proclaimed an Honorary Citizen of Sao Paulo, Brazil by Sao Paulo's City Council.
The MSIA of Mexico is publishing a Spanish-language book, The Hour of Integration; March Towards a New Bretton Woods, which contains all of the major speeches delivered at the August 2002 founding conference in Guadalajara, of the Guadalajara Forum, including addresses by LaRouche and by former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo. A special appendix, "The LaRouche Doctrine for the Americas," features two of LaRouche's addresses from his Brazil visit, as well as his November 2000 essay, "In the Footsteps of John Quincy Adams; My Strategy for the Americas."
The two books are designed to help educate thinking citizens across Ibero-America as to the policy changes that are urgently needed to confront the existential crisis facing the entire planet.
Italian Government, Vatican To Advocate for Argentina at IMF
The Italian government and the Vatican will intervene on Argentina's behalf at the International Monetary Fund, and with the governments of the major industrialized nations which belong to the IMF. Argentina's Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna obtained commitments to this effect in his recent meetings with his Italian counterpart, Giulio Tremonti, with Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, as well as with Vatican officials, during his visit to Rome. He was told that the Italian government "is actively organizing strong support for Argentina" (about 6 million Argentines, or one-fifth of the population, are of Italian descent) among the governments of the G-7. Italy has offered "great understanding" of Argentina's crisis, Lavagna gratefully said.
In meetings at the Vatican, and speaking on President Duhalde's behalf, Lavagna also requested that the Vatican "transmit a message to governments and international agencies" on the urgent necessity of an agreement being reached with the IMF. According to Clarin Nov. 29, the Vatican's response was "favorable," and will probably be expressed in the form of a letter to IMF member governments. Lavagna discussed the details of Argentina's profound social crisis with Vatican Foreign Affairs Minister Msgr. Jean Luis Tauran of France, and also with Argentine Archbishop Luigi Sandri, who works with Tauran.
Italy is also concerned about the 350,000 Italians who collectively hold $13.5 billion in Argentine bonds on which the Argentine government defaulted. Frattini told Lavagna that he wanted some guarantees that those debts would be honored. Lavagna responded that this problem would be dealt with, once a foreign financial adviser were named to help Argentina in restructuring its foreign debt.
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