Ibero-American News Digest
Bolivian Government Falls, But Can Its Replacement Last?
Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada sent a formal letter of resignation to the Bolivian Congress late on Friday, Oct. 17, following a month of growing, nation-wide protests, which had reduced the cities to chaos, and in which nearly 90 people had been killed. On the day of his resignation, more than 100,000 demonstrators filled the streets of the capital La Paz, demanding his headsome of them, quite literally. In addition to the cocaleros and the mineworkers, the country's main labor federation, the Bolivian Workers Federation (COB), and much of the middle class had joined the protests and demanded the President's resignation.
Narcoterrorist interests were certainly involved in sowing the violence and chaos, but it was Sanchez de Lozada's own IMF dictatorship which has given the leftist synarchists the ammunition they needed for a project not limited to Bolivia. Bolivia is a microcosm of what will happen across Ibero-America, if the IMF's free-market looting is not stopped, and replaced by a program to build the great infrastructure projects required to industrialize the South American continent, as part of a global financial reorganization, which Lyndon LaRouche has proposed.
Vice President Carlos Mesa, who had resigned from the governing coalition on Oct. 13, but not from his post as Vice President, was sworn in as President the same day. Whether Mesa, a historian and journalist, without any powerbase of his own in the country, will be able to form a stable government, remains an open question, and, in his acceptance speech to Congress, he raised the possibility of calling new elections. With thousands of protestors still on the move around the country, the military remains heavily deployed in La Paz and other cities.
Before Mesa had been sworn in, COB leader Jaime Solares declared the Congress is no longer capable of running the country, and called for a People's Assembly to be held on the following Monday and Tuesday to chose a new government. The Movement to Socialism (MAS) Party, led by coca-producer and drug legalization asset Evo Morales, initially endorsed the selection of Mesa, but Morales made clear he is leaving his party's options open, to wage war on the new government, at any point.
One alarmed EIR source on the scene, reported that the demonstrators on Oct. 17 were seeking a "blood tribute," and had destroyed streets, bridges, and property. A second source explained that the majority of the demonstrators were youths, enraged by Sanchez de Lozada's sellout of the country to the foreign creditors.
Sanchez de Lozada had been clinging to power through most of Oct. 17, with backing from the U.S. State Department. On Friday morning, a joint delegation sent by the Presidents of Argentina and Brazil arrived in La Paz to talk with all parties, and reportedly, were one of the factors finally convincing Sanchez de Lozada that he had to go.
Regionally, the Jacobin wing of the Synarchist International is deployed to spread the conflict. The Bolivarian Congress of the Peoples, created by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, put out a call for an Ibero-American mobilization "towards the Bolivian Embassies," in support of the uprising, and the Bolivian Embassy in Quito, Ecuador was occupied on Oct. 17, by supporters of the Bolivian uprising. The Bolivarian Congress includes the likes of the Brazilian MST Landless Movement.
Bolivian Banking System Could Collapse Any Day
Bolivia's Central Bank was forced to transfer $55 million to prop up local banks, fearing that the social upheaval of past weeks could cause a run on the banks, Bolivian dailies reported on Oct. 15. These were Central Bank funds deposited abroad, which were brought back into the country on an American Airlines flight; the understanding is that more funds would be made available, if necessary. Oct. 14 was a bank holiday, but banks were scheduled to open for business on the 15th. Some rumors circulated about a possible deposit freeze, which was nervously denied by the head of the Bolivian Private Banking Association, who tried to assure everyone that, "we're not experiencing the same situation as Argentina did." The Central Bank reportedly has enough reserves to deal with three months of emergency, of which the $55 million is the first disbursement.
Reports are beginning to come in from various locations around the country on the financial losses caused by the social chaos of recent weeks. The Santa Cruz region alone has lost $9 million.
Euphoric Chavez Commemorates Che Guevara's Guerrilla Wars
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in a truly euphoric-aggressive state, as the Synarchists' Jacobin movement explodes across South America. Symptomatic of Chavez's state of mind, was the paeon to guerrilla warfare he delivered at the Oct. 8 opening of the Organization of American States' "High-Level Meeting on Poverty," held on Venezuela's Margarita Island. Chavez had made such speeches to "people's power" forums often enough, but this was delivered to high-level government officials from around the continent, immediately following a speech by OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.
Chavez commemorated the death of Cuban-Argentine guerrilla Che Guevara; Che, he said, was assassinated in Bolivia in the 1960s, because he fought against poverty, just as his (Chavez's) government does today. He defended the 1960s guerrilla movement in Venezuela, whose members, he said, had been "assassinated" by the "democratic" governments. He defended his government's actions to take the "criminals" of Venezuela's leading private television news station, Globovision, off the air; announced that his government was hosting the "First International Meeting of Resistance and Solidarity with the Indian Peoples and Peasants," from Oct. 11-14; and charged that the U.S. is preparing a coup to overthrow him.
Chavez opened that "Indian Peoples and Peasants" meeting on Oct. 11, with a call for those present to "globalize life." To vacillate is to lose; this is the time to be decisive, he told this appreciative crowd, as he paid tribute to such leaders of bloody Indian revolts as Venezuela's Guaicaipuro and Peru's Tupac Amaru. The official agenda of the meeting is to coordinate actions to build the "Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) proposed by Chavez as the counter to the Free Trade Accord of the Americas (FTAA), and actions to defeat the war on drugs and the war against terrorism.
Among the various regional forces attending are leaders of Brazil's Landless Movement (MST), its international allies in the "Peasant Way," Ecuador's Pachakutik Movement, El Salvador's Farabundo Marti National Liberation, Colombia's Communist Party, and Evo Morales's cocaleros, the Movement for Socialism (MAS) of Bolivia.
Brazilian Science Minister Pushes More Nuclear Energy
Brazil should make a decision on building its third nuclear plant, before the end of this year, Science and Technology Minister Roberto Amaral stated in Paris on Oct. 11, where he was attending the annual UNESCO meeting in Paris. Amaral is all for building it. The limits of Brazil's dependence on hydroelectric power were suffered in the great electricity shortage of 2002 (when rationing had to be imposed), and to stay dependent solely on hydroelectric power would leave Brazil exposed to new energy crises. The only reason there hasn't been another energy crisis already, is because of the economic "recession" in the country, he said.
The big problem is finding the resources to finance the construction of Angra III, he said, so Brazil is searching for private, national and international companies which could become partners in building the plant.
O Estado de Sao Paulo accompanied its story on Amaral's remarks, with article filed by its French correspondent on the renewed debate across Europe, on the need to go nuclear again.
Russia and Brazil Expand Space and Military Cooperation
Russia and Brazil consider themselves strategic partners, and intend to expand cooperation in space and aircraft industries, the Defense Ministers of the two countries announced at a joint press conference given in Brasilia Oct. 11, at the conclusion of a visit by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to Brazil. See Russia Digest for details.
Brazilian Scientists Celebrate Chinese Manned Space Flight
Brazil and China have been partners in space for the last 14 years, in a joint program known as CBERSremote sensor satellitein which China developed the first two of its remote-sensor satellites with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE). On the eve of China's leap into manned space flight, the Brazilian director of the CBERS project, Luiz Antonio dos Reis Bueno, emphasized that China's next step shows that the CBERS partnership is "a correct and important one" for Brazil. The coordinator of INPE's international space program, Petronio Noronha, commented that China's entry into manned space must be seen with "immense respect."
Clinton Sells Snake Oil to Mexico
Former President Bill Clinton told Mexican leaders to bite the bullet and implement the IMF's "structural reforms," during a quick trip to Mexico in early October. Clinton was the star speaker at an "Economic Growth and Globalization International Seminar" organized by the Banco de Mexico (Mexico's Central Bank) and the Mexican Senate on Oct. 9. Some 100 Mexican legislators and officials from the central bank were present, as he urged the legislature to "do what has to be done" to speed up the implementation of these reforms, in order to boost "confidence," and thereby attract foreign capital. "I support in large measure the efforts to achieve structural reforms in this country, because I believe that they are going to help you bring more money from abroad, and encourage Mexicans to take greater risks within their own country," he said. I know that they are difficult to do, but that's how you get money, he argued.
The "reforms" being demanded of Mexico by financier interests today, center on the privatization of its electricity and oil industries, but also include imposing a VAT tax on basic consumption (food and medicine), and eliminating regulations defending labor rights.
The story going around, is that Clinton received $100,000 for this speech. Also noted by the press, was that he received a warm "abrazo" (embrace) from his "friend," Carlos Selim, a Mexican businessman who is said to be the richest man in Ibero-America.
Argentina's 'Informal' Economy: No Pensions for Retirees
Only four of seven Argentine retirees receive a pension, which translates into 1.2 million people over the age of 65. According to a study done by the Equis consulting firm, by the year 2010, four out of every 10 retirees, or 1.6 million people, will receive no pension. Of that number, 80% will live in homes officially classified as "poor." Equis attributes this situation to the growth of the "informal," or underground economy, in which people work off the books, with no benefits, health insurance, or pensions, and also pay no taxes or contributions to retirement funds. The growth of this sector over the past 10 years directly reflects the destruction of Argentina's physical economy. In 1990, 25.3% of the labor force worked in the informal sector; but, by 2003, that figure had risen to 45.1%. During the same period, unemployment rose from 6% to 21.4%, while underemployment rose from 8.1% to 18.8%.
Recently, President Nestor Kirchner has been discussing the necessity of "reforming" the social security system, to make it more fair. But unless he addresses the destruction of the productive economy, which has driven hundreds of thousands into "informality," anything he does will be useless.
Brazilian Neo-Con Drools Over Beast-Man Schwarzenegger
"Midia Sem Mascara" (Media Unmasked), of neo-con nut Olavo de Cavalho, posted an article ranting against the "leftist ... propaganda and brainwashing" against Arnold Schwarznegger, which speaks of his "supposed admiration of Hitler," which might have happened when he was 13 years old." Columnist Rodrigo C. dos Santos hails the fact that groper Schwarznegger, a supporter of less state intervention and more personal liberty (!), threw out Governor Davis and his "incompetent ... populist" economics. Bringing the battle home to Brazil, dos Santos concludes, that if the choice is between President Lula and 'The Terminator,' I don't have the least doubt: I'll take the latter!"
Olavo, who's on the neo-con Hudson Institute circuit, still hasn't gotten over Lyndon LaRouche's public recommendation in 2002, that he be treated for rabies, for his raving, anti-communist stupidity. There is only one article posted to the "Media Unmasked" homepage: a Portuguese-language translation of the June 9, 2003 screech by the Wall Street Journal's Robert Bartley, over the fact that Lyndon LaRouche is being taken seriously, in U.S. institutions.
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