Ibero-American News Digest
South American Community of Nations Is Born
Presidents and/or high-level representatives of 12 South American nations, representing the nations of the Andean Community; Mercosur; and Chile, Surinam, and Guyana, met in Cuzco, Peru Nov. 7-9 to found a new entity designed to bring about the "economic, political, and infrastructural unity" of South America, as well as to serve as a "balancing factor" in hemispheric relations, according to spokesmen for the event. Mexico and Panama sent representatives with observer status. The newly dubbed South American Community of Nations is intended to facilitate broad integration among the nations of the subcontinent over the course of the next 10-15 years, in areas including economics and finance, trade and infrastructure, energy and technology, culture, and more.
The first project announced under the community's auspices is an ocean-to-ocean highway, joining the Pacific to the Atlantic, at a cost of $700 million. The project is a Brazilian-Peruvian one, with Brazil providing the bulk of the financing.
The community is the brainchild of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and has been embraced with varying degrees of enthusiasm by other South American heads of state. How it ultimately evolves will depend on whether the heads of state within the community are prepared to break with the current IMF monetary and financial system or not.
Fox Threatens To Take Congress to Court Over 2005 Budget
With an overwhelming 332-146 vote on Dec. 14, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies refused to make the nearly 70 changes in the 2005 budget which President Vicente Fox insisted be done. The only changes made by the Congress were to correct minor spelling, grammar, and mathematical errors. Immediately following the vote, Interior Minister Santiago Creel announced that Fox would challenge the Constitutional right of Congress to set budget policy, in an unprecedented suit before the Supreme Court.
The fight erupted on Nov. 18, when the Congress first passed a budget substantially different from the budget proposal submitted to Congress by the Finance Ministry. The Congressional version of the budget raises spending by 10% more than the government wished, and reallocates billions away from bank bail-out funds. Fox first threatened to veto the Congressional version of the budget, because it is the Chamber of Deputies' clearly designated responsibility, his legal team opted to bring a Supreme Court challenge, which he has no guarantee of winning.
Congress has now adjourned, and is not scheduled to resume full sessions until Feb. 1. Nor is the Court expected to hear the case immediately. The government reportedly intends to assure continued funding for the government, by contesting only a small part of the budget, so the rest can become operative.
Mont Pelerin Pushes Silver Standard To Destroy Mexico
An unusual advertisement calling for "A Silver Coin for Mexico," signed by 176 members of the Journalists' Club, was run in two major Mexico dailies this past month (in El Universal Nov. 25, and Reforma Nov. 29). The ad urged adoption of a bill being prepared for the Mexican Congress which would permit the circulation of the one-ounce silver "Liberty" commemorative coin as legal tender in Mexico, in the name of supporting "popular savings and our sovereignty."
The bill is no mere proposal for a new silver coin, but the front end of an eight-year campaign by the fanatic "Austrian School" ideologues of Friedrich von Hayek's Mont Pelerin Society to put Mexico on the silver standard, for the explicit purpose of eliminating any capacity whatsoever of the Mexican government to issue credit, including through an autonomous Central Bank.
The leading figure behind this fascist campaign is Hugo Salinas Price, brother of top Mont Pelerinite Roberto Salinas Price. Hugowho wrote a book, Silver, The Way for Mexico, in 1997, and founded the "Pro-Silver Association," to push the campaignargues that "silverizing" Mexico would more effectively strip Mexico of any monetary sovereignty, than either dollarization or a currency board. Under this scheme, the supply of currency in circulation would be tied to the amount of silver produced in Mexico; i.e., the monetary emission of Mexico would be placed in the hands of the silver mine owners. (EIR in Mexico is investigating who owns Mexico's silver mines today.) Were such insanity ever to be adopted, it would have a stunning deflationary effect upon the country, and impose more violent austerity than Mexico has yet suffered.
Hugo Salinas Price also proposes silver become the basis for Ibero-American integration, with siren songs about how silver could "free" the continent from the dollar and "the general Americanization of culture." Using the U.S. economic crisis as grist for this mill, he met in October with eight state governors to discuss his proposal, winning support, at least, from Amalia Garcia, the new Governor of Zacatecas, the leading silver-producing state in Mexico.
On Oct. 27, a group of Congressmen announced they would be drafting a bill to implement the silver standard plan, and in November, the "journalists" added to the drumbeat. Among the signers were Arturo Damm Arnal of the Von Mises Society (another "Austrian School" outpost), Sergio Aguayo, the top Project Democracy agent in Mexico (a drug legalizer), and such lesser lights as former LaRouche associate-turned-fascist "Hispanidad" convert, Marivilia Carrasco.
Halliburton Hires Ibero-Americans as Mercenaries for Iraq
According to research done by the Colombian daily El Tiempo, a representative of Halliburton Latin America is recruiting recently retired Colombian military officers into a mercenary army, which is being deployed to Iraq to protect oil and gas pipelines and private companies, and to serve as bodyguards to executives there. The experience of the Colombians in fighting guerrillas and paramilitaries for decades is considered a big plus in their favor. The Colombians, 16 of whom have already left for Iraq, and others of whom will be heading out in January, are reportedly being offered salaries of $7,000 a month, paid vacations in Western Europe every three months, and life insurance coverage of $60,000. The catch is that their contracts are for one year, and if they abandon their jobs before that time, they must pay back every cent. Perhaps Halliburton doesn't expect many to survive that long.
An ad was taken out in El Tiempo calling on retired Colombian military personnel to hire out for the job, but El Tiempo interviewed the Halliburton rep in Colombia, who denied his company's involvement in this recruiting, and claimed Halliburton's name is being abused in this operation. El Tiempo nonetheless concludes, "This is the first evidence we have of these activities in Colombia. It is estimated that currently, this private Armyincluding Chileans, Spaniards, South Africans, Irish, and now, Colombiansis 10,000 strong, nearly one for every ten Marines" over there.
Argentine Government Decrees Pay Raise
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner decreed that wages of both the private and public sectors be raised, a move that most certainly will irritate the IMF bankers. Effective Jan. 1, private-sector workers will receive an 11% raise (100 pesos) and state-sector workers who make less than 1,250 pesos a month will receive a 13% raise. These increases will not be subject to tax deductions for pensions or health care. This follows the recently announced increases in year-end bonuses for retirees, and subsidies for poor families.
Pension Pirateers Across Ibero-America Rake It In
According to a 2003 study by Global Action on Aging, investment managers in Argentina's privatized pension system take half the money. "Almost half of workers' pension contributions pay for insurance and charges by the fund managers" in Argentina's pension system, privatized in 1990.
Other Ibero-American privatized pension systems turn over between 18% and 32% of the workers' contributions to investment banks and managers as fees, etc.; but Argentina's system is even worse. Mid-1990s assessments of Argentina's privatization, during the Carlos Menem regime which started it, were glowing; but since then, the system has collapsed, and two-thirds of workers are no longer contributing to it.
Cuba Runs Exercises for Possible U.S. Military Invasion
For the first time in two decades, Cuban President Fidel Castro has ordered up tens of thousands of Cuban soldiers and civilians to carry out maneuvers against a simulated U.S. invasion. The exercise, dubbed "Bastion 2004," was launched on Dec. 13, and headed up by Fidel's brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro. The maneuvers are expected to last a full week, and are intended to demonstrate to Washington, in the aftermath of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions by U.S. forces, that Cuba will be ready for whatever comes. The Cuban concept of warfare is based on "war of all the people," borrowed from Vietnam, and meaning that all citizens of every age will be incorporated into armed "militias," prepared to repel invaders at whatever cost.
On the weekend, millions of Cubans will undergo basic military training as part of the operation.
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