[News] Latin America Tells Bush to "Get Out!"

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/fuentes03262007.html

March 26, 2007


Continental Unity


Latin America Tells Bush to "Get Out!"

By FREDERICO FUENTES

Shortly before leaving to inspect what was once viewed as the US's 
backyard, US President George Bush told a March 5 event organised by 
the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, "I want to talk about [an] 
important priority for our country, and that is helping our 
neighbours to the south of us build a better and productive life". 
Explaining that he was embarking on a trip to Brazil, Uruguay, 
Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, Bush said: "These are countries that 
are part of a region that has made great strides toward freedom and 
prosperity. They've raised up new democracies, They've enhanced and 
undertaken fiscal policies that bring stability.

"Yet, despite the advance, tens of millions in our hemisphere remain 
stuck in poverty, and shut off from the promises of the new century. 
My message to those trabajadores y campesinos [workers and peasants] 
is, you have a friend in the United States of America. We care about 
your plight."

Those present responded with a round of applause. Yet unsurprisingly, 
the reaction to Bush south of the border left no-one in Washington 
doubting that the neighbours are revolting.

In Brazil, Bush proposed that President Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva 
join forces to create a new ethanol alliance, given that the two 
countries produce 70% of the planet's supply between them. However 
Lula's request for a reduction in tariffs on ethanol and agricultural 
products going into the US was rebuffed.

Lula responded by declaring, "We want to maintain this historic 
relation without us renouncing our greater commitment, which is this 
whole process of the strengthening of Mercosur [the Common Market of 
the South], the construction of the Community of South American 
Nations and the process of integration that we are engaged in."

Meanwhile, tens of thousands took to the streets of Sao Paulo to say 
"Bush, get out!"

'War criminal'

In Uruguay, not wanting to spoil his photo opportunities, Bush met 
with Uruguayan President Tabare Vasquez in a tiny tourist resort, 
well away from the massive demonstrations in the capital that 
denounced the presence of a "killer" and "war criminal".

While the Frente Amplio government is generally referred to as part 
of the rise of leftist governments in the region, a demobilised 
population, along with a rightward shift internally within the FA and 
conflicts with Argentina over the proposed construction of a paper 
mill on their shared border seem to be pushing Uruguay into the orbit 
of the US. Yet Bush didn't leave with much apart from some nice 
photos of his barbeque in Colonia.

Even in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, where the host governments 
are more firmly in the pocket of the US, Bush did not get the desired 
response. Focussing his intervention on defending the wall of shame 
being built to keep out Mexicans and others who want to cross the 
border to the US, and the forced deportation of more than 18,000 
immigrants last year (780,000 Guatemalans are currently living and 
working without proper documentation in the US), Bush managed to put 
the locals offside--so much so that the after visiting a Mayan 
temple, the indigenous people carried out a cleansing ritual to warn 
off evil spirits.

This chain of events led Eduardo Dimas to write in Progreso Weekly, 
"Whenever the United States experiences a failure in its policy 
toward Latin America--and recently it has suffered plenty--experts, 
analysts and observers immediately begin to make statements to the 
effect that the problem is that the US government does not have a 
defined, 'delineated' policy toward the region."

Yet according to Dimas, this view is wrong: "There is a policy toward 
Latin America, but it is an absolutely absurd one, overtaken long ago 
by events and time. Except for a few moments in history, the region 
was the 'safe backyard' where US administrations could do and undo at will.

"The scheme of domination for the past 60 years--and even before--and 
the links of dependency between the Latin American oligarchies and 
the Empire have been overtaken by the reality they themselves created 
and perhaps do not understand.

"The truth is that many changes have occurred in Latin America in 
recent times, to the degree that the economic and social situation 
has awakened people, made them understand what their interests are, 
and--in some countries more, in some, less--that awakening has led to 
new nationalist or progressive, or openly leftist and socialist governments."


New plan of action

This new situation was symbolised by the visit by Venezuelan 
President Hugo Chavez to Argentina--on the other side of the river to 
Colonia--the same day that Bush was in Uruguay. Addressing a mass 
rally at the Ferro Stadium, Chavez asked which direction the border 
was and, along with 40,000 others, turned to face it and shout 
"Gringo, go home!"

Luis Bilbao wrote in America XXI that the rejection of Bush's tour 
"was not only manifested in the generalised rejection by the people", 
which he said would multiply if Washington decided to attack Iran. 
"Now, the anti-imperialist clamor has a program and plan of action: 
the program of the Bolivarian revolution and the project of South 
American unity, which take form through the voice of the Venezuelan 
president."

Writing about this new situation for the Canadian Socialist Voice, 
John Riddell commented that "Mass movements marked by a clear class 
polarization have given rise to governments that preside over a 
capitalist state and take measures for structural reform within 
capitalism. Such governments vary enormously in character. Some are 
prone to cave in to the pressures of imperialism and local 
pro-imperialist sectors. To some degree, and in some countries, there 
has been a shift in the locus of action from the streets to government.

"But the development as a whole is not a step backward. Rather, the 
counterattack against neoliberalism is profoundly progressive Above 
all, Latin American countries are asserting and realizing their 
sovereignty against foreign domination. The Empire has been forced 
into retreat. Improved conditions are being won for national economic 
development. Even if this process does not go beyond capitalism, it 
creates better conditions of life and struggle for working people and 
deserves wholehearted support by socialists everywhere."


Continental unity

Today in Latin America, the unfolding rebellion is taking the form of 
a movement towards continental unity, which Bush's tour was aimed at 
countering. While the struggle may not be one for socialism in the 
first instance, the Venezuelan revolution, which has explicitly made 
socialism its goal, shows how these rebellions against imperialism 
and its local quislings can develop into open confrontation with the 
capitalist system. As they do, those leading the struggles are forced 
to decide which side of the class divide they are on.

Projects such as the Bank of the South, Petrosur, the strengthening 
of Mercosur and its incorporation of new member countries, while far 
from socialist, shift the balance of forces in favour of the 
oppressed nations against imperialism. They can help create the 
conditions for the popular movements to strengthen their 
anti-imperialist consciousness and pursue more audacious objectives.

That is why, as Alberto Muller Rojas, who from retirement was 
reinstated by Chavez as an active general in the Venezuelan army and 
is now also on the committee to help set up Venezuela's new unified 
socialist party, wrote on March 3: "The objective of the Yankees is 
to hold back the process of South American integration, whose final 
result depends on the alliance between Argentina and Brazil. That is 
what presents a threat to the empire.

"The hostility of the neoconservatives to the Caracas regime is only 
an indirect maneuver to impede the political unification of the 
subcontinent, made effective by the catalysing role that [the 
Venezuelan] government plays, which has allowed the acceleration of 
this dynamic ... [This] offers the possibility of converting the 
region, at least as it is known today, into a grand autonomous 
participant in the international system."

Venezuela is showing today--as Cuba has for the past six 
decades--that only socialism can present a real future for this 
movement. Each step forward in this direction deserves our support 
and solidarity.

Frederico Fuentes writes for Australia's 
<http://www.greenleft.org.au/>Green Left Weekly. He can be reached 
at: <mailto:fred.fuentes at gmail.com>fred.fuentes at gmail.com


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