There have been resounding victories of the political left in Latin America, like in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay, and they are going firmly towards the consolidation of the South American countries. In addition, the United States decided to resume relations with Cuba after more than 50 years of broken diplomatic relations, what for many is a victory of the Cuban revolution. But now the question is: Is the United States willing to respect the free determination of the people in this region? By now the answer is very clear. The U.S. is ready to intervene in Venezuela. Besides economic sanctions on Venezuela, President Obama issued an executive order declaring Venezuela to be an extraordinary threat to the security of the U.S. Regardless of the nonsense of such a declaration, it is clear by historical precedents this executive order is a war warning against Venezuela [NBC Mar 9-2015]
In addition, previously, president, Barack Obama had proposed on 2014 the creation of centers of “innovation” in Latin America and Africa to form “leaders” to strengthen the “civil society.” This proposal already mean that U.S. has prepared very difficult times for the progressive governments in the region. Many consider this a new Cold War, no longer between capitalism and socialism, but among those who propose a new alternative, more just for the masses, and those who control everything, but that shall bring all their resources to break the democratic progress of the people of Latin America. It’s important to remember the Monroe Doctrine adopted in 1823 that states the U.S. must be in control of Latin America – this doctrine came even before South America got free from Spain (Ayacucho December 9, 1824).
It’s not a secret that Latin America has suffered a constant aggression from Washington for more than two hundred years [Daily Koz Aug 5-2006]. All the tactics and strategies of dirty war have been applied to the entire region, from media war, economic sabotage, infiltration by paramilitaries, biological and chemical terrorism and direct military invasions [Truth Out May 23-2015]. All of this to install and protect brutal dictators or electoral systems sold out to corporate interests – for the U.S. “all options are on the table.” At the end of the day the rule we live for is “we do not apologize for anything,” or what is better know as “the excempcionalism doctrine” that gives us license to do whatever we want. Keep in mind the CIA tried at least 638 ways to kill Fidel Castro, and there were multiple attempts against Hugo Chavez, like the 2002 coup and the Daktari attempt. Likewise, Nicolas Maduro, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales have been targets in other assassination attempts. Just recently an Israeli military agent was capture purporting to be a Chilean, while on the Venezuelan sea [La iguana Jan 23-2015]. It must be noted that the extremist organization ISIS supposedly issued a death threat against Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez, and eventually it was found the source of the threat may have come from somewhere in the U.S. President Fernandez denounced this stating that if something happens to her, we must not look at the Middle East, but to the North. We must always keep in mind that the U.S. intelligence has been deeply involved in the drug trade, and therefore has deals the organized crime, then it’s not hard to pull a targeted assassination. [CIA Apr 26-2007/ Democracy Now Oct 9-2014].
After the attacks of September 11 2001, the U.S. decided to replace their regular military bases with a much higher number of FOL (operational site outside) and CSL (Shared Site Security), with little military personnel but equipped with advanced war technology and spy drones like the Orion C-130 and the AWACS. Since then, in a short time, the amount of U.S. military installations abroad reached the unusual amount of 865 bases type FOL or CSL deployed in 46 countries and many of them are in Latin America. These base are part of the domination strategy for the U.S. For example the Manta base in Ecuador was an important part in at least two events, in the 2002 coup in Venezuela, and the the 2008 bombing of a FARC encampment in the Ecuadorian territory, directly coordinated by the CIA (Angostura attack).
Since Hugo Chavez became president of Venezuela in 1998, a chain a events have taken place revealing a clear hostile U.S. agenda against Latin America. However, it will be helpful to understand this issue taking as starting point when Ecuador finally closed the U.S. base in Manta in 2009. Washington responded to that announcement immediately, back in 2008 , by reactivating the IV Fleet (deactivated in 1948) with the specific mission to monitor the atlantic coast of South America. A month later, the South American States met in Brasilia and created the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) as a response to the the reactivation of the IV Fleet and, in March 2009, the South American Defense Council was created. A few weeks later, the U.S. got a base in Palanquero, Colombia. In June, with the support of the American base at Soto Cano in Honduras, occurs the coup against Manuel Zelaya, whose government had become a strong ally of the South American states. In August, Colombia ceded seven military bases for the U.S . And in October Panama gave four more bases to the U.S. And in one of the last hostile decision from the U.S. reactivated the Southern Command (SouthCom) in Miami in 2010 with the purpose of targeting manifestations of radical “populism.”
In this way, Venezuela is surrounded by 13 American bases in Colombia, Panama, Aruba and Curacao, as well as by aircraft carriers, by the SouthCom and the IV Fleet. In addition, Colombia proposed to join NATO. In fact, the Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, stated that the guerilla groups are no longer a concern – the new issue at hand is an eventual war with Venezuela [La Iguana Mar 31-2015]. In a few years the U.S. went from having 16 military bases in South America to more than 25 very strategically located. Note that there are 25 U.S military bases surrounding Brazil. In the very particular case of Colombia, on their bases the Colombian government has renounced to any kind of control, therefore the U.S. has free decision-making power over what is being done in those bases. Also, there are 10 bases in Peru, and at least one base in Chile, an country that has received around $45 M in military aid during a six years [Peoples World Apr 26-2012]. However, there are two strategic bases that we have to pay attention to, in Piura Peru and in Palenquero Colombia, where it’s said the armed forces of the U.S. can easily lead a large-scale intervention in any direction [Polovorin Feb 5-2010]. Keep in mind, that in this 2015 the U.S. increased its military personal in Peru from 125 to 3. 200 [RT Feb 22-2015]. It is speculated that the Venezuelan elites back on 2013 purchased 18 war airplanes that were stationed in the U.S. and in Colombia [Comtraigerencia Jun 9-2013 / RT Jun 10-2013]. Those war planes are the ones that probably were to deployed on the 2014 valentines bombing – fortunately enough that attempt was discovered and neutralized. However, to make matters worse, since Colombia has no control on the bases they ceded to the U.S., it is said the U.S. already installed nuclear weapons for a possible conflict coming in the region [La Iguana Apr 18-2015]
Besides the military bases, the U.S. has intervened militarily many countries, and always hiding behind the slogan of protecting “U.S. interests.” Just on 2013, AFRICOM, the U.S. military for Africa, carried out a total of 546 “activities,” which represents a 217% increase since 2008, when the command was established [AlterNet Mar 27-2014]. In the case of Latin America we have the famous SOA (School of the Americas) which currently was renamed WHINSEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) just to avoid any association with the criminal acts of the past. This school is the learning base for many military and police personnel that operate in Latin American, and many times those graduates have been involved in massacres and even leading criminal groups such as the zetas of Mexico [Aljazeera Oct 20-2010]. One important date to remember is November 16, of 1989 when six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter were murdered in El Salvador. It is an important date because human rights groups protest against the school and its criminal acts perpetrated by the trainees. You can find more about the SOA on the book School of Assassins by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and on “The Truth Commission Report to the United Nations” dated March 15 1993.
The violent and criminal U.S. policy toward Latin America is an open wound that’s still bleeding. The U.S. pentagon back in the 70’s and 80’s trained more than 60.000 Latin American army officials to fight the leftist movements in what is denominated the X Project. This project went as far as implementing manuals on how to torture. These manuals were finally banned by the U.S. congress in 1991. We must note in every major event of humans rights violation in Latin America we find officials that were trained in the U.S. Just in el Salvador in the 80’s these death squads were responsible for the murder of 80.ooo people murdered – El Salvador at the time was a country of 3M inhabitants [Hojilla Mar 17-2014].
It is true the U.S. has soften its policy towards Cuba, but Let’s take into account that Assada Shakur member of the leftist group the Black Panthers was sentenced to prison in a totally unfair process by the death of the policeman Werner Foerster. She escaped from prison in 1973 and today she is a political refugee in Cuba. In May of 2013 the FBI placed Shakur in the list of most wanted terrorists and put a bounty for $ 2M for her capture. Under the current U.S. policy, the army could intervene in Cuba to apprehend Shakur. Beyond that, the $ 2M are a temptation purposely placed for instigating a betrayal on the Cuban government. Remember that the CIA was directly responsible for the bombing of Ecuador in 2008 at the time Colombia claimed they were after Raul Reyes. Keep in mind that since 2001, the U.S. stated as legitimate to kill any enemies of the U.S. regardless of where en the planet they are.
Anyway, the possibility of the U.S, intervening militarily seems to be remote – so far. However, do not forget that the U.S. was always behind the most violent acts to remove disobedient governments to its Washington consensus. The most emblematic case was obviously on September 11, 1973 Chile when they removed to Allende to install the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. But more recently the US was the main author in coups either failed as in Venezuela (2002), Ecuador (2010) and Bolivia (2008), or either with success such as in Haiti (2004), Honduras (2009) and Paraguay (2012). Furthermore, there are evidence of U.S. military personnel in conflict in Ukraine [La Iguana Jan 26-2015]. Today, there is clear evidence of a coup d’etat in progress in several countries of left-wing tendency [Brazil / Argentina2 / Bolivia / Venezuela / Ecuador23].
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For Latin American Democracy . . . “All Options Are on the Table”
[UPDATED MARCH 31 2015]
There have been resounding victories of the political left in Latin America, like in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay, and they are going firmly towards the consolidation of the South American countries. In addition, the United States decided to resume relations with Cuba after more than 50 years of broken diplomatic relations, what for many is a victory of the Cuban revolution. But now the question is: Is the United States willing to respect the free determination of the people in this region? By now the answer is very clear. The U.S. is ready to intervene in Venezuela. Besides economic sanctions on Venezuela, President Obama issued an executive order declaring Venezuela to be an extraordinary threat to the security of the U.S. Regardless of the nonsense of such a declaration, it is clear by historical precedents this executive order is a war warning against Venezuela [NBC Mar 9-2015]
In addition, previously, president, Barack Obama had proposed on 2014 the creation of centers of “innovation” in Latin America and Africa to form “leaders” to strengthen the “civil society.” This proposal already mean that U.S. has prepared very difficult times for the progressive governments in the region. Many consider this a new Cold War, no longer between capitalism and socialism, but among those who propose a new alternative, more just for the masses, and those who control everything, but that shall bring all their resources to break the democratic progress of the people of Latin America. It’s important to remember the Monroe Doctrine adopted in 1823 that states the U.S. must be in control of Latin America – this doctrine came even before South America got free from Spain (Ayacucho December 9, 1824).
It’s not a secret that Latin America has suffered a constant aggression from Washington for more than two hundred years [Daily Koz Aug 5-2006]. All the tactics and strategies of dirty war have been applied to the entire region, from media war, economic sabotage, infiltration by paramilitaries, biological and chemical terrorism and direct military invasions [Truth Out May 23-2015]. All of this to install and protect brutal dictators or electoral systems sold out to corporate interests – for the U.S. “all options are on the table.” At the end of the day the rule we live for is “we do not apologize for anything,” or what is better know as “the excempcionalism doctrine” that gives us license to do whatever we want. Keep in mind the CIA tried at least 638 ways to kill Fidel Castro, and there were multiple attempts against Hugo Chavez, like the 2002 coup and the Daktari attempt. Likewise, Nicolas Maduro, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales have been targets in other assassination attempts. Just recently an Israeli military agent was capture purporting to be a Chilean, while on the Venezuelan sea [La iguana Jan 23-2015]. It must be noted that the extremist organization ISIS supposedly issued a death threat against Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez, and eventually it was found the source of the threat may have come from somewhere in the U.S. President Fernandez denounced this stating that if something happens to her, we must not look at the Middle East, but to the North. We must always keep in mind that the U.S. intelligence has been deeply involved in the drug trade, and therefore has deals the organized crime, then it’s not hard to pull a targeted assassination. [CIA Apr 26-2007/ Democracy Now Oct 9-2014].
After the attacks of September 11 2001, the U.S. decided to replace their regular military bases with a much higher number of FOL (operational site outside) and CSL (Shared Site Security), with little military personnel but equipped with advanced war technology and spy drones like the Orion C-130 and the AWACS. Since then, in a short time, the amount of U.S. military installations abroad reached the unusual amount of 865 bases type FOL or CSL deployed in 46 countries and many of them are in Latin America. These base are part of the domination strategy for the U.S. For example the Manta base in Ecuador was an important part in at least two events, in the 2002 coup in Venezuela, and the the 2008 bombing of a FARC encampment in the Ecuadorian territory, directly coordinated by the CIA (Angostura attack).
Since Hugo Chavez became president of Venezuela in 1998, a chain a events have taken place revealing a clear hostile U.S. agenda against Latin America. However, it will be helpful to understand this issue taking as starting point when Ecuador finally closed the U.S. base in Manta in 2009. Washington responded to that announcement immediately, back in 2008 , by reactivating the IV Fleet (deactivated in 1948) with the specific mission to monitor the atlantic coast of South America. A month later, the South American States met in Brasilia and created the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) as a response to the the reactivation of the IV Fleet and, in March 2009, the South American Defense Council was created. A few weeks later, the U.S. got a base in Palanquero, Colombia. In June, with the support of the American base at Soto Cano in Honduras, occurs the coup against Manuel Zelaya, whose government had become a strong ally of the South American states. In August, Colombia ceded seven military bases for the U.S . And in October Panama gave four more bases to the U.S. And in one of the last hostile decision from the U.S. reactivated the Southern Command (SouthCom) in Miami in 2010 with the purpose of targeting manifestations of radical “populism.”
In this way, Venezuela is surrounded by 13 American bases in Colombia, Panama, Aruba and Curacao, as well as by aircraft carriers, by the SouthCom and the IV Fleet. In addition, Colombia proposed to join NATO. In fact, the Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, stated that the guerilla groups are no longer a concern – the new issue at hand is an eventual war with Venezuela [La Iguana Mar 31-2015]. In a few years the U.S. went from having 16 military bases in South America to more than 25 very strategically located. Note that there are 25 U.S military bases surrounding Brazil. In the very particular case of Colombia, on their bases the Colombian government has renounced to any kind of control, therefore the U.S. has free decision-making power over what is being done in those bases. Also, there are 10 bases in Peru, and at least one base in Chile, an country that has received around $45 M in military aid during a six years [Peoples World Apr 26-2012]. However, there are two strategic bases that we have to pay attention to, in Piura Peru and in Palenquero Colombia, where it’s said the armed forces of the U.S. can easily lead a large-scale intervention in any direction [Polovorin Feb 5-2010]. Keep in mind, that in this 2015 the U.S. increased its military personal in Peru from 125 to 3. 200 [RT Feb 22-2015]. It is speculated that the Venezuelan elites back on 2013 purchased 18 war airplanes that were stationed in the U.S. and in Colombia [Comtraigerencia Jun 9-2013 / RT Jun 10-2013]. Those war planes are the ones that probably were to deployed on the 2014 valentines bombing – fortunately enough that attempt was discovered and neutralized. However, to make matters worse, since Colombia has no control on the bases they ceded to the U.S., it is said the U.S. already installed nuclear weapons for a possible conflict coming in the region [La Iguana Apr 18-2015]
Besides the military bases, the U.S. has intervened militarily many countries, and always hiding behind the slogan of protecting “U.S. interests.” Just on 2013, AFRICOM, the U.S. military for Africa, carried out a total of 546 “activities,” which represents a 217% increase since 2008, when the command was established [AlterNet Mar 27-2014]. In the case of Latin America we have the famous SOA (School of the Americas) which currently was renamed WHINSEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) just to avoid any association with the criminal acts of the past. This school is the learning base for many military and police personnel that operate in Latin American, and many times those graduates have been involved in massacres and even leading criminal groups such as the zetas of Mexico [Aljazeera Oct 20-2010]. One important date to remember is November 16, of 1989 when six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter were murdered in El Salvador. It is an important date because human rights groups protest against the school and its criminal acts perpetrated by the trainees. You can find more about the SOA on the book School of Assassins by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and on “The Truth Commission Report to the United Nations” dated March 15 1993.
The violent and criminal U.S. policy toward Latin America is an open wound that’s still bleeding. The U.S. pentagon back in the 70’s and 80’s trained more than 60.000 Latin American army officials to fight the leftist movements in what is denominated the X Project. This project went as far as implementing manuals on how to torture. These manuals were finally banned by the U.S. congress in 1991. We must note in every major event of humans rights violation in Latin America we find officials that were trained in the U.S. Just in el Salvador in the 80’s these death squads were responsible for the murder of 80.ooo people murdered – El Salvador at the time was a country of 3M inhabitants [Hojilla Mar 17-2014].
It is true the U.S. has soften its policy towards Cuba, but Let’s take into account that Assada Shakur member of the leftist group the Black Panthers was sentenced to prison in a totally unfair process by the death of the policeman Werner Foerster. She escaped from prison in 1973 and today she is a political refugee in Cuba. In May of 2013 the FBI placed Shakur in the list of most wanted terrorists and put a bounty for $ 2M for her capture. Under the current U.S. policy, the army could intervene in Cuba to apprehend Shakur. Beyond that, the $ 2M are a temptation purposely placed for instigating a betrayal on the Cuban government. Remember that the CIA was directly responsible for the bombing of Ecuador in 2008 at the time Colombia claimed they were after Raul Reyes. Keep in mind that since 2001, the U.S. stated as legitimate to kill any enemies of the U.S. regardless of where en the planet they are.
Anyway, the possibility of the U.S, intervening militarily seems to be remote – so far. However, do not forget that the U.S. was always behind the most violent acts to remove disobedient governments to its Washington consensus. The most emblematic case was obviously on September 11, 1973 Chile when they removed to Allende to install the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. But more recently the US was the main author in coups either failed as in Venezuela (2002), Ecuador (2010) and Bolivia (2008), or either with success such as in Haiti (2004), Honduras (2009) and Paraguay (2012). Furthermore, there are evidence of U.S. military personnel in conflict in Ukraine [La Iguana Jan 26-2015]. Today, there is clear evidence of a coup d’etat in progress in several countries of left-wing tendency [Brazil / Argentina 2 / Bolivia / Venezuela / Ecuador 2 3].