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Dimas: 2007 Advances Outweigh Reversals for Latin Amer
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Progreso Weekly - Dec 20, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=274&Itemid=1
Latin America: A year of advances and reversals
By Eduardo Dimas
I don't know if you agree with me, but I have the feeling that, if we
place everything that happened in Latin America in 2007 on a scale, it
will tilt to the side of the progressive forces. Even the right-wing
analysts will have to admit that -- despite the reverses, the
offensives from the Empire and the oligarchs, the errors and miscues,
the grandstandings and the misunderstandings -- the region moved
forward on a road of greater unity and, by extension, of independence.
Of course, almost none of the changes are consolidated and there is
always the danger of a retreat. In some countries, such as Venezuela
and Bolivia, the social change is clearly visible. In others, such as
Ecuador and Nicaragua, it is just beginning and must face powerful
forces that oppose it.
As to the rest, one cannot talk about social transformation, although
some governments, such as those in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and
Paraguay, members of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), have
assumed, to varying degrees, integrationist stances in defense of the
national interests. That -- in Latin America after the neoliberal wave
of the 1980s and '90s -- is a very positive fact.
Perhaps the best expression of the integration process is the creation
of the Bank of the South, whose opening took place in Argentina 24
hours after the inauguration of President Cristina Fern!ndez de
Kirchner. With an initial capital of $10 billion, the bank will serve
to finance social and infrastructure works.
That economic institution was founded by Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, countries that combined account
for more than 80 percent of South America's gross domestic product. The
rest of the governments in the region (Chile, Peru and Colombia), which
have signed free-trade agreements with the United States, chose to stay
outside, although member****p in the bank would give them greater
financial independence.
The year now ending saw a restart of the Central American Common Market
(MCCA), but that does not mean the group has much of a chance for
success. Apparently, U.S. interests are behind those efforts, following
the approval of free-trade pacts between the U.S., Costa Rica and
Guatemala. The MCCA was created in the 1960s and ended in failure.
Other aspects of regional integration saw advances and reversals.
Venezuela's member****p in Mercosur was postponed until 2008 because of
the refusal of the Brazilian Congress to approve Venezuela's admission.
The same happened to Bolivia, which had also requested admission.
The Southern Oil Pipeline, a major project that attempts to link
Brazil, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, as well as any other interested
nations, and guarantee the stable transfer of natural gas from the
fields in Bolivia and Venezuela, has not gone beyond the drawing boards.
However, the plans for energy development worked out by Brazil and
Venezuela are proceeding well. In mid-December, during a visit by the
Brazilian president to Venezuela, nine plans for joint development were
signed, encompassing economic and social spheres.
The Argentine government also has established economic and social
projects with Venezuela, the region's largest producer of crude oil and
natural gas. Bolivia has been one of the main beneficiaries of the
integration process, following the nationalization of the production
and commercialization of gas.
The plans for energy development between Venezuela and Colombia appear
to have been halted by the breakdown in relations between presidents
lvaro Uribe V(c)lez and Hugo Ch!vez, after Uribe unilaterally halted
Ch!vez's efforts to facilitate an exchange of prisoners between the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian
government.
Most observers agree that any success in the humanitarian exchange
would have given Ch!vez a prestige that neither the Colombian oligarchy
nor the U.S. Government could have stomached.
On a social level, the countries that advanced the most in 2007 were
Venezuela and Bolivia, with the development of wide-ranging plans for
health care and education sup****ted fraternally by Cuba. About one
million people have undergone eye surgery in the course of Operation
Miracle. The health-care system is being expanded in both countries and
will provide free coverage to the entire population.
In education, hundreds of thousands of people in both countries were
taught to read and write with the Cuban method known as "Yes, I can,"
whose successful application in several countries has been acknowledged
by UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.
A similar process now begins in Nicaragua and Ecuador. In other words,
one of the big hopes of Latin American countries is becoming reality as
part of this new vision of social justice conceived by several
governments that are willing to pay the social debt incurred after
centuries of exploitation and abandonment.
Of course, not everything is rose-colored. All the processes of change
going on in Latin America, even the regional economic integration, are
subjected to strong political pressures exerted against them by the
U.S. Government and the national oligarchies.
The strengthening of Mercosur, with the admission of Venezuela and
Bolivia, would mean a setback to the divisive attempts of the White
House and its local allies, so it's not surprising they are doing
everything possible to undermine Mercosur. However, even if the two
countries join Mercosur, it is impossible to overlook some of the
regional accords that benefit all the countries and some of the
transnational cor****ations that participate in Latin American trade.
The principal dangers for the economic and political integration of
Latin America loom inside the countries themselves. The local
bourgeoisies and oligarchies, incapable of walking by themselves,
oppose any type of change, yet in practice they would benefit from the
rise in the standard of living of most of the population.
Nations that depend on election processes to keep up (or not) the plans
for economic and social development are never safe, because the
rightist parties, the Empire's unconditional allies, would reverse the
process if they return to power.
The elite of world power, intent on maintaining an economic model that
has shown signs of exhaustion, seems willing to do everything it can to
impede the process of development and integration in Latin America. It
is a powerful force that has enormous resources and controls most of
the mass-information media in the world.
The worldwide campaigns against Venezuelan President Hugo Ch!vez and
Bolivian President Evo Morales are not waged by happenstance. Both men
have had to deal with continuous plans for destabilization, coup d'(c)tat
attempts, and -- in Morales' case -- the danger of secession, promoted
by the oligarchy in the department of Santa Cruz with the sup****t of
the White House. Both forces refuse to accept the new Constitution.
As I write these lines, the news from Bolivia is extremely alarming.
The new Magna Carta was submitted to the National Congress and, later,
to a mass popular rally that sup****ted it. At the same time, the four
departments of the so-called Half Moon (Santa Cruz, Tarija, Pando and
Beni), as well as Cochabamba, announced their intention to declare
themselves autonomous.
Both positions are incompatible, because a unilateral declaration of
autonomy is unconstitutional and prevents any type of political
solution, given the oligarchy's refusal to accept the new Constitution
and negotiate with the government. Therefore, we cannot rule out
confrontations where the Army would have to act and the Bolivian people
would take to the streets, as I commented in a previous article.
In Venezuela, the opposition achieved a pyrrhic victory in the
referendum for a reform of the Magna Carta. This seems to have quieted
the oligarchy, but it is evident that neither the oligarchy nor the
Empire will halt their efforts to impede the social transformations
being conducted by the Bolivarian Revolution and the integrationist
plans of Hugo Ch!vez.
So, many things remain to be decided in Latin America. Despite the
achievements in economic integration and social benefits received by
the population of some countries, very little or nothing is being
consolidated. This suggests that next year will be a period of strong
political confrontations, perhaps even bloody. That likelihood is part
of the era of changes now coursing through Latin America.
Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia (and now Ecuador and Nicaragua) have set
the pace of change in Latin America and the Caribbean. Against them
stand all the forces of the oligarchy and the Empire. Popular sup****t
for those processes will decide the outcome, an outcome that perhaps
will not occur in 2008. In any case, the continuity of this process is
indispensable for the true and definitive independence of Latin
America. Time will tell.
*
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