Gracias Sister Bonnie ~ Companero Evo is our New Che and how fitting that he is in Bolivia, the land where Che Guevara died. ~Blessings, Peta
Related Link: Death of Che Guevara
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BBracey@aol.com wrote:
BBracey@aol.com wrote:
Visit your group "mls-digitaldivide" on the web. http://www.elpais.es/articulo/elpporint/20060104elpepiint_3/Tes
El Pais, Spain | SERGIO RAMÍREZ
Evo Morales' convincing victory in the Bolivian presidential elections may represent a threat for some, but that does not make it anything less than a victory. It is not simply the first time that a native American has been elected president in that country, but the first time in decades that the issue has been resolved in the first round: for the first time a president will have a parliamentary majority in a country where political instability has been in large part the result of the inability of many different parties to reach agreement over critical issues.
Aside from the ethnic question, the other major issue has been control over the country's oil and gas resources. Bolivia sits on a gas lake, the second largest reserve in the continent after Venezuela, and how best to manage this resource has created divisions at the regional level, as well as confrontation and rebellion. No less critical will be the way the new president deals with the issue of coca cultivation, which the incoming president has promised to legalize, arguing that it is an ancient tradition.
Beyond the domestic repercussions, this election will have an international impact. Bolivia will soon join that list of countries in the region whose policies differ from the United States, or which directly oppose it: Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. These nations may have differing ideological outlooks, but they have all supported the victory of Morales, as Brazilian president Lula da Silva told his Argentine counterpart recently.
These countries are all generally opposed to the dictates of the International Monetary Fund, on which they have previously been reliant for funding. Brazil and Argentina are now paying off their debts to the IMF, and have the resources to be self-financing.
Also at stake here is Washington's Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which prompted widespread protests at the recent regional presidential summit in Mar de Plata. Venezuela, which has tightened its links with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay - and will now do the same with Bolivia - will soon join Mercosur. The proposal by Venezuela's President Chávez to create a regional trade association that excludes the United States looks increasingly attractive given his country's ability to shore up his neighbors' economies by buying their debt, ordering ships and aircraft to be built in Argentina and Brazil, and putting together joint projects in the petroleum sector.
The likely victory of Manuel López Obrador in Mexico's upcoming elections would change the geopolitical outlook of the region. The Vicente Fox administration has been working hard to persuade the desperately poor countries of Central America not to join Chávez's initiatives, and is proposing the construction of an enormous refinery on the isthmus, given the apparent failure of the Puebla-Panama initiative. An alliance between Mexico and Venezuela, as opposed to the current enmity that separates the countries' two presidents, would leave the United States in a precarious position regarding Central America. Aside from a few bilateral agreements with countries in the region, US development aid for the economies of Central America has been far from generous.
No longer will the United States be able to bring the growing list of "hostile governments" into line in Latin America, nor can it continue blaming Cuba and Venezuela for electoral results such as that which has brought Evo Morales to power in Bolivia. These are all legitimately elected governments, playing by the democratic rules that Washington espouses as far afield as Iraq.
The fact of the matter is that the options tried so far have been largely discredited, and people are looking for other solutions, whose effectiveness is yet to be proven. But the candidates of the left have made clear that they are rejecting policies that until now have shown themselves to be useless: instead of bringing well-being, that have driven poverty levels to new highs.
People want honest governments, administrations that will act against corruption. If Lula loses the next elections in Brazil, it will be because of the vote-buying scandals in which his government has been involved. And corruption would be the only force able to undermine the power of Chávez in Venezuela.
Above and beyond these questions, the newly elected governments of the left in Latin America have been given the mandate to revise these tarnished economic policies, and the international community, starting with the United States, should wake up to at least two new realities: the management of natural resources is once again being seen in the context of sovereignty; and structural adjustment programs must generate growth and well-being, not poverty. The winds of change are blowing in Latin America.
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© 2005 El Pais
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