Rene — PARAGUAY: THE PENTAGON'S NEW LATIN BEACHHEAD
Topic(s): Latin America | Comments Off on Rene — PARAGUAY: THE PENTAGON'S NEW LATIN BEACHHEADPARAGUAY: THE PENTAGON’S NEW LATIN BEACHHEAD
In addition to the military activity, the FBI also has plans for Paraguay.
On October 26, FBI Director Robert Mueller arrived in the country to “check
on preparations for the installation of a permanent FBI office in
Asunción…to cooperate with security organizations to fight international
crime, drug traffic and kidnapping.”
Bruce Kleiner, US press attaché in Asunción, quoted in In These Times, said
that joint exercises between the US and Paraguayan military have been going
on since 1943. He said the current exercises usually involve less than 50
personnel, and last for two weeks at a time. According to Kleiner, there are
no US military personnel at Estigarribia.
“I don’t believe in the arguments being put forth by the Secretary of
Defense or the Embassy in Asuncion,” responded Jorge Ramon de la Quintana, a
former Bolivian military officer and current political analyst. “The
military presence in Paraguay reflects a series of perceived threats by US
Southern Command… this is the return of the Domino Theory.”
Orlando Castillo, a Paraguayan activist involved in the struggle against the
US military presence in his country through the human rights group Service,
Peace and Justice, said the goal of the US military in Paraguay is to secure
the region’s vast water reserves, “debilitate the southern bloc, to set up
offices of US security agencies primarily to monitor the region, and from
Paraguay be able to destabilize the region’s governments, especially if Evo
Morales wins the elections in Bolivia.”
Paraguayan and US officials contend that much of the recent military
collaborations focus on health and humanitarian efforts. However, a recent
Washington Times article reported that “of the 13 military exercises at the
base in Mariscal, only two involved medical training.”
State Department reports do not mention any funding for health works in
Paraguay. They do mention that funding for the Counterterrorism Fellowship
Program (CTFP) in the country doubled for 2005. The report explained that
“bilateral relations between the US and Paraguay are strong, with Paraguay
providing excellent cooperation in the fight against terrorism… CTFP
provided funds for Paraguayans to attend courses on the dynamics of
international terrorism, and the importance and application of intelligence
in combating terrorism.”
Terrorists in the Triple Border Region?
Milda Rivarola, a Paraguayan political analyst, told AlterNet the US
operations in Paraguay are focused on “getting closer to the Triple Border,
which the U.S. believes is involved in terrorism.”
Allegations of terrorist activity in the region were backed up on November
19, when prosecutors identified Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a member of the
Islamic militant group Hezbollah, as being the suicide bomber who blew up a
Jewish community centre in Argentina in 1994, killing 85 people. Alberto
Nisman, a prosecutor in the case, said investigators believe the attacker
entered Argentina via the Triple Border area. The announcement came after
years of investigations by Argentine intelligence and the FBI. Hezbollah has
denied the charges.
In the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, US-backed police operations swept up
roughly 20 terrorist suspects in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, a city on the
Triple Border. They also investigated $22 million in over 40 accounts
suspected of links to terrorist groups, according to a report from the
Washington Post.
Gustavo Moussa, a spokesperson for the Islamic Organization of Argentina in
Buenos Aires, said that many South American Muslims feel Washington has
unfairly labeled the Triple Border as a terrorist haven. “They made those
claims without evidence,” he was quoted by AlterNet.
Luiz Moniz Bandeira, a Brazilian-US foreign affairs analyst, told the
Washington Times: “I wouldn’t dismiss the hypothesis that US agents plant
stories in the media about Arab terrorists in the Triple Frontier to provoke
terrorism and justify their military presence.”
In an interview with Brazilian television, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said the Bush administration is using its war on terrorism as a pretext to
suppress popular movements in the region.
Bolivian Elections
US military operations in Paraguay have raised controversy in the Bolivian
presidential race. Bolivian Workers’ Union leader Jaime Solares has warned
of US plans for a military coup to frustrate the elections. Solares told
Prensa Latina the US Embassy backs right-wing Jorge Quiroga in his bid for
office, and will go as far as necessary to prevent any other candidate’s
victory.
Jim Shultz, the director of the Democracy Center, and activist organization
in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, reports on the group’s website that a
“source of mine here claims that the US government has been carefully
cultivating relationships with ‘anti-Evo’ forces in the Bolivian military,
presumably for some sort of U.S.-backed coup down the road.”
The top two contenders in the presidential race are Evo Morales and Jorge
Quiroga, a conservative businessman with close ties to the former Hugo
Banzer dictatorship, and whose platform includes the privatization of the
country’s gas reserves and a hard line against leftist protestors.
There are eight candidates in the race, and Morales is currently in the lead
with 32% support in the polls, and Quiroga trailing behind with 27%. The
Bolivian constitution requires that the winner receive more than 50% of the
votes in order to secure the presidency. If not, congress decides between
the top two contenders.
If Quiroga doesn’t win a majority he said he’ll drop out. If Morales wins a
majority by even one vote, he’s said he’s prepared to lead protests
demanding that congress ratify his victory. Even if Quiroga wins outright,
protests against his presidency and subsequent policies are expected to
ensue.
The socialist Morales is unpopular among international investors, and when
he ran for president in 2002, the US ambassador to Bolivia warned that
Washington might cut economic ties if he won. The result was a sharp
increase in support among voters which drove him to second place, just 1.5%
behind the winner, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.
Morales has referred to the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas as “an
agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas.” He’s not interested
in protecting US interests, because he believes that “they have failed to
resolve the problems of the majority in our country.” Morales says the US
war on drugs in Bolivia is a pretext, and that what the U.S. really wants is
Bolivia’s gas reserves, which are the second largest in Latin America. As
president, he would work to decriminalize the cultivation of coca and move
to nationalize the country’s gas.
If he wins, Morales will join the growing ranks of left-of-center Latin
American leaders who, instead of bowing to the interests of foreign
corporations, the International Monetary Fund and the Bush administration,
have a priority of addressing the needs of the people with social programs
in education, agrarian reform and health care.
During an interview with Morales, this reporter asked him about the pressure
he may receive from the US government if he is elected president. “We, the
indigenous people, after 500 years of resistance, are retaking the power,”
he said. “We are changing presidents, economic models and politics. We are
convinced that capitalism is the enemy of the earth, of humanity and of
culture. The US government does not understand our way of life and our
philosophy. But we will defend our proposals, our way of life and our
demands with the participation of the Bolivian people.”
——
Benjamin Dangl has traveled and worked as a journalist in Bolivia and
Paraguay and is the editor of Upside Down World, an online magazine covering
activism and politics in Latin America.
This story originally appeared in Upside Down World, Nov. 16
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/116/1/
SOURCES:
“US Military in Paraguay Prepares to Spread Democracy,” by Benjamin Dang,
Upside Down World, Sept. 15, 2005
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/47/44/
“Patrolling America’s Backyard?” by Kelly Hearn, AlterNet.org, Nov. 4, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/27775/
“FBI Sets Up Permanent Office in Paraguay, 8th in Latin America,” Prensa
Latina, Oct. 26, 2005
http://www.plenglish.com/Article.asp?ID=%7B8A45F3E0-4BC7-
4CDE-87E4-92F824C355DD%7D&language=EN
“US Military Eyes Paraguay,” by Adam Saytanides, In These Times, Nov. 10,
2005
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/print/2381/
Interview with Orlando Castillo, by Benjamin Dangl, Upside Down World, Oct.
16
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/48/1/
“U.S. Inroads Raise Alarm,” by Kenneth Rapoza, Washington Times, Oct. 25,
2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051024-103422-6510r.htm
“Foreign Military Training,” Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, US
Department of State, May 2005
http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/fmtrpt/2005/45677.htm
“Hezbollah ID’d in 1994 Argentina attack, CNN, Nov. 9, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/11/09/argentina.bombing.ap/
“Buenos Aires bomber ‘identified’,” BBC, Nov. 10, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4423612.stm
“US Encouraging Military Coup in Bolivia,” Prensa Latina Sept. 13, 2005
http://www.plenglish.com.mx/article.asp?ID={5FC4E7C4-49A3
-4BCD-A796-08441FD72BEE}&language=EN
Jim Shultz, Democracy Center’s Blog From Bolivia, Oct. 22, 2005
http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2005/10/rumors.html
See also our last update:
Paraguay: indigenous march
http://ww4report.com/node/1169
———————–
Reprinted by WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, Dec. 1, 2005
Reprinting permissible with attribution
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