General

UNITY BY PRINCIPLES AND VALUES TO RECOVER AND DEFEND DEMOCRACY

The recovery of democracy in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia gets complicated with all the ideological, pragmatic or strategic arguments and differences amongst the leadership and groups called upon to conduct and accomplish this historic necessity.  The defense of democracies in the Americas, confronting transnational conspiracy and sedition, has these very same obstacles preventing it from formulating internal governmental policies and taking opportune international actions.   The facts reveal that in order to recover and defend democracy, unity is indispensable, a unity which can be built on the basis of principles and values. Without unity it is not possible to defeat dictatorships.  Dictatorships end when the people confront the usurpation, is lead by a leadership of unity whose sole purpose is to restore freedom and democracy and does not seek partisan benefits for the next “election in a dictatorship”. If political actors facing dictatorships do not unite on the basis of principles and values in every country and clear themselves of the growing suspicion of being “functional opposition members”, dictatorships will fall along with those who simulate opposition and prevent unity.      

Why Cape Verde Matters

Several weeks ago Cape Verde, a small nation off the Western Coast of Africa,  executed a routine protocol among  law enforcement agencies. A person listed as most wanted by Interpol was arrested while refueling his private jet. A diplomatic maelstrom ensued this arrest. The detainee, Mr Alex Saab  who looked rather common and not particularly refined, was the object of desire by several countries. In Cape Verde therefore we are witnessing a challenge between the old order characterized by invulnerable sovereignty and the demands of a world that increasingly sees economic and political activity penetrated by a non-state transnational actor formed to  perpetrate illicit activities. An actor that has become global and whose treatment demands a global response. Such response was encapsulated in UNTOC which  depending on the ending of the Cape Verde affair will be an effective tool for the fight or fall into irrelevance.

TO END CONSPIRACY IN THE AMERICAS, VENEZUELA MUST BE LIBERATED

Venezuela has become the Transnational Organized Crime’s center wherefrom Cuba’s regime operates conspiracies, narcotics’ trafficking, terrorism, and a long list of crimes to destabilize countries, topple governments and democratic leaders. Venezuela’s Castrochavist regime is also an operator of; sedition, conspiracy, and acts of destabilization and toppling of democratic governments. The usurped Venezuela is a platform for China, Iran, Russia’s penetration and expansion with antidemocratic objectives in the region. For Venezuela to recover its freedom and democracy is an utmost need and an urgent and immediate interest of the International Community.  One way of doing this, is to empower President Juan Guaido to ask for the formation of a Multinational Force -under his command and responsibility- to end the usurpation, the “credible threat”.   To accept elections with the regime’s participation is tantamount to recognize Organized Crime as a political actor.   

Why Cuba and Venezuela should matter to us

The problem, really, was that the Castros saw Cuba only as a base of operations to act in the international arena against Washington and against the hated “capitalism.” That was their leitmotif. Cuba was already a danger, but not having eliminated that infectious focus allowed it to metastasize to other nations, such as Venezuela, and there’s a risk that it will continue to expand to Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, all countries of the Andean arc. So far, Washington has limited itself to imposing sanctions and showing its fangs, but Latin American countries have no foreign policy, except Cuba and Venezuela, and I don’t think they will change. I would start by recommending Americans to read Carbonell’s book. It is very good.

By George we are shifting !!!

According to Joel Kotkin, the late period of the Industrial Age brought with it the development of a new stratus within the middle class. This is described by Kotkin as the clerisy “a group that makes its living largely in quasi-public institutions notably universities, media, non-profit world and the upper bureaucracy”. The clerisy is the enabling class to implement the vision of the mega rich people which he describes as oligarchs. The clerisy and the oligarchs -who hold 50% of worldwide assets- envision a hyper regulated world that quenches innovation and private initiative. A controlled Medieval Village.

CASTROCHAVISM IN THE MIDST OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: MORE VIOLENCE, FALSE INFORMATION AND INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY

Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua’s 21st Century dictatorships were already in extreme crises.  Their features of transnational organized crime, institutionalized violation of human rights and their nature as narco-states linked to terrorism, had placed them in a terminal situation of being spurned by their people and sanctioned by the international community. In the Coronavirus pandemic they are doing what they know best to do; they increment internal violence, falsify data and information, and escalate their conspiracy to destabilize the region’s democracies. The Coronavirus pandemic could be used to prolong the permanence in power of Castrochavist dictatorships, but it could also determine their quicker demise and the ending of the disgrace they represent.        

Latin America’s Little Giant

The quality of Uruguay’s leadership and the outstanding results of its pandemic control policies drove the “Fundación Libertad” chaired by Mario Vargas Llosa to issue a communique promoting the  region wide adoption of Uruguay’s approach to combating Covid-19.  In particular, “Fundación Libertad” emphasized the contrast between public policies in Uruguay and those adopted by Argentina which issued home arrest orders to its citizens; increased expenditures and  killed economic activity. In a nutshell Argentina created the conditions to develop an economic Tsunami after Covid-19 is contained. And this will certainly make headlines. Uruguay on the contrary will most probably carry on  unnoticed but its citizens are way happier than those of Argentina.  

FAUDA

Fauda means “chaos” in Hebrew and Arabic. It is the name of a magnificent Netflix series. Is it a realistic series? Yes, but only in a certain way. Disbelief must be discarded, as is often the case in theater, and we must assume that the same secret war crew operates consistently without being detected in a small territory like Ramallah, which is a sort of city the size of a postage stamp. There is no human way for Arabs and Israelis to reach reasonable agreements. As long as the Palestinians dream of throwing the Jews to the sea, that’s not possible.

Post-Coronavirus World Will Demand Structured, Disciplined Democracies

There are who believe that the more democratic countries are, the safer it will be to interact with them. In this case, prioritizing relations with democratic countries is in the best interests of U.S. national security and wellbeing. A serious dialogue is urgently needed. The Republican/Democratic and Trump/anti-Trump divides must give way to something significantly more positive. This is the responsibility of both parties.

DICTATORSHIPS FROM CUBA, VENEZUELA, AND NICARAGUA USE CORONAVIRUS TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES, TO CONSPIRE, AND TO PROFIT

The global crisis unleashed by the Coronavirus pandemic is used to benefit transnational organized crime by the dictatorships from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. They take advantage of the pandemic to strengthen their de-facto regimes, conspire to topple democracies, and profit from international aid, the human trafficking of enslaved physicians and the increase of narcotics’ trafficking. Democracies -with successes and failures- responded within the framework of; respecting human rights, the rule of law, freedom of the press,  the obligation of accountability and transparency, while dictatorships did so using their system of oppression, repression, and the commission of more crime to meet their one and only objective which is to keep themselves indefinitely in power with impunity.