General

WHY IS UNITY SO HARD WHEN FACING CASTROCHAVIST DICTATORSHIPS?

The first two decades of the 21st century in the Americas has been a period for the installation and expansion of dictatorships that, although are now weakened, cannot be removed because there is no unity in the fight to regain freedom and democracy in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, and nations where Castrochavism established itself as a transnational organized crime’s system that wields political power. To stay in power, some of Castrochavism’s control and sustainment ingredients are; corruption and narcotics’ trafficking as producers of unlimited resources, the “judicialized political persecution” and the use of force to subjugate, along with massacres and torture, political prisoners and exiled, fear and the institutional breakdown, the setting up of de-facto regimes with a uniform methodology and the manipulation of information. Under these circumstances what is desirable is the unity of all leaders opposing the dictatorship in each country, but that does not happen and by contrast the visible split and confrontation between members of the opposition is a characteristic feature that enables the Castrochavist dictatorial system to remain in power.  Facts reveal that the unity needed to defeat Castrochavist dictatorships is constantly sabotaged by “functional opposition members” who respond to the regime’s interests -which turn out to be their own interests as well- helping to maintain the dictatorial status quo. Moreover, the absence of unity of command and strategy weakens democracy’s options and portrays the dictators’ false image of strength. Now is the time to show that the unity needed, to remove dictators and end dictatorships, is possible to achieve.

We are perilously near to a new international anarchy

In this article we discusses the importance, success and accomplishments of Peru’s Javier Felipe Ricardo Perez de Cuellar and the KCMG’s war, the first United Nations Secretary General from Latin America who died at 100 this past week.

THE DICTATORSHIP IS WINNING THE ELECTIONS IN BOLIVIA AND THE IMPACT IN THE AMERICAS WILL BE DEVASTATING.  

The fall of dictator Evo Morales and the establishment of an interim government to start the transition towards democracy surprised everyone because it was the result of an authentic grass-roots civil resistance process which kept whittling down Morales until he was left without a government. With terrorist acts directed by Evo Morales from Mexico and with the vigorous criminal mobilization of; his coca leaf harvesters’ unions from Chapare, his social (collective) movements, and the intervention of the FARC’s armed groups and others, the dictatorship opened negotiations with the interim government. The result was a well-simulated split in Evo Morales’ and the narco-traffickers’ Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) political party in Bolivia, that appeared to be the mainstay of the interim government from the National Assembly. The dictatorial strategy works. As a matter of fact, if candidates Añez, Camacho, and Mesa do not join forces, something that looks implausible, Evo Morales’ dictatorship that never left power, will retake the government in Bolivia with devastating effects that guarantee the continuity of the narco-state. With Bolivia returned to Castro Chavism through an electoral victory; impunity, narcotics’ trafficking, and political persecution are guaranteed to happen and the Americas will be under a greater threat than the attacks against Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Ecuador.

La Calle Pou : A Balancing Act?

New, right-of-center President Luis Lacalle Pou took office in Uruguay on Sunday. This article describes just what the ascendance of this 46 year old surfer and son of a former president means for the economy, rule of law, generational change and the future of this nation of 3.4 million. President Lacalle Pou thus comes with a clear mandate to preserve the stability that has marked the democratic period while getting tough on crime and jumpstarting the economy. And he is quite well armed and position to meet these goals. From the personal view point he represents a new generation that has no ties to the highly ideological agendas that presided the early days of the return to democracy. He also is a fruit of Uruguay’s globalization. As such knows how to manage other countries interests in favor of Uruguay. He has given signs that he understands that Uruguay can be the moderating power in Merco Sur and a reliable asset to the US in South America. In short,   Lacalle Pou might succeed in playing a successful balancing act for Uruguay that could ignite growth while continuing to strengthen democracy and rule of law in a continent where these are scarce assets.

WITH PRESIDENT LACALLE, URUGUAY’S NEW FOREIGN POLICY REPUDIATES CUBA, VENEZUELA, AND NICARAGUA’S DICTATORSHIPS.  

Uruguay’s new president, Luis LaCalle Pou, starts his mandate installing a new foreign policy based on the principles and values of freedom and democracyThe State’s foreign policy is linked to its internal policy and is understood to be “the set of public decisions that a government makes according to its national interests and with regard to the rest of the international system’s actors”. Is “part of the general policy and is comprised by the set of decisions and proceedings through which objectives are defined and the means of a State are used to generate, modify, or suspend its relationships with other actors from the international community”. LaCalle announced he will recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s President.  He has decided that “Uruguay will distance itself from the so-called Montevideo’s mechanism”, Uruguay’s new Foreign Policy robustly helps the fight against “Castrochavism” dictatorships. Everything shows that Americas’ Organized Crime’s dictatorships have already placed as their objective the destabilization of the democratic government of President LaCalle Pou, against whom they will attempt to repeat the crime committed last year in Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, and others.

Is Venezuela Funding Repression With US, European Gold Sales?

The biggest concern of the Venezuelan government is that members of the armed forces and others conducting the repression of thousands of Venezuelans may no longer be loyal to the Maduro regime. High political and military leaders benefit from drug trafficking. But that´s not everything. There is also illegal gold mining. Thousands of workers who lost their jobs in the impoverished Venezuelan economy have moved to the Amazon to be employed in this illegal industry. Miners, accused of stealing or of violating mines’ rules, have been subjected to amputations, torture, and murder. The Venezuelan government and the military also participate in carrying out these atrocities. It was reported that former Venezuelan vice-president Tareck El Aissami supervises these operations on behalf of the Venezuelan government. El Aissami, who’s on ICE’s most wanted list, has strong connections to Iran and Hezbollah and has facilitated their operations in Latin America. Venezuela has become a nightmare, heavily supported by Russia, that has taken over control of Venezuelan oil. That’s why I applaud the Trump administration’s decision to sanction Russian oil company Rosneft, which controls over 70 percent of Venezuelan oil exports. Rosneft has given Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) a new lease on life and may stay in Venezuela forever, while the U.S. and U.S. companies may be forced out of Venezuela indefinitely, giving more space for Russia to control almost all of Venezuelan oil. we also need to militarily support opposition forces in Venezuela, while avoiding direct intervention with U.S. troops. We may have no other choice but to consider this option more seriously.

Is it Worth It?

According to Professor Friedman a Nobel Laurate and a courageous libertarian the thought of using state goods to correct private behaviors that only affect the individual himself would lead to misuse of public funds and corruption as the state created an income generating monopoly for criminals. “ On ethical grounds, do we have the right to use the machinery of government to prevent an individual from becoming an alcoholic or a drug addict? For children, almost everyone would answer at least a qualified yes. But for responsible adults, I, for one, would answer no. Reason with the potential addict, yes. Tell him the consequences, yes. Pray for and with him, yes. But I believe that we have no right to use force, directly or indirectly, to prevent a fellow man from committing suicide, let alone from drinking alcohol or taking drugs”. And as time goes by and trade in illicit continues to growth adding every few years new and more potent products to the exchange the question arises as to whether the world should not engage in and in-depth- discussion of the soundness of the Friedman theory for public policy making.

SPAIN’S CASTROCHAVIST GOVERNMENT AND ANTIDEMOCRATIC POLICIES IN THE AMERICAS

I conceptualize “Castrochavism” as the term that describes “the Transnational Organized Crime’s system that usurps political power in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, (Ecuador with Correa and Bolivia with Morales) which must be treated as an organized crime’s operating structure and not as a political process”. Proof and noteworthy facts -amongst others- reveal that the PODEMOS party is a Castrochavist. The attitude of Spain’s government regarding the visit of Venezuela’s Interim President Juan Guaido, who was not received by Pedro Sanchez after all, is a pitiful proof of Spain’s Castrochavism. The United States has pointed to Spain’s government as “being Europe’s greatest obstacle towards Venezuela”,

BOLIVIA, FROM TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORIAL CONTINUITY

In Bolivia, the dictator was ousted but not the dictatorship.  The process of the transition towards democracy that started with Evo Morales’ resignation, is inexistent.  Interim President Janine Añez’s decision to run as a presidential candidate in elections she was supposed to ensure, has taken her from her role of directing the finding of a solution to be an important part of the problem. Now, instead of a transition to democracy there is dictatorial continuity. Personal ambitions and power feuds have eliminated the national agenda for the transition to democracy earned by the civil resistance movement which ousted the dictator.  The squabbling between contenders has displaced ideas and democracy is still missing.   Bolivia today has a government comprised by those who were opposition members functional to the dictator and who, while ignoring the historical opportunity, chose to keep the dictatorial system that in this way, only changes hands but not essence. The dictatorship can win the elections’ first round and keep itself in power, functional opposition members are in the government and campaign to retain it, Judges and Prosecutors are the same, the accused and persecuted by the dictatorship continue to be compelled to “prove their innocence” instead of being presumably innocent.   Human Rights continue to be violated, there is no Rule of Law, there is no separation and independence of the Branches of Government, there is no guarantee that elections will be fair and clean. Exile is a testimonial to the absence of free political organization and affiliation, and more crisis is on the way.

Trump’s Mideast Plan a Major Breakthrough But Risky

Seven months after proposing the economic plan for the solution of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the Trump administration presented a political plan. A Palestinian state would be created in the entire Gaza strip, and 70% of the West Bank. There would be connections between different parts of the Palestinian state through roads, bridges, and tunnels (including a connection between the West Bank and Gaza). Holy sites would remain under Israel’s control, but Muslims would have free access to the al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel would be able to keep existing settlements without uprooting them, but would stop new settlements for the next four years while negotiations between Palestinians and Israel occur over final status. The Trump plan is a major breakthrough; it is a major break with past negotiations. What’s unique also about this plan is that if Palestinians do not engage in negotiations, Israel could proceed to unilaterally annex the settlements and there would be also a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. The Trump Plan has broken the cycle of naïve proposals. Conceps insisting either on continuing the bi-lateral negotiations of the last 27 years or proposed a fanciful solution based on pressure on Israel. This time, with the support of Arab states the hope is that the Palestinians are persuaded to negotiate and put an end to a conflict that has worn out the Israelis, the Americans, the Arabs, and even — the Palestinians themselves.