Articles and opinion columns by Latin American analysts who take an unwavering stand for freedom, including members and directors of the IID.

It Takes a Virus to Bring Sanity Back

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The corona virus pandemic while dreadful and daunting is beginning to unleash incentives for positive behavior that could be key to the full entry of the human species into the 21st century. All over the world people are realizing that there is only one neighborhood for our specie and that while we do not conquer other planets, the only way to survive is through collaboration. And as we all hunker down to contribute to the  flattening of  the development curve we are rediscovering the beauty of neighborhoods; surrounding landscapes and life in family. And…  finally having time to thoroughly read literature.

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

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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.

The Thinking Revolutionaries

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The most notable Founding Fathers: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. These were the “thinking revolutionaries” that together “fought a successful war of independence against the mightiest power on earth, created an enduring constitution for their new nation, established stable representative institutions and a system of adversarial political parties, and set the stage for economic development and growing prosperity.” Their brilliance, boldness, and daring have never been surpassed in American history or elsewhere in the world. The path these Framers mapped, as Madison wrote, had “no parallel in the annals of human society.” Thanks to them, Americans were the first free people in history to choose their own form of government. We owe our open society to the moderation and tolerance of these thinking revolutionaries. Flash forward to our present time and look around the world, not to mention at home, for statesmanship and penetrating political thinking of the quality of Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. Please let me know if you find it. I can’t. 

La Calle Pou : A Balancing Act?

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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.  

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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?

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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?

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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

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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”,

IS CUBA’S QUID PRO QUO FOR CANADA AIMED TO DESTABILIZE THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES?

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Cuba’s dictatorship -albeit not an official member of the OAS- leads the anti-Almagro operation along with Venezuela and Nicaragua’s dictatorships, with the active participation of Argentina and Mexico, some Caribbean countries and an apparent “quid pro quo” maneuver with Canada whose vote to destabilize the OAS would be gotten in exchange for Cuba’s assistance to ensure Canada’s non-permanent position in the United Nations Security Council.