Summary of hot items, 5/1/09
So much is happening!:
-How many “leftist” presidents are now elected in Latin Amer?..9
-How many LA nations have withdrawn from the SOA?…4
-In how many has continuous US interference with elections been ended?….1, in El Salvador in April, “09, as you know!
Time to summarize where we are with current crises, deep questions esp. re US policy affecting the Hemisphere, and opportunities.
First, see the topics below concerning how we can change US foreign policy:
-The issues listed at www.interconn.org are still relevant and need answers.
-The natural disasters of Haiti and Cuba are still extremely serious, and the lists you’ll see of where to usefully send donations are still good.
Where you see progress of the Latin America Solidarity Coalition, those actions are ongoing…The approach to the Obama Administration, our 11 Demands (also see the LASC website at www.lasolidarity.org). The joint LASC/NACLA Teach-ins, held through April, ’09, were successful. The Movement is alive and well-esp. if you all join in (send a representative of your group to join the LASC Coordinating Committee (conf. call monthly)
-The best sign of a successful movement is the result: I think you will agree that we have been right re the negative results of the “Washington Concensus”, esp. NAFTA and other free trade agreements. And we have been on the right side of popular movements in Latin America which have developed strong democracies and elected exciting presidents who oppose US neoliberal policy and favor an end to poverty, illiteracy, and such glaring inequality.
What is the worst of all US policies toward Latin America? -One could quickly respond: the embargo of Cuba, corp. globalization, interference in elections, hostility toward the newly elected presidents of several nations. -But top of my list is US policy toward Haiti! The poorest nation in the Hemisphere, as you know, where the US got rid of the twice democraticlly elected Pres. Aristide by severe economic measures followed by a military coup in 2002 and the support of an illegal group of thugs who took over (and little support for the newer Pres. Preval, elected overwhelmingly after we supported his opposition. And what are USAID and that part of the National Endowment for Democracy which is the International Republican Institute doing now?) -Add to this the US (and Canadian and French) pressure on the UN to attach “Peacekeepers” (MINUSTAH) which have massacred dozens of poor slum-dwellers who support the return of Pres. Aristide and have done nothing to release the many political prisoners.
What have been the next worse US policies toward Latin America? -Official (and mainstream media) hostility toward the “leftist” governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua.
So: Join us with ideas through our blog, the newsletter INTERCONNECT (free every 3 mos. by e-mail..just send us your e-address), or directly with the LASC.
Thanks, Peter
— Peter Mott
