Is Latin America to Be Denied a Peaceful Existence?
Elio Delgado Legón
HAVANA TIMES — When, on December 17, 2014, the presidents of Cuba and the United States simultaneously announced their decision to re-establish diplomatic relations and begin the process of normalizing ties between the two countries, all of the leaders of Latin America expressed their approval of this move by President Obama and predicted that the upcoming Summit of the Americas would be held with less tension than those of previous gatherings and that relations between the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean could enter a new era of understanding and friendship, as befits neighboring countries.
Less than three months later, however, President Barack Obama announced a surprising decision by issuing a decree that declares Venezuela a threat to US national security and foreign policy, razing to the ground the positive assessment of his administration that Latin America had made and putting the success of the upcoming Summit of the Americas in danger.
What does this decision by President Obama respond to? It is a known fact that the US government has been financing and supporting Venezuela’s militaristic Right, which conspires against the legitimate government of President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela’s peaceful revolutionary process, inspired by the ideas of independence hero Simon Bolivar, ideas that were reaffirmed by Comandante Hugo Chavez after 200 years of capitalist plundering.
In addition to the disorder and boycotts caused by the Right in order to bring about shortages and suffering for working people, the US government has imposed sanctions on Venezuela in order to weaken the government and, in order to justify these and future actions, is now declaring that the situation in Venezuela constitutes a threat to the security of the United States.
How could Venezuela, a small, underdeveloped country without any offensive weapons, constitute a threat to the planet’s greatest military power? Though it could never do so militarily, Venezuela is superior to the United States when it comes to ideas. The ideas that sustain a decadent form of capitalism and an empire that survives only on the basis of its military might can never be compared to the ideas behind 21st century socialism, ideas that have managed to unite all of Latin America and the Caribbean under inclusive and fraternal organizations such as UNASUR, ALBA, CELAC and PetroCaribe.
Jose Marti, Cuba’s independence visionary, said that a just cause can do more than an army, even if buried in the depths of a cave, and there is no greater cause than that championed by Latin American revolutionaries, including those in Venezuela, who are working to give their people the dignity that was denied them for 200 years, giving jobs to the unemployed, medical care to those living in the most remote corners of the country and quality education, decorous homes, culture and sports to the people. In short, Venezuelans are now the masters of their destiny, having left behind the age of capitalist exploitation.
Are those the ideas that the most militarily powerful country in the world fears? Imperialists would do well to recall that their weapons may kill people but they will never be able to kill ideas. If they are just, these will continue to live, and the ideas behind socialism have proven to be just. Could be it be that Latin America cannot be allowed to live in peace?
Elio refers to “21st century socialism”. This implies that socialism has changed – that could be exciting! Perhaps he is referring to Marino Murillo (Minister of Economics) explaining at the Congress of the CPC in December last, that there is a new socialist idea. That he explained was to pay people more for doing more work or being more productive. He didn’t explain that he had borrowed the concept from capitalism, but perhaps got the idea from his daughter who has defected to the wicked US.
President Maduro of Venezuela who spends much more time talking than acting, also talks of 21st century socialism. That could reflect for example the establishment of the governments Bicentenario chain established by Hugo Chavez to control the production, import and distribution of food and in whose stores photography of the empty shelves has been banned. The ever extending queues of hundreds of people seeking to have food to eat explains why over 80% of Venezuelans blame the ever voluble Maduro for their plight. Who does he blame for his problems? Well there are the neoliberals, the imperialists, the capitalists and the Satan who combines all that is evil, the good old USA!
Maduro spent much time in January visiting Russia, the middle east and China trying to get an increase in the price of oil. China obviously enjoys lower energy prices and Maduro fails to understand that as a commodity oil is subject to the marketplace. It isn’t a question of how much he would like to charge, but one of how much the buyers are willing to pay. As guardian of the largest oil reserves in the world, he has managed to achieve the highest inflation rate in the world!
There is a prime example of the 21st century socialism so admired by Elio!
It is with great interest that I read the comments under the Havanatimes.org en Espanol. The overwhelming response are consistently against Elios point of view. Indeed most comments are vary hostile against the regime. In fact it’s the rare supportive comment for the regime that makes an appearance. Why is that?
The U.S. government and corporate media have been demonizing Venezuela since Chavez and now Maduro have been elected in free and fair elections and have taken Venezuela to the socialist left .
You can spout all the justification for what the USG is attempting to do to Venezuela but what you cannot do is to deny history.
The U.S. has been involved in no less than 70 interventions into the internal elections and affairs since 1945 and in exactly the same circumstances as it now faces in Venezuela : the people of Venezuela have chosen to take a path away from free-enterprise capitalism and the USG will do all it can to stop this drift towards democratic movements.
Your sources of information appear to be the corporate media and U.S. government spokespeople , who , just FYI, do not tell the truth about U.S. foreign policy.
For anyone not tied into the lies of the government of the USA and those of the corporate media , try reading the information and articles on Venezuela at ZNet .
I can assure you that those articles will contain something the government spokespeople and Fox News do not present :
historical fact .
If you can read any of the articles there and find something that is not fact or true , please come and tell me.
The threat from Venezuela is it’s internal economic collapse. Failed leadership is always looking to project to outside forces. Maduro and his handlers need to go.
Elio, perhaps you are at a disadvantage in getting information from outside Cuba, but you are thoroughly mistaken about the US designating Venezuela as a “national security threat”. US officials have made clear Obama was not referring to any sort of offensive military threat.
He was referring to the impending economic, political and social collapse in Venezuela. They are now experiencing hyper-inflation, are quickly running dry of foreign reserves and the list of shortages is expanding. Meanwhile, the powerful clique of military officers and corrupt businessmen who have benefited from the Maduro government are engaged in a massive capital flight, sending millions of dollars overseas to bank accounts in the Cayman islands, Panama and Switzerland. They’re hedging their bets and buying condos in Miami, Havana and Spain.
Your absurd assertion that, “Venezuelans are now the masters of their destiny, having left behind the age of capitalist exploitation”, shows just how misinformed you are. The so-called Bolivarian Revolution lead by Chavez & Maduro was a sham, a fraud. The elite surrounding the regime got wealthy, while the middle-class was hollowed out. Any short-term advantages the poor got in the first years have been overwhelmed by soaring inflation, rising unemployment and growing shortages and an out of control crime rate.
Chavez and Maduro, together with their allies in Havana, exploited the poor of Venezuela for their own purposes. Now that the party is over, it will be the poor who pay the biggest price. How do you think the poor in Venezuela’s barrios will react when they see Maduro et al flee the country with the last of the wealth they stole?
The US General who heads Southern Command mentioned the collapse of Venezuela and the subsequent loss of free, or almost free, oil to the Petrocaribe nations, such as Jamaica, Haiti, Nicaragua and, of course, Cuba. The knock-on effect on those economies could be huge. The US government is concerned that it could lead to a large wave of migration from those countries to US shores. That’s the national security threat they are concerned about.
So you see, when the unwise and dangerous socialist schemes you champion have run their course and end in inevitable social disaster, the people always end up heading for the US to find a new home of peace & prosperity.
There’s a lesson in there for you. I hope my comment has resolved some of the errors and confusion you seem to have about the US views on Venezuela.
For a far different view of the relationship between the USA , Venezuela and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean ,
go to ZNet and look at today’s (3/17/15) article by Fernando Vegas : The White House National Security Strategy and Latin America. or Google it .
The article give a clear understanding of the subject title matter that Moses and Cubaqus don’t care to look at , CAN’T look at.
Also at ZNet is an entire section on Venezuela that is nothing like you’ll see on U.S. corporate media.
Go read a few and see just how the perspective and details differ from what you’ve been seeing/reading.
Make up your own mind after reading a few .
Elio writes, “Venezuela is superior to the United States when it comes to ideas”. Hahahahaha! Really? Which ideas are those? Is it the ones that produce nearly 80% inflation? Is it those ideas that fuel the 200% devaluation of the Venezuelan Bolivar in the last 2 years? Surely, it must be the ones that has lines of people surrounding grocery stores hoping to buy milk and flour. As oil prices hit 20 year lows, we will see how these 21st century socialism ideas really work won’t we?
Cuba has been one of the most active entities denying Latin Americans a peaceful existence with its support of terrorist organizations and its aggressive stance on the US once even bringing all of the Americas on the brink of a nuclear conflict.
Graveyards run by dictators are all but peaceful.