23 October 2020 — FAIR
Bolivia’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party won a decisive victory in the country’s presidential elections on Sunday, with its candidate Luis Arce apparently winning by a large enough margin to avoid a runoff, likely achieving an absolute majority. The leading opposing candidate, neoliberal Carlos Mesa, and the right-wing unelected President Jeanine Áñez congratulated Arce on his victory. Continue reading
6 August 2020 — FAIR
Reports like the Washington Post‘s (11/10/19) failed to convey the reality that Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced out by the military.
In the Bolivian elections last October 20, incumbent President Evo Morales of the Movement Toward Socialism party (MAS in Spanish) won a 10-point victory over his nearest challenger, as pre-election polls predicted. The next day, the Organization of American States issued a statement challenging the legitimacy of the elections, asserting a “hard-to-explain change in the trend of the preliminary results.” Immediately, right wingers violently took to the streets to protest the president. The OAS issued a followup statement confirming their analysis on November 10. The same day, the military forced Morales to step down.
5 March 2020 — FAIR
The Washington Post editorial board (11/11/19) stated as fact that Bolivian President Evo Morales “moved to falsify the results of the October 20 vote so as to hand him a first-round victory.”
President Evo Morales won re-election in Bolivia’s presidential election last October 20, as pre-election polls predicted. He received 47% of the vote in an election with 88% turnout. He beat his nearest rival by just over 10 percentage points, which meant a second round was not required.
12 November 2019 — Grayzone
When Luis Fernando Camacho stormed into Bolivia’s abandoned presidential palace in the hours after President Evo Morales’s sudden November 10 resignation, he revealed to the world a side of the country that stood at stark odds with the plurinational spirit its deposed socialist and Indigenous leader had put forward.
11 November 2019 — Counter Currents
Amidst a right wing coup, Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to resign Sunday. Evo’s forced exit from the Bolivian presidency was a right wing coup by army and police chieftains with imperialist backing.
25 March 2019 — Internationalist 360°
The political changes in Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years have been reflected in a serious weakening of regional multilateral organizations. The nefarious and retrograde OAS was revived, which, symbolically, is a serious antecedent against regional sovereignty, and perhaps we are now witnessing the emergence of Plan Condor II.
18 August 2012
Australian government lines up behind British threats against Assange
World Socialist Web Site Today at 17:01 Canberra’s refusal to publicly criticise, let alone challenge, the British government further demonstrates its role as a co-conspirator in the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder.
17 August 2012
Ecuador determined to save Assange
Strategic Culture Foundation Today at 10:27
8 February, 2011 — Black Agenda Report
Ever since being driven into exile by the United States in 2004, the democratically elected former president of Haiti has sought to return to his devastated country, now occupied and dominated by foreigners. ‘An exogenous plan of reconstruction – one that is profit-driven, exclusionary, conceived of and implemented by non-Haitians,’ says Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ‘cannot reconstruct Haiti.’
My Return to Haiti by Jean-Bertrand Aristide
‘I will return to Haiti to the field I know best and love: education.’
5 August, 2010 — The B u l l e t – Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 399
Uribe’s Parting Shot
Outgoing Colombian President, Álvaro Uribe, dropped a figurative bomb in the Andes on Thursday, July 22, just weeks before the scheduled inauguration of President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, Uribe’s former Defence Minister. At the behest of Bogotá, an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) was convened to hear Colombia’s accusations that there are “1,500 guerrillas and dozens of encampments of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Venezuela,” both groups deemed to be “terrorist” organizations by Colombia and the United States.
In response, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez – flanked by visiting Argentine soccer sensation and leftist celebrity, Diego Maradona – announced on Venezuelan television that he had cut all diplomatic relations with Colombia.
The Venezuelan embassy in Bogotá was closed and Colombian diplomats in Caracas were given 72 hours to vacate the country. The Venezuelan armed forces, particularly those 20,000 troops stationed along the Colombian-Venezuelan border, were put on “maximum alert,” given the gravity of the accusations levelled against Venezuela by the Uribe government. Chávez accused Uribe of using the alleged guerrilla encampments as a pretext to bring the two countries to war.
2010-03-25
Aleksandr SALITZKY
Vladimir TATSIY
China’s Accelerating Economic Growth (II)
“ China’s huge package of economic stimuli continues to draw attention worldwide. The investments into manufacturing assets in 2009 totaled 22 trillion yuan, a 30.1% hike compared to 2008 The super-ambitious investment plan intended to keep the Chinese economy crisis-free is being implemented with the active involvement of the country’s banking system. State banks play the central role in the process”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2854
2010-03-21
Nil NIKANDROV
OAS without US. An Alternative
“The Mexican city Cancun has recently played host to the 23-rd summit of… the Rio Group. The summit meeting took a sensational decision to set up yet another regional organization, – Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeos (CELAC), or a Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. A future organization will basically differ from the OAS in that it will not comprise the United States and Canada… The more obsessed the Empire is in fighting enemies all over the world, the more frequently that obsession backfires. Prospects for setting up CELAC, – an alternative Organization of American States without the USA, may result in the isolation of the United States proper on the American continent…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2857
2010-03-25
Victor KORGUN
The Afghan dilemma
“The formation of a coalition government with Taliban is unlikely: they will likely to insist on changing political regime and on the establishment of the Islamic emirate. Anyway the authorities will have to negotiate with Taliban leaders who are defining the fate of the movement and the military situation in the country… It is the Afghan government which should negotiate with Taliban while other parties concerned including the US should only create conditions for that. London is especially active. It was the UKs authorities organized talks between Kabul and Taliban in October 2008 in Saudi Arabia… The settlement of the Afghan issue depends on many states including Afghanistan neighbors and here we see different interests. Moscow supports the North of Afghanistan, Tashkent supports Afghan Uzbeks headed by General Dustom, Iran supports Shiites (Khazar tribes) and Pakistan is close to Pushtu people. Teheran is concerned with the US pressure and Islamabad does not mind having a friendly regime in Kabul and being able to restrain India. Beijing is not showing its interests regarding the situation in Afghanistan…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2875
2010-03-22
Aleksandr SHUSTOV
Manageable chaos for Central Asia
“It is becoming more clear why in addition to its military base at Manas international airport near Bishkek, the US is going to have a military training center in Batken region of Kyrgyzstan… a new US military base in the heart of Asia is first of all needed in case of military confrontation between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and not to meet the current tasks of the Afghan campaign…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2871
2010-03-23
Anatoly ALIFEROV
Iran’s nuclear policy and non-nuclear Middle East
“In 1995 the participants of the Conference dedicated to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) approved a resolution to create in the Middle East a special zone free from the weapons of mass destruction. The resolution was accepted by all countries of the region, including Israel. However, today, the fact that Israel has nukes puts a major obstacle on the way to nuclear disarmament of the Middle East (Israel became a nuclear state with the help of France, Great Britain and the US). Despite the fact that the UN General Assembly approves resolutions on non-nuclear state of the Middle East, no progress on the issue can be seen so far…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2872
2010-03-23
Pyotr ISKENDEROV
EU Failure in Brdo
“The heavily advertised EU-Balkan summit in Brdo, Slovenia, was plagued by scandals… The Brdo summit was the opening of the political year for the Balkans during which the West hopes to suppress the Bosnian and Kosovo Serbs’ residual resistance to the onslaught of the new world order…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2873
2010-03-22
M.K. BHADRAKUMAR (India)
A US spy forces India to rethink
“The Indian public is shell-shocked by the United States move to strike a deal plea bargain in juridical parlance between its Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] and David Coleman Headley, who played a key role in the planning of the terrorist strike in Mumbai in November 2008 in which 166 people were killed… The Headley saga underscores the geopolitical reality that the US-British-Pakistani axis to engage the Taliban in Afghanistan holds lethal potency for Indias strategic interests…”
en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2874
30 December, 2009 — Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY
The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described in Haiti and international media prepared by Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY. It does not reflect the opinions of any individual or organization. This service is intended to create a better understanding of the situation in Haiti by presenting the reader with reports that provide a variety of perspectives on the situation.
To make a donation to support this service: Konbit Pou Ayiti, 7 Wall Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930.
IN THIS REPORT:
6 November, 2009 — Council on Hemispheric Affairs
By COHA Research Associate Ethan Katz
After adamantly rejecting all attempted negotiations, the Honduran de facto government signed an agreement on October 29th ostensibly opening space for a potential resolution to the country’s four-month standoff. The agreement called for the formation of a unity government that will assume power and oversee the November 29th presidential elections. But even under the most favorable of circumstances, the terms of the peace agreement would transform Zelaya into little more than a figurehead president, drained of all his authority. The accord left the restoration of executive power in the hands of the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, the two bodies that authorized and led the way to Zelaya’s removal from the presidency in the first place. Still, the most lethal blow to Zelaya’s return was delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she acknowledged that his restitution would not affect Washington’s recognition of the election results.
Clinton’s Coup de Main
Apparently the U.S. plan under discussion was never meant to be implemented, and de facto leader Roberto Micheletti’s alleged agreement was probably little more than a hoax. While the new deal was feted as ending the conflict, such celebration may have proved to be premature as progress has since reached a standstill, which perhaps was the intended outcome all along. On Tuesday, Honduran Congressional leaders postponed calling the legislative body out of recess in order to verify the accords, and it remains to be seen whether they will even bother to endorse the agreement, especially after the State Department so effectively sabotaged the peace process.
3 July, 2009 – MRZine – Monthly Review
Tegucigalpa, 3 July 2009, ABN — Thousands of Hondurans who marched this Friday from the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University, at the heart of the city of Tegucigalpa, to the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Central American nation of Honduras are waiting for the meeting of José Miguel Insulza and representatives of the National Front against the Fascist Coup d’État.
Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) correspondent Freddy Fernández reported that members of Honduran popular movements, numbering 100,000 today, will persevere outside the OAS facilities in Tegucigalpa till they can petition Insulza for the unconditional return of President Manuel Zelaya to presidency.
According to Fernández, the meeting between the OAS secretary general and representatives of the National Front against the Fascist Coup d’État is expected to begin at 4:30 PM (Venezuelan time).
The ABN journalist emphasized that the popular mobilization this Friday to repudiate the de facto government has gathered more Hondurans than ever: ‘Today’s mobilization is undoubtedly the biggest so far.’
Fernández added that the mobilization today has not been affected by the military repression of the kind seen in the past days.
Also, Fernández noted that the media documenting the march today are the same ones that have been reporting on the people’s rejection of the coup from the beginning and that the media that support the de facto government are nowhere to be seen.
Fernández confirmed that OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza is currently in Honduras.
The original article ‘Movimientos populares hondureños esperan a Insulza a las afueras de la OEA en Tegucigalpa’ was published by Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias on 3 July 2009. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi.
29 June, 2009 – MRZine – Monthly Review
In my reflection written last Thursday night, June 25, I said: ‘We do not know what will happen tonight or tomorrow in Honduras, but the brave conduct of Zelaya will go down in history.’
Two paragraphs before I noted: ‘What is happening there will be a test for the OAS and for the current United States administration.’
The prehistoric Inter-American institution had met the other day in Washington and, in a muted, lukewarm resolution, promised to immediately take the pertinent actions to seek harmony between the warring parties. In other words, negotiations between the coup plotters and the constitutional president of Honduras.
1 June, 2009 – Council on Hemispheric Affairs
A fateful moment may be at hand in the future of the Inter-American movement
The fate of the Organization of American States (OAS) will be put into doubt this week during its meeting in Honduras, with the prospect of Cuba’s reentry into the organization after nearly fifty years of a U.S.-led suspension looming over the agenda.
A magical airport for Haiti won the Cuban vote for the U.S.
In 1962, President Kennedy’s ambassador to the OAS, DeLesseps Morrison, a rabid anti-communist, pushed a resolution through the organization suspending Cuba’s membership in the Western Hemisphere’s most important regional institution. Given the lack of overwhelming regional backing for such a move against Cuba at the time, this was no easy task. In fact, in order to convince Haitian President Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier to support the U.S. initiative to bar Cuba from the OAS, Ambassador Morrison had to bribe the reprehensible Haitian dictator by promising to fund the construction of a new airport in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
24-26 April, 2009 – Counterpunch
Port-au-Prince.
If the Haitian government tells you these last Senate elections were fine; don’t believe them.
If the United Nations tells you these last Senate elections in Haiti were fine; don’t believe them.
If the OAS (Organization of American States) tells you these last Senate elections in Haiti were fine; don’t believe them.
If the Main Stream Media ignores the recent Haitian elections, maybe it’s because no one is supposed to say that it was a voting nightmare. When you hold an election and no one shows up, it’s a nightmare.
I drove around town (Port-au-Prince) late Sunday morning, April 19, as voters were supposed to be voting. One of the things reaffirmed to me that morning was that Haitians like playing soccer in the streets when there’s no traffic. People did not vote in Port-au-Prince and Port-au-Prince, in this case, probably reflects what was happening in most of the country.
Barack Obama hopes to be received differently at the summit in Trinidad and Tobago: he can talk about the crisis, his administration’s new positions on Iraq and Iran, and any number of other things, but he can’t escape the fact that what matters most is his position on Cuba.
The imperial vision of the United States in relation to Latin America is summed up in its position on Cuba. That was made clear when the United States was faced with a truly revolutionary process, which overthrew one of the region’s many dictatorships backed by Washington, and whose new government in Havana moreover radically reclaimed Cuba’s sovereignty, while making progress in the construction of a just society, beginning with land reform.
April 16, 2009 – During his intervention at the VII ALBA Summit, Bolivian president Evo Morales recalled the 1962 documents of the Organisation of American States (OAS) that resulted in Cuba being expelled from the organization, and outlined the importance of reflecting over the motives of that expulsion.
The resolution indicates that the adherence of any member country to Marxism-Leninism, and the association of any member government of the organization with the communist bloc, broke the unity and solidarity of the hemisphere. Therefore, given that the government of Cuba identified itself as Marxist Leninist, it was incompatible with the purpose of the OAS and was therefore excluded from participating.
By Larry Birns and Jessica Bryant
September 22, 2008
The near breakdown of relations between the United States and Bolivia is a perfect example of the baleful consequences of the inherent disrespect the U.S. historically has exhibited toward the region.
Despite La Paz’s and Washington’s ideological differences, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon might have made one more effort to indicate a clear U.S. commitment to the territorial integrity of Bolivia. Vigorous support of President Evo Morales in the face of the opposition’s reckless strategy on the part of Santa Cruz and the eastern region pro-autonomy leaders might have provided a compelling pressure on the secessionists, who were more interested in getting their hands on the region’s hydrocarbon windfall revenues than in avoiding the violence that tragically has claimed many lives.
The New Dark Age 