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MEXIDATA . INFO
Column 102306 Brewer
Monday, October 23, 2006
Chavez Leads Efforts to Fragment Latin America By Jerry Brewer
Democracy is still a fragile commodity in the Americas. Mexico continues to do its part as a solid United Statesally, most recently by rejecting leftist presidentialcandidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. This followingrepeated claims that Venezuelan President HugoChavez was giving support to Lopez Obrador. Chavez ritually continues to support leftist LatinAmerica political candidates, his most recent protégébeing Rafael Correa, the leftist presidential candidate inEcuador. Correa, who once served as Ecuador’sMinister of Economy, resigned after an unauthorizedvisit to Venezuela to meet with Chavez. Correa also visited Argentina’s President NestorKirchner. This, after Cuba’s ailing Fidel Castro andChavez posed for photographs in Cordoba, Argentina, infront of the boyhood home of revolutionary CheGuevara. On October 15, Correa came in second to businessmagnate Alvaro Noboa in Ecuador’s presidentialelection. As Noboa did not get the votes needed to winoutright, there will be a runoff election for thepresidency on November 26. The Correa plan is virtually a carbon copy of Chavez’sBolivarian Revolution. Correa pledges to demolishEcuador’s political system and construct a long-term
agenda in a country that is nearly 45 percent below thepoverty line. He is threatening to “trash thecapitalists,” destroy the private sector, and controldissent. Too, he says he will call for a constituentassembly to rewrite Ecuador’s Constitution. If Correa’s agenda sounds familiar – it is. Chavezdemolished independence in Venezuela’s institutions,seized control of the economy, militarized thegovernment, and virtually destroyed private enterprise.In a nationally televised interview in Ecuador, Correa’simage shone as a mirrored reflection of Chavez, stating, “Mr. Chavez insulted Satan” in New York. Much of Correa’s rhetoric is also in line with Bolivia’snew leftwing president Evo Morales, who was openlycourted by Chavez. Ecuador could ultimately joinVenezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Argentina as a unitedfront of opposition to democracy and U.S. interests as awhole. As well, Correa’s pledge to break contracts withforeign bondholders and demand a negotiatedrestructuring is certainly reminiscent of Chavez’sactions and alliances. In circumspect, we must not see this rogue alignmentof left leaning nations as a problem indigenous to justour Western Hemisphere. Chavez continues toregularly visit with government leaders from Syria,China, North Korea, Lebanon and Iran, including thelatter’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Nor shouldthe venom spewing tirades by Chavez against theUnited States be looked at solely as unscrupuloustruculence. Chavez’s massive military arms purchases, and ashared desire with many in his radical alliances fornuclear materials, cannot be ignored. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systemsmust be a top United States and free world priority. Chavez’s sleight-of-hand in transforming his mentorFidel Castro’s revolution into his own is actually quiteclear as opposed to an illusion. And one must wonder if Chavez relishes the temerity of the United States beingunder direct nuclear threat as it was in 1962 with theSoviets in Cuba? Of course the Goliath that was theSoviet Union came to an end in 1991 and a newCommonwealth of Independent States ensued. Democracy throughout Central America held, albeit byits thumbs, through the 1970s as Cubans and theSoviets spread their beliefs throughout Nicaragua andEl Salvador. Too, even Grenada was not spared from
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