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Column 011507 Brewer

Monday, January 15, 2007

Latin America’s Wisdom Equals its Trepidation

By Jerry Brewer

Central America witnessed one of the largest guerrilla

insurgencies in Latin America during the decade of the
1970s. Cuban and Soviet financed troops and supply
lines throughout Nicaragua and El Salvador were
attempting to overthrow opposing governments via
their revolution. They were not successful as a people
united rejected an enemy and an ideology. This was
further accomplished with alliances and united support,
along with an intense desire for freedom and power of
free elections.

Solidarity for humanity throughout the Americas today

may now indeed be an immaculate perception.
Elections all over Latin America have demonstrated a
myriad of diverse beliefs and opinions on who can be
the most effective leaders.

Mexican voters valiantly denied a winning vote to the

leftist candidate for president, Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador. Mexico’s southern periphery and gateway to
Central and South America is obviously a concern to the
U.S., due to growing instability.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’s bellicose demeanor

towards the United States, and arms buildup
throughout South America, lends obvious credence to
this perception. Latin American nations continue to
stand in a relative state of careful observation of world
events. Chavez’s massive military expenditures, left-
leaning agendas and other dubious activity are of much
concern. Too, Cuba’s communist fate is an issue of
critical importance to the Americas.

Cuban President Fidel Castro and deceased Chilean

General Augusto Pinochet both ruled over the past
decades with atrocious human rights records. Although
ruling from different ends of the spectrum — Pinochet
on the hard right and Castro on the far left, their
repressive leadership gave way to more democratic
governments in Latin America.

Yet many now believe that Venezuela’s Chavez would

welcome the opportunity to reign as leader of the Latin
American left when Castro is gone.

Chavez’s alliances with Iran, North Korea, Belarus,

Syria and others following a similar agenda are clearly
actions to build an anti-U.S. axis far beyond Latin
America. He continues to increasingly dominate all
branches of Venezuelan government, while liberally
expending Venezuela’s oil wealth.

With an eye to Latin America the United States is

ostensibly nestled safe between a 4,000-mile frontier
with Canada and a 2,000-mile border with Mexico, yet
much of the concern by U.S. leaders is curiously
directed to Russia as Cold War reminders resurface.
Russia passed a law last year that forces churches and
religious groups to report to the government on their
services, sermons and sources of income, in an
apparent effort to monitor activities of organizations
such as Amnesty International and Doctors without
Borders.

This has sparked outrage among human rights groups

in Russia, the European Union and other Western
nations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken
greater state control over independent business and
media. Too, he has eliminated most political opposition
in Parliament and changed Russia’s governorships from
elected to appointed.

The war in Iraq, continuing world terrorism, and nuclear

proliferation in North Korea and Iran continue to be
pernicious distractions to U.S. leadership and unity in
the Americas. The United States recently offered
incentives to North Korea that included a peace treaty,
normalization of relations, and security guarantees if
the communist regime dismantles its atomic weapons
program. Too, the U.S. offered to remove North Korea
from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.

Terrorism continues to play a pivotal role in unbalancing

world stability and imposing intense fear that cripples a
country’s freedom and fluidity. Al Qaeda remains a
holding company, with terrorist cells and sympathizers
capable of horrific acts of terror and mayhem. And
there are many al Qaedas, as opposed to a monolithic
organization, with upper leadership organizing virtually
every facet of the organization.

Restricting al Qaeda movement from Pakistan into

Afghanistan is a current concern in the Middle East that
illustrates a dedicated ideology of hate, violence and
death. In North Africa’s Sudan, the United Nations is
planning to strengthen the African Union force in the
crisis-torn Darfur region where more than 200,000
people have been killed. And terrorists are well
represented in South America in the tri-border
confluence of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Memories of Cuban troops in Angola, and at locations

throughout Latin America in past decades, are vivid
reminders of just how close to home world events can
come. As well, much of this was, and is, not so much
to destroy a people physically and materially, but to
unsettle the people psychologically, and thus society is
forced from a condition of harmony into chaos.

——————————
Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice
International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm
headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with
MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at
Cjiaincusa@aol.com, and jbrewer@cjiausa.org.