House of Paine

the suave side of gringo hegemony

one mouth writes

"Faced with few peaceful options,
 the United States may drift back 
to the Cold War policies of the 1960s and 1970s"



and adds the deeper past story line:

" Between 1898 and 1994,
 the US government succeeded in overthrowing,
 or inducing friends to overthrow,
 no fewer than 41 Latin American governments
 (a dozen of them freely elected).
 That's one every 28 months" 

"Before it goes that route again
 the United States should probably 
consider modifying 
its ideologically driven hostility
 to (left-ish)  regimes"

" A little pragmatism,
 coupled with a ban on 
 overthrowing elected governments
 would make a good start"

that's 
John H. Coatsworth  professor  at Harvard University

here's another oily friend 
                       of
                        " los pueblos latinos "  ....


==========================================

=================================




"The rise of center-left governments 
in Latin America has been 
a dimension of the region's democratization 
that, notwithstanding setbacks, 
has been under way for the past quarter century"

 Center-left parties in many Latin American countries 
redefined their programs and strategies,
 competed for voter support,
 and won free and fair competitive elections"


 



 ----------------dark clouds  over our north south
new world  intercourse :----------------------



" Every Brazilian administration 
has wanted the United States to believe 
its own free market rhetoric: 
Stop massively subsidizing US agriculture 
if it wants international free trade agreements.
 Central Americans of all ideological colors 
resent the US refusal to fully dismantle
 sugar subsidies
 under the new Central American Free Trade Agreement"

"As UN Security Council members in 2003,
 center-left Chile and center-right Mexico
 spoke for most Latin Americans 
in refusing to support the US government's decision
 to go to war in Iraq"

" most Latin American governments 
oppose US policies toward Cuba."

 


" Relations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
 and Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales are poor"

" The Bush administration is not responsible
 for Chávez's views or rise,
 but it needlessly made
 a difficult situation worse 
and contributed to Chávez's appeal
 and consolidation of autocratic power"

" The US government handled Chávez 
professionally and effectively
 from late 1998 to 2001"

" In April 2002, the Bush administration 
ineptly cast itself as a supporter 
of a coup to overthrow Chávez.
 He has not forgotten or forgiven"

"The Bush administration 
is not responsible for Evo Morales's career
 as the leader of coca growers,
 but it contributed to his electoral rise.
 During the last Bolivian presidential campaign in 2002,
 the US ambassador
 publicly denounced 
Morales's opposition presidential candidacy.
 Morales's popularity surged,
 putting him within a whisker 
of winning the presidency.
 The Bush administration's 
support for President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada 
was inadequate.
 Facing a budget shortfall and manifold protests
, some led by Morales,
 Sánchez de Lozada asked for US support;
 he received a pittance.
 Months later, he had to resign, setting off events
 that culminated 
in Morales' presidential election landslide"

"The Bush administration 
demonstrated during its first term 
its capacity to make a bad situation worse
 in relations with Venezuela and Bolivia 
even as it learned to cooperate
 with center-left governments 
in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay."

----------Rx :-----------------

" stop the self-defeating policies 
that led to confrontation 
with Chávez and Morales.
 Latin America's democratic left 
does not threaten the United States, 
and in many ways it advances US interests and values"

 
that's 
Jorge I. Dominguez also a professor  at Harvard University.