Frustrated with US meddling, Latin America seeks its own path

[mick silver]

Frustrated with US meddling, Latin America seeks its own pathPresident Obama is in Panama this weekend for the Summit of the Americas, where he'll meet with regional leaders who have grown increasingly determined to assert autonomy from the US.http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/csm_logo_115.jpg (http://www.csmonitor.com/) By Whitney Eulich 7 hours ago









As leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean gather in Panama Friday for the seventh Summit of the Americas, diplomatic shifts unthinkable even a year ago will be on display as Cuba joins in for the first time.
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But the historic nature of the gathering may not prevent a heated summit. Venezuela is threatening to eclipse important regional discussions in its anger over sanctions directed at it by the United States. Nations across the region face weakened economies, and corruption scandals are plaguing countries from Mexico to Chile. Protesters on the sidelines are speaking out against Nicaragua’s new inter-oceanic canal and the ongoing US embargo on Cuba.
The dissension around the forum raises the question of what – or who – can unify the region and help move it forward.
Recommended: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz. (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/0203/Think-you-know-Latin-America-Take-our-geography-quiz)
The US played an outsized role in Latin America for decades, meddling in nations’ internal affairs, backing coups of democratically-elected leaders, and influencing the region’s economies through Washington-based institutions such as the World Bank.
The past decade-plus, however, has been defined by a Latin America increasingly asserting its diplomatic and economic autonomy from Washington, empowered by growing commodity-based economies and the ability to borrow from new sources such as China.
Still, while some tried to fill the leadership void – former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez with his "petrodollar diplomacy" and former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva driving for more south-south development – no one has fully stepped into that role. And the need for that sole Goliath in the region may now be trumped by multiple regional alliances that have flourished in the Americas.
“We are in a transition in Latin America,” says Roberto Izurieta, head of the Latin America department at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management in Washington. “The region that we are seeing today is going to be very different than the one we will be analyzing even next year,” he says, noting that those that exerted power in recent years are now turning inward to deal with domestic challenges.
SILENCE ON VENEZUELA?
The quiet response from Latin American leaders on widespread protests and reports of human rights abuses in Venezuela over the past year highlights the region's shifting approach.
For months before the US got involved, observers across the globe were asking why Venezuela’s neighbors weren’t (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2014/0312/Venezuela-As-protests-grow-more-violent-should-neighbors-weigh-in-video) taking a stronger stance against the political unrest and government crackdowns there. This sense of "inaction" played into US sanctions.
A young protester was killed while demonstrating at an antigovernment rally in February, an incident that raised fears that nationwide protests like those seen a year prior would reemerge. Some 33 of nearly 80 opposition mayors are now facing legal charges from the government, and a handful of opposition politicians have been sent to prison over the past year.
Yet regional alliances like the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) say they are taking steps to keep Venezuela in check, mediating negotiations between the government and the political opposition in Caracas last year. Many observers expect the UNASUR to take Venezuela to task if it tries to postpone 2015 legislative elections.
So when President Obama announced that Venezuela was a threat to national security last month, a move legally required to pass sanctions against seven senior officials targeted for undermining democracy and committing acts of violence or human rights abuses, the reaction from Latin America was swift.
Regional allies spoke out against the “bad joke” of the US getting involved in neighbor’s domestic affairs once again and (http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/03/11/actualidad/1426043198_071867.html) called on the entire region to defend Venezuela as “one of us.” Even nations normally less quick to support Venezuela expressed disappointment in Obama’s move, with Chile’s foreign minister saying Venezuela’s challenges “must be resolved in the political arena (https://prensapcv.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/gobierno-de-chile-rechaza-sanciones-unilaterales-de-ee-uu-contra-venezuela/)” between President Nicolás Maduro’s government and the political opposition.The US decision to sanction Venezuela, critics argue, only gives President Maduro more fodder to distract from challenges at home such as food and medical supply shortages and sky-high inflation.
The lack of a single Latin American voice calling out the Venezuelan government was likely intentional, says Eric Hershberg, director of American University’s Center on Latin American and Latino Studies.
He says the region – given its experience with 20th-century US involvement – is prioritizing “consensus, multilateralism, and noninterference” in neighbor’s domestic affairs.
“One single leader isn’t going to address the challenges in Latin America,” Mr. Hershberg says. “No one wants any one country in the lead.”
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Read this story at csmonitor.com (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2015/0410/Frustrated-with-US-meddling-Latin-America-seeks-its-own-path)


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View Comments (221)

[Ponce]

Where gringo goes death follows...........I hope that Cuba never seeks the so called peace with the US, Cuba might be poor but we are alive,free and happy.

All that the US wants to do is to try and find a base of operation from where they are able to control Cemerica and Sumerica from.

V

[Horn]

That and all the rest of Venezuela's neighbors are busy looting the nation as it crumbles charging 5X for toilet paper, Ofcourse they'll reject any sanctions,

Imo, Obama also works for the Chinese/Dollar trade anywhere he can, by attempts at stifling action anywhere else on the planet.

[palani]

.I hope that Cuba never seeks the so called peace with the US, Cuba might be poor but we are alive,free and happy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/poll-shows-vast-majority-of-cubans-welcome-closer-ties-with-us/2015/04/08/6285bfe4-d8c3-11e4-bf0b-f648b95a6488_story.html

Seems a vast majority of Cubans would prefer to associate with the Land of Oz than living the alive, free and happy life.

[singular_me]

they meddle in every country' s affairs... same patterns throughout the world, black africa included

intervention = collectivism = death of mankind

[Ponce]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/poll-shows-vast-majority-of-cubans-welcome-closer-ties-with-us/2015/04/08/6285bfe4-d8c3-11e4-bf0b-f648b95a6488_story.html

Seems a vast majority of Cubans would prefer to associate with the Land of Oz than living the alive, free and happy life.

Palani, the reason for this is that they don't have access to all the info as we do so that they really don't know what is going on......the don't know that they will be used as slave workers for those in the US.......remember that they get paid $25.00 A MONTH no matter what their profession is so that $1.25 per hour is a fortune..... however, prices will go sky high and the Jewish bankers will have a ball creating a new kind of people with debts. Cuba is only one of four countries in the world that don't have the Fed in control.

V

[palani]

Palani, the reason for this is that they don't have access to all the info as we do so that they really don't know what is going on
I agree with this statement. When you are used to a lifetime of hard labor and low pay the concepts of LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS does APPEAR to be dreamland. What was that skit in the movie Matrix? Where the guy bites into the steak and he knows he is not eating steak but he has the illusion that it is steak? And for the illusion he is willing to sell out his companions.

[Horn]

That and most of Florida is Cuban

[singular_me]

John Perkins, confessions of an economic hitman...
The Secret History of the American Empire

there is more slavery than it has ever been before... maximizing profits regardless of the environmental and social costs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fVAifnnlg0


there are still people these thinking days that political turmoil and genocides are self-inflicted while it is all about masters and puppets, and in the middle, the people who pay the heavy price. Destruction by design is a better definition


Perkins flaws: doesnt see the problem with democracy and seems to endorse global warming. Too bad, but for the rest he is right on. My guess is that he may be aware of this but doesnt want to compound the terrifying news

[expat4ever]

I agree with this statement. When you are used to a lifetime of hard labor and low pay the concepts of LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS does APPEAR to be dreamland. What was that skit in the movie Matrix? Where the guy bites into the steak and he knows he is not eating steak but he has the illusion that it is steak? And for the illusion he is willing to sell out his companions.

I dont know that you would find anyone doing hard labor there unless they are in prison or something.
Dont forget, the housing is pretty much free as is the electric, food ration cards ect.
There's also a dual currency system in place. If your Cuban you also get better pricing. Gringos not so much. I could go to the farmers market and drop 10 bucks on 2-3 days food. My GF could eat for a week on the same 10 bucks but walk away with way more food.
Get out of Havana and its probably one of the freeest places on earth.

[palani]

I dont know that you would find anyone doing hard labor there unless they are in prison or something.

Living in the real world is the hard labor I was referring to.

I have hinted at defining the value of a dollar in the past when figures of 'million' or 'billion' are raised. There is no definition of the dollar available which is why it can be anything you want it to be in the Land of Oz. In the past one dollar was the price of a man's labor from sunup to sunset. You will not find that definition in any statute from the government.

That is what I meant by hard labor. Using this definition 300 million Americans would have to labor for 136.9 years to repay a debt of 15 trillion dollars. This debt is called NATIONAL SERVITUDE.