Ecuador's Correa Tells the "Dimwit" Like It Is....

[QueenVee]

So refreshing to know that are still a few political leaders willing to stand up to U.S.
News like this just warms the cockles of my heart.... :D


Ecuador wants military base in Miami
Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:38pm BST
Reuters News

NAPLES (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa said Washington must let him open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

Correa has refused to renew Washington's lease on the Manta air base, set to expire in 2009. U.S. officials say it is vital for counter-narcotics surveillance operations on Pacific drug-running routes.

"We'll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami -- an Ecuadorean base," Correa said in an interview during a trip to Italy.

"If there's no problem having foreign soldiers on a country's soil, surely they'll let us have an Ecuadorean base in the United States."

The U.S. embassy to Ecuador says on its Web site that anti-narcotics flights from Manta gathered information behind more than 60 percent of illegal drug seizures on the high seas of the Eastern Pacific last year.

It offers a fact-sheet on the base at: http://ecuador.usembassy.gov/topics_of_interest/manta-fol.html

Correa, a popular leftist economist, had promised to cut off his arm before extending the lease that ends in 2009 and has called U.S. President George W. Bush a "dimwit".

But Correa, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, told Reuters he believed relations with the United States were "excellent" despite the base closing.

He rejected the idea that the episode reflected on U.S. ties at all.

"This is the only North American military base in South America," he said.

"So, then the other South American countries don't have good relations with the United States because they don't have military bases? That doesn't make any sense."

 

[OCKHAM]

Need to do more research before wrapping yourself in that warm blanket. Read this.

_http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9040321

Also, a military base in Miami would be very handy for the CIA, as they would surely like to remove the profits of the drug dealers and place that into their own pockets, and what a better way to do it.

Military bases cannot be good things as Correa seems to imply.

After you read the article, check out "The War on Democracy" by John Pilger who covers that region and how the U.S. operates in spreading their capitalist movements.
_http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3739500579629840148&hl=en

Remember that psychopaths look like normal people and these types often are in leadership positions, and they will use many different methods to make themselves look like the good guy including giving out money, especially if it means you'll get to remake your own constitution in the deal. I am sure it will walk away rich and connected.

 

[QueenVee]

"Military bases cannot be good things as Correa seems to imply...."

I think you have mis-read the article. Correa is demanding an Ecuadorean (not American) military base in Miami, and he is doing so facetiously, knowing that such a thing would never be considered by the U.S., in order to make the following point: An independent sovereign state like Ecuador will no longer tolerate a FOREIGN military base on their soil, anymore than the U.S. would tolerate a foreign military base on THEIR soil. He's saying that it's about time that the U.S. respect the independent sovereignty of other countries as much as it respects its own -- and that refusing the U.S. such free access to his country should not be seen as a "hostile" act symptomatic of "bad relations" between the countries, simply as a refusal to be seen and treated as a "client state" of the U.S....

As for Correa's other qualities/politics/motives, it was not my intention to hold him up as some kind of altruistic saint -- he's a politician, after all! But on that subject, the jury's still out, and time will tell. I certainly don't consider The Economist to be an objective last-word on South American politics.

All I'm saying is the fact that Correa has to cajones to both stand up to American hegemony and poke fun of it at the same time (instead of caving to it and treating it with the solemnity it does not deserve), brings a smile to my face, however fleeting.... :D

 

[OCKHAM]

Leaders standing up to Bush does seem to feel good, I agree that Bush needs a lot more than this.

How did Correa's military base go from Miami to Cuba? Didn't you mean Miami? No, I did not assume it was a U.S. base in the U.S. The Economist is definitely not the last word and Reuters is definitely not either, agreed. It may be that Reuters was trying to do the implying.

This should be a story to watch and see if he can remove the existing base in his country. That would be one of the next steps.

 

[QueenVee]

How did Correa's military base go from Miami to Cuba? Didn't you mean Miami?

Uh duh. I meant to write MIAMI, not CUBA, have corrected that now in my above post. Thanks for pointing it out. (I do that a lot, thinking about two things at once, getting things mixed up. As I was writing that, my mind wandered to the U.S. base in Cuba, American-Cuba relations, etc.).

This should be a story to watch and see if he can remove the existing base in his country.

Agreed. Most interesting. Whatever his motivations, something like this makes a refreshing change from Bush-poodles we have become accustomed to....

 

[PopHistorian]

<< "This is the only North American military base in South America," he said. >>

Is that true? This strikes me as significant, in some way, though I'm not sure how. Is the lack of bases only because the US has never seen South American nations as a "threat." is it because the US hasn't warred with any of them within memory, or is there some other deliberate reason? Anyone have a clue about this?

 

[Al Today]

<< "This is the only North American military base in South America," he said. >>

Perhaps that is the only military base that is public knowledge? Why make more damage control necessary? Hopefully the PTB has enough 'problem' with controlling current state of public awareness. I betcha the PTB have numerous military assets that the public is unaware of.?.?.?

 

[QueenVee]

<< "This is the only North American military base in South America," he said. >>
Is that true? This strikes me as significant, in some way, though I'm not sure how. Is the lack of bases only because the US has never seen South American nations as a "threat." is it because the US hasn't warred with any of them within memory, or is there some other deliberate reason? Anyone have a clue about this?

Oh my. I strongly encourage you to read up on the history of U.S.-Latin-American relations -- you'll find it a huge eye-opener. Throughout the 20th century, continuing into the present, the U.S. government has waged hundreds of wars and military interventions (both overt and covert) against the peoples of Latin America and these wars have been waged by every administration, Democratic and Republican. And behind all this military intervention has been the economic interests of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class. You might want to explore some of these links, for a brief introduction to the history of American interference in Latin-American affairs:

History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America
Latin America: US relations
U.S. Intervention in Latin Amerca: A Chronology
U.S. Terrorism in Latin America

As to the current state of American military bases in the region, that has changed significantly over the past ten years (a fact that American imperialists have been MOST unhappy about). As recently as 1997, there were still numerous large U.S. military bases in the area -- most of which were in the Panama Canal Zone -- but thereafter the U.S. was forced to close almost all of them, when it had to pull out of Panama in compliance with a 1977 treaty. Of course, that has not stopped the U.S. from continuing to try and maintain both presence and influence in the area.

Here are some more links you might want to explore, re the current situation:

Below the Radar: U.S. Military Programs With Latin America, 1997-2007
U.S. Imperialism: Hands Off Latin America
Operation Latin American Freedom
Blackmail & Power, Inc: The People of Latin America vs. The Bad Boys of the US Empire
Threats to Hugo Chavez As Venezuela's December Presidential Election Approaches

 

[Beau]

On top of of all the above, there is a lot of information in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine on how 'shock therapy' originated in South America and how it doesn't really work on the people of that region anymore because they have been submitted to it for so many years and have essentially been desensitized to the process. Her book is practically a re-write of the mainstream history of what happened in South America in the 60's and 70's through economic theories propagated by Milton Friedman and neo-liberal economists who eventually comprised of the mind power behind such evil entities as The World Bank and the IMF.

 

[QueenVee]

On top of of all the above, there is a lot of information in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine on how 'shock therapy' originated in South America and how it doesn't really work on the people of that region anymore because they have been submitted to it for so many years and have essentially been desensitized to the process. Her book is practically a re-write of the mainstream history of what happened in South America in the 60's and 70's through economic theories propagated by Milton Friedman and neo-liberal economists who eventually comprised of the mind power behind such evil entities as The World Bank and the IMF.

In light of the information you have gleaned from Klein's book, what are your thoughts about this?

A Bank of Their Own: Latin America Casting off Washington's Shackles
Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet, October 31, 2007.

The full article can be read by clicking on the link above, but I'm particularly interested in your feedback on this:

"Unlike the Washington-based international financial institutions, the new bank will not impose economic policy conditions on its borrowers. Such conditions are widely believed to have been a major cause of Latin America's unprecedented economic failure over the last 26 years, the worst long-term growth performance in more than a century."

 

[Beau]

In light of the information you have gleaned from Klein's book, what are your thoughts about this?

A Bank of Their Own: Latin America Casting off Washington's Shackles
Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet, October 31, 2007.

The full article can be read by clicking on the link above, but I'm particularly interested in your feedback on this:

"Unlike the Washington-based international financial institutions, the new bank will not impose economic policy conditions on its borrowers. Such conditions are widely believed to have been a major cause of Latin America's unprecedented economic failure over the last 26 years, the worst long-term growth performance in more than a century."

I think it's a great idea, and to the quote specifically, I would wholeheartedly agree. The crazy thing is that a lot of the multinationals got rich during the last 26 years of economic reform in South America. So they would certainly not consider what happened a failure. But when one looks at the rate of unemployment and people living below the poverty line, it's clear that the policies enforced by Bush's Bank, err, the IMF, were meant to steal all the possible avenues of wealth from each country. Now these countries have all learned their lessons, and since Chavez is willing to be the bad guy in the eyes of the Western media, I think other countries are willing to cut off the American-led banking institutions which hijack the economic policies of these nations.

It's an interesting turn, and I think that one should be on the lookout to see how BushandCo. are going to react to Latin America attempting to create a lending institution that is free from American control. They don't typically go down without a fight...

 

[QueenVee]

It's an interesting turn, and I think that one should be on the lookout to see how BushandCo. are going to react to Latin America attempting to create a lending institution that is free from American control. They don't typically go down without a fight...

I can't believe they haven't succeeded in assassinating Chavez by now....

 

[PopHistorian]

Speaking of the World Bank and IMF, as Beau did, I just learned about The Bank of the South, started by Hugo Chavez in order to compete with these global organizations. This breaks up plans for "Unionizing" the Americas as has been done with Europe and Africa. This guy is really on the move. Surely it's another reason the big boys hate him. Apparently the whole thing was Chavez's idea, to loan money to South American governments at lower interest rates, allowing them to pay back loans to the World Bank and IMF, thus getting the int'l banking cartel off their backs. _http://www.bicusa.org/en/Institution.21.aspx

Bank of the South
14 November 2007

Eight countries are planning to inaugurate the Bank of the South in December 2007. The Bank of the South represents the cornerstone to a more wholesale renovation of the regional financial architecture long dependent on Northern banks. Read Vince McElhinny's new info brief on the Bank of the South and what it means for Latin America, and the continued relevance of the international financial institutions for the region.

_http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3543.aspx
World Bank's relevance in Latin America wanes as region continues economic growth and Bank of the South presents emerging competition

18 October 2007

Continued macro-economic prosperity in Latin America furthers decline in World Bank relevance in the region as worries grow about competition with Bank of the South.

The World Bank’s chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean Augusto de la Torre stated that the region is expected to grow between 4.9 and 5% amidst the arrival of a new regional financial institution in the Bank of the South.

According to mercopress.com, de la Torre cautioned that slower than expected growth in the US may still have an effect on Latin America. The impact from the US will most likely be “subdued” however, given the advantages experienced by Latin American economies. Such advantages include “systems geared to control the rate of inflation and greater exchange rate flexibility” making countries better equipped to absorb external shocks.

This prediction for further economic growth in Latin America coincides with the arrival of the Bank of the South, the World Bank's new regional competitor. Consisting of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil with Colombia recently stating its interest in joining, the Bank of the South has become a reality and is scheduled to be launched in November. [...]