Latin America to USA: No Thanks
Looking at "globalization" from South of
the Border
[7-30-02]
Forwarded to us by Arch Taylor, who received it from
Father Jim Flynn of Louisville, KY.
Taylor is a former Japan missionary (Presbyterian,
retired), now living in Louisville.
This analysis was published in Colombia's major
daily, El Tiempo, on July 21, 2002. El Tiempo is, as
Fr. Flynn notes, "hardly a 'lefty' paper."
El Tiempo, July 21, 2002
'No, thanks'
The obsessions of U.S. policy in Latin America -
terrorism and drug trafficking - only serve to worsen the crises south
of the Rio Grande.
Having only just recovered from the dark years of
dictatorship, Latin America threw itself into the arms of neo-liberalism
and then globalization with childlike enthusiasm - only to find itself,
a decade later, in one of the worst situations of recent years. Behind
these failures - without excusing the leaders of Latin American
countries from blame - was always the United States, a country now
embarking on a foreign policy that is questioned more and more every day
for its interventionist and protectionist characteristics and obsessed
with an anti-terrorist crusade that has eclipsed other, more pressing
problems: corruption, misery, and obstacles to commerce.
The Latin American economy, with the exception of
modest accomplishments like those of Mexico and Chile, is a disaster.
The winds of crisis are blowing throughout the region; and projected
economic growth rates have been revised downwards, postponing millions
of Latin Americans' hopes of climbing out of poverty. According to the
United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,
the number of people living in poverty increased from 136 million to 211
million between 1980 and 1999, while there was a scandalous growth in
the concentration of wealth.
The effects of the neo-liberal hurricane are in sight.
A deep-rooted populist governs a radically polarized Venezuela. In Peru,
violent street protests forced the resignation of free market advocates
from the cabinet of the unpopular Toledo administration.
Evo Morales, symbol of peasant resistance to U.S.
anti-narcotics policies, is standing at the doors of the presidency in
Bolivia, despite being vetoed. Argentina, bankrupt, is watching the life
seep out of one of the most promising economies in the hemisphere. And
in Brazil, the unionist Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, another
apostle of anti-neoliberal causes, is the favorite in October's
presidential elections. Paraguay, shaken by street riots, watches as the
shadow of the dubious Lino Oviedo emerges ominously. And Colombia is a
powder-keg that threatens the entire Andean region. Mexico has not been
able to avoid protests, as the expectations created by President Vicente
Fox have gone unfulfilled. A recent poll revealed the extremely low
popularity ratings of the majority of Latin American presidents and
their political parties, and growing disenchantment with democracy as a
system for resolving problems of standards of living.
And, facing this situation, what does the United
States do? Occasionally, they confirm, by means of sophisticated
satellites, how coca and heroin poppy crops move around from one country
to another. In Bolivia, where these crops were practically done away
with, they are now being replanted; and in Peru the anti-narcotics
program has been suspended due to poor results. Almost all the illicit
crops have moved toColombia. In spite of the aggressive fumigation
campaign, they continue supplying the huge market of the North. There,
the market has proved far more powerful than the underhanded "War
on Drugs" - although it would be unjust to deny that Washington's
single-minded obsession with drugs has allowed for an unprecedented
arrival of important resources to Colombia (partly through Plan
Colombia) to strengthen the Armed Forces.
Washington, nevertheless, continues to lash out
blindly due to the ultraconservative views of a president for whom, in
foreign policy, there are only terrorists. The statement of the U.S.
Ambassador to Bolivia against Evo Morales has caused that presidential
candidate's popularity to skyrocket. After proclaiming Mexico to be the
U.S.'s closest partner, Bush shelved the immigration agreement.
Relations with Venezuela and Ecuador are going through bad times, and
Argentina is in the hands of an I.M.F. resistant to helping them, in
part due to Washington's precautionary measures. Those same measures,
faced with the possibility of Lula coming to power, have Brazil's
markets hanging by a thread. In terms of anti-narcotics strategies, each
day there are more U.S. observers and politicians that question the
efficacy of aid that "serves to support corrupt public officials
and maintain the status quo," as a columnist of this newspaper
wrote.
Economic signs from Washington couldn't be more
incoherent. Bush's decision to subsidize U.S. agriculture is a fatal
blow for a desperate Latin American agricultural sector. Congress hasn't
approved trade promotion authority for Bush nor ratified the ATPA
(Andean Trade Preferences Act) - a trade program that favors the
impoverished Andean countries.
To let loose on these countries a war against the
obvious pleasure U.S. society derives from drugs, to request that we
open our market to U.S. products while they protect themselves from our
goods and immigrants, and to intervene unabashedly in internal politics
(as in Bolivia): all these seem to be favors that we Latin Americans
should respond to by saying, as any courteous person from the U.S. would
say, "No, thanks." Or, in good Spanish, "No,
gracias."
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ARCH TAYLOR former Japan missionary (Presbyterian,
retired) 521 Zorn Ave H-10, Louisville KY 40206 arch.taylor@ecunet.org
written 4:27 pm 07/29/02
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