WikiLeaks: “The US strategy in South America considers coup or assassinations”

Last summer the world observed how Greece tried to oppose the dictates of the international institutions that forced the country to accept a package of new measures of austerity. The indebted Greek state could not refuse to follow the orders of the Troika creditors. After the referendum called by the government of Alexis Tsipras, the European Central Bank deprived the Greek economy of liquidity that intensified recession and a farce of the results of the popular vote, reported an official page of the center.

A similar battle is being waged for the independence of the countries in South America for the past 15 years.
Although Washington has been trying to destroy the ‘state dissidence” in several countries using the same techniques applied against Athens the strength of Latin America managed to withstand the pressure. This epic battle waged at first kept secret from the eyes of the citizens was reconstructed through the archives of the US State Deparment leaded by WikiLeaks. Alexander Main and Dan Beeton offered an interesting reconstruction of events in their book: “WikiLeaks: the world according to the United States empire”.

The authors argue that neo liberalism was imposed in Latin America before Berlin and Brussels humiliated democracy in Greece. Through the coercion exerted by the “Chicago Boy” (young Latin American economists who returned to the countries after studying in the US) Washington managed to spread in South America fiscal austerity, de regulation, “free trade”, privatization and destruction of the public sector since the mid 1980s, The result was similar to that seen in Greece: a stagnation of growth, increased poverty, deterioration of conditions of life of millions of persons and a series of new opportunities for foreign investors and multinational corporations. But then the candidates against the neo colonial regime began to win elections and resist US foreign policy putting into practice electoral promises of social redistribution and reduction of poverty.

From 1999 to 2008 these candidates won elections in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Paraguay. A large part of the efforts of the United States government was to subvert the democratic order of those countries and return them to the neo liberal regime that are now public domain through the leaks of WikiLeaks that revealed the truth of the presidency of George W. Bush and the beginning of the presidency of Obama. Washington lent strategic support and material to opposition groups, some of which were anti democratic and violent. The dispatches also revealed the nature of the UE ideologists of the Cold War that currently prepare neo colonial strategies for South America. The authors of the book also affirm that the corporate mass media are part of the expansionist strategy.

The case of Evo Morales in Bolivia

Towards the end of 2005 Evo Morales won the presidential elections with a promise to reform the Constitution, guarantee rights of the indigenous peoples and fight poverty and neo liberalism. On January 3 of 2006, two days after swearing in the new president received the US ambassador, David N. Greenlee explaining the vision of the White House in the future of Bolivia. The multi lateral attendance in Bolivia, according to the ambassador depended on “the good behavior” of the government of Morales. “[The ambassador] emphasized the crucial importance of the contribution of the US to international financial institutions that are of key importance such as the International Development Bank (BID) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)” on which Bolivia depended for its survival. “When you think of the Bid you must think of the United States”, the ambassador said. “This is not blackmail, it is simple reality”, he stressed.

However, Morales, according to news dispatches, kept his electoral promises of regulating work markets, naturalization of hydrocarbons and cooperation with Hugo Chávez. In response to these actions by Morales, Greenlee suggested a “menu of options” to try to force Bolivia to its knees before the will of the US Government. Some of these measures were “to veto all the multi lateral loans in dollars, delay the plan of relief of the multi lateral debt, discourage financing of the Corporation of the Challenge of the Millennium (that intended to end extreme poverty) and cut “material support” to the Bolivian security forces.

A few weeks after taking office, Morales announced the revocation of the loan contract with the IMF. Years later Morales advised Greece and other indebted European countries to follow the example of Bolivia and”free themselves economically from the dictates of the International Monetary Fund”. The US State Deparment reacted financing the Bolivian opposition. The opposition political forces of the region of the Media Luna began to receive aid. According to a mail dated April of 2007 the US Foreign Affairs Office considered that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) “should strengthen regional governments as a counterweight to the central government.

The report of 2007 of USAID mentioned 101 subsidies for a total of 4.066.131 dollars “to help departmental governments to operate more strategically. The money of the White House also went to the local indigenous groups that were “against the vision of Evo Morales of an indigenous community”. A year later the departments of the Media Luna were in open rebellion against the Morales Government and also called for a referendum on autonomy behind the backs of the violent protest cost the lives of about twenty militants of the Government.

The intended coup failed under the joint pressure of the presidents of South America who issued a declaration in support of the constitutional Government of Bolivia. But the United States did not give up and continued constant communication with the leaders of the separatist movement of the opposition. According to Alexander Main and Dan Beeton, contrary to the official position during the events of August and September of 2008 the US State Department seriously considered the possibility of a coup in Bolivia or the assassination of president Evo Morales. “[the Committee of Emergency Action] with the [US Southern Command] develops a plan of immediate response in case of a sudden emergency such as a coup or the death of President Morales reports mail to the US Embassy in La Paz.

“Promotion of democracy”

Some methods of interference implemented in Bolivia are also applied later in other countries with Government or strong left wing movements. For example, after the return to power of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 2007 the US embassy in Managua announced a program of strong support to the right wing opposition party. Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense (ALN).\

“Bolivarian threat”

During the Cold War, the alleged threat of the Soviet Union and expansion of Cuban communism served to justify a number of political interventions of the US to eliminate left wing governments and implant military regimes of the right wing. In the same manner, WikiLeaks filtrations demonstrate how in the decade of 2000 the ghost of Venezuelan “Bolivarism” was used to justify interference in the affairs of government led by anti neo liberal leaders. In this manner Washington embarked on a hidden war against the Bolivian Government “that had fallen openly in the arms of Venezuela” and the Government of Ecuador that functioned as the “spokesman of Chávez".

Tweet