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what all is going in South America about this--first, talks between Brazil and Argentina about a common currency, like the euro (to get off the dollar), and, more recently, general trade talks about an EU-type trade organization. The rest of the article...
"Before leaving Lima, where he met with his Peruvian counterpart, Alan Garcia, after the second South American Community of Nations summit in Bolivia, Correa told Peru's Radioprogramas radio that the bilateral U.S. free-trade pact would be 'tremendously harmful' to Ecuador.
"The Andean country adopted the dollar as its currency in 2000 to halt hyperinflation. But Correa says a trade agreement with the U.S. — like the ones Colombia and Peru already have signed — could create 'incalculable' damage for Ecuador since the country cannot control its currency's value."
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South America has undergone a leftist, democratic revolution, with very positive goals: regional economic and political self-determination; social justice, especially with regard to South America's vast poor population--creating equitable societies; and freedom from US domination and interference, both brutal interference via US-backed fascist dictators, and gross exploitation by mostly US-based global corporate predators in collusion with the World Bank/IMF. These ideas are the common ground among all the new leftist governments--Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador--virtually the entire continent. Peru and Colombia are the outliers. In Peru, a leftist--and 100% indigenous (like Evo Morales in Bolivia)--came of out nowhere, with no experience and no money, and almost won the presidential election this year (Ollanta Humala). Humala knocked out the rightwing candidate, in the first round, and gained support with the endorsements of both Evo Morales in Bolivia and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. He went from 30% of the vote to 45% of the vote--a surprising performance for a novice. Garcia (who won the final vote) is a leftist, sort of, but a very corrupt one--into selling his country to the US for "free trade," as Colombia has done, for military aid ($600 million, this year alone). These governments are the past, the dinosaurs. The others are the future--self-development, independence, regional cooperation.
For instance, when the World Bank/IMF put the squeeze on Argentina--and pretty much wrecked its economy and society--the Argentines rebelled. A coalition of the poor and middle class went round with tiny hammers and broke all the bank ATM display windows in the country, in protest. Three governments later--in quick succession--they finally got a good leftist government that promised to get them out of World Bank debt and never get into it again. But how? Enter Venezuela, flush with oil profits--that, due to policies of the Chavez government, flow more to the people than they did before. Venezuela bought up a chunk of Argentina's debt on easy terms, in exchange for beef (Venezuela is not yet food self-sufficient). Temporary austerity measures did the rest. Argentina is now free of World Bank debt, and all indicators are up. It is in good recovery (and, because of this, began talks with Brazil on a common currency).
Part of this picture is corrupt rightwing governments. The rich fascist elites would take the big World Bank loans, rip off the money, and leave the poor with the debt--much as the Bushites are doing in the US. The poor were furthermore left with crippled social services (IMF policy). Education, medical care, small business loans--all the means of recovery cut off. The answer, of course, is good leftist government--responsible economic policy, progressive planning. To their credit--and to the astonishment of some of us up here in the new North American "banana republic"--the South American grass roots, the people, had done their civic work on transparent elections and grass roots community organization. Sometimes it was long term thinking (as in Venezuela--very strong, long term grass roots work--and with the OAS and other election development and monitoring groups, such as the Carter Center); sometimes rather on an emergency basis (as in Argentina). In any case, they got it done. They were ABLE TO ELECT GOOD GOVERNMENTS to address the emergencies created by BAD "free trade," and to begin to develop long term national and regional policy that serves the majority, not just the rich elite. (The rich elite will benefit in an equitable and prosperous society--with all citizens' energies, talents, and productiveness geared up. The dumb rich will eventually try to rip all this off.* The smart rich will recognize the advantages of democracy, and go along.)
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*(A key factor in how it all turns out may be the dumb rich peoples' alliances with US-based global corporate predators. I'm thinking, for instance, of Enron's ripoff of California's $9 billion surplus, at the end of the Davis era. (Rich people, and corporate Democrats who cater to them, can be really, really stupid.) But it's interesting how things turned out in the recent presidential election in Venezuela. The candidate opposing Chavez, Rosales, ended up disavowing the Bush-US taxpayer-funded plans to instigate riots, falsely claim a stolen election, and precipitate a military coup. Chavez won the vote by over 60%, in a highly monitored election. Rosales immediately conceded--and pledged to become a RESPONSIBLE opposition, and to offer useful criticism of the Chavez government. He thus repudiated the Bushites and the oil giants who have caused so much trouble in Venezuela, trying to thwart the will of the people. Rosales seems to be a very smart man--and it does look like the dumb and vicious rich are on the outs all over South America, as the smart rich realize that they can work with a mixed capitalist/socialist economy with a strong social justice component, to everyone's benefit.)
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