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countries--Colombia and Peru. In Colombia ($6 BILLION in U.S. military aid thru Bushite fingers), you can get your head blown off for advocating leftist views. They don't have transparent elections. In Peru, I think some special fiddling was done to elect corrupt 'free tradist' Alan Garcia, in conjunction with that lying bag of tricks, the Peru/U.S. "free trade" deal. A real leftist almost won (and probably did win) that election, coming out of nowhere, with no money and no political experience. He (Ollanta Humala) is 100% indigenous, like Evo Morales (who just won a referendum on his presidency in neighboring Bolivia with 67.5% of the vote!--following upon the election of a leftist in Paraguay, of all places--the beloved "bishop of the poor"--translation: bishop of the indigenous--Fernando Lugo).
The trend in South America is overwhelmingly leftist, and addressing the vast, centuries-long brutal oppression and disenfranchisement of the indigenous majority is at the heart of this remarkable, peaceful, democratic, leftist movement that has swept South America--with thorough-going leftists elected in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and now Paraguay, and center-leftists in sympathy with them, in Brazil and Chile. Brazil's president, Lula da Silva, in particular, points to the problem with Peru's Alan Garcia. While Brazil has made some deals with the U.S. (it is a huge country, in desperate need of jobs,, and labor and environmental concerns sometimes get sacrificed to that short-term need), da Silva has nevertheless protected indigenous tribes in the Amazon by decree, and has, time and again, come to the aid of Chavez and other leftist leaders, against the Bush junta and rightwing elements. The issue, for da Silva, is the SOVEREIGNTY of South American countries, and their self-determination as a region, and also social justice. Da Silva and the Bolivarians are the key leaders in the formation of the South American "Common Market" (UNASUR). Garcia GAVE AWAY Peru's sovereignty with the Peru/U.S. "free trade" deal, in exchange for a piece paper supposedly protecting labor and the environment, that no one--not Garcia nor his Bushite supporters--had any intention of enforcing. U.S. corpos can now run rampant over Peru's campesinos (small peasant farmers), the indigenous and poor workers, and can rape and ruin its environment with impunity.
Peru under Garcia has imitated Colombia, in many ways, although Peru is not so far gone as Colombia, which is little more than a Bush Cartel client state. But Peru is tending that way. Garcia accepts multi-millions in military/police state booty--ostensibly for the "war on drugs"--but in reality to be used against innocent Peruvian CITIZENS, as they protest the injustices of "free trade." The same thing is going on in Mexico (which also had a hairsbreadth close loss of a leftist to a "free tradist"; the massive military/police state booty of "Plan Merida" is primarily to enforce the privatization of Mexico's oil and other "free trade" corpo profiteering).
The indigenous have a far different view of the "war on drugs" than George Bush or our military/police state establishment. They view coca leaf chewing and tea drinking as a highly nutritious tonic and survival medicine, with a long tradition. It is the highly processed form of coca--cocaine--that can harm people, and that attracts big and little drug lords, crime and violence. The "war on drugs" is used as an EXCUSE to drive these small farmers--who mostly grow organic food--off their lands, to clear the lands, first of all for the big drug lords (the "war on drugs" is very corrupt), and for Monsanto and other dark lord agriculture interests (pesticides, GMOs, biofuels--starvation of the people, death of the planet), and, of course, resource extractors like Hunt Oil, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
The countries mentioned above--Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and their allies, Brazil and Chile--are part of a general movement to end U.S. dictation on trade and drug policy, and promote local soveriegnty. Peru is the outlier--it has welcomed U.S. dictation. And Colombia is a bloody, fascist dinosaur, with Bush policy designing it as a launching pad for trouble-making in the region (in particular schemes to restore global corporate predator control of the Venezuela's and Ecuador's oil, and Bolivia's gas and oil).
It is noteworthy that it was Brazil's da Silva (not Chavez) who recently proposed a South American common defense pact, in conjunction with the South American "Common Market." U.S. corpo 'news' is fond of calling Chavez "anti-U.S." That is not exactly true. He is anti-U.S. DOMINATION. And the entire region is in accord with him on this--with the exceptions of Peru and Colombia (whose leaders have been bought and paid for). They also call Chavez a "dictator." But it is the U.S. that is the "dictator"--a dictator who is being ousted, overall, by DEMOCRATICALLY, TRANSPARENTLY elected leaders. Da Silva recently said, of Chavez: "You can criticize Chavez on a lot of things--but not on democracy!" Da Silva always comes to Chavez's defense--not because Brazil needs Venezuelan oil or money. It doesn't. But because they both have vibrant democracies, they are both legitimate leaders, they are both in sympathy with the poor, and they both believe in South American sovereignty.
Garcia is a U.S.-INSTALLED leader--whether they did by money, bullying and bribery, or by election theft. (I'm not familiar enough with the details of Peru's election system, to say for sure.) Clearly, Garcia is NOT representing the majority. His approval numbers are now as bad as Bush's. And if the majority did vote for him--hoodwinked by USAID P.R. millions (and I do know about the campaign to paint Humala as a "terrorist")--they are regretting it now. He is not what they voted for. They voted for fairness, justice and prosperity--and got corruption. (And they should have known better--Garcia is notoriously corrupt.)
Contrast Garcia's numbers with Morales in neighboring Bolivia (70% approval), or Rafael Correa in Ecuador (70% to 80% approval), or Chavez in Venezuela (60% to 70% approval), or Fernando Lugo in Paraguay (just inaugurated--92% approval!!!). Something is very wrong in Peru, as it is here. And these united, massive indigenous protests are a symptom of it. They are not being heard. They have no voice. They are being beaten, tear-gassed and probably selectively 'disappeared' WITH OUR TAX MONEY--so the super-rich can become richer.
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