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Argentina was up to its eyeballs in World Bank/IMF debt. The debt destroyed its economy and nearly destroyed its society. How it works is this. Rightwing governments and rich elites incur the the loans, rip off the money and leave the poor to pay the debt. The terms of repayment are onerous, and include drastic cuts to education and other vital social programs, and opening the country to global corporate predators for resource and labor exploitation. Things got so bad that the Argentinians rebelled. They took to the streets. A coalition of the poor and the middle class went round with tiny hammers and broke every bank ATM display window in the country, in protest. Three governments later--in quick succession--they finally got a good leftist government--that of Nestor Kirchner--which promised to get Argentina out of World Bank/IMF and never get into again. Enter Venezuela--with a highly progressive leftist government, and flush with oil profits. Venezuela, by buying up some of this debt and re-lending on easier terms put Argentina on the road to recovery. And the Chavez government of Venezuela is particularly interested in education and other social programs. It is using its oil profits to completely re-build Venezuelan society--with big adult literacy programs, schools, universities, medical clinics in poor areas never before served by government, small business loans and grants, land reform, infrastructure (such as low cost housing for the poor shantytowns of Caracas which regularly slide off the hills in heavy rains), the new Orinoco Bridge (to Brazil), and other far-thinking development. Unlike the global corporate predators of the World Bank/IMF, Venezuela ENCOURAGES social spending, as the only way for decimated economies and exploited third world countries to recover, and to build societies in which everyone's talents are utilized.
Concurrently, Argentinians, abandoned by the rich and the corporate to miserable poverty, began creating worker coop businesses and strong community self-help projects, in the spirit of revolutionary socialism and democracy that is sweeping South America. Argentina is now well on its way to recovery, with all indicators up. It has therefore become a good trading partner for Brazil, Venezuela and other countries. And it has joined the Bolivarian Revolution--the dream of revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar for regional cooperation and self-determination. (He thought of it as the "United States of South America.") Only by banding together and exerting joint economic and political pressure can the countries of South American muster the strength to fend off exploitation and domination by the economic giant to the north--and often brutal repression by US-imposed dictators.
Bolivia and Ecuador are on a similar path--with socialist Evo Morales elected the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Bolivia underwent a similar rebellion against the Corporate Rulers. Bechtel Corp. had privatized the water in one Bolivian city, then jacked up the prices to the poorest of the poor, even charging poor peasants for collecting rainwater! The Bolivians rebelled, threw Bechtel out of their country, and elected one of the leaders of the rebellion (Morales) as president. In Ecuador, US-educated leftist economist Rafael Correa was overwhelmingly elected. The race was a close one at first (with Ecuador's richest man as the opposition). When Correa was asked about Chavez's UN remark, that Bush is "the devil," and he replied that "it is in insult to the devil," he zoomed ahead and won the election with 60% of the vote (similar to Chavez's mandates in Venezuela). Tells you what Ecuadorans think of Bush.
Venezuela has now helped put together a fund for getting South American countries out of Corporate Ruler debt, and on paths to recovery and social justice. So, it's not just the debt that is the problem, but the consequences to the society of World Bank/IMF repayment terms. It's much like the dilemma of credit card users in the US. Say you have a good worker who gets into trouble with sky rocketing family medical bills. They put medical costs on their credit card. They miss a payment and the interest zooms up sometimes to 30%, huge penalties accrue, and the minimum monthly payment is tripled--naked usury. Then the worker--no matter how hard he or she works--can never get out of debt. No way they can contribute to their kids' college education fund. No way they can save money, buy a house, buy a new car, or take risks looking for better-paying jobs, or have the luxury of re-training or continuing education. They have to work, work, work, just to keep Chase Bank CEO's flush in yachts and expensive cigars. It's a LOSING proposition. But if someone comes along--say a worker coop bank--buys out the Chase debt and cuts the payments in half, for a longer term loan, the worker can now improve his/her situation in ways that enhance everyone's prosperity.
Note: There are, in truth, few scofflaws. Most people want to pay their debts--even when the debts are extremely unfair. They are proud to be able to pay their debts. But the out-of-control credit card companies break their backs. They don't want fair repayment. They want BLOOD.
The credit card jackals that are driving the North American middle class into ruin are the same global corporate predators that drove Argentina into ruin. They have no conscience. They have no loyalty to anyone. They make no contribution to local communities or the future. They evade taxes and regulation. They oppress people. They squeeze every last dime out of people's pockets. They meanwhile use their ungodly profits to lobby against fair taxation of the rich and reasonable regulation in the public interest, and against all commonly created social programs. In the US, they are anxious to loot Social Security. They have already passed the Bankruptcy Law, which has made our people nearly helpless against them. These monstrous entities who have launched themselves from our shores--global financial institutions, Exxon-Mobile, Halliburton, Bechtel--are now eating us alive. And that's what they've been doing to Latin America for the last decade, with the World Bank/IMF as their chief hatchet tool.
And now that they are rebelling--really rebelling, getting themselves organized to repel these jackals--Bush has gone down there to threaten Iraq-type mayhem (civil war, instigated by the Colombian paramilitaries, on which he has larded $4 billion in US taxpayer support (checks written on our future)--fascist thugs who are involved in huge scandals of drug trafficking and mass murder and political assassination)--if they go any further (say to a South American "Common Market" and common currency--which are being talked of). It is no accident that Bush appointed John "death squad" Negroponte as Undersecretary of State for Latin America. It was a threat. Bush the Enforcer is delivering the message in person, on behalf of US-based corporate predators, to the two countries they think they can split off from the South American consensus, Brazil and Uruguay. (The only other countries he is visiting are Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, all with rightwing governments, who don't have to be told. They are already very repressive, and open for corporate predator business. And it's very interesting the countries that Bush is NOT visiting, and/or CANNOT visit: Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay and Nicaragua--all with leftist governments that are onto Bush, or with big leftist movements that will be elected in the near future (Peru and Paraguay).)
Evo Morales has said: "We want partners, not masters." But that's not what the Bush Junta has in mind. They intend a master/slave relationship in mind, and death and destruction for those who won't knuckle under. I don't think they will succeed, but they can cause of lot of grief as try, once again, to kill democracy in South America.
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