Bush family has purchased large ranch in Paraguay??

[vietnam_war_vet]

((A good friend sent me these snippets from news briefs concerning reports in South American media and blogs of the Bush family's purchase of a large ranch in northern Paraguay. I did a quick Google search and found all these same reports....and more. Is this a legit story? If it is, why hasn't media or blogs outside of South America touched it? It appears that our Prez and his family have hedged their bets concerning GWB's future once he is no longer president. I also found it appalling that American tax dollars are reportedly being used to pay for the large contingent (approximately 500) of American troops who have been preparing that Paraguayian ranch land since July 2005. -- Michael))


NEWS BRIEF: ""Bush Buys Land in Northern Paraguay",
Prensa Latina, Latin American News Agency,
October 13, 2006

"Buenos Aires, Oct 13 (Prensa Latina) An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region. Luis D Elia, undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo partially reproduced by digital INFOBAE.com, in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842-acre farm in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia. The news circulated Thursday in non-official sources in Asuncion, Paraguay.."

Another news story provides more information.

NEWS BRIEF: ""Escape to Paraguay? Rumors of Bush Land Deal ", Political Cortex, 10/16/12006

"At least two sources, including Upsidedownworld and Prensa Latina, report rumors of a Bush family purchase of land in northern Paraguay.

"Upsidedownworld writes: "The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor."

"Prensa Latina, writing on October 13, gives a similar story but names George W. Bush rather than his father: An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region...Luis D Elia, undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo partially reproduced by digital INFOBAE.com, in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842-acre farm in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia."

Now, why would President Bush buy almost 100,000 acres of ranch land in Paraguay? Conventional Wisdom has no answer for this riddle. However, once you understand the next short news segment, matters begin to clear up.

NEWS BRIEF: "Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007:
#25 - US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region",
Project Censored

"Five hundred U.S. troops arrived in Paraguay with planes, weapons, and ammunition in July 2005, shortly after the Paraguayan Senate granted U.S. troops immunity from national and International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction."

President Bush has always been very mindful of the possibility of being tried one day for War Crimes, so it makes sense that he might be planning to move to one of the few countries in the world which has already provided for legal protection against International War Crimes.

Do you remember that the President waited to launch his attack on Iraq until he had obtained a War Crimes exemption from the International Court?

Writing in NEWS1933, we reported on the effort of the Bush Administration to gain immunity from the World Court in 2002.

NEWS BRIEF: "US demands total impunity on war crimes:
Ultimatum to Europe in advance of Iraq war",
World Socialist Web Site, 12 October 2002

"With the Bush administration gearing up for a 'preemptive' war against Iraq, Washington this week dispatched a senior US diplomat, Marisa Lino, to Europe to demand that the governments of the European Union (EU) agree to a blanket exemption of all US citizens from the jurisdiction of the newly formed International Criminal Court ... it is insisting that governments around the world sign bilateral treaties agreeing not to turn over any American citizens in the event that they are indicted by prosecutors at the court. With the more impoverished and former colonial countries, Washington has threatened to cut off aid unless agreements are signed."

In early 2003, Bush got his one-year total exemption from War Crimes for himself, for his military commanders, and for his soldiers, just in time for him to launch his war on March 20, 2003. Now that the truth of Depleted Uranium Munitions and of 655,000 Iraqi civilians being killed is beginning to unfold in the public eye, we can see why our President was so anxious about his potential criminal liability before the International Criminal Court!

Another news outlet provides even more information about President Bush's concerted efforts to gain immunity from War Crimes, before the first American soldier attacked over Iraq's border.

NEWS BRIEF: "Lessons in Justice: Bush's European Nightmare", Scoop News, 15 October 2002

"Clearly the Bush Administration has been issued legal advice that a pre-emptive strike against Iraq at this time would contravene international law and conventions protecting human rights. Could George Bush be tried for war crimes? Yes.

The recently established International Criminal Court is a headache that will not leave Bush. And over this past two weeks, the American President has directed diplomats to hammer out a deal - demand from the Europeans who preside over the court - the total exemption 'for all Americans' from ever being tried. If Bush is successful 'The American People', United States soldiers, politicians, and the President, will be exempt from being tried for war crimes, international crimes, and crimes against humanity ...

the ICC specifically was set up to bring individuals to justice, including heads of state, presidents like Slobadan Milosevic, for crimes against humanity. Should global discord mount against the US post a new Iraq-US war, the President himself, Colin Powell and a host of others potentially could stand trial for war crimes resulting from the Administration's pre-emptive strike policy.

"Clearly in war, the United States and its peoples are not immune from committing war crimes. The current Bush Administration simply refuses to be tried for them ... But the International Criminal Court would by-pass a nation's identity and seek to identify, arrest, hold in custody, and try alleged criminals - it has the authority to enforce it. The Whitehouse's spokesperson Ari Fleischer admitted to journalists in July that the ICC already has the power to do so." (Emphasis added)

Almost two years later, President Bush tried to get an extension of this War Crimes immunity.

NEWS BRIEF: "US wants another UN exemption from war crimes law",
By Thalif Deen,
Inter Press Service, 24 May 2004

""UNITED NATIONS-The United States is pushing for a new UN Security Council resolution aimed at exempting its troops from prosecution for war crimes when they serve in any UN peacekeeping operations. If granted, the request would renew an exception first permitted in 2000 and grudgingly repeated by the world body in 2003. It comes as the international community is outraged at abuse, including torture, committed by US soldiers and other personnel against prisoners in a jail in occupied Iraq ...."

The world body refused to grant the Bush Administration another exemption from War Crimes.

Certainly, the Bush Administration has much to fear from a trial in the International Court:

1) Use of Depleted Uranium Munitions which is killing entire populations throughout the whole Middle East -- Depleted Uranium Section

2) Use of Depleted Uranium Munitions which is killing most American soldiers who have fought in Iraq -- "Beyond Treason DVD: The Battlefield Disaster Created by Depleted Uranium, Toxic Vaccinations, plus Chemical and Biological Agents"

3) Killing up to 655,000 Iraqi citizens by the Coalition Force fighting machine

4) Invading a sovereign country without provocation and commencing to murder and rape its people

5) Sexual humiliations and intense torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere throughout Iraq and Afghanistan
Doubtless you can think of more grounds upon which President Bush could be tried for War Crimes. If this midterm election results in Democrats gaining control over Congress, you just might see a concerted effort to impeach President Bush. Does the script which Bush is acting out call for his impeachment?

If it does, you might see a reenactment of the President Nixon impeachment trial, where the President resigns after the House of Representatives votes to turn the matter over to the Senate.

Is this the reason President Bush has suddenly bought a 100,000-acre ranch in Paraguay -- one country which would protect George W. Bush and any of his civilian and military officials whom the International Court seeks to try?

And, if Bush resigns, will he fly to Paraguay, to escape prosecution by the World Court? After all, he would be simply a private citizen after his resignation, and very vulnerable to being tried by the World Court. We can only wait to see how matters turn out, but next year could be most interesting..

[Up2Late]

1. Yup, we've been talking about it here for a while now.

Do a search of the DU Archives, you'll find a lot.

[soothsayer]

9. water, no extradition, and it will be warm when the ice age comes

(follows on the heels of planetary warming, plus true north and magnetic north are moving closer together, so it's time for a magnetic flip-flop). besides, don,t all dictators retire there? juan peron wanted to...

[gimama]

2. thanks for this, I 'm catching up on it,too..

I bet kenny-boy is in charge of the decorating.

[sam sarrha]

3. no Supprize here, that is where the Nazi's ran to after WW2..

[sam sarrha]

4. and we now know what latitudes will be habitable during global warming

[Bitwit1234]

5. Cheney could be prosecuted also. Why hasn't he gone.

[POAS]

6. He'll probably

die before any conviction and sentencing anyway so why bother.

[cassiepriam]

12. His heart is being held together with spit and masking tape at this point.

And where he is going will be hotter than Argentina.

[cassiepriam]

11. I am sure he has also purchased a hide away with his ill gotten gains.

[ClintonTyree]

7. The land sits atop one of the world's largest fresh water aquifers..

don't think that wasn't a main point in the decision to buy there. The "Reverend" Moon, yes, of the "moonie cult" and owner of the Washington Times fame, has bought an incredible amount of land around the same area. Coincidence? I think not. These two greedy, soulless ghouls have something in mind and you can bet it isn't with the world's best interests in mind.

[BrklynLiberal]

25. Exactly... As has been said, "If you think the oil wars have been bad, wait for the water wars!"

[laylah]

8. Thank you

for all of the informative links and :toast: welcome!

Jenn

[terip64]

10. As Randi would say, "Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya"

Goodbye, goodbye now...

[cassiepriam]

13. Steal the US treasury and all the world's resources, oil, water, etc.

Then go find a safe spot to hide.

[mod mom]

14. Yes DU is followed this. Here's more:

Paraguay to stop giving US troops immunity
Washington Post, United States - 7 hours ago ASUNCION, Paraguay (Reuters) - Paraguay will stop granting US troops immunity from prosecution next year in an about-face aimed at coordinating policies with

http://globalgeopolitics.net/wordpress/?m=20061002



October 3, 2006 2:01 AM

Bush Waiver Restores Military Training

WASHINGTON (AP) - Twenty-one countries that had been denied participation in U.S. military training programs are now eligible to take part again under a presidential waiver announced Monday (October 2) by the White House.

All 21 had run afoul of the Bush administration and U.S. law by refusing to sign an agreement with the United States that would exempt Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The administration has taken a tough line against the ICC since its creation in 2002 out of concern that Americans overseas, including military personnel, diplomats and ordinary citizens, could be subject to politically motivated ICC prosecutions.

The following countries are affected by the waiver: Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Kenya, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Namibia, Niger, Paraguay, Peru, Samoa, Serbia, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tanzania, Trinidad and Uruguay.

snip

Scores of countries have gone along with U.S. requests to exempt Americans from ICC prosecutions. Others, however, refused to bend to U.S. pressure, and the result in many countries has been a sharp decline in their military ties with the United States.

Pentagon officials have told Congress that China has been filling the vacuum created by the suspension of training programs in 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Gen. Bantz Craddock, who oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America, said in Senate testimony last March that military members of all ranks in the region are receiving training in China. In addition, he said, more and more Chinese non-lethal military equipment is showing up in the region.

snip


Bush in Paraguay (Update) - Escape + Water, Drugs, Oil, etc.


Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Bush in Paraguay (Update)

Wonkette, of all sites, has a superb rundown of a story
:
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/george-w.-bush/we-hate-to-bring-up-the-nazis-but-they-fled-to-south-america-too-208549.php

we first told a few days ago: Bush the elder has purchased nearly a hundred thousand acres in northern Paraguay, apparently adjacent to, or carved from, the 1,482,600 acres (!!!) owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the Bush family's most notorious friend. Regarding the latter spread, this story (brought to my attention by a reader) is a must-read:

Nevertheless, national Senator Domingo Laino sees a different pattern in Moon's acquisitions. "There are two principal branches to Moon's interest in Paraguay," he said, "control of the largest fresh drinking water source in the world and control of the narcotics business", which is so prevalent in this area.http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif240.html


Oil in region:

Small Talk: South American oil minnow Chaco is worth exploring

By Michael Jivkov
Published: 16 October 2006

The South American oil and gas explorer Chaco Resources may well be worth keeping an eye on in the weeks ahead. Recent news from the AIM group has focused on its operations in Colombia, but word has it that an important announcement is on the way regarding its interests in Paraguay.

Chaco is said to be close to a deal with the government of the landlocked South American country which would double the size of its acreage there. News of the coup for the company could come as early as this week. The bloc Chaco hopes to win sits on a geological structure that runs into Brazil, where it is already producing oil. Given this fact, it is very likely that the Paraguayan side will also prove to be a success for explorers.


http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article1876763.ece

October 18, 2006
Bush in Paraguay (Update)

Wonkette, of all sites, has a superb rundown of a story we first told a few days ago: Bush the elder has purchased nearly a hundred thousand acres in northern Paraguay, apparently adjacent to, or carved from, the 1,482,600 acres (!!!) owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the Bush family's most notorious friend. Regarding the latter spread, this story (brought to my attention by a reader) is a must-read:
Nevertheless, national Senator Domingo Laino sees a different pattern in Moon's acquisitions. "There are two principal branches to Moon's interest in Paraguay," he said, "control of the largest fresh drinking water source in the world and control of the narcotics business", which is so prevalent in this area.
(Emphasis added.) Y'think Poppy and Dubya want a piece of the action?

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/10/bush-in-paraguay-update.html

Investment firms snatching up power plants, plus three more industry trends explained by Hoover's Editors. Read more or download a free report.

Europe Intelligence Wire/October 14, 2004

Paraguay -- The Reverend Moon has carved out a section of Paraguay that is twice the size of Luxembourg. Seamus Mirodan went to see it

Reverend Sun Myung Moon, spiritual leader of the Unification Church, self-proclaimed Messiah, multimillionaire and a generous contributor to the US Republican Party, has been showing a strong interest over the last five years in little-known Paraguay at the centre of the South American continent.

Since 1999, Rev Moon has built his personal empire which begins on the marshy banks of the River Paraguay and stretches beyond the hazy, level horizon through 600,000 hectares of arid land - equivalent to more than two Luxembourgs - punctuated by solitary clusters of withered trees and sad bushes which struggle desperately for air.

The scorching sun beats relentlessly on one of Latin America's most desolate zones. It is here in the northern province of Chaco, directly above the GuaranI aquifer, the largest resource of fresh drinking water in the world, where Moon's associates claim he wishes to build an ecological paradise.

Nevertheless, national Senator Domingo Laino sees a different pattern in Moon's acquisitions. "There are two principal branches to Moon's interest in Paraguay," he said, "control of the largest fresh drinking water source in the world and control of the narcotics business", which is so prevalent in this area. "President Lula told me that Brazil took serious measures to curb Moon a few years back as it became evident that he was buying up the border between our two countries," said the senator.

Allegations from local law enforcement officials support this claim. The so-called Dr Montiel, Paraguay's drugs tsar from 1976-89, said: "The fact that they came and bought in Chaco and on both sides of the Brazilian border is very telling. It is an enormously strategic point in both the narcotics and arms trades and indeed the available intelligence clearly shows that the Moon sect is involved in both these enterprises."

Paraguay is the major drugs port through which virtually all the cocaine produced by Bolivia and Peru passes. In the world's second most corrupt country, "the ease of buying influence is second to none", said Montiel. "Corruption reaches dangerous levels and he who wants transparency in Paraguay is a dead man. Indeed the famous Iran contra affair was operated from Ciudad del Este" on the south-east Paraguayan border with Argentina and Brazil.

-snip

http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif240.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Is that the place with the purist reserve of water?

Well, you know, to a commodities investor, water is the new oil.

[unhappycamper]

16. Hi vietnam_war_vet!

Welcome home, Brother and welcome to DU. :hi:

[vietnam_war_vet]

23. Muchas gracias for the welcomes ;-) (nt)

[bvar22]

17. He can RUN, but he can't HIDE!

I will make it my life mission to HOUND these criminals to the ends of the Earth.

Clinton and the Democrats let Bush41 off the hook for crimes against humanity in 1992 (in the spirit of healing), and NOW we are stuck with the same criminals all over again.

THESE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO REST and enjoy their bloody booty no matter where they go!

I will become a Simon Wiesenthal, tracking and exposing the EVIL of the BFEE.

Have I told you how much I HATE these sub-humans.


Choosing Paraguay for their hideout may be a HUGE mistake. It currently has a Right Wing government that would protect our Right Wing criminals, but there is a revolution occurring RIGHT NOW in South America, and ALL the money in the World won't help the BFEE when the people rise up in Paraguay.

[kiteinthewind]

18. Yup, happened right after the Nov. election, I believe. nt

[IndianaGreen]

19. Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele hid in Paraguay after the war

so why wouldn't Bush hide there after he leaves office? He should feel right at home surrounded by aging Nazis.

[KansDem]

20. Makes you wonder how a sitting POTUS with 100,000 acres in a foreign country...

can be expected to make objective decisions about the country or region. I would think the issue of a conflict of interest would arise...

[Javaman]

21. what makes it amusing though...

is that Paraguay and Bolivia just signed a defense pact. right wing nut job paraguay and Left wing gov't Bolivia.

I bet morons* head spun around. LOL

[Mnemosyne]

22. Ken Lay is caretaking it until

the BFEE gets there.

[Supersedeas]

24. Crawford is just for photo-ops.

[BrklynLiberal]

26. K & R

[mnhtnbb]

27. The State Dept has issued a rebuttal of the claims that Bush has property in Paraguay

However, it is very curious that the denials are handled this way.

An interesting discussion of all the rumors and why they haven't been flat out denied by a White House spokesperson

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2007/1/5/164248/0080

[fooj]

28. I read somewhere that shortly after the purchase...

the govt.(Paraguay) passed a law changing their extradition and immunity laws. I'll go check and see if I can find it.

Also...the land has one of the largest natural WATER resources in the world.

[MasonJar]

29. Wouldn't it be loverly if the government of Paraguay became

Chavez-like and took over the Moon/Bush property before those greedy bastards can rip off the natural resources of yet another innocent country? Do these people have no conscience at all? What is Bush going to do with his newfound wealth? He is not altruistic; he cannot travel much of anywhere in the world because he is universally hated; he goes to bed at 10 and as far as I can tell, he does not really read anything. And now he even refuses to throw out the first baseball! Wow! What a life!