The Quiet Debacle--Latin America And The US

George W. Bush and the neocon ninnies have manufactured a number of noisy foreign policy debacles around the world. Obscured by the noise elsewhere, the Deep Thinkers of the current administration have engineered yet another train wreck in the making.

This one covers a good chunk of the southern half of our hemisphere.

You know, the area we declared off-limits to those icky-poo Europeans with our long time axis mundi of foreign policy, the Monroe Doctrine. The place Dan Quayle was referring to when he said he was sorry he hadn't studied Latin so he could talk to Latin Americans in their native tongue.

It seems that while we have been so busy changing regimes in the Mideast and Northwest Asia, there has been a bit of regime change in South America. In keeping with any number of pronouncements by presidents of both parties over the past twenty years or so, the regime changes in South America have been accomplished by more or less democratic processes. By definition, then, the elections and their outcomes are above reproach.

Beyond reproach perhaps but certainly not without danger to US interests both in the region and here at home.

Elections in Venezuela, Bolivia and Paraguay have brought to power regimes that have Yankee bashing as their chief stock-in-trade. The Geek has no problems with pulling the gringo's beard. It has long been a favorite activity everywhere south of the Rio Grande. Much of the time a little or even not so little kick in Uncle Sam's tush has been justified by the behavior of the Colossus of the North. However, the regimes in the three countries just listed are going far beyond the usual fun game of kick-the-Yanqui-in-the-ass.

The reason for this out-of-bounds call?

Simple. One word simple. Here's the word. Iran.

For those who have argued that the US could contain and deter Iran should the mullahocracy ever attain its goal of the "Mahdi bomb," there is something to be learned here. The lesson is short, blunt, unpleasant and convincing. The Iranians have already leaped over any conceivable line in the sand we might have thought of drawing. They are in a position to deter our deterrence.

You look confused. The Geek can see you scratching your chin as you think long and hard about the unlikely linkage of Islamist eschatologist mullahs and hard left LatAm socialists.

Yeah, the proposition does seem a bit odd at first sight. But, the politics of pariahdom make for the most intriguing of bedfellows. (And for those who might question the notion of secularist socialists being accepted by Islamists as allies because of religious considerations, put your minds at rest. There are no prohibitions of Muslim-infidel alliances of a temporary sort when such benefit the cause of Allah.)

While Hugo Chavez has occupied most of our (public) attention with his cozy embrace of the emissaries of Tehran, he is far from alone in the arena. Evo Morales, the one-time coke farmer turned politician has ordered that Iranians be allowed to travel to and from Bolivia without the necessity of a visa. This change of policy came in conjunction with an announcement that Iran was committed to assisting Bolivia in the development of the natural gas deposits in the restive eastern portion of the country.

The Geek viewed the ousting of the Drug Enforcement Administration's activities from Bolivia with equanimity. It was, from the Geek's understanding of Bolivian sensibilities, an action which was both long overdue and well-justified in the minds of many Bolivians both elite and hoi polloi. Accusing the American ambassador of mucking about in Bolivian internal affairs such as the recent election was likewise a non-event. Such accusations are both politics-as-usual and often quite true.

Facilitating the free movement of Iranians is completely different. Evo Morales, like his ideological elder brother, Hugo Chavez, has assured the al-Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as well as personnel from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security will have the capacity to come on in and pursue the Iranian agenda. (This agenda, it should be recalled, includes murderous acts such as the bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina fourteen years ago.)

The visa-free travel rights is complemented in the two countries by Iranian furnished Spanish language television programming to Bolivia and a direct air link between Tehran and Caracas via Damascus. Then there are the increasing financial and economic ties between the all-but-bankrupt mullahocracy and the twin laboratories in socialism Los Indios style.

Comes now Paraguay. This is a country which is normally well under the US radar since it is not a major player in the "War on Drugs." Paraguay's new president, Fernando Lugo Mendez, has been hailed in Iranian state controlled media as a fellow "enemy of the Great Satan."

"Why?" You ask.

Because President Mendez named a fellow named Alejandro Hamed Franco as the country's new Foreign Minister.

"So what?" You counter.

The "so what" is that Sr Franco is a well-known, long-time sympathiser, supporter and fund raiser of and for Hezbollah. Hezbollah, which is the big noise in Lebanon and past kicker of Israeli butt, is an Iranian proxy.

ForMin Franco is such a big supporter of Hezbollah and has been so indiscreet in his activities on behalf of the group that he is on the US State Department's "no visa" and "no fly" lists. This will make it hard for the Paraguayan foreign minister to attend sessions of the UN or meetings of the Organisation of American States at its Washington. D.C headquarters. (Unless, of course, the in-coming administration cuts Sr Franco a major bit of slack.)

Other countries throughout the region may choose to follow the example set by Venezuela, Bolivia and Paraguay. There would be reason for doing so. The US has shamefully but typically ignored South America for years. The focus has been on the Mideast, Africa, Asia while, except for the "War on Drugs" and counterinsurgency efforts in Columbia, the US has turned its back on the Southern portion of this hemisphere.

The "War on Drugs" has also served to alienate folks across the lands to our south. The Geek has never talked to a member of a South American military, diplomatic, intelligence or security component who has been favorably inclined to our "war" being waged on their land, on their citizens, on their economy. When pressed, all the Geek could do was shrug his shoulders and mutter some platitude about American morality and its impact on politics and policy.

The periodic harsh US rhetoric from both governmental personnel and assorted non-governmental entities regarding the inability of various South American governments to be sufficiently "green" in their policies and actions has done nothing to bring those south of the Rio closer together with us who live in the Land Up North. The same may be said regarding our sporadic bouts of seeming xenophobia aimed at those who speak Spanish. And, it may be said of the conditions which wrap themselves around "free trade" agreements and other matters of economic development or the perceived, negative impact of "globalization" and its handmaiden institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

In short, the US has made a complete and virtually inedible hash out of our policies toward Latin America for years now. While the current administration must carry a lot of the water for this very unpleasant reality, there are buckets enough to be borne by the Clinton Administration as well.

Socialism rode to power in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador in large measure on the back of globalization and the indifference shown by the United States to the human costs of this. Socialism and Islamism may not seem to be natural allies, but, as the old cliche has it, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Most assuredly it is time for change in this area of US policy. But, if the lamentable history of US relations with South America is any guide, it ain't coming.

That will be good for the Iranians.

And, very bad for us.