Latin America celebrated the collapse of neo-liberalism

Latin American Presidents with a left-wing signature participating in the World Social Forum 2009 in Belém, celebrated the collapse of neo-liberalism.

Characterized as the block of the real left-wing Latin American social movements, Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador) and Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) celebrated the collapse of neo-liberalism in ‘Davos’, a reference to the meeting running at the same time as the Social Forum, and collecting the crème de la crème of capitalism in the Swiss Alps. The assembled Latin American presidents gave a clear message to the participants of the World Social Forum (WSF), that was held in Belém from January 27 to Feb. 1: "We need to unite Latin America to cope with the economic crisis", they claimed, while they also called on the ‘left’ world to support their governments.

The Presidents took part in a debate organized by the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST = Movement of landless farmers) and the umbrella organization of small farmers, Via Campesina. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was not invited to this meeting.

In the debate with the MST, Rafael Correa set the tone at an early stage, when he said that "neo-liberalism is a perverse system that now crumbles." The Ecuadorian president also said that the Social Forum is part of the solution the world needs and proposed enthusiastically: "The WSF is part of the solution to the crisis. Hopefully, the alternative emerges now from this Forum in Latin America.”

Hugo Chavez argued that the Forum has to leave the trenches of the fight and launch the attack. "The WSF must change its strategy because we are in the phase of attacks and no longer in the period of trench warfare."

During the debate, called "Prospects for the Integration of Latin America”, the Presidents launched numerous attacks on the "North American imperialism.” Chavez proposed an international trial of the former U.S. president George W. Bush for his alleged crimes against humanity. In the same debate, the freedom fighter Che Guevara was honoured. His daughter was present during the session.

With the new American president Chavez was cautious: "We are still waiting for the performance of the new American government, which faces itself a very serious problem within its borders: the economic crisis." But he stated that he was not blinded by the promised changes: "The empire is still intact and the president [Obama] has said that Chavez is an obstacle."

Fernando Lugo, Paraguay’s last year elected President, new in this ‘left’ presidential bloc, welcomed the participation of farmers and indigenous movements as agents of change in the WSF: "Thanks to the social movements in Latin America, we experience a time of change."

Evo Morales expressed his solidarity with the landless and indigenous people and admitted that he can make mistakes, but promised never to abandon “the struggle against North American imperialism."

The Brazilian Minister of Agrarian Development, Guilherme Cassel, said that the MST made a serious “political mistake” by refusing, Lula to taking part in the debate with the Latin American presidents. And concluded with the words: "He, who takes part in a WSF debate is open to dialogue and criticism."
It is clear that the MST is very dissatisfied with the agrarian reforms (or lack there of) during the reign of the Lula administration. And it is also clear that what Cassel said is a farce, because Lula has never been able to handle criticism in a positive way.

Lula will participate in some activities during the last days of the WSF, but none of the MST and Via Campesina, the international organization to which the MST is connected.

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The World Social Forum 2009

Tuesday, January 27, an estimated 60 thousand people from around the country and 30 thousand foreigners started their participation in the 9th edition of the World Social Forum, held in Belém, the capital of Pará.

While the entire capitalistic controlled western world looked to Davos, on the other side of the world, the World Social Forum was held totally ignored by the world press. Well, what should the third world do with a Social Forum, in this time of international financial crisis. As if we don’t have other problems on our minds, then whining Indians, racial inequality, poverty, cutting some trees, etc. The Western world can’t give a damn about it at this moment. And although Lula, presumably, preferred to be in Davos pushing up Brazil in front of all the great leaders of this planet, he was forced to be in Belém, where this social event took place. You can’t let them, your ‘red rascal’ colleagues, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Hugo Chaves of Venezuela, Fernando Lugo of Paraguai and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, come to Belém and find the event so important yourself that you travel to Davos.

Beyond some local and Latin American political leaders, a handful of national and international intellectuals, especially American university professors, droves of activists and a massive turnout of hopeful youth participated.

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Latin America moves a bit more to the left

After 61 years of centre-right hegemony of the Partido Colorado, of which the most infamous exponent was the dictator Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989) and the last Óscar Nicanor Duarte Frutos who during his 5 year mandate executed a reasonable social-economic policy, we see (as I some time ago wrote in my post “The red rascals of Latin America”), now a clear move to the left after the conquest of the presidential elections in Paraguay last Sunday by Fernando Lugo, an ex-bishop and advocate of the liberation theology.
With more than 80% of the 2,8 million votes counted, of which 40,17% in his favour and leading his closest opponent, Bianca Ovelar, an ex-minister of education, with almost 10% Lugo claimed the victory.

The today 56 year old Lugo became a Roman Catholic priest in 1977 and was during 5 years a missionary in Ecuador, where he came in contact with the liberation theology. As bishop in Paraguay he supported the impoverished small farmers in their struggle against the large landowners.
According to the New York Times it is however a debatable question whether Lugo can be president. The constitution of Paraguay prohibits ecclesiastical officers to fulfil politic functions. After Fernando Lugo voluntarily resigned and proclaimed his political ambitions Christmas 2006, Rome officially refused to accept his resignation. The NYT reports that the Vatican never has honoured the resignation, but other sources consider this proposition a non-issue, as Lugo himself has abandoned the priesthood, but still it might lead to some constitutional lawsuit.

Having been candidate for the “Aliança Patriótica para a Mudança” (Patriotic Alliance for Change), Lugo has the support of social movements, centre and left wing political parties and the Partido Liberal Radical Autêntico (PLRA), the right wing radical liberal party.
This alliance is a bit strange, as the Partido Liberal, the second largest party in the country, is typical right wing conservative and always has been in the opposition, at the other hand the other parties are left wing socialistic and are heavenly supported by small farmer movements. This might arise some problems when Lugo starts to shape his government.
But the ex-bishop must have an extensive experience beating up against the wind regarding his proclaimed liberation theology and at the same time being a priest of the ultra right orthodox and very conservative Roman Catholic Church, which always choose the wealthy side of society in particular in countries as Paraguay. The Church still paints the liberation theology as a Marxist movement

When he announced his candidacy for the presidency his rivals put him in one line with the leftist leaders that emerged in Latin America over the last few years. They did not compare him with moderate social-democrats as Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Lula of Brazil, but with Hugo Chavez or Rafael Correa, the leftist president of Ecuador and now Lugo is definitively the last one in the line of acting leftist oriented presidents in Latin America, where Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay leaded the way.

The new president faces an almost impossible task to solve the large variety of problems within a mandate of 5 years (the constitution does not allow re-election). First of all, there is the corruption. Since the dictatorial reign of General Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguay has been transformed into one of the most corrupt countries of Latin America. As a consequence more than 33% of the populace lives below the poverty level. He has to honour his promises to the poor small farmers to regulate a more honest division of the available land, which certainly will face heavy opposition of the large landowners. And on top of all that, he will not have any money available to execute his plans, as the budget is tied up and all important and less important public offices are controlled by Partido Colorado supporters.
Putting it as priority number one during his election period Lugo has to find a solution for the dispute with his neighbour Brazil, regarding the power plant of Itaipu. Lugo wants to renegotiate the price Brazil is paying for the energy supplied by this bi-national power plant. The hydro-electrical power plant in Itaipu is located at the border of the two countries and belongs to neither of them. Both countries could claim 50% of the generated energy, but Brazil consumes 90% as Paraguay does not need more than 10%. Lugo argues that Brazil is paying too low a price for the energy, which belongs to the Paraguayan part, but is purchased by Brazil. If there will be no new agreement and the energy supply will be interrupted a large part of the industrial park of São Paulo (responsible for 35% of Brazilian’s GNP) will come to a stand still.

That the issue is of high priority might be concluded from the fact that shortly after the ballot boxes closed and the first polls indicated a victory for Lugo, the daily ABC Color, the most important paper in the country, came with an article stating that the first priority of the new government should be the renegotiation of the Itaipu-contract.

Albeit Lula is ideologically close to Lugo, the two have steered clear one from the other for a long time, but the coming days should intensify the contact, in spite of Lula’s public statement that it is unthinkable to renegotiate Itaipu. A second Paraguayan-Brazilian war is of course out of the question and what is Brazilian natural leadership of Latin America worth, if it is not willing to help an impoverished neighbour.

photo's: Reuters
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The “red rascals” of Latin America

As Europe is moving to the right and the USA have had an atrocious conservative government over the last 7 years, Latin America after years of conservative and military regimes is moving in the opposite, between left wing democracies and leftist totalitarian regimes.

After the disorderly, but still not accomplished farewell of the socialist and communist regimes in Europe at the end of the 20^th century, we see a rebirth of leftists with an identical philosophy but a more professional agenda concentrating upon the salvation of the society and an honest distribution of wealth. The phenomenon of populism: “the saviours of the nation” have risen, but they don’t show the typical features of the left wing regimes, crumbled in Europe and China, but instead are giving hope to the Latin American.
In the US an even moderate socialist is often referred to as a communist. In Europe with its century long labour movements even the most leftist socialist is not seen as a rascal. In general, with a few exceptions, even the extreme socialist in Latin American is equal to a moderate democrat in the US and a left wing centrist in Europe.

Let’s, before we evaluate the “red rascals” of Latin America and the policies they stand for, have a close look at them. Here they come: Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Argentina.

Chile - Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (29 Sept, 1951) is a central-left politician and the first female president of Chile. With 53,5% of the popular vote she defeated her contender the central-right billionaire Sebastián Piñera. She is a surgeon and, being the daughter of an, by Pinochet murdered air force general, who in the Allende-administration was responsible for food distribution, studied military strategy. She is a polyglot, speaking Spanish, English, French, German and Portuguese. A moderate socialist. Her administration consists of 10 males and 10 females.

Brazil - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (27 Oct 1945) has been elected in 2002 with 61% of the popular vote in the second round. Regarding his roots his policy should have been leftist even touching communistic behaviour. Elected as the most left winged Brazilian president since João Goulart, his policy, however, is soft social-democratic. Lula received little or no education. He left school as a four-grader and started his professional life as shoeshine boy and street vendor. When he was 14 years old he entered his first official job in the copper industry. Finally Lula went back to school and graduated college. For years he was one of the most militant labour union leaders.

Venezuela - Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (28 July 954) is president since 1999. Known for his socialistic policy, his opposition to neo-liberalism and his hostility to president George W. Bush of the USA. The changes he implemented in his country are called the Bolívarian Revolution. He was educated at the military academy and graduated in applied military sciences. He finished his studies at the Simón Bolívar University. In 1998 with 56% of the popular vote he was elected president. Never before had so many people cast their vote. Chávez is very popular and how he yet lost his last referendum is another and different story. He is number five on a list of the most sexy men of Venezuela.

Paraguay - Óscar Nicanor Duarte Frutos (11 Oct 1956) is president since 2003, the first non-catholic president. Son of a police officer and a seamstress, he is since his 14^th member of the same political party as his father, the Asociación Nacional Republicana (Partido Colorado), the most important and powerful in the country. Duarte Frutos is a lawyer, philosopher, journalist and professor in sociology. He studied at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción and at Universidad Católica de Asunción. Minister of Education from 1993 to 2003. Although he is member of a conservative political party, he adheres a left wing policy, in stark contrast to his predecessors.

Bolivia - Juan Evo Morales Ayma (26 Oct. 1959) is a Bolivian peasant leader, politician and since 2006 president of Bolivia, one of the poorest countries of Latin America. Morales is the leader of the progressive Bolivian “cocalero”-movement, a loose federation of coca planters scraping a living off a small plot of land in the province Chapare in south-east Bolivia. He is also a leader of the political party Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). He is the first native president in the Bolivian history.
Morales was lamaherd, musician and worked as coca planter, became labour activist and was with 70% of the votes elected in congress in 1997. Evo Morales is famous for the simple clothes he is always wearing.

Ecuador - Rafael Correa (6 April 1963) is a politician of left signature. Jan. 15, 2007 he was sworn in as the new president after defeating his contender, the banana billionaire Álvaro Noboa.
Correa studied economy at the University of Guayaquil (Ecuador), the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and the University of Illinois (USA). In April 2005 he became minister of finance and economy in the government of Alfredo Palacio but left office after 4 months realising he could not implement his economic plans. Correa’s economic reforms centre on the combat on poverty and the promotion of more national economic independence.

Uruguay - Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (17 Jan 1940) is a Uruguayan politician and president since 2005. He is the first socialistic president of Uruguay and is member of the Frente Amplio (Wide Left Front), the most important leftist coalition of the country. He won the elections with 50,45% of the popular votes in the first round.
Born in the neighbourhood of the capital Montevideo Vásquez studied medicines at the Universidad de la República. He specialised in oncology.

Argentina - Cristina Elisabet Fernández Wilhelm de Kirchner (19 Febr.1953). She won the presidential elections with 45,29% of the popular votes and with a 22% margin on her rival, securing the nomination without the need for a second round. Cristina Fernández studied law at the National University of La Plata. She is, as is her husband the former Argentinean president, member of the peronistic political party Partido Justicialista (the largest within the peronistic movement). She started as member of the Young Peronistas, whose left radicalism was suppressed vigorously by the military junta. Before elected to president she was a senator for the province of Buenos Aires. Cristina promoted strongly the woman rights and the persecution of persons who misbehaved during the military junta from 1976 till 1983.

All presidents oppose fiercely any interference of the USA in domestic affairs, which all countries in one way or another, have faced in the past, as the USA always have been regarding Latin America as their backyard. They regard the US proposals for a free trade zone with scepticism and criticise the meddlesomeness of the Worldbank and the IMF. The most moderate is Verónica Bachelet of Chile and the fiercest is Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Please note, the high percentages with which they won the elections and almost always in the first round. Note also the qualifications of the opponents.

In spite of all these democratically elected left wing presidents the conservative movement and power have not been eliminated. Let’s listen to Manoel Horacio Franscisco da Silva - President of Banco Fator – in his opinion populist governments tend to perpetrate seven social sins: policy without principles, wealth without work, well-being without conscience, education without character, business without ethics, science without humanity and religion without sacrifice.
As you see the conservatives have a lot to learn.

What ever the case, never forget that the progress started by these left wing governments is in no way synonym for red rascals, communists, socialists, terrorists, or what ever name the conservative right wing likes to call them. Never forget that a Latin American leftist government never even approaches the basics of the original and faded governments of Eastern Europe. They are not more to the left (sometimes even more moderate) than the conventional central-left political parties in Europe, Labour in the UK and the Democrats or Independents in the US. They are certainly not red rascals and certainly not a danger to the western economic powers.

It is obvious that the Latin American people are following the progress in the American elections with great interest. The future of the inter-American relations will be defined by how the changes in Cuba will be handled by the new US president.