Diplomatic flap today between Chile and Bolivia

[rabs]

Colchane, Chile, Región de Tarapacá

Chilean Carabineros last night detected and detained 14 armed Bolivians in uniform inside Chilean territory in the Atacama Desert. It is a very remote place, ideal for narco and stolen- vehicle smugglers.

The Bolivians said they were patrolling the border for that reason.

Chilean foreign minister today filed a protest expressing its rejection and concern over the incident, and that such should not repeat.
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This type of thing occurs is not unusual.

But it would be prudent for the Bolivians to provide GPS devices for its border patrol, if indeed the group was military and not traffickers in uniform.

[Peace Patriot]

1. It looks to me like more Chilean rightwing government trouble-making.

It's no accident that Pinera promptly rescinded the leftist Batchelet's peaceful resolution of the 100 year ago "War of the Pacific" in which Chile violently robbed Bolivia of access to the sea. Batchelet granted Bolivia a small spit of land for a sea port. And Pinera couldn't wait to undo all of that peacemaking.

This seems very similar. If Bolivian authorities strayed over the border, the last thing a friendly government would do is to make a big stink about it, like this. You don't get your foreign minister in their face, making provocative statements. You first of all try to settle the thing quietly, behind closed doors, without bluster and posturing and war mongering.

This incident is yet more evidence of Chilean rightwing hostility and bad intentions toward Bolivia--in my opinion a "divide and conquer" policy designed in Langley (which has little left that they can do to serve U.S. corporate/war profiteer interests in South America, where most of the countries have united against U.S. domination--except stir up shit like this).

And the main issue is the gas pipeline that Bolivia wants to run to their new port and who will control it. The other issue is U.S. "war on drugs" war profiteering and associated Chilean war profiteering. Bolivia threw the DEA and the U.S. ambassador out of Bolivia, for their collusion with the violent white separatists, in 2008. The people of Bolivia then passed a new constitution, among other things elevating the coca leaf to constitutional protection as a sacred Indigenous plant. Though it's just the leaf (for chewing and for tea), not cocaine, that has been legalized, this poses a huge threat to militarists and their gang of corporate thieves who profit from militarism in the "war on drugs."

Pinera rescinded the agreement that Bolivia would have sovereign control over their little port area and is insisting on Chilean sovereign control over Bolivia. This first of all means that Bolivian authorities would have Chilean and likely U.S. "war on drugs" authorities looking over their shoulders at the Bolivia harbor--a condition that Bolivia simply cannot accept. Secondly, it may well mean Chile muscling into Bolivia's gas industry (gas being Bolivia's main resource, biggest moneymaker and export). The Bolivian white separatists wanted to grab Bolivia's gas resource for themselves in a separate state. Now it appears that Chile's rightwing may be trying to grab it from the other direction.

This is a NASTY business--with the rightwing rich and their allied corporate/war profiteer interests picking on Bolivia, a largely Indigenous country with its first Indigenous president, after so much effort--of Brazil, of Chile, of Argentina, of Venezuela and others--exerted to help Bolivia with the regional left's "raise all boats" philosophy. The new Bolivian port was intended to help put Bolivia on the map, as a "south-south" and "Global South" trade partner, along with the aid given to connect Bolivia to the new transcontinental highway coming from Brazil. Pinera's billionnaire rightwing president is throwing every monkey wrench he can into keeping Bolivia poor. (It is one of the poorest countries in the region.) Pinera is a bully and a scumbag for doing this. And a manufactured border incident is just the sort of thing that bullies and scumbags do.

I therefore hesitate to believe anything Chilean authorities say about this matter. They could well be making the whole thing up. And it would make no difference whatever, to a bully and a scumbag, what Bolivian GPS units said. There are all sorts of lies including rigged surveillance that they could throw at that.

Furthermore--thinking of Alvaro Uribe and his Bush imitation--they may be projecting. While Uribe was lodging wild accusations against Chavez whom they claimed was "harboring" FARC guerrillas--charges without substance--they were meanwhile sending "Black Eagle" death squads into Venezuela, to create murder and mayhem in the border areas, likely with intent to overthrow the government. Their charges against Chavez were a ruse--flak, cover--for their own aggression.

So I would further suspect that Chile in collusion with the U.S. is infiltrating remote areas of Bolivia and illegally surveiling Bolivia. It is probably they who crossed over the border.

[rabs]

2. Bolivia yesterday admitted its troops strayed over the border

Which would be easy to do at night (around 2 a.m.), when the incident occurred.

The 14 Bolivian soldiers were traveling in two vans with Chilean license plates. Carbineros confiscated two Norinko 9mm pistols with ammo clips in one van, a 9mm pistol and two Galil 5.56mm rifles in the second van. (No explanation of why so few weapons were among the 14 soldiers.)

Bolivian officials said the troops were on patrol to intercept stolen vehicles being smuggled into Bolivia from Chile. The two vans with Chilean license plates had been among an estimated 100 vehicles that were intercepted in recent days/weeks. The Bolivian defense ministry said one van had been intercepted on June 11, the other June 12.

La Paz says it was an isolated incident, but Bolivian officials yesterday were investigating the precise reasons of why the troops were inside Chilean territory.

As of yesterday, the 14 were being held in the remote town named Colchane.

They will no doubt be returned to Bolivia shortly and the incident will be closed, until the next one occurs.

As far as the larger panorama you describe, remember that Bolivia has taken its case to international tribunals. Peru also has taken its case over a sea limits dispute to the World Court. So nerves have been frayed in Santiago, Lima and La Paz since Pinera took over a little over a year ago. I don't think hil/obama are involved in this latest flap, which has been going on for over a hundred years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12842978

This caught my attention, you say; "Chile violently robbed Bolivia of access to the sea."

The fact is that it was Bolivia that declared war (over a nitrate export tax) on Chile in 1879, and lured Peru into joining, much to their later distress.


Here is a report of the Bolivian response in the La Paz newspaper La Razon (Spanish)

http://www.la-razon.com/version.php?ArticleId=132148&EditionId=2560

[Peace Patriot]

3. Thanks, rabs! I yield to your much better knowledge of the region and access to info, but...

...there is nothing that the U.S. and its transglobal/war profiteer interests more desire than to break up the growing UNITY of South America in resisting U.S. aggression and domination.

I thank you for the info on who started the "War of the Pacific" (Bolivia), which means that Chile didn't exactly steal Bolivia's sea access--but, since that time, it has generally become considered a matter of justice that Bolivia should have sea access. Bolivia is not militaristic today. It is anti-militaristic. The Indigenous majority in Bolivia--which has achieved political power at long last--did not start that war. It was a European imperial-style war. This matter--Bolivia's sea access--should have been resolved long ago.

As for U.S. motive to use "divide and conquer" tactics to destroy Latin American unity: Trillions and trillions of dollars are at issue, including control over Latin America's fabulous natural riches, imposition of "war on drugs" militarism and the looting expeditions of the World Bank/IMF. The U.S. Empire is failing in its efforts to control Mideast and North African oil and the Afghanistan/Pakistan pipeline corridor, and desperately wants to regain control of its "back yard." It cannot afford another oil war, this time in Latin America (certainly planned by the Bush Junta) so it is using other, subtler means, at least for now. It will never be content with a "level playing field." Its transglobal corporations, banksters and war profiteers don't want a "level playing field." And that's what unity in South America means: South America's collective clout, backing each other up, to reject U.S. domination and to set its own "fair trade" rules.

Batchelet providing Bolivia with sea access, after the failed U.S.-backed white separatist insurrection in Bolivia, and Chile's key role in defeating that attempted coup (which was all about control of Bolivia's gas reserves) was a signature event--somewhat like the U.S. "Declaration of Independence." It was the first exercise of UNASUR's "unity" power. To undo it--to cause trouble, to "divide and conquer"--is therefore top of the list of U.S. goals in the region. So, any fracas like this--big or small--is suspect, as to the rightwing party (corporate/war profiteer interests)--in this case, Pinera--acting in concert with U.S. goals.

We should never forget the past and recent U.S./CIA history of causing trouble in areas they want to destabilize--and these days, it's not just the CIA but also the NSA, the DEA, the USAID, the Pentagon, the FBI, et al, working intimately with the dirty tricks agencies of other "first world" countries, and also privately contracted mercenaries and private corporate mercenaries. Of course there can be incidents and disputes that have nothing to do with them but they are the number one suspect, in my mind, when something like this occurs, and they can be operating on either side of the dispute--for instance, if their spies tell them that Pinera might be inclined to settle this sea access matter with Bolivia (--a possibility, since it is one of the things causing him trouble domestically), they might hire local Bolivian thugs--a semi-official car or drug smuggling operation--to create an incident that would stir up Chilean nationalism.

It COULD BE just a smuggling operation or a mistake. But the Morales government may not know what it really was. The fact that they apologized doesn't settle it for me. And, bottom line, these governments should be cooperating, not bickering over petty shit like this (or bigger shit), and would be cooperating for mutual benefit, if the rightwing hadn't gained control of Chile's government. We are never going to see an incident like this between, say, Bolivia and Brazil, or Bolivia and Argentina, or Bolivia and Paraguay--all with leftist governments--or with Bolivia and Peru (now with a leftist government as well). Leftist governments cooperate. They don't try to turn an incident like this into a fracas. Why did it become a fracas? Why did it become a big, publicized fracas? If the point of a black op is to stir up trouble--for instance, to give a rightwing politician something to spout off about--its value is dependent upon coordination with the corpo-fascist press.

We saw this very thing in operation in the border trouble between Colombia and Venezuela, with Uribe using the black ops "miracle laptop" to accuse Venezuela of "harboring" FARC guerillas--then those Uribe "talking points" were promulgated around the world by the corpo-fascist press. (And the truth of the matter--recently disclosed--was that Uribe was sending "Black Eagle" death squads into Venezuela to inflict murder and mayhem in the border areas. His wild accusations were cover!) If an incident like this--Bolivian soldiers staying over the border, Chile arresting them--makes it to the corpo-fascist press, that is a very important indicator that the incident is a set-up. It doesn't prove it. But it is one pointer. Another is blatantly obvious U.S. goals in the region--U.S. loathing of Morales and of the Latin American Left, and the boon to its conquistador designs that Pinera's election represents, in a region that is swiftly moving toward independence.

I think you underestimate U.S. interest in "old disputes" in Latin America and in exacerbating existing "tensions" in areas that the U.S. and its transglobal corporate, bankster and war profiteer interests want to conquer or re-conquer. Doesn't matter if this is an "old dispute" with a 100 year history. It is ripe ground for PREVENTING unity and cooperation. And, with the U.S. "war on terror," the U.S. has created HUGE new capabilities for black ops of every kind. It is also "schooling" whatever Latin American militaries, police forces and spy agencies that it still has its talons into, in "war on terror" methods. In Colombia, they have used the "war on terror" to decapitate the labor movement, by outright murder--and that, too (Colombia's civil war) is an ancient conflict. So it is not at all unlikely that all sorts of methods are being used to cause trouble for Bolivia's leftist government and to sow discord where the leftist majority in the region has tried to create peace and cooperation. This is what the Latin American fascists in collusion with the U.S. have done time and time and time again.

[rabs]

4. Chile has released the 14 Bolivian soldiers

and this latest border incident is over. They were set free on Sunday and deported to Bolivia. It is being classified as an isolated incident.

Bolivian government says it was a "routine patrol" to intercept vehicles stolen in Chile and prevent them from being smuggled into Bolivia.

The three-day flap was handled at the foreign ministry level. Evo and Pinera did not make any public comments that I know of.

La Paz newspaper La Prensa

http://www.laprensa.com.bo/noticias/20-6-2011/noticias/20-06-2011_18695.php

[Peace Patriot]

5. Thanks again, rabs, for keeping us informed!

Whatever was going on with this particular incident, it is really important to follow incidents like this as soon as possible into the incident or story, in order to track it--to vet official statements over time, to vet corpo-fascist news coverage over time, and other analysis, in order to understand what's really going on--in case it IS a manufactured incident and in case it blows up into a major diplomatic flap, military incident or even a war, and also to try to ferret out covert players.

This "vetting" process has turned out to be SO IMPORTANT as to any and all events, incidents and news involving Chavez/Venezuela (esp. vs Colombia/Uribe), that I believe it is a must-do for other leftist leaders/governments, especially when they are under attack from a rightwing government or rightwing forces including the U.S. Some events are merely local, of course--but with the billions of U.S. tax dollars that the U.S. government has been pouring into rightwing candidates and causes throughout LatAm, anything that occurs that could breach peace and cooperation among LatAm countries is potentially the work of covert operatives and potentially designed in Washington DC.

This is very difficult for U.S. citizens with poor Spanish language skills (like myself) to follow but I feel an obligation as a U.S. citizen--that is, the citizen of a country involved in THREE oil wars, and whose country has a recent and past history of utterly abominable policy in LatAm--to follow events as well as I can, and to follow them closely enough to understand them--to make educated guesses as to what's really going on. We mustn't wait 30, 40, 50 years, to find out what the U.S. government is doing in LatAm. We need to know NOW. Not that we have any power as U.S. citizens to stop U.S. wars and other horrors, but the least we can do is THINK--be informed, help inform others, warn others, develop the skills to "read between the lines" of corpo/fascist "news" propaganda and help counter the propaganda if possible.

Your posts have been wonderfully helpful to me, in this respect--very informative, often with juicy tidbits of perspective that are available nowhere else. You also have a calm, unflappable, wry, humorous attitude that is a tonic. I often get incensed at my government--which has been so horrible on LatAm policy. Your posts in a way remind me that Latin Americans have taken the matter into their own hands. I cannot stop what my government does in my name but Latin Americans ARE neutralizing these U.S. activities themselves--through cooperation, unity, democracy and awesome commitment to peace and social justice. A Uribe or a Pinera or other U.S. tools can cause trouble--but the region can deal with it. That is the attitude that you convey: faith in this wonderful change in LatAm.