WikiLeaks: The Latin America Files

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http://www.thenation.com/article/169079/wikileaks-latin-america-files

On June 19, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange slipped into the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, seeking sanctuary and asylum from extradition to Sweden for questioning on alleged sexual misconduct. If and when the government of Rafael Correa grants his request—a decision that had yet to be made as The Nation went to press—Assange will become a resident of Latin America, where the trove of US State Department cables he strategically disseminated has generated hundreds of headlines, from Mexico to the Southern Cone.

“Cablegate,” as the revelations have come to be known, has had a different degree of impact in each Latin American nation—on politics, the media, and the public debate over transparency and government accountability. In two countries it led to the forced departure of the US ambassador; in another it helped change the course of a presidential election. In some countries, the documents revealed the level of US influence in domestic affairs; in others they detailed criminal activities and corruption within a number of host governments. In many nations, the cables disclosed the parade of local political, cultural and even media elites who lined up to divulge information—or gossip—to US Embassy officers, never suspecting that their discussions would become front-page news.

Collectively, the Americas have been treated to a mega– civics lesson in globalized whistleblowing. And US citizens have also peered into the foreign policy abyss of our bilateral and regional ties. A year after the diplomatic dust has settled on the WikiLeaks phenomenon in Latin America, it seems appropriate to assess—drawing attention to the experiences of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia—what the biggest leak of US documents in history has left in its wake.

Leaking to Latin America

Although Assange initially gave the cables to four major European news outlets, he always intended to distribute the documents beyond the media organs of the North. Latin America was the perfect region to make a splash with the leaks. Historically, the “Colossus of the North” has exercised an imperious—if not imperial—economic, military and political influence in its “backyard.” This interventionist past created a nationalist appetite for revelations on the hidden truths of US policies and operations.

[Peace Patriot]

1. The Nation requires you to subscribe to get the article...

Can you give us an analysis of the details--f.i., which U.S. ambassadors were forced to leave these countries and why, and which presidential election was influenced by Wikileaks of U.S. cables?

I would subscribe to the Nation if I could--but cannot do so.

Thanks for alerting us to this article. It appears that it will explain, to some extent, the U.S. and allies' vendetta against Assange. There is so-o-o-o-o much U.S. 'dirty linen' in Latin America!

It's awesome to see real democracy at work (as it is in most of South America these days). I wish we still had one here but that's going to take a couple of centuries, I fear.*

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*(I never say things like this without also mentioning some initial steps back toward real democracy that we in the U.S. need to take. 1) Get rid of the corporate-run, 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines; 2) Get rid of corporate money in all political campaigns and restore the "Fairness Doctrine" for corporations using the public airwaves; 3) Pull the corporate charters of evil-doing transglobal corporate monsters and seize their assets for the "common good" and, for those who have put themselves out of the reach of our state and federal government, ban their businesses here and boycott them elsewhere; and 4) Reduce the Pentagon to a truly defensive posture. Nos. 2, 3 and 4 and other major reforms are, in my opinion, dependent on No. 1.)

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2. rachel correa was expelled from ecuador.

they found embassies were used by the cia -- i.e. 'by gathering intelligence on Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, including her “mental state” and what kinds of medication she took to manage “her nerves and anxiety.” *** from the article.

the article makes mention of other offers by cuba to talk to the u.s.

info on the over throw in honduras -- which doesn't implicate us -- but our 'spying' reveals honduran insiders consolidating power after zaleya.

it reveals chile altering building of nuke power plants to suit foreign builders.

on and on.