|
(what's left of them, after "free trade"), political leftists and the poor in general. Thousands of innocents have been slaughtered in Colombia in the murderous U.S. "war on drugs" under the Bush Junta--people like union organizers against Chiquita--by rightwing death squads with very close ties to the Colombian government and military, who are also into big drug and weapons trafficking. Two hundred thousand Mayan villagers were slaughtered in Guatemala in the 1980s, under Reagan, for suspicion of being leftists, and 50 leftist candidates, their family members or campaign workers have been assassinated in Guatemala's recent elections, with gangs in the pay of the rightwing the suspicious party. The "war on drugs" is a fascist extermination campaign against honest people, similar to the anti-communist crusade of previous decades. And it's already started in Mexico, with the smashing of the peaceful Oaxaca teachers' union protest. These billions of dollars have nothing to do with drug interdiction. In fact, drug traffic will increase. It's the kind of society that Bushites thrive in--and profit hugely in--chaos, murder, fear, torture, militarism and billions in U.S. taxpayer welfare to war profiteers, police state profiteers and mercenaries.
This is an appalling development, in and of itself. But when you ask WHERE the U.S. billions will be coming from--our Social Security pensions, or government worker pensions, and other public funds (which the Bush Junta has already borrowed heavily against, to pay for an unnecessary, unjust corporate resource war), and from our children's future (gouging into all public expenditures--for education, for medical care, for infrastructure)--and where MEXICO's billions will be coming from--similar sources, all hurting the poor the most--it is....
...unconscionable.
Mexico's poor is in such great need--they have been so devastated by "free trade" and the ripoff of their farm lands and natural resources--for the government to spend $8 billion on guns and bullets...well... no bullet is ever going to hit any major drug trafficker, except for the ones who are foolish enough not be giving Mexican politicians and the CIA their cuts, and the rest of the bullets are for....?
It makes me weep. But I don't think we should waste tears or anger on these high-rolling gangsters. We have to repair our own society and government, so that OUR policy becomes just and peaceful, and do everything we can to encourage the amazing Bolivarian Revolution to the south--especially the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina, which have rejected the U.S. "war on drugs" and are throwing the U.S. military out of their countries, and are building something new--democratic strength, transparent elections, social justice and "fair trade." They are creating SANE policies about recreational and medicinal drugs, and are actually having success in the battle against the criminal drug trade. This revolution, and its leftist (majorityist) allies in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Nicaragua (and soon Paraguay), provides a hopeful model for central America, which has been much slower to develop democratic institutions, and, in come cases, like Guatemala and El Salvador, have been so destroyed by U.S. interference, looting and rightwing militarism, that there is literally a paucity of political activists because so many were killed.
Calderon in Mexico is truly playing with fire. He was elected by the slimmest of margins--0.05%--in a contested (and probably stolen) election. Like Bush, he has no mandate for rightwing policy. Yet he is bent on imposing it. And the price may be open revolt. Mexico is boiling with discontent. It's much closer to the surface than it is here. Millions of people were out in the streets protesting Calderon's highly suspicious vote count. I hope open revolt does not occur, because the poor will suffer the most. And it appears that Amlo and others are aware that they need to create peaceful change, by working on their democratic institutions--as the South Americans have done. Peaceful change CAN occur. These other countries are proving it. But it's a long and difficult battle, requiring much patience. It's one that we, too, have to fight and win.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
