Report: More Castro Inroads to South America

Report: More Castro Inroads to South America

NewsMax.com
Friday, Dec. 5, 2003

Pro-Castro populists have been elected to the presidencies of Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador -- countries, that along with Cuba, have a combined population of 223 million people -- advises the latest issue of the Americas Report, a work product of Latin American expert Dr. Constantine Menges and the Hudson Institute.

Communist narco-guerillas, supported by Castro since 1962, now control more than half of Colombia and seek to replace that democratic government. Meanwhile, in Bolivia, a pro-Castro leader of the cocaine growers placed second in a recent presidential election and has been seeking to destabilize that government.

The regularly produced Americas Report chronicles the international actions of the Cuban regime and the other pro-Castro leaders, as well as reporting on pro-democratic leaders and groups who are seeking to preserve genuine political democracy in their countries. There follows a summary of the latest findings:

Cuba reiterated its connections with the communist governments in both China and Vietnam this month. Additionally, it was announced that Cuba will receive $200 million in investment from the Brazilian business community following the visit this month by Lula da Silva.

This month (September) Castro lashed out at both the United States and the European Union over the increased criticism of human rights in Cuba as more groups and individuals say that the régime is increasing its oppression.

The National Election Council has thrown out the referendum on Venezuelan president Chavez. The Council said that the gathering of signatures was part of the referendum, which could not begin until the mid point of Chavez’s term. Therefore the signatures were declared invalid meaning there could be no referendum.

Other Chavez loyalists immediately began to cite the Venezuelan Constitution, which only allows one recall attempt per term, as a basis to invalidate any further attempts at a recall effort.

A report has also surfaced of direct Chavez military support for the communist narco-terrorist organization, FARC, in Columbia. The report says that there have been potentially dozens of incidents of the Venezuelan Air Force providing air cover over Colombian territory to cover the withdrawal of FARC terrorists to their safe heavens in Venezuela.

This month (September) saw a deterioration of relations between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic as Chavez claimed there was a plot to assassinate him being planned from that nation. In addition later in the month Chavez claimed that another group of assassins were training in the United States.

Brazil organized the Group of 22 countries made demands leading to the collapse of the Doha round of WTO talks that were being conducted in Cancun Mexico.

President Lula da Silva traveled to Cuba this month with a group of Brazilian business leaders and left Fidel Castro with $200 million in investment without discussing the worsening human rights in Cuba. Lula while in New York announced his intentions to seek a similar deal from the IMF as Argentina had received.

Ecuador’s president Gutierrez went to China on a state visit. While in China President Gutierrez expressed that he was willing to learn from the Chinese efforts and implement similar reforms back in Ecuador.

This month also saw increased danger to the freedom of the press in Ecuador as the government moved to buy private media organizations and sentenced a reporter to jail under a new libel law.

A former Army commander admitted this month that arms have been going across the border into Columbia to aid the communist FARC.

Argentina continues in its efforts to gain the extradition of Iranian officials involved in two terrorist attacks in the early 1990’s.

Lino Gutierrez takes his post as U.S. ambassador to Argentina this month, after the post had been vacant for 6 months.

In Peru, a member of FARC was interviewed recently and admitted that FARC has taken over and began building on the remnants of Shining Path in that country. Not only is FARC providing weapons and money, but also it has begun an aggressive recruitment campaign, reports the Hudson Institute.

Regionally, the G-22 lead by Brazil effectively ended the Doha round of the WTO negotiations in Cancun. This as China, a member of the G-22 coalition made increasing strides in gaining trade access to South and Central American markets.

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