Latin America’s Wisdom Equals Its Trepidation

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Column 011507 Brewer

Monday, January 15, 2007 Latin America’s Wisdom Equals its Trepidation By Jerry Brewer Central America witnessed one of the largest guerrilla insurgencies in Latin America during the decade of the 1970s. Cuban and Soviet financed troops and supply lines throughout Nicaragua and El Salvador were attempting to overthrow opposing governments via their revolution. They were not successful as a people united rejected an enemy and an ideology. This was further accomplished with alliances and united support, along with an intense desire for freedom and power of free elections. Solidarity for humanity throughout the Americas today may now indeed be an immaculate perception. Elections all over Latin America have demonstrated a myriad of diverse beliefs and opinions on who can be the most effective leaders. Mexican voters valiantly denied a winning vote to the leftist candidate for president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Mexico’s southern periphery and gateway to Central and South America is obviously a concern to the U.S., due to growing instability. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’s bellicose demeanor towards the United States, and arms buildup throughout South America, lends obvious credence to this perception. Latin American nations continue to stand in a relative state of careful observation of world events. Chavez’s massive military expenditures, leftleaning agendas and other dubious activity are of much

concern. Too, Cuba’s communist fate is an issue of critical importance to the Americas. Cuban President Fidel Castro and deceased Chilean General Augusto Pinochet both ruled over the past decades with atrocious human rights records. Although ruling from different ends of the spectrum — Pinochet on the hard right and Castro on the far left, their repressive leadership gave way to more democratic governments in Latin America. Yet many now believe that Venezuela’s Chavez would welcome the opportunity to reign as leader of the Latin American left when Castro is gone. Chavez’s alliances with Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Syria and others following a similar agenda are clearly actions to build an anti-U.S. axis far beyond Latin America. He continues to increasingly dominate all branches of Venezuelan government, while liberally expending Venezuela’s oil wealth. With an eye to Latin America the United States is ostensibly nestled safe between a 4,000-mile frontier with Canada and a 2,000-mile border with Mexico, yet much of the concern by U.S. leaders is curiously directed to Russia as Cold War reminders resurface. Russia passed a law last year that forces churches and religious groups to report to the government on their services, sermons and sources of income, in an apparent effort to monitor activities of organizations such as Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders. This has sparked outrage among human rights groups in Russia, the European Union and other Western nations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken greater state control over independent business and media. Too, he has eliminated most political opposition in Parliament and changed Russia’s governorships from elected to appointed. The war in Iraq, continuing world terrorism, and nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran continue to be pernicious distractions to U.S. leadership and unity in the Americas. The United States recently offered incentives to North Korea that included a peace treaty, normalization of relations, and security guarantees if the communist regime dismantles its atomic weapons program. Too, the U.S. offered to remove North Korea from its list of states sponsoring terrorism. Terrorism continues to play a pivotal role in unbalancing

world stability and imposing intense fear that cripples a country’s freedom and fluidity. Al Qaeda remains a holding company, with terrorist cells and sympathizers capable of horrific acts of terror and mayhem. And there are many al Qaedas, as opposed to a monolithic organization, with upper leadership organizing virtually every facet of the organization. Restricting al Qaeda movement from Pakistan into Afghanistan is a current concern in the Middle East that illustrates a dedicated ideology of hate, violence and death. In North Africa’s Sudan, the United Nations is planning to strengthen the African Union force in the crisis-torn Darfur region where more than 200,000 people have been killed. And terrorists are well represented in South America in the tri-border confluence of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Memories of Cuban troops in Angola, and at locations throughout Latin America in past decades, are vivid reminders of just how close to home world events can come. As well, much of this was, and is, not so much to destroy a people physically and materially, but to unsettle the people psychologically, and thus society is forced from a condition of harmony into chaos. —————————— Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected], and [email protected].