U.S. 'Hands Tied' in South America

[chlamor]

U.S. 'hands tied' in South America

Saturday, Apr 09, 2005

By: Pamela Hess - UPI

As the Bush administration tries to craft a new foreign policy toward an increasingly belligerent Venezuela, Pentagon and military officials say they cannot blunt that nation's regional influence unless a law meant to protect U.S. personnel from prosecution in the International Criminal Court is changed. That law, the American Service Members Protection Act, prohibits U.S. security assistance funds and most military cooperation unless a country rejects the U.N.-backed ICC or signs a bilateral immunity agreement with the United States.

<snip>

In an effort to make the nation less dependent on imported food, Chavez in January announced a new push to implement his 2001 land reform plan that could threaten foreign-owned property. If privately owned land is sitting idle, Chavez would allow the government to seize it and give it to peasants for cultivation. The landowner would be compensated at market value for the property, according to the government. However, the land must be properly registered in that owner's name -- opening the possibility of uncompensated expropriation. According to Venezuelan government statistics, 80 percent of its land is in the hands of 5 percent of landowners.

Land reform is, historically, an anathema to the United States, and was one of the reasons for the U.S.-backed coup in 1954 that led to the overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz.

<snip>

"Growing economic interests, presence and influence in the region are not a threat but they are clearly components of a condition we should recognize and consider carefully as we form our own objectives, policies and engagement in the region," Craddock said. China's interest in Latin America and Venezuela, in particular, center on its need for natural resources, especially oil and gas. Venezuela is the fourth-largest oil supplier to the United States, and between 60 and 80 percent of its oil imports come to the United States. Fourteen percent of the oil used in the United States comes from Venezuela.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1418

[wakeme2008]

1. BS Bush's hand is tied.

that did not stop him in Haiti. Nor would it stop him in Venezuela if he makes up his mind to go in.

[Toucano]

19. Like their hands were tied in Nicaragua

Congress expressly prohibited sending arms to the Contras.

The law? Stop the BFEE? What kind of joke is that? :rofl:

[Robbien]

2. I found the military portion of the article to be most interesting

Basically it says that our hold over Latin and South America is through military aid through which we control basic policy and get their military trained according to our views. But

However, except for Colombia and Argentina, all the major countries of South America are on the ASPA black list: Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil. Prior to the passage of the ASPA, the major South American players had nearly 700 officers in training in U.S. military schools under the International Military Education and Training program. That number is essentially down to zero, say U.S. Southern Command sources.

"We have lost access to a whole generation of military officers," a Southern Command source told UPI.

Interesting. Very interesting. So our only military contact in SA is in Columbia.

[bemildred]

21. Yes, and it explains a lot.

The whole piece has a whiff of KoolAid about it, but if I understand
it properly, it is saying that these fuckwits have shut down the SOA
in order to "punish" the countries that fail to provide bilateral
immunity for US military meddling in their internal affairs, thus
effectively ending US ability to meddle in their internal affairs.
That is rich in irony, and so stupid on so many levels that it boggles
the mind. It could only have come from the US Congress, but the fact
that the Shrubites are for it too says volumes about them as well.

[dcfirefighter]

3. I've mixed emotions here

I don't favor seizing property, but I see land as a distinct form of property. Chavez should just raise taxes on it, leaving ownership to it's legal owners.

No one should go hungry in a country with uncultivated land.

[oneighty]

6. The end is in sight

for absentee landowners. It is good. We are in the much vaunted new world order (odor) where Democracy good, Colonization bad. Or is it the other way around.

Viva Chavez, Power to the people.

180

[Robbien]

8. The land was seized by UK Lords back in the late 1800's

Chavez is only seizing land which landowners cannot prove legal ownership. If the land is idle and owners can prove ownership then the landowners are to be paid current going prices.

[XemaSab]

14. Part of the problem is

that a lot of the land down there is very low in fertility.

Tropical soils are frequently very poor, with most of the nutrients in the ecosystem contained in the forest vegetation, and clearing the native forest for agriculture can permenantly destroy the soil.

According to the World Factbook, 3% of the land are in Venezuela is considered arable, compared with close to 11% of the world's entire land area.

[WMliberal]

4. hilarious! They can't do anything about Chavez because

it'd break Int'l Law. That's never stopped the BFEE, but it's amusing to see someone finding a way to help the poor AND piss off the BFEE at the same time.

[Ironpost]

9. Love it

[punpirate]

12. It's not international law...

... it's our law, in defiance of an international treaty, the ICC. And, as I recall, the Bush administration demanded that law of our Congress.... It was seen as a way of punishing countries that would not support US aims, including the invasion of Iraq. That military assistance now denied by our own law would have been used to influence foreign militaries, and in South America, that also means support of right-wing dictators.

But, as someone else said, the issue is probably foreign ownership, going back to colonial days:

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/612/612p19.htm

http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR25505.shtml

One has to look at the government's position, especially with regard to food--if the bulk of arable land is either sitting idle, or is used by foreign corporations to send both food and profits overseas, that's a de facto colonial arrangement.

If, say, virtually all of the large farms in this country were owned by the Chinese, and the products and profits were going to China while the people around those farms were without jobs and without enough to eat, that would be an analogue to the situation in Venezuela now, and in a large part of South America.

The same sort of thing is happening in Brazil now, though not through the explicit support of the government.

[WMliberal]

13. thanks for the clarification

It's still amusing that our laws can't be enforced because they are illegal/immoral abroad. Not only did Bush have the chance to eliminate these arcane claims when he took office, instead, he sought to strengthen them for political retribution. Instead of getting us out of a hole, he's dug it deeper (after a while they call it a tunnel... touching/nausea-inducing)

[Mugweed]

5. Translation:

Bush Dreaming of Chavez with Hands Tied, Bag Over Head, Electrodes on Genitals, Trying to Change Laws to Make It Legal.

[rodeodance]

7. naughty naughty;-)

[LeighAnn]

10. Ode to Hugo Chavez Frias

http://www.hereinreality.com/hugo_chavez/

[Judi Lynn]

11. Bantz Craddock wants to get cracking on stealing Venezuela

from the Venezuelans. Can't be done without mutilated bodies all over the streets and fields. That's fine with these guys.

Whatever happened to communication, negotiation, diplomacy? Is mass murder ALL that's left when people don't bow low before you and beg to indulge you?

We've got a pResident too stupid to negotiate, and too bloodthirsty to allow anyone to live who tells him to butt out.



That two-fisted humdinger, Bantz Craddock, and the other guy. No doubt Venezuela would be well off
if _Bush opts to bomb them, as setting these two wildmen loose against the country would be too
deadly to survive!

[chlamor]

15. You just

summed up US foreign policy for the last 60 years (or maybe always) in two sentences. Hats off to you.

Scary photo. Where is George C. Scott? Not too difficult to imagine these two psycopaths riding in on Der Valkyrie.

[Judi Lynn]

17. That's a terrific photo! Thanks for posting it. Wow. n/t

[leesa]

16. Oh, I see, It's VENEZUELA that's belligerent. Never mind that BushCo tried

to overthrow Chavez's government twice and assassinate him at least once.

[chlamor]

18. Simon Bolivar

Spirit lives when (wo)man dies

[Toucano]

20. kick n/t