The US Military Descends on Paraguay
While hitchhiking across Paraguay a few years ago, I met welcoming farmers who let me camp in their backyards. I eventually arrived in Ciudad del Este, known for its black markets and loose borders. Now the city and farmers I met are caught in the crossfire of the US military’s “war on terror.”
On May 26, 2005, the Paraguayan Senate allowed US troops to train their Paraguayan counterparts until December 2006, when the Paraguayan Senate can vote to extend the troops’ stay. The United States had threatened to cut off millions in aid to the country if Paraguay did not grant the troops entry. In July 2005 hundreds of US soldiers arrived with planes, weapons and ammunition. Washington’s funding for counterterrorism efforts in Paraguay soon doubled, and protests against the military presence hit the streets.
Some activists, military analysts and politicians in the region believe the operations could be part of a plan to overthrow the left-leaning government of Evo Morales in neighboring Bolivia and take control of the area’s vast gas and water reserves. Human rights reports from Paraguay suggest the US military presence is, at the very least, heightening tensions in the country.
upsidedownworld.org
Ecuadorians March for Justice in Quito
Twelve buses carrying hundreds of people from Ecuador’s Intag region arrived in Quito on July 12 for a two-day gathering and march to celebrate “life, dignity, rights and the defense of nature” and to unequivocally express their opposition to Canada’s Ascendant Copper Corporation.
U.S. to Build Military Base in Honduras
The AP has reported that the U.S. plans to help Honduras build a military base in the northeast part of the country near the Nicaraguan border to help combat drug trafficking.
“It’s a zone where there is conflict and problems, therefore we need to have greater presence,” said Gen. Romeo Vasquez, the head of the joint chiefs of staff of the armed forces who took classes at the School of the Americas.
The base will house aircraft, a fuel supplying system, and U.S. soldiers, if needed.
The U.S. State Department describes Honduras as being a close Washington ally since the 1980’s when that country’s government “supported U.S. policy opposing a revolutionary Marxist government in Nicaragua and an active leftist insurgency in El Salvador.” Coincidentally, Nicaragua has an upcoming election featuring Sandanista candidate Daniel Ortega, one of the men and women who helped bring the “revolutionary Marxist government” to Nicaragua by overthrowing the U.S. backed Somoza dictatorship.
The State Department also notes that Honduras was one of the first countries to sign a bilateral agreement exempting U.S. government and miltary peronnel (past and present) from the International Criminal Court for war crimes and other crimes against humanity