Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A Bad Week for the Monroe Doctrine

A Bad Week for the Monroe Doctrine

 

By Conn Hallinan blog Foreign Policy In Focus June 14, 2010

 

http://www.fpif.org/blog/a_bad_week_for_the_monroe_doctrine

 

It is hard to find words that quite describe U.S.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's performance at the

June 7 meeting of the Organization of American States

(OAS) in Lima, Peru. Cluelessness certainly comes to

mind, but leavened with a goodly dash of arrogance and

historical amnesia.

 

Clinton leaned on the 35-member grouping "to move

forward and welcome Honduras back into the inter-

American community," urged the OAS to step up the fight

against drug trafficking, and scolded the organization

for a "proliferation of priorities and mandates that

dilute its efforts, drain its budget, and diminish its

capacity." She added that the OAS should "refocus" on

such tasks as monitoring elections.

 

Where does one begin?  Well, Honduras and elections for starters.

 

While Clinton characterized the election that followed

the coup against Manuel Zelaya "free and fair," it was

boycotted by 51 percent of the population. The U.S. has

been silent about the fact that the new president,

Porfirio Lobo, has overseen a reign of terror that,

since the June 28, 2009 coup, has seen the

assassination of some 130 anti-government activists,

including seven journalists. The murders bear a close

resemblance to death squad assassinations carried out

under military dictator Policarpo Paz Garcia in the

late `70s and early `80s.   Reporters Without Borders

recently designated Honduras "the world's deadliest

country for the media."

 

"We are living in a state of terror," says human rights

activist Dr. Juan Almendares, a former director of

research projects at Harvard and the University of

Pennsylvania. Almendares currently runs a free clinic

in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital.

 

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told the OAS

meeting that the Honduras coup has put the "inter-

American order at risk," and that "My government cannot

recognize the new government in Honduras while there

are violations against human rights."

 

In the old days, the U.S. would have steamrolled any

opposition, but now-a-days supporting the Colossus of

the North can be a lonely business. Only a handful of

countries, including Canada, Columbia, the Dominican

Republic, Panama, Peru, and Guatemala backed re-

instating Honduras to the OAS.

 

Tone deaf was all you could call Clinton's call for

stepping up the war on drugs. A few months ago the 17-

member Latin American Commission on Drugs and

Democracy, chaired by three former heads of state,

concluded "The U.S.-style anti-drug strategy was

putting the region's fragile democratic institutions at

risk, and corrupting the judiciary system, government,

the political system, and especially the police force."

Former Brazilian president and Commission member

Fernando Cardoso said, "The war on drugs is a failed

war. We have to move from this approach to another."

 

Several Latin American countries, including Brazil,

Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay have moved to

legalize personal drug possession, and other countries

in the region are considering how to move from

punishment to treatment.

 

And what did Clinton mean by that phrase "proliferation

of priorities"? There was no question as to how OAS

members read it: "Keep your nose out of the Middle

East," not an instruction likely to be followed. Brazil

and Turkey's effort to resolve the Iranian nuclear

issue peacefully has drawn widespread applause

throughout the continent, and a number of Latin

American countries have become increasingly critical of

Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.

Argentina, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Peru,

Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile,

and Brazil were sharply critical of the Israeli attack

on the recent Gaza flotilla, and many called for

lifting the blockade of Gaza.

 

Clinton's efforts to lobby Latin American nations to

support sanctions against Iran fell flat.

 

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