Indeed.
Posted on 07/14/2018 8:40:20 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The privation in the northern triangle—Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador—that has sent thousands of migrants to the U.S. border in search of work and a better life is ultimately the result of failed institutions.
The bloody upheaval in Nicaragua is another case in point. Since April 19 more than 300 people have been killed while protesting against strongman Daniel Ortega. The U.S. Treasury last week imposed sanctions on three Ortega henchmen—the national police commissioner and a Sandinista Youth official for human-rights violations, and the head of Nicaragua’s state-owned oil company for corruption.
Central America is strategically important, and Russia’s role is particularly notable. It has a large and secretive satellite compound at the edge of the Nejapa lagoon on the outskirts of Managua, and its Interior Ministry has a large “police training center” in the capital’s Las Colinas neighborhood. The Soviet Union was an Ortega ally in the 1980s, and Russia today has every incentive to help him prosper as a dictator.
Venezuelan oil largess boosted his might from the start...He was said to be helping the poor while he shared the spoils of his power grab with the business community. He has also made Russia feel at home.
Citizens are being indiscriminately gunned down by Ortega police and trained paramilitaries. At a Mother’s Day march May 30, called to show solidarity with victims’ families, 15 people were killed by snipers using Russian Dragunov rifles...
Russia knows how to put down rebellions. The Soviets did it in Cuba in the 1960s for Fidel Castro by quashing the uprising in the Escambray mountains. The Nicaraguan city of Masaya was an opposition stronghold until Mr. Ortega called in police reinforcements from Managua on June 19 and took it back.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
It’s what you would expect from the “Wall Street Journal” of the insiders, the elites, the RINO’s, the Corporatists, the Globalists as in those we called the “Rockefeller Republicans” in my youth.
Again, I submit, you know not where Ms O’Grady is coming from. I suggest you read the WSJ OpEd archives of her past articles, and quit making ignorant inferences about who she is.
She is against the Left in Latin America and so am I as in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Russia may be aligned with those countries, but guilt by association seems to come into play at this point.
Anyway, rather than waging war in Syria or Iran I wouldn’t mind dealing with the above three nations using our vastly superior power in the Western Hemisphere political, economic and military.
Russia can’t match that.
I hope President Trump can reach understanding with Russia on the flashpoints like Ukraine and Syria and Iran and use our vast power to deal with the leftists in Latin America and if needed, tell Russia to butt out.
But Russia isn’t going to fight a doggone war over here for those countries.
That’s a crock.
As long as they aren’t spreading communism I really don’t care.
Nor do I.....
Since the article mentions Honduras and I have a family member from there who still has family there, I can’t see what that country has to offer the Russians (other than fruits and vegetables) that they would want to butt heads with the drug cartels that now control the country.
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Russia has been in the Caribbean and Central America for decades. WSJ is just now discovering it?
News media in Honduras are far less censored than in the US, so it’s fairly easy to see why and how Central Americans see Russia a little differently than those in the US. It’s like comparing the two through the same unfiltered light.
Honduras is much less drug-controlled now than it was a decade ago. Most of the big traffickers have either been extradited to the US or are rotting in El Pozo. Drug routes have moved mostly to the west through El Salvador and Guatemala, or by sea routes to the west coast of Mexico. There is still a lot of traffic in the Caribbean, but the Mosquitia routes are becoming less important.
Russia has several bases and “places of interest” in Nicaragua, but so far they have taken no active side in the ongoing conflict against Ortega. If the government is shooting people with Russian rifles it’s because they’ve bought thousands of them over the years. Same as Honduras shooting people with M16s or Israeli TARs.
Nicaragua was really not a bad country to visit up until a few months ago. My wife and I have crossed the border a few times to have a beer in Ocotal, but I wouldn’t go there now. Our cousin runs a distribution truck for a pharmaceutical company, and was detained by rebels south of Ocotal recently. They held him for a few days, but treated him kindly with food and shelter until the let him go. Northern Nicaragua from Las Manos to Managua is a war zone now, not the placid place it was when I last visited. But it is not due to Russian interference.
Most violence here is due to drugs in one way or other. Organized crime groups killing each other over “rights” to the lucrative US market. If dope use suddenly stopped in the US, much of Latin America would be more prosperous and secure.
Honduras has something the Russians want, or at least want to monitor as close as possible. That is Soto Cano Air Force Base, a US facility outside Comayagua. It is fairly common knowledge that Soto Cano is one of, if not THE, largest SIGINT and intelligence-gathering and relaying installations in Latin America.
People in the US have a knee-jerk reaction when they hear news about Central or South America. All those countries are collectively thought of as merely another “sh*thole” backwater non-entity, not worth considering until the dope supply stops.
The Russians don’t butt heads with the cartels, they work with them.
Let’s face it, Russians like Putin prefer scum because it is profitable to be worldly.
So do Democrats.
“Anyway, rather than waging war in Syria or Iran I wouldn’t mind dealing with the above three nations using our vastly superior power in the Western Hemisphere political, economic and military.”
Which is what, and how so? You seem so sure we have such power, though we are barely paid attention to, in terms of what we would like to see, in those nations, and mostly not becasue we are “bad”, but as I said the very much bigger neighbor is alwauys deemed suspiciously, just because the size of any power it has is so vast it can appear to dominate.
“Anyway, rather than waging war in Syria or Iran I wouldn’t mind dealing with the above three nations using our vastly superior power in the Western Hemisphere political, economic and military.”
Which is what, and how so? You seem so sure we have such power, though we are barely paid attention to, in terms of what we would like to see, in those nations, and mostly not becasue we are “bad”, but as I said the very much bigger neighbor is alwauys deemed suspiciously, just because the size of any power it has is so vast it can appear to dominate.
As O’Grady so often points out the one power we can excercise is diplomatic, in inter-Aerican affairs, calling a a spade a apade there, unforgivingly. Instead, successive administrations department’s of state have been far more silent or inactive than pro-active at all on many issues. Instead of being presented as a bully, it has mostly presented the U.S. as not caring.
From that, the worst of the lot have figured they can dance with Cuba, China or Russia and we wonn’t care. The problem with that is the long term danger is it could build and Latin American nations and their foreign allies make mistakes that will cause the sleeping giant to wake up.
O’Grady sees the trend as leading to future crises by our silence towards ills that need to be addressed instead of ignored.
We could start by rescinding 100% Obama’s “opening” with Cuba.
Our mature cocaine smuggling industry and it’s cartels, and every MS13 gang member in America are a living monument to our wars down there in the 80s.
Indeed.
who was the first president to use the monroe doctrine for toilet paper. Those youngsters among us, look it up M-O-N-R-O-E
I don't know where you got your information from but it's definitely not from the Honduran news papers......
A decade ago Honduras was a legitimate country to visit for a vacation, been there and done that.
Honduras is now totally controlled by the drug cartels that not only deal with drugs but kidnappings and protection monies from the everyday merchants...........
And in case you missed the news, Honduras is the #1 most dangerous country to visit in Central America...............
My brother-in-law only has two nieces left in Honduras, and all their daughters have successfully immigrated to the U.S. via Christian marriages.......
And as a side note, the one niece's son disappeared approx. 6 years ago simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a drug deal went down.......
As I stated before, Honduras is now totally controlled by the drug cartels and I challenge you to provide information contrary to what I am stating........
So, the left kills protesters in Nicaragua.
Honduras is much less drug-controlled now than it was a decade ago.
I don’t know where you got your information from but it’s definitely not from the Honduran news papers......
A decade ago Honduras was a legitimate country to visit for a vacation, been there and done that.
Honduras is now totally controlled by the drug cartels that not only deal with drugs but kidnappings and protection monies from the everyday merchants...........
And in case you missed the news, Honduras is the #1 most dangerous country to visit in Central America...............
My brother-in-law only has two nieces left in Honduras, and all their daughters have successfully immigrated to the U.S. via Christian marriages.......
And as a side note, the one niece’s son disappeared approx. 6 years ago simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a drug deal went down.......
As I stated before, Honduras is now totally controlled by the drug cartels and I challenge you to provide information contrary to what I am stating........
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Ohhh....geeezzzzzzz...
Did you even read my post? Did you read the part about “knee-jerk” reactions?
From your posts I get an impression that you are a well-meaning and intelligent person with the good of your extended family at heart, so please don’t take anything I say personally.
First, I do get a lot of information from Honduran newspapers. Every day I read El Heraldo, La Prensa, and watch HCH TV and various others. I’m somewhat of a news junkie. And, yes, we actually DO have TV here in this “sh*thole banana republic”.
Second, I get a lot of information first-hand on the ground. I live here, and have for many years. Do you? I see a lot of disparagement from internet denizens, most of whom do not live here nor have ever visited. Perhaps you are the exception.
Honduras is as much if not much more a “legitimate country” than it ever was a decade ago under the wannabe dictator Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya, whom you may not know, is to this day fomenting discord in the streets and among the populace in a so far futile attempt to regain power. Zelaya who stated in public that he would destroy the country if necessary to regain power. Zelaya who heads the Libre party, a major stumbling block to Honduras’ progress. Is this the mark of a “legitimate” government?
Honduras is not “controlled” by drug cartels. El Salvador maybe, Mexico probably, but here the organized gangs do control a lot of places, same as they do in any major city in the US, but everyone knows where to stay away from. And they do not control the congress, supreme court or the presidency. The Policía Militar has made much progress in curtailing gang activity and drug trafficking.
All the things I’ve said you can find in news archives, some even in the US. Again, I’m not disparaging you personally, but please do some research. Get off CNN for your news, it’s not a good source, especially about anything to do with Russia or Latin America.
I see these same reactions from so many people, and there’s absolutely no way to convince them of any other point of view, so I will not try to do so here. Posting about anything Latino on Free Republic is like going to Quora or Democratic Underground and shouting “ISRAEL”. You will not likely get a good reaction.
Please pardon me now, I must go watch the World Cup Final. Oh, yes! We actually have TV here in a “sh*thole” country. Even fiber-optic and satellite. We gave up the smoke signals a couple years ago.
End of subject for me...
Go Croatia!
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