Free Republic

China is expanding its influence in South America to counter the U.S. dominance in the Western hemisphere, according to security expert Joseph J. Humire. “They’ve been building it gradually, systematically, over many, many years—over decades,” Humire recently told EpochTV’s “China Insider” program.Trade and investment in the region have been integral to Beijing’s efforts in this regard. But this trade comes with conditions, he said. “Those conditions are often the loss of your sovereignty, the loss in some cases of your territory … and in some cases, China is able to hoodwink you into bringing them into their geopolitical orbit,” Humire,...

The Decline of Catholicism in Latin America A recent Wall Street Journal report shines a light on it.Catholicism is rapidly losing ground to Protestants in Latin America, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Seven countries in the region — Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and five in Central America — had a majority of non-Catholics in 2018, according to a survey by Latinobarómetro, a Chilean-based pollster,” it reports. “In a symbolic milestone, Brazil, which has the most Catholics of any country in the world, is expected to become minority-Catholic as soon as this year, according to estimates by academics that track...

China has inked a new deal with leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean to deepen ties across almost all areas of society in what one analyst likened to a plot to 'take over' the region. As part of the deal, Beijing has committed to supplying the region with 'civilian' nuclear technology, helping to develop 'peaceful' space programmes, building 5G networks of the kind Washington warns will be used to spy on people, and to pumping in cheap loans and financing for 'elaborate development plans.' China has even pledged to build schools and fund classes teaching Chinese language and 'culture',...

On the face of it, America has little to fear from China's new deal to upgrade Cuba's power grid. The countries are already firm allies via their Communist leaders, Havana is under a diplomatic and economic embargo from Washington, and all efforts to mend ties between the two ended when Obama left office. But scratch the surface and what emerges is a picture of Chinese economic dominance in America's backyard that would be enough give any president sleepless nights. In fact, the deal with Cuba - signed this week as part of China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative - is...

The Arab League’s Propaganda Campaign in the U.S. Against the Establishment of a Jewish State (1944-1947) Rickenbacher Daniel. Israel Studies. Volume 25, Issue 1. Spring 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.25.1.01 https://www.academia.edu/41113347/The_Arab_Leagues_Propaganda_Campaign_in_the_US_Against_the_Establishment_of_a_Jewish_State_1944_1947_ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337759153_The_Arab_League's_Propaganda_Campaign_in_the_US_Against_the_Establishment_of_a_Jewish_State_1944-1947 https://searchworks.stanford.edu/articles/edsgcc__edsgcl.619402503/pdf/fulltext Introduction In 1944, the Arab League started planning a propaganda offensive in Western countries to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The League’s focus of attention was the United States, where, members believed, Palestine’s future would eventually be decided and where they deemed it imperative to counter the Zionist campaign. In 1945 and 1946, it opened offices in Washington, D.C. and New York. The efficiency of these...

Cigar diplomacy is back—and once again it is clouding the landscape for an American president. As the Cold War raged in 1962, a trade embargo against Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba was an easy political call for John F. Kennedy. The president had a personal conflict-of-interest, however: JFK loved a good smoke. So he quietly secured 1,000 of his soon-to-be-contraband favorite, H. Upmann Petit Coronas, for his personal humidor before taking “necessary actions to promote national and hemispheric security.” As a nonsmoker, President Biden has a clear conscience as the feds prepare to take on the tobacco industry of...

Peru’s new president Pedro Castillo, 51, deserves credit for vowing to focus his government on improving the lives of the country’s poverty-stricken indigenous population. But his first steps in office raise fears that he will scare away investors, generate capital flight and — after a short-lived populist fiesta — create more poverty. Castillo, a leftist former elementary school teacher who had never before held public office, assumed the presidency on July 28 after winning the runoff elections with a razor-thin 0.3 percent of the vote. He controls only 37 seats in the 130-member Congress. Some hoped that Castillo’s minority in...

While the US and Europe celebrate a return to near-normal, the reopening of tourist routes and even put an expiration date on the use of masks, in Latin America it all seems like science fiction. Despite the illusion generated by the extension of vaccination, the pandemic continues to ravage the region with painful figures reported daily. When the eyes of the world were on India, its dramatic mass cremations and its collapsed hospitals in its urban centers, in Paraguay, Suriname, Argentine, Uraguay, Columbia, Brazil, Peru and Chile - a silent catastrophe was brewing whose current figures are eight times more...

More than 1 million people have died from COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean as the pandemic worsens in the region, which now has the world’s highest per capita death rate. Along with India, South America is the only area of the world where new infections are very much on the rise, Reuters reported Saturday. During the the past month, 31 percent of the COVID-19 deaths in the world have been in Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes less than 10 percent of the world’s population.

Expert says global leaders must not ignore Brazil, which is ‘brewing variants left, right and centre’ As a coronavirus variant traced to the Brazilian Amazon marauded through Peru’s coastal capital last month, Rommel Heredia raced to his local hospital to seek help for his brother, mother and father. “I said goodbye and promised I’d come back to take them home,” said the 47-year-old PE teacher, his voice muffled by two black masks pulled tightly over his face. Heredia was unable to fulfil his pledge. Three days later, his 52-year-old brother, Juan Carlos, died as he waited for a bed in...

Ecuador moves to the right and the ultra-left passes to the second round in Peru EFE International Edition 12 Apr. 2021https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/mundo/ecuador-gira-a-la-derecha-y-ultraizquierda-pasa-segunda-vuelta-en-peru/10001-4509419 Ecuador’s Guillermo Lasso Wins Presidential Election Conservative banker defeats protégé of leftist ex-president Rafael Correa, setting the country on pro-business path Ecuador’s Guillermo Lasso waved to supporters as he celebrated his victory on Sunday. By Ryan Dube Updated April 11, 2021 11:15 pm ET Ecuador on Sunday elected a conservative former banker and supporter of free-market policies as president over his populist opponent, setting the country on a pro-business path. Guillermo Lasso, 65 years old, received over 52% of...

Abdala Rada Ramel has close ties to Salman Raouf Salman, who has been also accused of an important role in the AMIA bombing attack The "clans" consist of groups of Lebanese origin who exert control over given territories in South America - and enable Hezbollah All three clans are strategically positioned close to the most important ports of Venezuela, from which they doubtless oversee the trade and handling of goods that in turn allows Hezbollah to profit Assad Ahmad Barakat is accused of having been involved in the AMIA bomb attack and operating call centers and shell companies on behalf...

In a March 24 blog, Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton reported that 42 million adults in Latin America and the Caribbean said they would like to immigrate to the United States. "There are 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Roughly 450 million adults live in the region. Gallup asked them if they would like to move to another country permanently if they could," wrote Clifton. Twenty-seven percent of those adults said "yes." That equals roughly 120 million who want to migrate somewhere. From that group, Gallup asked them "where they would like to move." "Of those who...

MIAMI - It seemed like a match made in finance heaven. In 2010, China, its economy roaring and state companies looking to expand globally, set its eyes on Latin America, a region starved of capital but rich in natural resources the Asian giant lacked. The result: a record $35 billion in state-to-state loans that year. Fast forward a decade and the once-torrid relationship is starting to mature in ways that suggest China may be growing wary of its once do-no-wrong partner. For the first time in 15 years, China’s two biggest policy banks — the China Development Bank (CDB) and...

Designating Hezbollah as a terrorist group is a legal tool On the heels of the Third Western Hemisphere Counterterrorism Ministerial Conference in Bogota, noted journalist Jana Beris from Colombia’s daily newspaper El Tiempo conducted an extensive interview with SFS Executive Director Joseph Humire on the implications of the recent terrorist designation of Hezbollah (and other Islamist terrorist organizations) by the Duque government in Colombia.  The following is an unofficial translation of the interview: JosephHumire, one of the foremost experts on Hezbollah and Iran in Latin America,doesn’t have any doubt: designating Hezbollah as a foreign terroristorganization isn’t just a political show—it’s a legal...

In the years leading up to the Civil War, many Northerners and Southerners alike wanted the federal government to take a more aggressive approach toward acquiring new territory. In fact, some private citizens, known as filibusters, took matters into their own hands. They raised small armies illegally; ventured into Mexico, Cuba, and South America; and attempted to seize control of the lands. One particularly successful filibuster, William Walker, actually made himself president of Nicaragua and ruled from 1856 to 1857. For the most part, these filibusters were just men in search of adventure. Others, however, were Southern imperialists who wanted...

Brazilian authorities said on Feb. 26 that tests confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country. The 61-year-old man, who lives in Sao Paulo, traveled to Italy earlier this month. The confirmed case is the first in Latin America. Previously, only the United States and Canada had confirmed cases in the Americas. Brazil’s Ministry of Health said that the first test, which was done at Albert Einstein Hospital, came back positive. A counterproof conducted at the Adolfo Lutz Institute confirmed the infection. The patient is in good condition and is at home with his family, authorities said...

So long as the world is entertaining worst-case scenarios, the media does Americans no favors in omitting that Iran-Hezbollah has for years prepared to strike in their own hometowns. Weirdly absent from much of the professional speculation about where and how Iran will exact its promised “severe revenge” for the U.S. drone strike killing of Quds Force Gen. Qassem Suleimani is mention of the dead man’s highly suggestive hint. During a time of intense saber rattling between Iran and President Donald Trump in July 2018, Suleimani gave a speech during which he called out the American president: “Mr. Gambler, Trump!...

Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s external terrorism forces eliminated overnight Friday by a U.S. drone strike, oversaw every military decision taken by Iran in Latin America, according to a report by the Argentine news network Infobae last year. Soleimani ran the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, the “elite” terrorism unit responsible for, along with Hezbollah, the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters in Buenos Aires. The attack was the deadliest in the Western Hemisphere prior to September 11, 2001, killing 85 people. Soleimani took over the Quds Force after that attack, in 1998, and focused...

If these predictions come to pass, their fulfillment will have lasting effects upon America in the 2020s and beyond. In 2008, as the Obama administration prepared to take control in Washington, retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey offered a list of bold predictions for the coming five years. Some of them bore out: The economy performed well globally despite the Great Recession, relations with Russia became more hostile without devolving into outright dysfunction, and the United States withdrew from Iraq right at the 36-month mark, which McCaffrey specified. Other predictions, such as a North Korean collapse, improved prospects for success in...