Free Republic

21st Century SocialismThe attempt to destroy democracy in Latin America.  The Obama administration started out on the wrong foot in world affairs. It used techniques better suited for domestic political campaigns — popularity contests — in its foreign policy. In our own hemisphere, the result was confusion for our allies and our enemies alike. The overriding objective of U.S. policy — in Latin America and elsewhere — should be to advance U.S. national interests, not to curry favor with foreign leaders. If we can be liked while advancing our interests, so much the better. But when we try to befriend...

Ecuador aligns itself with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba In speeches against imperialism and neoliberalism, the presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, and the Ecuadoran President-Elect Rafael Correa, who should assume the government of his country Monday, expressed common ideological and political agreement Sunday. Chavez, Morales, and Correa, who also exalt the figure of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, met together in Zumbahua, an indigenous [Ecuadoran] locality 90 kilometers south of Quito, for a symbolic inauguration of Correa before the indigenous peoples [of Ecuador]. In a speech before a multitude congregated in the central plaza, Correa emphasized that "[Latin]...

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's ruling Peronist Party was dealt a serious blow in Sunday's mid-term election with its loss of control of Congress. Her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, was defeated in his race against wealthy businessman Francisco de Narvaez for a seat representing the populous Buenos Aires province. Voters cast ballots Sunday for representatives for half of the lower house of Congress and one-third of the Senate posts. Complete results have yet to be announced. Allies of President Fernandez have controlled the Argentinian Congress for six years. But recent polls indicated...

First official results in Argentina's mid-term legislative elections suggest President Cristina Fernandez's party has lost control of Congress. The results suggest the ruling Peronist party has lost its majority in both the lower house and the Senate. Ms Fernandez' husband Nestor Kirchner conceded a closely-watched battle to win the populous Buenos Aires province. The polls were seen as a referendum on the popularity of the presidential couple, our correspondent says. (snip) With most of the votes counted, Nestor Kirchner conceded defeat to a dissident Peronist, wealthy businessman Francisco de Narvaez. (snip) The elections took place against a backdrop of deep...

Argentina asks Iran to help in 1994 bombing probe Sep 22, 2007 BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Nestor Kirchner on Saturday asked Iran to answer petitions for arrests and information in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center, state news agency Telam reported. Argentina has accused former high-level Iranian officials in the bombing in Buenos Aires and last year asked for their arrest. Iran denies any involvement in the attack. In a speech set for Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly, Kirchner is expected to criticize Iran for failing to collaborate in the investigation of the...

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan government on Friday denied any link to a businessman who was stopped at an Argentine airport carrying a suitcase filled with nearly $800,000 in cash. The Venezuelan businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, carried the money from Caracas to Buenos Aires on a flight chartered by the Argentine government, and the undeclared funds were seized by customs agents last weekend. “We don't have anything to do with that plane or with that trip ... nothing to do with that businessman,” Venezuelan Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas told reporters. The incident has shaken the Argentine government, prompted one...

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The wife of President Nestor Kirchner will run as the government candidate in Argentina's October presidential election after he decided not to seek re-election, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The decision ends months of speculation fueled by Kirchner's public suggestions that either he or his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a prominent senator, would compete in the October 28 vote. Polls show either would easily win. "Cristina will be the government candidate," the spokesman told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity and confirming a report first published by the daily newspaper Clarin. -snip- Some political...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday stepped in to help his leftist ally Argentine President Nestor Kirchner by bailing out an Argentine firm to prevent its purchase by a fund involving billionaire investor George Soros. Chavez, whom Kirchner wished good luck before his landslide re-election on Sunday, said he would lend $80 million to Sancor, a struggling private cooperative dairy sought by Adecoagro, a fund in which currency speculator and philanthropist Soros has a stake. "The capitalist magnate wanted to buy it out. Now I have signed the first part of the deal. We are going to issue credit of...

Communism is not dead in Latin America. In fact, the dominoes are falling south of the border, but no one seems to be noticing. “It’s a new day. Communism is dead. It’s even dead in Cuba.” So declared Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in May 2002. “I hate to say it,” she continued, “it’s dead.” The senator’s proclamation was a surprise, no doubt, to Fidel Castro, whose regime was (and is) alive and as Red as ever. It also must have come as welcome news to the people of Cuba, still suffering, after nearly half...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, May 10 (Reuters) - Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has authorized sending some 500 soldiers to Haiti as part of a new U.N. peacekeeping mission in an important show of support for Washington. "There's no doubt that this is very important help for the United States ... For Washington it's important," Defense Minister Jose Pampuro told local radio on Monday. The United Nations authorized a force of up to 6,700 U.N. soldiers to restore order to chaotic Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled an armed revolt two months ago under pressure from the international community. Washington wants the...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Two decades after the fact, Argentina's Navy admitted for the first time on Wednesday the notorious Navy School of Mechanics was a torture center during the bloody 1976-83 military dictatorship. In a rare admission of guilt by Argentina's armed forces for atrocities during the junta's "Dirty War," Navy Chief Admiral Jorge Godoy said President Nestor Kirchner had ordered the infamous building dubbed "Argentina's Auschwitz" be handed over to be turned into a museum. As many as 5,000 people were interrogated at the ESMA, as the building is known by its Spanish acronym, most tortured and...