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At Cancha de Ferro stadium: Chavez 2, Bush 0
By
John Catalinotto
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Published Mar 13, 2007 11:40 PM
George Bush has been touring Latin American countries this March with two goals
in mind: keep the continent divided and keep it subservient to U.S. imperialist
interests.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 9.
WW photo: John Catalinotto
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has also been visiting his neighbors. His
goals are the opposite: to unite the countries of Latin America and to
encourage and support the continent’s independence from U.S.
imperialism.
This March 9 the two presidents were faced off on opposite sides of the river
separating Argentina and Uruguay. Bush had just arrived in Uruguay, where he
was driven in a well-armored limousine caravan, protected from a strong
demonstration protesting the visit. Chávez, after signing a treaty with
Argentine President Néstor Kirchner for the cooperation of the two
countries’ energy companies, spoke to a public meeting of 40,000 people
in the Cancha de Ferro soccer field in Buenos Aires.
As the work day in the Argentine capital ended, residents from Buenos Aires and
its working-class suburbs began to pour into the stadium. Coming in chartered
buses, by public transport and on foot, they represented the dozens of
political and nationalist left parties, from the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
to the unions and community organizations that make up the anti-imperialist
majority of Argentines, along with visitors and immigrants from Paraguay, Chile
and Uruguay—there were many Uruguayan flags—plus at least two
anti-imperialists from the United States.
Even from the middle-class apartment house behind the stadium, people had hung
a Brazilian and other national flags to show their solidarity with the
pro-Chávez, anti-Bush demonstration.
When Chávez began to speak sometime after 8 p.m., it was obvious the
people were with him, and he with them. Every upbeat phrase was cheered, from
any reference to Fidel Castro, Cuba or the Argentine-born Che Guevara to the
heroes of the Latin American independence struggle, from Simón
Bolívar to Don Jose de San Martín of Argentina.
But nothing aroused more noise—both cheers and whistles depending on the
statement—than Chávez’ ironic comments about the U.S.
president. “He doesn’t even smell of sulfur anymore,” said
Chávez, alluding to his own comments last fall at the United Nations,
“but he has the smell of a political corpse, who will soon disappear into
cosmic dust.”
The Venezuelan president and most others in the stadium were quite aware of
Bush’s weakened position and waning popularity back in the U.S., where
political polls put his approval rating at under 30 percent. Chávez
spelled out how Bush had failed to provide for the victims of Hurricane Katrina
and left tens of millions without health care.
“If he really wanted social justice in the world, he should do something,
instead of just talking,” said the Venezuelan. “He should order the
U.S. troops out of Iraq and use the vast sums of money from the war to end
hunger and death throughout the world.
“Outside the United States,” Chávez added, “Bush’s
popularity rating is probably negative,” to more laughs and cheers from
the crowd.
Unity essential for liberation
Someone must have unwisely written into Bush’s talks a message involving
Simón Bolívar. He made the error of claiming that both he and his
South American partners were “sons of Simón Bolívar and George
Washington.”
Chávez stopped short of calling Bush “a son of a ...,” but the
audience finished it for him. The Venezuelan president launched into a history
lesson contrasting the slave owning George Washington, who founded the country
destined to impose its rule on the Americas, with the great South American
liberator, Simón Bolívar.
But his message to the audience was also that the unity of the nations and the
peoples of Latin America “is absolutely essential for their
liberation.” While Chávez spelled out later that a 21st century
liberation movement meant also a struggle for socialism, he made it clear that
he also included those political leaders—like Kirchner—who were not
attempting to move toward socialism but were striving for some political and
economic independence from the colossus of the North.
The Latin American countries presently aligned against imperialism include
Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and now Ecuador, and on some levels Argentina and to a
lesser degree, Brazil. While Brazil’s President Luis Ignacio
“Lula” da Silva signed an agreement with Bush dealing with the
joint development of ethanol fuels, he has so far refused to use Brazil as a
military and economic bulwark against governments in the region that Washington
considers its enemies.
Bush brought only a small “carrot” to offer the region. Much of
what he offered—a medical ship run by the U.S. Navy and scholarships to
study in the U.S., English lessons and home construction—the Cubans and
Venezuelans have offered for years in greater amounts, on better terms and with
more solidarity.
Bush’s tour includes Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. In
every country on the list and some others, thousands took to the streets to
denounce his visit. In Colombia, where youths burned U.S. flags in defiance of
the death-squad regime, and in Brazil, where tens of thousands marched on
Paulista Avenue in São Paulo, police attacked demonstrators, but
couldn’t stop the actions. Tens of thousands also protested in the
Zocalo, in downtown Mexico City. In Guatemala, a Mayan group plans to
spiritually fumigate a religious site following Bush’s planned stop
there.
If the masses perceive a world leader—and with good reason—as an
arrogant war criminal, that leader had better be powerful and generous if s/he
expects to gain points. Bush is politically weak and came almost empty-handed.
Chávez 2, Bush 0.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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