Posted on 07/20/2002 9:52:15 AM PDT by Conservative Chicagoan
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Expert Warns of Crisis in Latin America
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.comThe election in October of radical Luis Ignacio da Silva as president of Brazil could trigger the spread of anti-U.S. dictatorships in Latin America that would hold sway over as many as 300 million people and boost the potential of terror attacks on the U.S. from the south, warns Hudson Institute scholar Constantine C. Menges.
Saturday, July 20, 2002
Perennial candidate da Silva has managed not only to hang onto his early lead in the presidential polls but has climbed to 40 percent, 20 points ahead of his closest rival, free-market centrist Jose Serra, the choice of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s Brazilian Social Democratic Party.
Menges fears that under da Silva, giant Brazil, a republic friendly to the U.S., will become "the focal point for political and military assistance to the Communist narco-guerillas in Colombia and to anti-democratic groups seeking to overturn potentially fragile democracies in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru – not to mention neighboring Argentina, already in the grip of economic crisis.”
"By the end of 2003, the United States might be faced with anti-American regimes in most of South America,” Menges concludes in the July 22 issue of the Weekly Standard.
Castro Axis
Behind da Silva, says Menges, stands a powerful Castro-Chavez alliance that wants desperately to evolve into an even more powerful and dangerous "Castro-da Silva-Chavez Axis,” a moniker first coined by Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who has admitted that the potential election of da Silva has him wary of "immense economic problems in all of Latin America.”
The Chavez arm of the axis is, of course, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who, according to Menges, has been and remains a key supporter of terrorism. Forging alliances with Iran, Iraq and Libya, Chavez has backed communist guerrillas in Colombia and radical groups in Bolivia, Ecuador and other countries.
At the direction of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Cuban operatives helped bring Chavez back to power, and as a quid pro quo, says Menges, Chavez has provided Castro with free oil, probably in the value of $2 billion.
Da Silva has direct and intimate ties to Castro, says Menges. Da Silva and Castro co-founded Forum of Sao Paulo back in 1990. Each year the forum convenes a veritable Who’s Who of communists, terrorists and leaders of radical political movements from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
"These annual meetings have been used by the participants to coordinate their plans for taking power in their respective countries and for executing actions against the United States,” explains Menges.
Arab Connection
Such intrigues include the PLO, says Menges, which along with terror agents of Hezbollah reportedly hide among the large Middle Eastern communities in Brazil and Venezuela.
He maintains that is a "strategic priority” for Castro and Chavez to see da Silva rise to power in Brazil, which has the world's eighth-largest economy. "Already Chavez is probably contributing millions, if not tens-of-millions to da Silva out of the estimated $70 billion in oil revenues…."
Meanwhile, Menges adds, "It is a virtually certain that Castro is committing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of his skilled political and intelligence operatives to help da Silva win ….”
According to Menges, da Silva will fit right in the Castro-Chavez orbit. Da Silva is on record saying that Brazil should have nuclear weapons, embrace communist China and perceive its enormous foreign debt load as nothing less than "economic terrorism.”
Da Silva aside, there is already momentum in Brazil pushing it in directions contrary to U.S. interests. For instance, after Brazil’s president exposed a secret plan by the military to build an atomic bomb, it came to light that elements of the military had secretly exported 8 tons of uranium to Iraq.
Menges also reports the defection to Iraq of 20 missile scientists, who were disgruntled after the cancellation of the country’s ballistic missile program in 1991.
Recent moves by Workers' Party nominee da Silva, such as naming prominent industrialist Sen. Jose Alencar as his vice presidential candidate and promising to honor debt payments, contain inflation and maintain budget surpluses, have given the appearance of a move to the center.
However, Menges says da Silva’s real stripes are revealed best in remarks such as his labeling of President Bush’s Free Trade Areas of the Americas as "a USA annexation project.”
Dr. Menges is a former director of George Washington University’s Program on Transitions to Democracy. His public service includes a stint as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and at the CIA as a national intelligence officer.
He is a prolific author. His latest work, now forthcoming, is: "2007 – the Preventable War – The Strategic Challenge of China and Russia."
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