WikiLeaks: The Latin America Files
WikiLeaks: The Latin America Files
Peter Kornbluh
July 25, 2012 | This article appeared in the August 13-20, 2012 edition of The Nation.
On June 19, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange slipped into the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, seeking sanctuary and asylum from extradition to Sweden for questioning on alleged sexual misconduct. If and when the government of Rafael Correa grants his requesta decision that had yet to be made as The Nation went to pressAssange will become a resident of Latin America, where the trove of US State Department cables he strategically disseminated has generated hundreds of headlines, from Mexico to the Southern Cone.
Cablegate, as the revelations have come to be known, has had a different degree of impact in each Latin American nationon politics, the media, and the public debate over transparency and government accountability. In two countries it led to the forced departure of the US ambassador; in another it helped change the course of a presidential election. In some countries, the documents revealed the level of US influence in domestic affairs; in others they detailed criminal activities and corruption within a number of host governments. In many nations, the cables disclosed the parade of local political, cultural and even media elites who lined up to divulge informationor gossipto US Embassy officers, never suspecting that their discussions would become front-page news.
Collectively, the Americas have been treated to a mega civics lesson in globalized whistleblowing. And US citizens have also peered into the foreign policy abyss of our bilateral and regional ties. A year after the diplomatic dust has settled on the WikiLeaks phenomenon in Latin America, it seems appropriate to assessdrawing attention to the experiences of Brazil, Mexico and Colombiawhat the biggest leak of US documents in history has left in its wake.
Leaking to Latin America
Although Assange initially gave the cables to four major European news outlets, he always intended to distribute the documents beyond the media organs of the North. Latin America was the perfect region to make a splash with the leaks. Historically, the Colossus of the North has exercised an imperiousif not imperialeconomic, military and political influence in its backyard. This interventionist past created a nationalist appetite for revelations on the hidden truths of US policies and operations.
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MIDNITERIDER1438
(113 posts)Although I am no legal expert, I am aware that the laws in Latin America regarding libel are completely different than someone from an industrially developed country is used to, and he could easily fall astray of, or get tripped up on, if that's where he's headed.
Their systems find their origin in the Napoleonic code instead of English common law, and are referred to as defamation of character laws, and are quite archaic but widely used to obtain convictions stated as slander and not infrequently putting journalists in jail. Even interest groups such as Yahoo country specific groups and bloggers online are not exempt.
That said, I'm not a fan of Assange, as I find his informations extremely routine and very boring.