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Lulu, first of all, was the leader of the Group of 20 'third world' countries who walked out of the WTO talks in Cancun in 2002, the most dramatic demonstration of the rebellion of the rest of the world against 'neo-liberalism' (global 'trickle-down' economics; Reagan-Clinton-Bushwack Voodoo economics; the impoverishment of everybody else, the rich get richer). The WTO has never recovered. Good riddance to it!
He is a close friend and ally of Hugo Chavez and meets with him monthly on joint economic initiatives and other matters. He has basically said that U.S. (Bushwhack) policy toward Venezuela and Bolivia is nuts. Lulu has given Chavez very important support at moments of Bushwhack attack. He has said, of Chavez, recently: "They can invent a lot of things to criticize Chavez, but not on democracy." He has also called Chavez "the great peacemaker." (The occasion was Chavez's role in preventing a war between the U.S./Colombia and Ecuador, last year, when they bombed/raided a FARC camp on Ecuadoran territory--but it is generally true of Chavez, who is also currently playing an important role in integrating Bushwhack ally Colombia into the new South American 'common market,' UNASUR, even though Colombia has been the hatchery of assassination plots against Chavez and other evildoing.)
Lulu has been very important to the success of democracy/social justice governments in Bolivia and Paraguay. In those cases, he has provided material as well as moral support. When the Bushwhacks instigated a white separatist coup in Bolivia in September, with rioting and murder, aimed at splitting off Bolivia's main gas and oil provinces into a fascist mini-state in control of the resources, Lulu made it very clear that Brazil (one of Bolivia's chief gas customers) would not trade with these fascists. Argentina (another big gas customer) also made this very clear. Together, their clout helped foil the coup.
The election of a leftist in Paraguay (first ever) was helped along by Lulu's jawboning of Paraguay's water customers in Brazil on re-negotiating the contracts to give Paraguay a fairer deal. He said that the rich countries have an obligation to help the poor countries in the region--for the general prosperity of all. Fernando Lugo's election as president of Paraguay last year--the beloved "bishop of the poor"--in Paraguay, of all places!--capped a half decade of the rise of a leftist movement that has swept the continent. Lulu helped that along, in Paraguay and other countries.
Lulu has called Chavez "the great peacemaker," but Lulu himself is a great peacemaker and diplomat. His politics are more center-left than left. He was born into poverty, and was a laborer in a steel factory. His heart is in the right place, but he has an enormous, variegated economy to run--with a vast poor population--and he has made some questionable corporate deals for short-term gains in jobs (for instance, sacrificing parts of the Amazon, and small farmers, to biofuel production, in a deal with the Bushwhacks). On the other hand, he is not oblivious to environmental concerns, has preserved vast swaths of the Amazon (and uncontacted indigenous tribes), and has tried to establish better law enforcement on rogue logging. And he has been a champion of South American economic/political integration, and of the efforts of countries like Venezuela and Bolivia to bootstrap the poor.
In sum, he is a pivotal figure between the strongest leaders of the leftist tide in the region, on the one hand, and corporate/business interests--and U.S. interests, which are equivalent to corporate interests--on the other. Heretofore, the U.S. has had NO INTEREST in democracy, social justice, honest elections, participation by the poor, the sovereignty of Latin American countries, civil/human rights or peace. The Bushwhacks have been an entirely malevolent force in South America (and generally in Latin America). They have been entirely bent on advancing the interests of Exxon Mobil and brethren, World Bank loan sharks and U.S. 'war on drugs' police state/military profiteers, at the cost of many lives and with nakedly anti-democratic goals (--such as the Bushwhack-sponsored coup attempts in Venezuela and Bolivia, and Bushwhack support for the fascist narco-thugs running Colombia).
That Lula has been able to negotiate this dangerous territory--an international political minefield--is remarkable. I was worried about him, when he made the biofuels deal with Bush--worried that he was merely using leftists like Chavez as a wedge to get better economic deals for Brazil, and was playing along with typical U.S. "divide and conquer" tactics, so I have followed his statements and activities as well as I can. My worries were allayed. I think Lulu has a regional social justice perspective--and has a deep commitment to the prosperity and welfare of his neighbors, and to democracy.
Lulu has stated that the Bushwhacks' reconstitution of the U.S. 4th Fleet is a threat to Brazil's oil reserves on the Atlantic coast, and proposed a 'common defense' within the context of the new South American 'common market'--a proposal that Colombia stopped obstructing (an interesting story in itself) and is being implemented. But the 4th Fleet is more likely one element of a Bushwhack plan to gain control of Venezuela's oil reserves in its province of Zulia (a fascist stronghold) on the Caribbean (with a civil war scheme similar to the one they tried in Bolivia). Lulu thus "broadens the target." The gist of his policy: An attack on Venezuela is an attack on Brazil--don't do it!
Finally, he has said, very recently, that he is anxious to sit down with our new president, to better inform him about South America, specifically about U.S. hostility to Venezuela and Bolivia. He appears to feel, as many of us do, who have been following the rise of democracy in Latin America, that President Obama is poorly informed and has wretched advisers. Lulu wants to set the record straight on items like the Bushwhack/corpo-fascist 'news' bullshit that Chavez is a "dictator." (No evidence for it whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. A total WMD-type lie.) His message of congratulations to Obama contained a plea for the U.S. to lift the embargo on Cuba--a sore point throughout Latin America, and a great injustice. (It is also a crazy injustice, in that it forbids any company who supplies anything whatsoever to Cuba from trading with the U.S.--resulting in crazy restraints of trade and travel. The Bushwhacks purport to be for a "free market"--ha! We can't compete with Cuba's medical system--one of the best in the world--so we deny them needed drugs and medical equipment!)
So he is going to put it to Obama, not in these terms exactly, but the general idea: Do you really support democracy? Do you really want social justice for the poor? Do you really have any respect for Latin American sovereignty? Or are you just a pretty face on more U.S. corpo/fascist bullshit?
Both men are walking a minefield. I think he will find that Obama really is a good guy--very intelligent, good heart, good instincts--but operating under severe constraints. Probably the best Obama can do is to rein in the dogs of war, and prevent any more dirty rotten fascist coup plots. If Obama were to really seek social justice and true peace, he would be dead. Lulu is operating in a different context. He has many strong leftist allies, in a continent that is, at long last, coming into its own, by its own power and determination; it is pulling together, at long last, into a 'common market' (something that should have happened 50 year ago, but for brutal U.S. interference). It has the resources, and now has the will, to throw off U.S. domination and exploitation. It is the future, as far as the western hemisphere goes.
I don't know how Brazil is situated, but Venezuela has $40 billion in international cash reserves, due to the excellent management of the Chavez government. Bolivia's Morales has doubled Bolivia's gas revenues (from $1 billion/yr to $2 billion), and is now set to use those profits for education, medical care, local infrastructure, local manufacturing, land reform, pensions for the elderly and other proper uses (with the passage of its new Constitution yesterday).
Obama, on the other hand, has a $10 trillion deficit (and counting)--a country thoroughly looted by the Bushwhacks, the rich and war profiteers. He has crippled allies--allies, whose coffers have been similarly stripped by unaccountable corporate rulers. He can easily--EASILY--be fraudulently denied re-election, because rightwing Bushite corporations still control all the voting machines in the U.S. with 'TRADE SECRET' code. He has been permitted to become president in the home base of the Dark Lords, the cold heart of the global empire. And he has clearly had to make a deal, going in, with the Clinton/DLC enablers of the prior fascist coup, in order to achieve power. His hands are tied in many ways. Lulu, Chavez and others certainly have malevolent fascist forces within their countries, but South Americans have done far better work on their democratic institutions than we have, to keep these forces at bay, and to be able to conduct the business of the country in a way that serves everybody's interests, not just the super-rich. They, too, have putrid corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies, but somehow get their message out and keep getting elected. They all, obviously, have savvy, well-organized grass roots support. Howard Dean helped get that started here, but Howard Dean is out, and the retro-DLC is back in charge of the Democratic Party, and, indeed, is in charge of the White House. (And the last Congress' 10% approval rating indicates that the DLC is in charge of that institution as well. The DLC, more than anyone, is the entity responsible for the fast-tracking of corporate-controlled, 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines everywhere in the U.S.)
A Lulu-Obama meeting promises to be fascinating. I'm sure that Obama will be given an enormous welcome by the people of Brazil. And, truly, Venezuelans and Bolivians would do the same. Chavez is not anti-American. He IS an American. He is pro-Venezuela/South America. Morales is not anti-American. He is 100% indigenous American. He is pro-Bolivia/South America. They don't like to be bullied. They don't like to deal with assassination plots, hatched in Washington DC. They seek respect, and acknowledgement that they--unlike President Obama--can prove that they were actually elected.
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