 | |
|
|
|
| English | Espańol | Deutsch | Русский |
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Videos
Hugo Chávez has received income never experienced in Latin America. It could have assured Venezuelans a wellbeing lasting for several generations. It didn’t work that way. The economic boon allowed him to gain hemispheric power, promoting hostile attitudes towards the democratic world. Government leaders, or politicians striving to be leaders, were bribed. Alliances were forged with islamics, who were given lands in Venezuela to train and recruit followers. All at a cost of billions of dollars. Those who hold power give temporary benefits to supportive crowds. Later on, when benefits can’t be given, member of those same crowds are hired, so as to impose obedience by means of terror. To deem those adventurers leftists or communists is to give the image of idealist and political philosopher to those who neither had a governing doctrine, nor any idea of how to govern. Miguel Angel Moratinos' trip to Cuba, his meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, and their visit to Raul Castro, achieved the liberation of political prisoners and their leaving the country. It́s a punctual joy on an opprobrious stage. What both governments gain or expect to gain from this agreement, will be known eventually. Spain, with its investments and tourism, has been important to Castroism. Thousands of Spaniards visiting Cuba have been main supporters of prostitution, which they felt attracted to and of which they became propagandists. The Spanish collaboration with Castroism, since Francisco Franco, reminds, in a different context, "the Spain that will freeze your heart", mentioned by Antonio Machado. While we build the future, it will be useful to remember the past. President Obama, advisers at the White House, congressmen and military have described the Afghan situation. They have explained its effects on neighboring countries, mainly Pakistan. Factors related to war are given attention. Aside from fighting, there is building. The advantages of development are explained to Afghans. Which is a complex task in tribal environments, where the opium billionaire profits are given more attention than that given to the strategic and political ideas which are discussed throughout the world. Whatever happens in Afghanistan will have global consequences. In the United States attention is given to the congressional debates on economic and health care issues. But they will not be a part of history if we don’t achieve a total and decisive victory in Afghanistan. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Message received on June 8, 2010 (Fragment) Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States" . "Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they didn't pay into Social Security, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed... . The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is being considered...in all of its forms.... The self-serving must stop. This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come. Have each person contact a minimum of Twenty people on their Address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise. According to repeated surveys, only the media have less public respect than Congress. At the same time, many known congressmen and journalists honor the institutions they are members of. It would be reasonable for infamous people not to call attention to themselves, to try to be just a face in the crowd. It’s not always so. Some try to be relevant in the ranks of infamy. The United States is Cuba’s fifth business partner. In order to increase the deals involved, a hearing was scheduled for April 29, at the Longworth House Office Building. According to their sponsors, that event -which tries to ignore tens of thousands of lost lives- purported to back democracy and human rights in Cuba. Congress has postponed the immigration reform due to discrepancies regarding its scope and content. Opportunities are thus created for exhaustive studies on that bill, which could create economic incentives both in the United States and in Latin America. American products could be produced or assembled in Latin America, instead of having that done in other continents, as is presently the case. The resulting creation of employment would increase the income of substancial number or their nationals. That initiative, and its promotion, would encourage the consumption of American goods and services. Concurrently, the issuance of temporary working permits would legalize the status of foreigners who, during their stay, pay taxes, consume all kinds of articles and, as a result, increase the American producers activity.
There is a growing hate in the United States which does not
offer good omens. It´s a consequence of increasing the
political power upon every citizen, diminishing the freedom
of all.
We lose daily men and women from our armed forces. They
protect us trying to give other peoples a freedom that
gradually shrinks in the U.S.
And all because of electoral promises on public health,
that needed betterment, but which didn´t have the critical
level justifying the investments approved by both parties.
They made law the electoral offerings, at a cost which will
take the country to unbearable indebtments.
The American people paid with blood its freedom, and each
generation sacrifices itself so as to keep it. Hasty
policies ignore that reality. That could generate a civic
confrontation of unpredictable dimension.
Venezuelans are suffering a steady
erosion in their living standards. To prevent civil disorder – or
outright rebellion – Havana has sent Commandant Ramiro Valdés to
Caracas. His task is to expand the web of informers, denouncers and
agitators in the military and security units, to complement those in the
civilian population.
Valdés brings decades of experience to
his new assignment. In Cuba, he identified and eliminated political
dissenters among both civilians and the armed forces. He has condemned
thousands to brutal prison sentences. His is the strong arm of official
repression.
Hugo Chávez, proclaimed defender of the Colombian narcoguerrillas, sponsors radical Islamist camps in Venezuelan territory, where adepts are indoctrinated and trained. One wonders what ends could justify the financial means and political risks these installations represent.
Present and Future - March 14, 2010
Were they to expand commercial relations, the United States and Latin America could together reach economic prosperity surpassing that of even the most developed Asian zones.
This goal is reachable...if the peoples
of Latin America develop public activism and stop inept politicos, many
just corrupt fortune-hunters, from holding political office.
A defeatist attitude has led millions of Latin Americans to leave their homelands for illegal work in the United States. Greater benefits would accrue if those seeking work and prosperity did so in their own countries. Much study is needed to grasp this, but the potential payback justifies the effort.
Whether we wish it or not, the future
will arrive. Should we greet its dawning with adequate work, it could
well surpass the present.
Nuclear situation - March 7, 2010
We may suppose that international efforts, both public and private, are underway to address Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear power. It is clear, however, that Iran’s political and territorial ambitions extend to other countries, which fact rightly concerns other nations, just as it interests international terrorist groups.
Whether these public and private
mediations are moving forward, backward, or have stalled completely,
Teheran's attitude suggests its effort to acquire nuclear weapons is
gaining impetus day by day. Israel cannot absorb nor survive a nuclear attack. Its people know that Iran would launch nuclear weapons, if they but had them. It is for the Israeli government to defend the nation's existence.
Free commerce with the Castroist regime - February 23, 2010
Many countries, most of them in Latin America and Europe, have for years insisted that the U.S. end the so-called “embargo” against Cuba. So-called because, despite its existence, America regularly ranks as one of Cuba’s largest commercial partners. Generally, between fourth or fifth each year.
Yes, restrictions exist on the concession of credits. These are easily overcome. Let those same countries that call for free commerce between Cuba and the U.S. give bank guarantees for the obligations assumed by the Cuban government.
Following customary business practice, these countries, by becoming guarantors, would be investing in a project they believed would lead to a profitable financial outcome. For, to insist on free negotiations between Cuba and the U.S. is to vouch for Havana’s creditworthiness.
America Must Decide. February 14, 2010
American successes in Iraq and Afghanistan are both military triumphs and the fruits of diplomatic efforts to promote policies by which people decide their own destinies. Governments representing populist determination prove superior to armed factions seeking power, not by electoral support, but through threats and violence. Most present day U.S.
enemies lack traditional armies or established battle fronts. Severe losses
have occurred in Kabul and Baghdad, and of course in New York. The
asymmetric struggle recalls a centuries-old lesson, namely that surprise— an
equal-opportunity strategy — is decisive in armed conflicts.
When we consider the imminent military dictatorship in Iran, whose nuclear ambitions extend to Venezuela and the Caribbean, it would seem the U.S. faces a stark either-or decision: surprise or be surprised.
Spanish/videos/DeVenezuela.pps (Published 11/30/2007)
Uncertainty, even feebleness, marks the current state of American politics.
The Democratic Party suffered reverses in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Health plan squabbles, inherited deficits, prickly tax issues, and a new-found concern over America’s indebtedness have spawned apprehension and political opportunism. Democrats fear losing their cameral and senatorial majority in the 2010 partial elections.
The possible winner, the Republican Party, seems hell-bent on furthering the testy divisiveness that cost John McCain the last presidential election. The perspective for 2012 is not encouraging, despite the great public experience of likely candidates.
In foreign affairs, we note both regional diplomatic successes and a rising awareness of a persistent asymmetric and diffused war of extermination.
Danger In The Caribbean - December 1, 2009
In the near future, the Castros will have atomic weapon capabilities.
Hugo Chávez
is working with Iran to jointly develop nuclear energy. Representatives
of the two countries are in frequent contact. This brings to mind
Fidel Castro, who in May 2001 said that
Iran and Cuba working together could defeat the U.S.
Chávez has long backed the FARC guerrillas. He wants the terrorist group to be accorded belligerent status under the laws of war. Fidel Castro publicly advised them not to surrender their arms. In Venezuela, an extensive military build-up is underway, including heavily armed militia and bustling fundamentalist camps where training in asymmetrical warfare thrive. Intentions are clearly hostile.
The Castros control the Caribbean. Reason calls for permanent
surveillance of the region.
In what appears to be a great American diplomatic success, fortifications for the Afghan campaign have been announced, including more troops from NATO members. This is more than a military action. It signals an understanding that the fight against the Taliban cannot admit of half measures. It's a war we must win in overwhelming and definitive fashion. Anything less keeps the door open to wholesale terrorism in our lands. Terrorist attacks on the West, already prevalent, will repeatedly escalate.
Lying in wait on our Caribbean flank – our vulnerable side – is the same fundamentalist enemy. His economic resources, coming from oil and drugs, are practically inexhaustible. The Chavez regime must fall before our enemies carry out their plans for attack. Public Unease - October 29, 2009 Present health care plans have shortcomings, which can and must be rectified. Doing so does not require the Government limit citizens’ liberty. Each is free to take care of their health and their family's. If costs become excessive, there are means to encourage competition within private enterprise, and offer fiscal stimuli which would bring down prices and favor the consumers. The common American is very jealous of freedom. People feel that freedom is diminished when the Governments becomes more powerful. Such a trend amounts to rulers violating the Constitution they swore to defend. In Washington there are already senators and representatives – Democrats and Republicans – who share public opinion's unease. They know the Nation collapses if freedom is undermined. Private Initiative - October 20, 2009
The foreign policy of both Democrats and Republicans has been to encourage the fight for freedom of those living under oppressive regimes. The desire for freedom has been taken as natural, human. Fighting for freedom, many have risked or lost their lives, have suffered torture and prison, but have always felt pride in their solidarity with America.
Today, these fighters feel betrayed by an unexpected turn in American foreign policy. Dialogs held with oppressors, excuses offered for tyranny, commerce sought with dictatorial regimes ... it is unthinkable how the fortunes of tyrants, spoils of corruption, can be thus secured. How ruthless dictators can be pardoned for their crimes.
We see this as a policital aberration. Let private initiative foster, between peoples, just relations in our hemisphere.
Agreements with Tehran would fare no better than the Munich Agreement Chamberlain signed with Hitler. Tehran’s promises would not be real. A treaty would betray the Iranian people, just as Czechoslovakia was betrayed. Do we forget recent events? The world watched millions beaten, imprisoned, and murdered – because they demanded to be heard. Al Khameini and Amadinedjad showed no qualms in carrying out threats against their own people. Armed with nuclear weapons, they would be even more ready to carry out their threats against Israel. Indecision and diplomatic scheming will force Israel’s hand. The attack will be devastating, unleashing a regional crisis with global repercussions. Remember the Neville Chamberlains. Irresolute statesmen let loose two World Wars. In critical times, leadership meekness amounts to a war crime.
How Prosperity Can Come to Iran - September 28, 2009
Politics is
the art of the possible. Complex situations boding great danger admit
of no ideal solutions.
The preemptory
strike against Iran requires guaranteeing the security of existing
foreign investments, especially those of Russia and China. Thus,
toppling the hell-bent, power-crazed theocracy will benefit the
Iranian people,
granting them the freedom to
determine the course of their own prosperity.
The U.S. Air
Force can neutralize Iran’s military power. Not one American soldier
need set foot in the country.
Nevertheless,
occupation troops are needed, at least for a limited period. This, so
elections may be held in a peaceful, public environment.
The Russians,
because of their links with Iran and their own Muslim population, are in
the political cat-bird seat to be that occupation force.
At the end of WWII, the U.S. occupied Germany and Japan. Both nations reached undreamed of prosperity. And the Marshall Plan restored Western Europe's financies.
At the same time, the countries occupied by the Soviet Union, subject to state control, had economies very inferior to those of the rest of Europe. The fall of Communism in Russia and its satelites opened the way for those countries to advance economically, yet none have equal led Western European prosperity.
Today, in the war against secular and irrational fundamentalist Islam,
some want to reduce the U.S.'s military might. This threatens our and
the world's freedom, leaving despotism on the horizon.
Some leaders in the U.S. and Russia are allowing tensions to develop like those that precipitated WWII.
-------------------
Concern on Government spending - September 12, 2009
War Delivered...Or Not? - September 11, 2009
Iran is now a short step away from producing a nuclear weapon. So reports Glyn Davies, main U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Neither the international community nor
the U.S. has convinced Iran to abandon its development of nuclear
weapons. If Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad looks intransigent now, imagine his
position with a nuclear warhead on the launch pad.
The U.S. continues to pursue diplomacy, while at the same time studying missile systems to defend against Iranian nuclear attacks. Is America unconvinced of its own diplomatic powers?
It would hardly be a surprise if Israel, with its very existence at stake, should launch crippling strikes against Iran. When? Any moment now. If tomorrow’s headlines report it, know that Netanyahu would never be to blame.
Decadencia (Decadence) By ESkuadrón Patriota
Conveniently Distracted - August 30, 2009
The U. S. debates public health reform. One side contends empowering the State diminishes the individual, changing a nation made great by the wisdom of its founders and the almost unrestricted creative initiative of its individuals. The other asserts the sovereign importance of Society, an argument that historically has been used to justify totalitarianism. Both sides, however, quibble over the bark on the trees, almost determinedly refusing to see the forest whole. Americans suffer in distant lands, dying in a war going back centuries. While proud families and comrades feel their loved ones’ pain, the war continues, fueled by a lust for power. The lust of men who extol religious beliefs to exploit crowds with neither ears to hear nor eyes to see. -------------------------------------------
Congressman Mike Rogers' opening statement on Health Care reform in Washington D.C., August 2009
Rely on distrust- August 22, 2009
The Castros and Hugo Chavez are highly vulnerable. They maintain power through armed forces they distrust.
Proof is in the facts. Cuban military personnel often find themselves under indictment. Many have been executed, sometimes with international repercussions. Thousands of conscripts, NCO's and commiissioned officers rot away in military prisons that few civilians know of. Covert surveillance and denunciations -routine activities in civilian life - are stepped up in the armed forces. The same pattern now occurs, on a smaller scale, in Venezuela.
Distrust of the military has prompted the formation of paramiitary forces and militia groups. Like the brown shirts of old, crude bands of civilians are sent in to break up civilian disturbances or demonstrations.
A crisis requiring military intervention would bring down both regimes.
Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran - (November 16, 2006)
Two Spies Help Unlock Mystery - August 8, 2009 Why has the U.S. protected the Castroist regime? We are not fooled by official condemnations of the Castros. Nor does the campaign rhetoric aimed every two years at Cuban voters deceive us. The cold truth stands bare. The American government has tiptoed around a ruthless enemy. Why? The questioning of Walter Kendall Myers, ex Department of State official, and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber, might help unlock this mystery. Both were arrested by the FBI on charges of spying for the Castroist regime. In 2001, Ana Belen Montes, senior analyst in the Department of Defense, was arrested as a Castroist spy. For years, her covert assignment had been to recommend measures favorable to the Castros. At the State Department, the Myers likely had the same mission. The United States and Russia - July 25, 2009
With diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East having failed, a joint military action by the U.S. and Russia is as necessary today as it was during WWII. By neutralizing the Iranian clergy's armed forces, both countries could prevent the otherwise inevitable preemptive Israeli attack that would unleash torrential violence in the region, violence that could lead to world war. Decisive action by the U.S. and Russia would tamp out the spark before a firestorm erupts.
The U.S. Air Force, already present in the area, could swiftly paralize the Iranian military. Meanwhile, Russia, whose population includes twenty million Muslims, has the political capital needed to occupy Iran, just long enough for the Iranians, freed from theocratic oppresion, to decide their own destiny. .
Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza Statement .
Drugs, Money, and Violence - July 20, 2009
Over the
years, Americans have become aware of the dangers posed by the millions
of illegal aliens in this country. Most seek economic opportunities in
lawful work. A sizable number though – whether hundreds or thousands –
operate criminal cash machines: drug trafficking networks that span
several states. The brutal competition for easy money spawns ruthless
violence.
Three days
ago, in the state of Michoacán, twelve Mexican federal agents were found
dead and tortured. Ominous in itself, the deed’s real significance
comes to light with evidence that local police were behind the murders.
The Mexican and U.S. governments have fought an uphill battle against the economics of the illegal drug trade. Wise legislators, when considering new immigration laws, should know well the ground on which they tread.
In honor of Michael Jackson - July 24, 2009
Countries
seeking to keep world peace must heed daily the maneuverings of North
Korea and Iran.
North
Korea’s nuclear program threatens all of South East Asia, possibly
sparking a regional rearmament race of tragic consequence.
An Israeli
preemptive strike against Iran seems unavoidable, given Iran’s public
commitment to destroy the Jewish state combined with Iran’s progress in
developing nuclear technology, including missiles capable of delivering
nuclear warheads.
The two
world wars of the 20th century could have been avoided. But political
do-nothingness backed by weak-willed, illusion-inspired diplomacy let
the gates of hell open wide. What came storming through was global
devastation and worldwide tragedy on a scale that affronts human reason.
The United States and Venezuela will reestablish diplomatic relations. But it will be Castroism that decides Hugo Chavez´ actions, or inactions, in such relations. Venezuelans, whether opponents or supporters of Miraflores, live under the illusion that their actions have meaning. They ignore their lost sovereignty, disregard their welcoming of an army of Castroist agents who now control that once proud and independent nation.
While negotiating prices of what it sells to and buys from Venezuela, Washington is like a clumsy sleepwalker. Seeming to conduct aboveboard business dealings, it bumps against the fact that relations between the two countries entails dealing with Colombian narcotraffickers, Muslim fundamentalists, international spies, and others without affiliation who can’t resist lapping at the feed trough running green with gringo gold.
A Shell Game - June 16, 2009
For decades, the Castroist regime has
profited from drug trafficking. The affiliated business of
money-laundering has also been good. Fidel Castro has publicly urged
Colombian guerrillas not to surrender their weapons. No wonder. The
guerrillas guard his drug trade.
Recently, Cuba’s Minister of Justice has
championed the fight against narcotics. His message is meant for those
thinking-challenged Americans allied to Castro’s cause. He offers a
well-timed diversion, ammunition for his allies who support normalizing
relations with Havana, i.e. making loans to Cuba. Of course, “loan” is
a euphemism. Cuba, the world’s number one deadbeat, will never repay
the money. The Minister wishes we overlook the recent capture of Castroist spies by the FBI. Don’t fall for it. Think on the other agents still at large.
Every
society faces conflicts. Resolving conflict can be elusive, especially
amidst the current global financial crisis.
Though
tensions in every country warrant immediate attention, priority is best
given to the Middle East where, in the near term, frictions could ignite an
unconstrained conflagration.
Tensions in
the Middle East are heightened by reports that Iran, bent on making the
Jewish State disappear, is soon to become a nuclear power. Weapons
trafficking in the region, the bombings of Israeli territory, and the
reprisals they provoke, justify the utmost efforts toward lasting peace,
guaranteed by all nations.
Israel must
defend its existence; it has no alternative. And international links are
intricate. Let cool heads work to avert what soon could become another
World War.
That President Obama's administration seeks open dialog with the Castros, and that the OAS endorses this goal, continues the perversion of accepting those who maintain power by violence and repression as true representatives of Cuba. Meanwhile, officials chime demands for Cuba’s democratization.
The lure of easy money has a very strong
appeal.
To broaden the influence of Castro and
his extracontinental allies in Latin America, to facilitate transit to
and from Cuba, gives political and financial means to regimes hostile to
the US. It encourages terrorist actions and brings shame on our
hemisphere, from the Patagonia to Alaska.
But profitability trumps integrity. So Castroists in Cuba and Venezuela buy from American entrepreneurs the very rope they seek to hang them with.
Naive and Complicit - May 17, 2009
Today, both peoples seem to have forgotten their histories. They submit to regimes that mock freedom.
Hugo Chávez, with meager intelligence, and Fidel Castro, with ample talent, together argue for perpetuating socialism. Yet the one cannot discern ideologies; the other disdains political affiliations. False opponents, weak in spirit, call Communists those whose only interest is to steal wealth and usurp power. To call thieves and power-mongers corrupt is to entice foreigners, eager to enrich themselves in association with local accomplices.
It
gives us pause to hear Obama's pledge to seek engagement with
For
half a century, the Castros have promoted violence against the
They
believe their success will be secured by American capital. Such was the
case in In
May 2001, Fidel Castro, speaking in American capitalists destroyed our finances. They might destroy the nation.
A Possible Agreement - April 20, 2009 America’s interests are commercial, while those of the Castros are political.
Even now, the United States is Cuba’s fifth largest business partner, and
interests who have President Obama’s ear are itching to supply the Caribbean
island with all it might need. At the same time, the Cuban elite, rulers present
and future, are single-minded in wanting to stay in power. Ineptitude or Indifference? - April 6, 2009
Leaders prove
themselves by performance. The error of underestimating them is soon
revealed. But overestimating them can prove tragic.
Members of the
black caucus are visiting
The caucus
seeks to relax travel restrictions. Would they facilitate traffic in
narcotics, traffic whose most numerous victims are black Americans?
Would they invite into the
Spurred on by select
constituents' special interests, members of the House and Senate are
promoting openings towards the Castroist regime. These politicians,
their focus narrowed to their reelection prospects, seek immediate gains
for a few, to the detriment of the whole nation. Such greed, strong like
a primitive animal instinct, surfaces repeatedly in dealings with
Career officials and
legislators with character denounce such corruption of public service.
They know their history and remember the fate of other powers which,
undermined by internal vices, collapsed. Without Respite - March 4, 2009 The US armed forces include many of the most capable servants of the nation, men and women responsible for protecting the freedom, life and belongings of all. Great care is given to their education, training and the selection that determines their ranks. Striving for maximum efficacy, these honorable members of our security forces understand the impact that US well-being or misfortune has on the world. That the Pentagon was attacked with impunity on September 11th was unpardonable. The military must be continuously on the alert, in peace or war. Such attacks must never be repeated. No less vigilant attentiveness is needed in the Caribbean and the Southern Hemisphere, where US enemies don’t rest in their unceasing search for allies.
The material losses from September 11 were extensive, the human ones
unforgettable. The nation reacted decisively, making clear its
unwavering resolve to forestall further attacks, committing itself to
unremitting vigilance.
Wealth and life are limited by the capability of preserving them.
Individuals, by their imperfect knowledge and by institutional barriers
in their environment, nations by their economic and military power.
While armed superiority dissuades aggression, it does not exclude it,
for asymmetric wars have always existed. In whatever case, intelligence
work is always indispensable.
Opportunity - February 15, 2009 The global financial crisis will be overcome through the efforts of many nations, repeatedly deliberating, consulting, and so offering America the opportunity to strengthen Allied relations, to overcome differences and to secure common interests in conflict-riddled regions of the world. America’s economic power, its status as the preferred world market, ensures that bilateral relations benefit its partners. The U.S. model is win-win: domestic growth fueled by robust economic growth of the other nation. This historic moment might well prompt the U.S. to quit the United Nations, a criminally corrupt institution almost always hostile to us, even as we house its operations and fund its budget. To believe it’s a helpful intermediary, or an expedient forum, is to ignore all contradictory proof. That’s a costly delusion. Accidental benefits -February 9, 2009
The new democratic administration wants to
enact legislation to stimulate the national, and hence global, economy.
And, together with the European Union and Russia, it looks for solutions
to political difficulties in the Middle East and Central Asia, possibly
diminishing its presence in regions of lesser strategic importance.
Latin America, affected by the ineptitude of its governments, made more evident by the international financial crisis, could improve its situation in a few years. Paradoxically, that would be the outcome of America's limiting its hemispheric interest to essential concerns, such as oil. There are Latin American governments expert in destroying riches. Ignored by the United States, they will ever more talk among themselves. The results will be chilling. To survive, their peoples might find the courage that they have been lacking up to now.
Experience of the last decades suggests that
America will be at the forefront of change affecting the whole world.
Technology advances without pause, leading to a future difficult to imagine. Computers and the Internet have already transformed the world. Now artificial intelligence and virtual reality, which will overcome our senses, are coming. Since environment equals its perception, man will know a new habitat, for he will perceive the world in a different way. Everything will change, for the interplay between the environment and life is continuous and inevitable. As has happened in the past, private enterprise, its investments in
new technologies, will increase the well-being of people in the United
States. As it was then, America's progress will reach to other lands, to
other peoples.
Friendship - January 23, 2009
President Obama has made a distinction between Government programs that work and those that don't. And he has also advocated new approaches to international relations. Along these lines, priority should be given to reinforcing bilateral relationships with all countries sharing mutual interests. To start, the U.S. should withdraw from the Organization of American States, whose own charter has been violated for decades. Experienced American officials, having worked in OAS for years, could be instrumental in developing closer ties with peoples in this hemisphere. The OAS facilities, in Washington D.C. and other locations, should be vacated. The liberated space can be used for new offices where the interests of the U.S. and friendly nations would be promoted.
Members of the media have speculated on what the Obama administration will do in regard to Cuba. Conversations between the two countries? The American government is elected, Cuba's is imposed. The Cuban people's lack of consent invalidates agreements done in their name. The oppressors don’t represent the oppressed. The Castros usurped the people’s inalienable rights. It’s up to the Cubans to regain the rights they have lost. Actions from a third party transgress popular sovereignty; it's interference in other people's affairs. It would be absurd, and most certainly counterproductive, to give means to the Castros’ regime so that it ceases repression against the Cuban people. The American attitude toward Castroism should be that of silence and discontinuance of all contacts. A bridge to be crossed - January 4, 2008 It has been said repeatedly that the U.S. is in decline, that the 21st century will mark the end of its world hegemony. That the present economic crisis, precipitated by financial corruption, signals failure of the American model. Predominance and subordination are relative concepts, requiring points of comparison. To say America’s leadership is ending is to imply another country’s is emerging. But no such is foreseeable in the future. Economies are cyclical, moving up and down. Corruption is constant-across latitudes. But in the U.S., it is investigated, indicted, and punished. Without executions. America has overcome crises for more than two centuries. Each generation has been more prosperous than the one before. Today’s is already showing the tenacity and drive needed to prevail over present challenges. Opinions change - December 31, 2008 Latin American and Caribbean rulers, in a meeting
held in mid-December at Costa de Sauipe, Brazil, repeated demands for an end to
the American embargo against Cuba. They ignored the fact that the U.S. ranks
fifth among countries doing business with the Castroist regime. Barack Obama has reiterated his purpose of improving U.S. international relations and fighting corruption. Those objectives can be reached simultaneously. Starting with Latin America. Bilateral relations with its countries can be strengthened, which would benefit the whole hemisphere. As would a generous reevaluation of the aid given to them by America. At the same time, corruption in the UNO should be kept in mind, as well as attacks on the United States by members of the OAS, recipients for many years of sizable American aid. Withdrawing from the UNO and the OAS are options to seriously consider. Also vacating their facilities in New York and Washington, by appropiate legal procedures. This would open up valuable properties to domestic or international parties supportive of American interests. Payment for Oppressors - December 13, 2008 For decades, American leaders have chosen not to destabilize the Castro regime, for reasons that insult the intelligence of the policymakers. And now the United States is an important commercial partner of Cuba’s. It appears possible that Barack Obama will make further concessions in allowing visits and sending of monies to the island. The personal desires of several thousand people will be a pretext for subsidizing a government that oppresses eleven million. The Castro regime has always been highly vulnerable. But since its origins, the signal trait of U.S. governments in opposing it has been a lack of imagination. Keeping Mr. Obama poorly informed and even more poorly advised about Cuba will not be a help to either country.
Dynasties and Democracies - December 6, 2008
Deadbeat Government - November 30, 2008
Action or Abstention - November 23, 2008
Our sisters and Brothers in Arms - November 17, 2008
A Memory - November 9, 2008
We are in the
thick of elections. Besides articulating political programs,
candidates are absorbing the views of the electorate and
speaking for some of them in the public debate.
Our destinies depend on independent judges and capable educators. But the independence of judges is compromised if their confirmation depends on whether they hold the views of legislators or private interest groups. Nor is the education of our youngsters reliable when instruction is given by not-so-capable teachers mainly intent on improving their own salaries and benefits. And they obtain those improvements when their unions contribute large sums of money to the reelection of lawmakers who will favor the aims of their major contributors. A Vigorous Answer - October 26, 2008 The government of Argentina proposes to nationalize all pensions. This coincides with a crisis in the payment of Argentina’s foreign debt. It appears the measure will be approved by Congress, especially since those monies will allow legislators to pay off their friends. In Argentina today, Congress is a rubber stamp for the executive. And the judiciary also lacks the independence that the constitution mandates. Absent, then, is the division of powers needed for good government and protection of the public. Argentineans can certainly give a vigorous answer. They have noble traditions and a vast, productive territory; but they need to throw off the corrupt politicians who are pressing them down and bleeding them dry.
A Free Press - October 18, 2008
Resurgence - October 12, 2008
The Vital Spirit - September 28, 2008
The Unthinkable - September 21, 2008
Suddenly ... - September 13, 2008 Delivering Justice - September 4, 2008 During the 1970’s and 1980’s, Castro’s regime—underwritten by the Soviets, and with monies obtained violently—armed thousands of Latin Americans and trained them to overthrow their governments. The whole hemisphere was a victim of this subversion. The instigators were serving foreign interests, which made them traitors. Latin America’s armed forces beat back this subversion; but they failed to educate their peoples. The peace was lost, and the Soviet agents appeared as liberators. Ultimately they arrived in power and restarted their totalitarian campaigns. The written record of that time tells the facts, and also the people’s clamor to see the deeds punished. The present task is to indict those who betrayed their countries, and bring them before judicial tribunals. The world wars that began in 1914 and 1939 showed the foolishness and incompetence of the participants. If similar outbreaks occurred today, the costs would be unimaginable. Historians agree that the earlier conflicts could have been avoided. We must hope that present-day leaders will not fall into the errors of the past; and that those who are parties to a conflict will act speedily and sensibly to avert a catastrophe. The United States has a weak flank. If hostilities break out, the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela—which remain in power by violence and (in Venezuela’s case) by money—will offer quarter to America’s enemies. The U.S. needs to remedy this matter before a crisis overtakes it. Otherwise, it won’t be meeting its responsibilities. To the Streets - August 19, 2008 Hugo Chávez has perverted his country’s institutions, both civil and military. He has squandered riches on subversive adventures directed by Cuba and increased the power of the militias. While some Venezuelans keep up their hope for electoral change, all decisions are taken in Havana. They reflect the ruined economy of Cuba, whose regime wants to guarantee the continuing stream of support from Venezuela. But numerous Venezuelans also resent the outrage of Chávez having surrendered their nation and sovereignty to Cuba, which pays with the thousands of security agents that keep Chávez in power. And clear-thinking men and women are urging their people to take to the streets, not to abandon them until an honorable ruler is installed in the Miraflores Palace. When governments and peoples part ways, society loses its principal function, which is to defend the well-being of all. And a contradiction arises: governors become anti-social, while society is defended by its opponents. Cuba and Venezuela are blazing examples of society-wide alienation. The non-conformists who form the massive majority, and the opposition who are a scant minority, fail to relate to their surroundings, while governors are deluded, because they live in a false reality of their own making, Castro and Chávez will vanish into the quagmires of history. But the Cuban and Venezuelan peoples will be in an even lower place, because by failing to rebel, they have betrayed their own history, and have insulted the legacy of those who gave them nationhood.
Latin American states frustrate efforts to define
themselves, through a mixture of good works and noble traditions on one hand,
and corruption, crime, incapacity and carelessness on the other. Some leaders—the Castro brothers, Chávez, Morales, the Kirchners, Ortega—are called communist or leftist or populist. But really these are illusionists who have no true ideology or political belief, and who have squandered the work and wealth of their nations. Two recent news items point to a revival of Castro-style manipulations. The first, lately denied by Defense Ministry spokesmen in Moscow, alleges that long range Russian bombers, with nuclear capabilities, would be refueled in Cuba The second, also emanating from Moscow, is that Chávez has offered Venezuela’s territory for Russian bases, just as Castro did more than 40 years ago. The rapprochement between Russia and the U.S. has been one of the most favorable developments in recent history. But it seems that the two Caribbean regimes, with their banana-republic leaders, are trying to sour relations between those two global powers.
Chaos & Coherence - July 13, 2008 By David Landau Colombia’s rescue operation, resulting in the liberation of 15 hostages from the FARC, is the best piece of news to come from Latin America in a long time. First and foremost is the saving of human life without the firing of a shot. The rescue is a body-blow to the FARC. It presages difficulties for a group that has been and is a most pernicious influence. Life is suddenly more difficult for the anti-popular regimes in Havana and Caracas that have been pillars of support to the FARC, for decades in Cuba’s case. And leaders of the Democratic Party in the United States will now be hard-pressed to justify their attacks on Colombia, which clearly defends human rights in the most basic sense. Interests & Rackets - July 1st, 2008 In a democracy, the interests of governors and governed are identical. Power is won through elections. Able politicians work to satisfy the people’s will. A well-served electorate, or one that wishes to be, will favor politicians who are sensitive to its needs. In totalitarian societies like Cuba’s, political and economic interests are fused. Rulers give their undivided allegiance to a minority and suppress the majority. Governors are quick to use violence. As time passes they use it less; for people have internalized the terror and become passive. To hope for progress under Raúl Castro is pure madness. The interests of governors and governed are dead opposites. Leaders derive their power from a weakened and frustrated populace. That’s the racket they’re in. The European Union has lifted sanctions against the Cuban regime. It’s another effort to recover bad loans to Cuba, and keep a good climate for future commerce. Spain, with its massive investments on the island, has been the main instigator in Europe’s move. The Spaniards are trying to convince the Old World that it has a special influence in Cuba. Some European nations are actually buying it. Those nations, whose investments have kept the Castro regime in power, are now saying they are concerned about Cuba’s repressive policies, and express hope for democratic reforms. It’s the customary window-dressing. In despair over monies lost, Europeans are counting on the U.S. to open credits to Cuba. It’s their last, best hope to recover what they’ve blown.
Telling the Obvious - June 14, 2008
Follow the Money - June 2nd., 2008 Colombia’s narcoguerrillas and their friends produce cocaine and promote its global distribution, mainly in the United States. Their annual income is estimated at many billions of dollars. These finances allow for politicians and officials to be bought, and for governments to be influenced or even controlled. Such things have transpired in Latin America and elsewhere. To run this money through international channels, while hiding its origin, requires complicity by many officials and organizations. To unmask, judge and punish these complicit parties is a vital task for the democratic nations. The Colombian drug cartels, especially with their ties to radical Islam, pose a real danger to the hemisphere. Our intelligence services need to know who is hiding and laundering their fortunes. On June 26, 1963, in Germany, President John F. Kennedy famously said: “I am a Berliner”. Laying down the challenge to his communist rivals, he proclaimed: “Let them come to Berlin”. His confidence in the progress of freedom was prophetic. Tomorrow, May 26, 2008, the United States marks its Memorial Day, honoring those who have died while serving this country. “Let them come to Washington” might be a summons to recall how this nation fights for people, all over the world, who suffer or are threatened with oppression. Many Americans have fallen in this effort. Washington is the capital of a people who are constantly advancing toward a greater well-being—certain that, in their progress, they will never cease being free. Who’s to blame—people or governments? Castro’s regime denounces the U.S. “blockade” while the U.S. keeps trading with Cuba. Havana rebukes “imperialism” so American politicians will heed the Cuban-American vote. Washington will normalize relations if Cuba moves toward democracy. Havana will not alter its “socialism”. That reassures Cuba’s investors, like the Spanish, and those who want more business with Cuba, like the Americans. Venezuelans are short of necessities, while Chávez proclaims a government “for the poor”. His word is the only law, while his opponents say they are acting “within the law”. He arms himself to the teeth, while his opponents have confidence in elections. And people keep saying that if you’re not happy with things, it’s because you don’t want to be. Responsibility - April 30, 2008 By David Landau During Pope Benedict’s recent visit to the United States, it was suggested that, as one writer expressed it, “Both the pope and President Bush have immense responsibilities before God and the Cuban people.” Since the Vatican has accepted responsibility for Cuba, that part of the statement is understandable. But the U.S. president has accepted no such responsibility, and it’s not in his job description. Unfortunately, and incorrectly, a century of Cuban tradition has insisted on U.S. responsibility for the island. Indeed, Fidel Castro made this idea a basis for his rule. Until Cubans learn to hold their own leaders, and their own selves, as the responsible parties, Cuba will remain in the predicament it has suffered for so long. Colombia’s narcotraffickers are America’s enemies. With huge financial resources, they spread drug addiction and threaten this country. They have extensive international support, including that of governments. Especially dangerous is their alliance to radical Islam. The Castro regime works with the drug trade and money-laundering because it’s immensely profitable. The narcotraffickers’ most dedicated enemies are Colombia’s government and rural populace, who have mounted their own defense against the drug armies. A group of legislators in the United States has attacked Colombia’s government. These people are helping the narcotraffickers, who are America’s enemies. In law, this attitude is defined as treason. The U.S. Justice Department should bring charges against these people, even if they are legislators. Bogus Opposition - April 11, 2008 Names and complaints are not guns or bombs. They don’t dislodge usurpers who steal a people’s liberty. They’re the devices of bogus opponents or of cowards who pretend to fight while they dance with illusion. In Latin America, they advocate peaceful and legal organizing. They play dice with opponents who use knives and don’t care who gets in their way. They live under tyrannies that are ruled by extortion, imprisonment and murder. These opponents want to create a united front which, with all the regime’s infiltrators and stool-pigeons, is a physical impossibility. Cubans have been living in this situation for nearly 50 years. And so now are the Venezuelans, infiltrated by Cuban agents who pretend to be opponents.
Vital Support - April 1st., 2008
Back to Basics - March 22, 2008 The Plot Thickens - March 16, 2008 We can now understand Hugo Chávez’s aggressive rearmament, his spreading petrodollars around Latin America and his far-reaching designs, which exceed his personal talents. He has looked like a tool of the Castro regime. But he’s gone beyond that by demanding international recognition for the FARC. Havana wants that, because it wants to rule over Colombia, but would proceed much more discreetly. Information captured by the Colombian army shows Chávez at the center of a far-flung conspiracy. FARC is looking for state-of-the-art weaponry and is trying to find uranium. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. For the moment, Chávez says he wants to resolve tensions with Uribe, but he’s just trying to buy time for the FARC to recover from its latest reverses.
Armed Conflict - March 3, 2008
Mistaken Instinct - February 24, 2008 Vulnerability - February 18, 2008 Miami news media often mention the “human contraband” arriving on these shores by motorboat. The organizers of the boat-trips receive at least $10,000 per passenger. Their frequency and regularity denotes a business amounting to millions of dollars every month—and also suggests how exposed our national territory is. Throughout Cuba, many thousands of informants are keeping a round-the-clock lookout, especially along the coasts. It’s obvious that the commerce in human contraband is well-known to Cuban officials. The chance to take part in the earnings would be a compelling reason for them to allow it. Given the terrorist threat, America is especially exposed on its Caribbean flank. Perhaps it’s time to give the Coast Guard more and better means to protect it. Freedom’s Forge - February 5, 2008 Throughout history we have had masters and slaves, despots and subjects. Looking past that simple fact, we see an underlying truth. The master depends on the servant; the subject empowers the despot. It’s not the other way around. And it’s a reality that refuses to be ignored. One can obstinately believe that when the despot leaves, freedom will appear. But instead what happens is that those who have grown fond of serving look for another master. And this new master becomes the next instrument for enslaving everybody. Liberty is grasped only by the strong. It is they who must educate others in its necessity. Freedom is a law of iron that’s forged deep inside every one of us. Fatal Distraction - January 27, 2008 The United States influences world affairs by inaction as well as by its actions. This has been true of global powers throughout history. Hostile forces, in the jungles of Colombia, are now counting on the U.S. being distracted by presidential elections as well as by war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Venezuelan petrodollars, linked to income from drug-trafficking, have been buying politicians and governments throughout the region. They are also looking for alliances in the Middle East for the purpose of creating military mischief and economic instability. There are countries in South America with resources to re-conquer the Colombian jungles from the narco-traffickers. The U.S. can contribute the leadership and technologies that are needed in this battle. There are governments that assault a public’s right to free opinion, expression and political organization. These regimes impose their yoke on a generation, and they corrode succeeding ones that feel the absence of rights to be normal. Eventually, the subjugated may come to understand that armed resistance is their only option. With their wealth of funds and their international networks, Chávez and Colombia’s drug gangs are attacking and destroying the orderly life of Latin America. To this common danger, a response must come from all azimuths. Armies can prevent the flight of criminals. Thousands of guerrilla counterinsurgents can attack along many fronts. And urban guerrillas can undermine Chávez’s power, terrorizing his henchmen. Orwell’s Newspeak, the satirical language of his novel “1984”, is being purveyed for real around Latin America. This language destroys rational thought by distorting concepts and making their expression impossible. In “1984” Newspeak was a propaganda tool. Today it’s an instrument for winning political power. Hugo Chávez uses the word “insurgents” to describe Colombia’s drug gangs. This is in line with Havana’s decades-old aim to seize power in Colombia. Chávez would give the same title to kidnappers, who use the grief of victimized families to cripple entire governments. All of South America is the target of a subversive campaign financed by Venezuela. And throughout the continent, grown men are acting like children who shut their eyes to make their abductors disappear. Servant & Master - January 5, 2008 History shows that the servant establishes his servile condition and lives by it. Subordination is not his plight but his pleasure. He prefers the yoke over free will. Having a master lightens his load. This trait of self-suppression belongs to a portion of the populace that includes able, hard-working people. Those people choose not to use their powers of reason, because they fear to think and decide for themselves. They prefer the protection of their masters, who think and decide for them. When a tyrant falls, many people believe that the yoke has been shattered. Perhaps it has. But just as likely, while the majority debates over how to form a new government, the servants, who are well-organized, quickly choose a new overlord.
Under the Yoke - December 29, 2007
Dissatisfaction is
a useful trait. Primitive man shares with modern man the instincts of survival,
shelter and reproduction. More sophisticated behaviors, like tilling the soil,
diversifying crops and shaping the environment, mark the passage from man’s
hunter-gatherer phase to that of modern societies and governments. Likely implications - December 8, 2007
Through eight
years in power, Chávez has utterly disregarded the existing
Two Trajectories - November 30, 2007
Vision and Cowardice - November 21, 2007 Subjugation - November 10, 2007
Property is a basic right in free societies. If for justifiable reasons the In obtaining from tyrants what has been taken from others, and what they have never earned for themselves, these new owners--as they later discover--only subjugate themselves to a tyrant's will. They don't really own what they've have been given. And in their subjugation, they even lose the power to create legacies.
Let This Voice Be Heard - November 5, 2007 It's and old wisdom that the best place to solve problems is at their source, while allowing them to grow makes them insoluble. Latin America is now playing a high price for allowing Hugo Chavez and his group, minions of Cuba, to remain in power.
Perhaps Sarney's speech will be the disruption that brings an end to
Souls in Limbo - November 1st, 2007 Some Iowans - October 25, 2007 Let’s hope American capital floods into Cuba after the Castro regime’s downfall. This would promote the reconstruction of a devastated country and create commercial ties that benefit both nations. It’s fitting, since the U.S. is home to two million Cubans and their offspring—and since the U.S. has not been an economic accomplice of the Cuban regime, as many others still are. So it’s hinky that officials and businesspeople from Iowa paid a return visit to Cuba early in October to make agreements with the regime. Those Iowans, who have grown rich from federal agricultural subsidies, are not staving off poverty but only fattening themselves up. They pretend not to see the slavery and agony of most Cubans. It leaves a foul stench. Red herrings - October 15, 2007 From Venezuela’s history, one can be confident that the stain of Chavez’s regime will sooner or later be erased. For this reason, many people believe published reports that give details of conspiracies to destroy the regime—conspiracies that might be unfolding in the army, in the state security or even in Chavez’s inner circle. It could also be that those reports have been planted by the Chavez regime on instructions of Castro’s agents. The aim would be to immobilize those people who might otherwise play decisive roles in overthrowing Chavez. Meanwhile, those discussions about constitutional and other reforms, in a country where laws and institutions have no meaning, are only devices to distract the people.
Distracted - October 11, 2007
Strength in Numbers - October 4, 2007
All That Matters Is Reality - September 27,
2007
Counterpoint - September 15, 2007
Reconstruction - September 6, 2007
Cuba’s grinding poverty, its economic misery, its ruined agriculture and industries, are almost unbelievable in view of the foreign aid received and the debt accumulated. And all this is to say nothing of Cuba’s natural riches. Even so, according to estimates by the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy and others, the country will quickly reconstruct itself when the Castro regime disappears. This resurgence will be fueled by the industry and entrepreneurial spirit of Cuba’s people, as exemplified by the success of the expatriates and the island’s private operators. Cuba will rebuild itself from its foundations. Good opportunities for foreign investors and for Cuban expatriates will abound. Perhaps the time is close at hand. It's an error to suppose that history does not teach. History teaches; what it does not do is educate. To educate requires teachers and curricula. Educators either teach a body of doctrine, which presents answers on a given subject, or guide a journey of investigation, which poses questions. But the human and material losses resulting from totalitarian regimes are already well-known. Hideous examples scar all of Latin America. Tyrannies run by play-actors like Castro and Chavez show how the personal triumphs of a despot are paid by the ruin of their peoples. May those peoples learn the futility of arguments and protests, misguided efforts amounting to no more than armchair heroism. May they be educated in the necessity of destroying despotism today, not tomorrow.
Involuntary Support - August 17, 2007
Why Act Against Our Own Interests? - August 11, 2007 There are countries poor in natural resources that enjoy economic prosperity and rates of development among the highest in the world. Their legal systems, entrepreneurial traditions, gifted and hardworking peoples driven toward common goals, have produced a general well-being and unlimited prospects of growth. Then again, other countries rich in natural resources, in talented and industrious populations, with ample potentials for well-being, are plagued by scarcity; where the high cost of basic goods condemns the people to a state of subsistence with no end in sight. Such negative examples abound in Latin America. So it is that some peoples tolerate millenarian chieftains who preach and sell utopias even as they and their closest associates rob the riches that belong to everyone.
The Medium Is the Message - July 23, 2007
A Reward, Not a Gift - July 13, 2007
Any government is capable of abuses and transgressions. These must be denounced and stopped; the responsible parties punished, and restitution made to the victims. Information media and parliaments are essential to this process; while judicial tribunals determine the seriousness of the crimes as well as the appropriate punishments and remedies. Under despotic regimes, parliaments and tribunals are merely “virtual”—apparitions, not real bodies. The media are either official or self-censoring, under a perpetual threat of dissolution. Suffering imposed by tyranny effaces the people, who lose themselves in sorrow or hope for miracles. But they can be taught that liberty can only come about from struggle—when people take risks and accept sacrifices. That’s the price of freedom. In the Caribbean - July 1st, 2007
Venezuela’s people have an urgent need to remove Hugo
Chavez from power. His looting of the country, the vulgar displays of
wealth by his officials, the impunity of common criminals, the endless
incidence of killings, are the legacy of a regime that ignores its
people’s needs—and now trouble is brewing outside the country.
Castro’s subversive campaign, underwritten by Chavez’s armaments, is creating concerns across the continent. No wonder Latin American governments are considering multilateral efforts to contain that threat. Radical Islam, with visions of world conquest, is making friends in the Caribbean, at the doorway to the U.S. When the rulers in Caracas and Teheran start working together, they will jointly use their power as oil producers. That could call for military thinking. Concerted Action - June 28, 2007 The road to arms laid down by Hugo Chavez has international consequences. Plans are underway to subvert other nations. And covert alliances are being formed with parties outside the hemisphere. The effort to destroy Colombia’s government is only the start of a much broader campaign—which obviously surpasses the mental means of the Venezuelan colonel. Day by day, the influence of Castro’s security organs in Venezuela is increasing. Castro, who has long-standing expertise in this matter, is aiming to suppress and dominate Venezuela’s people as he has, for 48 years, the Cuban people. Venezuela’s students are in the vanguard of the anti-Chavez, pro-democracy struggle. It’s in the interest of all Latin America that they succeed. The Conspiracy Against Colombia - June 18, 2007 Colombia’s President Uribe is under attack in the American press. And public figures here are vilifying him. It seems odd that this should be happening while America is preoccupied with the war in Iraq, while President Bush is fighting with Congress, and while the 2008 presidential election race is going on. Something is out of joint. Signs point to a conspiracy against Colombia, to unfold imminently. This is coming from Cuba via Venezuela, where subversive designs are being hatched against all of Latin America. Castro wants to strike while America’s attention is elsewhere. Hugo Chavez, a friend of radical Islam, has been using Venezuela’s wealth to push insurrection in countries throughout the world. Now, it seems, his petrodollars are influencing the U.S. Someone should find out who is taking that money, and for what purpose. The forest for the trees - June 8, 2007 By not renewing RCTV’s license, Chavez has indeed claimed more space for his regime’s broadcasts. Moreover, he’s trying to limit the influence of a TV station that speaks out against him. Nevertheless, RCTV will continue its programs on other frequencies. The initial difficulty involved in making such a transition will not deter them. But making an issue of RCTV should not cloud perception of the whole. Venezuela has lost its sovereignty. Hugo Chavez has surrendered it to Fidel Castro. Havana’s state security apparatus dictates the dispensation of benefits and privileges in Caracas. Castro’s state security decides how Venezuelan resources are used to fund subversive activities in Latin America and agents in the United States. May Venezuelans recover their fatherland. The rest will be added unto them. Time for Statesmanship - June 3, 2007
Latin America’s crisis of the seventies and
eighties is reappearing. Those The closing of Radio Caracas TV will easily be seen by Venezuelans as a further step toward totalitarian rule, as mandated from Havana. The station’s programs are harmless entertainments, devoid of political shading. But they take time away from the regime and from its hammer-blows of indoctrination in the style of Hitler, Stalin and Castro. In an apparent parody of Orwell’s 1984, Venezuela’s rulers would like to make people believe that war is peace, that hatred is love, and that everyone must love Hugo Chavez. Venezuela has begun an arms buildup in South America and threatens to bring radical Islam to the Caribbean. Closing a TV station is a small piece of its larger design. Loyalty to one’s environs—the land we inhabit, its people—is a recognition that our lives and relationships dwell therein. This ancestral trait varies over time and place, and has many names. So it was in Sparta and Athens and on Samos, just as more recently in Austro-Hungary and Yugoslavia. The struggle to survive creates frontiers, hierarchies and rulers. This fact of life has crossed deserts, forests, oceans, villages and empires. As we love our native soil, so do we cherish our epoch, which is also our home. Cubans and Venezuelans do love their homelands, but the epochs of Castro and Chavez are alien, and they should fight them. May they set those days on fire to fertilize their soil and make it fruitful again. Everyone governs and cares for what’s his. Whether a home, a neighborhood, a city or country, it’s the charge of those who live there. And whatever is beyond the individual’s reach is administered by those whom the majority lawfully elects. Public resources are allocated with an eye to the future, in accord with established social values. At times certain people try to impose new values by force. Through these armed adventurers, the people suffer the consequences of improvisation. When they lack the courage to defend what’s theirs, they delude themselves into thinking that help will come from outside. And they pass their lives in servitude—forgetting what they owe to themselves, to their descendants and to their native soil.
Subversion, and how to answer it - April 24, 2007
Territoriality--our adherence to habitat--is human nature.
Our customary surroundings enable us to have life, families, languages and
social groups. Over generations, groups develop the ability for political
organization. It's an irrational, chance-ridden process. Failure, success and
constant conflict lead to survival or extinction. Dave Heineman, Governor of Nebraska - March 29, 2007
Two days ago The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial about
annual federal agricultural subsidies. This aid is for the rich--often for the
very rich--rather than for the needy farmer. And it's one of the corruptions
that undermine the values of our democracy. The word “persona” has its origin in the masks that play-actors used in ancient Greece. Those masks were for letting the public tell, from a distance, which voice went with which character. In politics, masks are used for similar purposes: to portray a character and to let his voice reach far. The stage is the nation, and the masked actors have an impact on everyone. Masks in common use today are “socialist”, “leftist”, “progressive”, “communist”. Their characters make promises and announce programs. They pay for their performances by sacking the nation’s wealth. If these actors are not pushed off the stage, their performances will bring their peoples to ruin. An indelible stain - March 13, 2007 We humans sometimes confuse our desires with reality; we call this tendency “magic thinking” or “daydreaming”. The thoughtful individual soon realizes that such thoughts are fantasies, and returns to solid ground. The masses, however, have no such capacity for reflection. They prefer to forget their lives and disappear into the collective. They do away with themselves in order to join the crowd; they even feel proud to submit. They are perfect instruments for demagogues who intimidate, provoke and inflame them. Many Cubans are waiting for Castro to die. They seem to forget that if he dies in power, an indelible stain will be left upon the Cuban people, who never knew how to break his yoke or dared to try Impending Conflict - March 5, 2007 Hugo Chavez’s ego is leading him to outsized adventures. The rape of his nation’s wealth gets him praise from the beneficiaries of his ridiculous generosity. Indeed, he is winning support throughout Latin America and beyond. Overjoyed by the prospect of sudden wealth, and encouraged by Venezuela’s president, certain leaders of the radical Islamic movement are now planning to establish a beachhead on this continent, very close to the United States. Chavez, with the help of other Latin American leaders, is undermining his society’s structure and making alliances with religious extremists from the Middle East. These steps could lead to a devastating multinational conflict. It’s now the job of Venezuela’s army to nullify Chavez’s efforts. There’s not much time to prevent a slaughter. A state of war - February 21, 2007 The Bush Doctrine expresses the right of the U.S. to make attacks that prevent hostilities against the nation—thereby neutralizing possible damage from wars that others might wish to start. Latin American countries are now under attack by Hugo Chavez, who is acting through other governments that he has enrolled in his cause. A rather unintelligent leader who’s full of ego and rich in resources, Chavez is building up an arsenal and purposely threatening the stability of an entire continent. In the face of this assault on their liberty, which threatens to decimate many countries and ruin their economies, it falls to the likely victims—peoples and governments—to unleash a preventive war against Chavez and the accomplices whom he’s bought. The supporters - February 18, 2007 The outcome of any effort is clear to see from the ends that result. An official program, for instance, can be ruinous for a nation even as it enriches those in power. The people are defeated while their rulers are exalted. The many are deprived in order that a handful benefit. A signal example in Latin America is Castro’s Cuba. Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador are now headed down that ruinous path. Chavez, Morales and Correa are imitating Castro’s example; and they have supporters who are helping themselves. History shows that when such regimes fall, the rulers are the ones who reap the blame. Let’s not forget those who have supported them.
The human path - February 11, 2007
Mockery, February 5, 2007 Showcases & Realities, January 29, 2007 Various Latin American rulers are allies or sympathizers of Fidel Castro. When they come to Cuba, they don’t experience daily life. They visit official showcases and call them realities. The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) has published more than 11 books containing hundreds of studies by officials of international institutions and governments, and by distinguished persons from the private sector. These studies show the real Cuba—a nation that will take years and generations to reconstruct itself. The studies do not omit the positives. And now numerous Latin American governments have announced that they will follow the Cuban model. They will bring poverty and economic ruin to their peoples, and they will blame the United States for their problems.
Human evolution is unique in having developed
the capacity for thought. Liberty is intrinsic to humans, because ideas create
new vistas and lead to change.
With such enemies, who needs friends? - January 9, 2007 Since the elections of November 2006, President Bush, his advisors and lawmakers of both parties have been reconsidering U.S. policy in Iraq. It is well understood that the electoral outcome was shaped by opinions about that policy. A conflict that has such a high cost in lives and resources is bound to raise differing judgments and perceptions about what has transpired and about what outcome is desirable. It would raise the public spirit to know that members of the Bush administration and of Congress have children serving on the battlefield. The U.S. is a democracy, and the war touches on the lives of all its citizens. In meeting the cost, one would hope that everyone is willing to pay in the same coin. In duty and in war, equals - December 28, 2006
Prince Harry, third in line
to the British throne, will be serving in combat in Iraq as of May 2007.
An officer and a graduate of
Sandhurst military academy, the prince has repeatedly stated that being a
member of the royal family does not exempt him‹nor should it exempt
him--from facing the same dangers as his countrymen. The academyšs officials
have expressed respect for this typically British attitude on Prince Harryšs
part
In wartime, a people gains in
solidarity from the idea that a member of the privileged classes will fight
and face death, just like any other citizen. When the ruling classes do not
accept these risks, their hold on power grows tenuous.
The price of not paying - December 18,. 2006
A bipartisan group of Congresspeople returned, on December 17, from a
three-day trip to Havana. They indicated that dialogue is underway
between the U.S. and Cuba; that Cuban leaders are reluctant to discuss
the issues of press freedom, human rights or elections; and that more
visits and dialogue are coming.
This visit was instigated by people who want to do business in Cuba. Such activity is normal among Americans, who consider differences of opinion to be a matter of course. The idea, it seems, is to reach an agreement with Cubašs regime for commercial exchanges and then sweeten it with platitudes about human rights and "peaceful transition" to democracy.
It's a consequence of not paying the price in blood that is always
demanded by liberty.
Cuba and Venezuela are collapsing. Hugo Chavez
is propping up Castro, while the petroleum bonanza is masking the crisis in
both countries.
Castro's absence, and the recent Venezuelan
elections, gave hopes of improvement. These were not illusory, but they were
based on surface impressions.
Castro and Chavez are not causes but effects.
Cubans hate the Castro regime, but they collude in the concentration of
power and in the prostitution of their children. Likewise, many Venezuelans
have prospered through the sacking of their nation's riches.
In both countries people long for freedom and
progress, but they want it at no cost to themselves. They need to take a
leaf from the book of America, a country whose every generation pays, in
blood, the cost of freedom.
Manuel Rosales,
the opposition candidate in Venezuela, has acknowledged his defeat in the Dec. 3
elections. Irregularities were noted, but they were not pivotal.
Reclaiming a birthright - December 1st, 2006 Elections? - November 24, 2006
In law it's well settled that violence voids
consent. And elections,
Venezuela's people
will regain their sovereignty on December 3 by stifling the electoral fraud now
being prepared by the regime of Hugo Chavez and his Castroite agents. Evelyn Trejo de Rosales - November 8, 2006
Hugo Chavez handed
Venezuela's national sovereignty over to Fidel
In December 2005,
nearly 80 per cent of Venezuelans who were eligible to Nearing elections, October 14, 2006
The forthcoming elections in Venezuela on December 3 are of
supreme Rosales vs. Castro. October 8, 2006
On
December 3, Venezuelans decide whether Manuel Rosales can recoup the national
sovereignty that's been usurped by Fidel Castro. Virtual vs. real, October 2, 2006
Virtual reality is
imaginary, non-existent. It ignores and denies the senses. In politics one must
distinguish virtual from real, in order to have a correct perception of the
milieu that one wants to influence. That's a basic requirement for bringing
about change.
Farcical leaders, September 17, 2006
Cubans and
Venezuelans harbor hopes for the disappearance of Castro and Chavez--but those
hopes are unwarranted. Governments don't fall from the sky; they are created by
their peoples. Corruption and non-enforcement of laws are developed over time
through indifference, the greatest of social ills. "We the people...", September 11, 2006
The
passage of generations--the ongoing encounter between ideas and programs,
between programs and their implementation--gives rise to values and creates the
embodiment of society in the form of the State. It's a trial-by-error process,
forged by abuse and sacrifice, illumined by exceptional men and epochs. Any effort to challenge Castro and Chávez or to
destroy their regimes requires a careful assessment of forces and circumstances. Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez are the latest in a
line of Latin American chieftains whose rule is absolute, who favor and enrich
their followers while oppressing or destroying their opponents. If they seem
worse than their predecessors, it's probably because they're here while their
predecessors are gone. Defenders of the State, August 13, 2006
The subversion
that gripped Latin America from the sixties through the eighties was
orchestrated by Fidel Castro, who with Soviet support was able to train
thousands of guerrillas in Cuba and supplied them with money, material and
propaganda techniques. Rulers and chieftains - July 23, 2006
The office-holder, according to contract,
represents others and acts in their name. In political theory, the office-holder
looks after the public interest. The people choose officials who will obey their
will. And the people oversee their officials. In exceptional cases, power will
be held by the leader of the armed forces, or by one whom the army has appointed
to rule. At all times, public service is an honorable calling when it guards the
public interest.
Fidel Castro has
done the impossible: he has made Cuba poor. This is The impoverishment of Cuba is Castro's most successful enterprise Chávez has announced that he will arm two million partisans to prepare against an expected American invasion. This is a slavish imitation of Fidel Castro, who has been warning for decades about the imminent arrival of American troops. The massive war footing in Venezuela is not only directed against Venezuelans. It has a larger aim. A totalitarian offensive is on the march and is striking across the hemisphere. In view of this situtation-and with Castro´s agents in full control of Venezuela´s army and police-to speak about primary elections or opposition candidates in Venezuela is not wishful thinking. It is complicity with Castro and his lackey Hugo Chávez.
Heroism, that divine spark,
invaluable in extreme situations, natural in
Every person is
the center of a human network. We act in life by being Those who wish to be treated like men should take the appropriate actions.
Totalitarian
regimes are sustained by armed minorities; they intimidate and oppress the
unarmed, disorganized majorities.
In Latin America,
opposition parties, and even ruling regimes, have often tried to destroy the
state. Whenever this happens, the armed forces--who must defend society--are
singled out for abuse. Among humans, the struggle for territory is the origin of war, migration, dislocation and slaughter. Despots create social alienation. The nation's common spaces become playthings of the rulers and their lackeys. Thereby, the people lose their country. Women feel sickly and alienated. The reason is that their men failed to defend their territory.
Open societies
recognize, protect and encourage traits like creativity and responsibility. As
people become mature, they show these attributes; and society, in response,
quite naturally rewards them by putting them into positions where they serve the
common good. Personal quality and public service are evidently inseparable.
In the
21st century we still have slaves--whether they're prostitutes, or people bought
and sold or indentured for years. World opinion is reversing this abuse and
bringing it to an end.
The separation of
public power into executive, legislative and judicial branches creates a system
of checks and balances in which the state is not the boss but merely an arbiter.
With the rights of everyone protected, individual creativity flourishes,
production of goods and services increases, and a sensible distribution of
wealth ensues. When people can live in stable conditions, providing for their
own well-being and that of their children, they are not just free but they
feel free, and they have the chance to develop their own futures.
Direct
democracy in the agora of ancient Greece, made possible by few inhabitants, and
its successor form--representative government, based on demography--gave rise to
ideas that established the common good. The spread of communication created
public opinion, which guided elected officials and became the key to democracy's
success.
Politics, the art
of governance, is a human activity par excellence; it separates the rational
being from the animal.
Technical progress
in recent decades is such that humanity seems headed toward the gilded epoch
heralded in myth and belief.
On May 1,
International Workers' Day, we honor the programs that allow
The people are the
only legitimate source of state power. They create The United States is the premier world market, and will be for the foreseeable future. Latin America, with immense material and human resources, enjoys a privileged position, so close to its northern neighbor. With only a fraction of its potential development achieved, and propelled by the needs of a growing population, Latin America is called to attain, sooner rather than later, prosperity that before could hardly be imagined. Let laws fitting these global times be enacted, then firmly and fairly enforced; heed not the siren call of miracle-working chieftains, but let private enterprise move forward, bringing employment to the people and driving North-South collaboration. Let the State be protected by just laws, and an age of well-being will dawn. To the benefit of all.
In less
than two centuries of independence, Latin America has made remarkable
technological and economic progress. Buenos Aires, Santiago and Brazilia are
examples of what can be achieved. In science and art this continent has mapped
out its place in the chronicles of human achievement.
Only a popular
revolt, at a high cost, will succeed in restoring Cuba's history and recapturing
its place among the sovereign nations. An attack against all - April 3, 2006
Latin America is
buckling under a terrorist assault. Like subversive campaigns of earlier
decades, it's being directed by Fidel Castro. Earlier, Castro was underwritten
by the Soviet Union. Now he's subsidized by Hugo Chavez, who is robbing the
Venezuelan people to finance this new offensive.
Cuba's economic
reconstruction will open an unlimited set of
Cubans have failed to
remove Fidel Castro and regain their sovereignty. And
Cubans and Venezuelans will embark on the road to sovereignty when they depose
Fidel Castro, his underling Hugo Chavez and their close accomplices.
The so-called medical, educational and
technical assistance that Fidel Castro offers to various countries is actually a
massive contracting of personnel in exchange for which recipient nations pay
huge sums of money to Castro's regime.
If you have come
to know man at his lowest and highest occasions, his defeats and his triumphs,
then you can venture some predictions about his future.
Humans, unique
among the species, are self-aware. They reflect on their own existence. They
leave their mark in time and space; from the start of history to the present,
from cave-art to digital technology, they have filled the universe with their
traces.
Adversity and fortune
are two sides of the human coin. They are touchstones for measuring what
we put to the test. And they keep company with evolution, the
ever-present, eternal process of change.
Of the stages in time
that mark our experiences, the past is unchangeable, the present is
fleeting and the future is laden with possibility.
Man has left his
imprint in every time and place he has been. His reason expanded his
horizons; his love of his mate empowered his activity and allowed him to
create possibilities. Adversity has subjugated peoples. Today, those peoples’ efforts can make them free and give them a different future. Jubilant men and women will know that they have won this legacy for their children.
In their
devastated country, Cubans can scarcely survive day-to-day. And in the midst of
unprecedented national riches, most Venezuelans grow poorer every day. The free and the brave - February 17, 2006
This month,
February, we are marking the births of Washington and Lincoln. Induced minority - February 13, 2006
During Castro's
regime, lives have been ended by firing squads, armed
North America is
poorer in natural resources than South America. What is Knocking at the gate - February 6, 2006
At the end of the
1950's, Cuba was one of Latin America's four most prosperous nations. In its
development, it was more advanced than much of Europe. In some sectors, it was
ahead of the United States.
In the Agora of
Athens, people discussed and made decisions about
In order to change reality, we must first
perceive it.
Last January 22, a massive demonstration took
place in Caracas against
Venezuela's armed forces will awaken and
return to the side of the
Liberty allows individuals and, finally,
societies, to develop their To pay the price - January 18, 2006
The Cuban people have refused to purchase their liberty with blood. For
Time and again,
Americans have sacrificed their own lives in standing Comic players - January 9, 2006
It's well settled
that facts are stubborn--and that they take precedence over opinions which are
exposed by reality.
In recent times it
has often been said that Latin America is turning toward the Left, that the
peoples of the region have chosen that path and are electing rulers who
represent that tendency.
It only stands to
reason that many people would like to see Castro and Chavez assassinated. And it
makes sense to denounce the people who have fallen in line with those rulers,
thereby making themselves accomplices in the ruin of Venezuela and Cuba and in
the crimes that have been committed to accomplish that ruin.
Every human life has its points of reference:
parents, siblings, relatives, friends who were present or who took part in our
development. At year's end we remember those moments and we evoke those people
who live in our memories. And we weave fantasies about the futures we desire for
our children and our young ones.
Cuban agents in Venezuela and training of
Venezuelans in Cuba are early Sovereignty - October 10, 2005 It is October 10, 1868. Cubans start the armed rebellion that, after two wars, defeats Spanish colonialism and establishes Cuban independence. The Republic, born in 1902 goes on to achieve, in scarcely fifty years, prominence among the four most developed countries in Latin America surpassing, by many economic indices, industrialized European nations, and in some cases, even the United States. Now it is October 2005. Cuba’s economy is ruined, its people under the yoke of a tyrant. The once-independent Cubans are now wholly subservient to and servants of Fidel Castro, whom only an armed minority keeps in power. The Cuban people will recover their sovereignty and prosperity when they remember their own history and pay again, in blood, the price of freedom. The risks of inaction - October 5, 2005 To fight against a totalitarian regime is costly. One's own life is at risk or lost, as well as the lives of those we love. At risk is one's freedom, one's home and possessions, the well-being of one's children, and the protections of one's parents in old age.
Not to fight to topple a totaliltarian government is even riskier. Totalitarian regimes take power in gradual steps, to avoid causing alarm. They invade the private sphere little by little, until finally achieving absolute control over those who, having once been citizens, have become vassals.
An armed minority, bribed and deceived by the Government, adds one abuse to another, augmenting its crimes, until coming to understand there is no way back from infamy. And the people, fearing the uncertainty of rebellion, gain the certainty of slavery. Days of reflection - October 3, 2005 The so-called Days of Reflexion that are taking place in Cuba during this month of November, can’t make us forget –
-the disappearance of one hundred billion dollars that the Soviet Union gave in subsidies to Fidel Castro’s regime, as well as twenty billion dollars in loans.
-Castro’s debt of more than eleven billion dollars, in principal and interest, to nations in the so-called Paris Club.
-The almost complete loss of the sugar and cattle industries.
-The ruin affecting towns and cities throughout Cuba, with Havana, Capital of the Republic, the prime example.
The fifty thousand dead in the Florida straits, trying to escape from Castro. It is on these matters that the Cuban people must reflect. Illegitimate powers - September 30, 2005 Legitimate power derives from the people, through the polls. That Government is illegitimate which, established through elections, assumes powers that go beyond its mandate, thus subverting the same State that protected and validated the electoral process. Castro and Chavez, respecting no laws other that their own whims and sustained by corrupt and repressive structures, haunt, persecute, beat, imprison and kill Cubans and Venezuelans who rebel against their rule. That situation begs redefinition. The peoples of both countries, with the undefeatable strength of their numbers, are the ones who should haunt, persecute, arrest and execute–with or without legal formalities-these two men and their hired assasins, for it is they who ruin Cuba and Venezuela, they who bleed the countries dry. On Castro and Chavez - September 13, 2005
Castro and Chavez are enemies
of their peoples. Venezuela, with its oil riches will go to ruins, as Cuba has
gone for years. Castro has murdered tens of thousands of Cubans. With Chavez as
his new subordinate, Castro is poised to repeat this bloodbath in Venezuela. Castro's agents training is paid with Venezuelan money - August 30, 2005 The people of Venezuela are losing their independence. And they’re paying for it with their own oil money. They’re paying to train Cuban security agents to come to Venezuela, where they pose as physicians or teachers or social activists, while secretly working to keep Chavez in power. Their ulterior goal is complete control over Venezuela’s military and security forces, with the aim to expand the reach of Fidel Castro. From sovereign state to Castro’s lackey -- a sad fate for a proud country, a fate that has fallen on the misfortunate heads of the Venezuelan Navy to witness as they captain tankers, loaded with black gold, to Cuba -- all that Castro might consolidate his power over his people and, now, their own. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
