United States and the Latin America
1. Kudeta
Allende oleh Pinochet / The Coup of Allende by gen.benga Pinochet
Kejatuhan Salvador Allende, presiden Chile 1970-1973
oleh Kudeta jendral Augusto Pinochet Ugarte pada 11 September 1973. Salvador
Allende salah satu penderi Partido Socialista de Chile. Dia membantu campaign
dari Presiden Pedro Aguirre Cerda yang kemudian menunjuk dirinya sebagai
Menteri Kesehatan. Kampanye presidennya Tahun 1952 hanya mengumpulkan 6%, 1958
29%, 1964 39%, dan 1970 36.2% dari koalisi Unidad Popular Coallition.
Programnya yang sangat mencolok dibidang reformasi sosial, nasionalisasi
tambang tembaga, dan industri strategis lainnya. Akhirnya di kudeta oleh
Pinochet benga dengan dukungan CIA. Mirip2lah Soekarno oleh Soeharto.
(Salvador Allende Gossens, President of Chile in
1970–73, In 1933 he was a founder member of the Partido Socialista de Chile. he
helped organize the presidential campaign of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, who appointed
him Minister of Health. in 1952 he obtained only 6%. In 1958 he won 29% and in 1964 39%, but it was only in 1970,
when he obtained 36.2%, that he was elected as President as the candidate of
the Unidad Popular coalition. he immediately launched a far-reaching programme
of social reform, including nationalization of the copper mines and other
strategically important industries, and a programme of land reform, which,
however, soon got out of control as the country became increasing polarized).
on 11 September 1973 he was overthrown in a military coup led by Gen. Augusto
Pinochet Ugarte. After the air force had bombed La Moneda,the presidential
palace, and had set it on fire.)
2. Alianza
para el Progresso: Alliance for Progress
Program paket bantuan ekonomi AS pada tahun 1961 oleh Administratsi John
F.Kennedy untuk Amerika Latin untuk
mengcounter pengaruh Fidel Castro.
3. Ally
with Argentina
Argentina merupakan negara dengan sejarah perjalanan
konstitusi yang begitu dinamis dan kondisi ekonomi dengan track cukup tidak
baik. Silih bergantinya Jenderal menjadi Presiden. Pada tahun 1853 di coba
bentuk pemerintahan Federal tetapi menuai banyak konflik persaingan di
province2. 4 dekade kemudian keadaan transformasi ekonomi dipengaruhi oleh Investasi British dan
Imigrasi dari Eropa. 1916 dipimpin Hipolito Yrigoyen. 1929 depresi terjadi.
1930 ipimpin oleh pensiunan jendral Jose E.Uriburu. 1946 dipimpin ole Juan
Domingo Peron dengan wanita yang terkenal itu (istrinya) Eva Duarte de Peron
(Evita Peron) . 1974 dipimpin Gen.Jorge Videla dengan kasus perang sipil “la Guerra sucia” (diperkiran 30.000 jiwa
mati). 1981 dipimpin oleh sayap kanan Gen.Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri (presiden
Junta). 1982 berusaha mengambil Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) dari British.
1983 pemerintahan sipil di bawah Raul Alfonsin.
Pada awal 1989 IBRD (World Bank) menghentikan
bantuannya karena inflasi-defisit. 1989 Carlos Saul Menem. Mengangkat Domingo Cavallo sebagai menteri Ekonomi dengan
program mendekatkan diri ke AS. Program “dollarization”, “privatization”.
Ketika Menem berkunjung ke AS pada bulan November dia diselebrasikan sebagai
“leading free market reformer and US Ally”. Pada Maret 1992 dapat pengurangan
utang dari the Brady Initiative. Tetapi kedekatan ekonomi ini membuat krisis
ekonomi tidak mereda, tahun 1995 dan 1997 merupakan tahun dengan resesi yang
besar ditambah lagi dengan korupsi. 1997 dipimpin oleh Fernando de la rua. Pada
December 2001 perekonomian memburuk (tampaknya nda pernah baik,hehehee) dan
terjadilah chaos di kota2 yg diperkirakan menewaskan 25jiwa. Rua mengundurkan
diri 20 Desember. Pada 2003 harapan Argentina muncul di bawah pemimpin populis
Nestor Carlos Kirchner Ostoic sampai sekarang oleh pelanjutnya Christina Kirchner.
4. Asociación
Nacional Republicana—Partido Colorado (ANR—PC), National Republican
Association—Colorado Party, Paraguay
Ini Golkarnya Paraguay gan. Si Lugo di impeachment
oleh si ini. Berhaluan sayap kanan (red party) di bentuk 1887. Pada 1946 USA
put pressure on the regime to oust fascist sympathizers. The military coup of 5
May 1954 marked the beginning of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner’s
5. Autodefensas
Unidas de Colombia (AUC) / United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia
Program counter terrorist dari sebuah konfiderasi
right-wing parliamentary. Konter terrorist ini mengafirmasi program USA pada
2001. AUC ini disinyalir contributor signifikan bagi meneingkatnya tingkat
kematian/pembunuhan dengan “self-styled AUC”. Yang menjadi sasaran gempur ialah
ke FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia ) in January 1999,
right-wing death squads rampaged
through villages across the country killing some 150 civilians. Pada 2002
Carlos Catano regrouped AUC dan mendekatkan diri secara nyata ke USA.
6.
Balaguer, Joaquín. (Presiden Dominika 1960-62,
1966-78, 1986-96). after the US
intervention in 1965, he re-emerged as a candidate of the right and was elected
as President in
1966. He was re-elected in 1970, after a term marked by steady economic growth and limited
social reforms, and re-elected again in 1974. The elections in 1970 and 1974 were
boycotted by the left, but with their participation in 1978 Balaguer was
defeated. He
returned to power in 1986 and though by this time almost completely blind, was re-elected
in 1992. Salah satu pemerintahan penuh korup dan penipuan.
7.
Bananas Conflict through WTO aka Pisang (konflik
pisang perusahaan AS dengan petani pisang Amerika Latin lewat WTO)
In 2002 Ecuador
was the second largest banana-growing country in the world (after India) and
the largest in the Western hemisphere, producing 6m. metric tons. Brazil was a
close second, followed, at some distance, by Costa Rica and Mexico. Bananas are
the main cash crop in St Lucia, Martinique, St Vincent and the Grenadines,
Guadeloupe, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras and Costa Rica, and are usually the
second largest source of export revenue in Colombia after coffee.
Most (70%) of
the bananas from the Windward Islands are exported to the United Kingdom and
those from Guadeloupe and Martinique to France. However, in September 1995 the
USA (which, unlike the European Union (EU), is not itself a banana-producer)
lodged with the newly formed World Trade
Organization (WTO) a formal complaint against the EU quota system for bananas
from the Windward Islands, in support of the US companies which trade in
bananas from Latin America. In 1999 the WTO, for only the second time in
its history, authorized the USA to levy punitive sanctions on the EU and it was
not until 2001 that a compromise was reached, allowing Latin American producers
a larger share of the European market. (biar pisang di sikat juga gan)
8.
Cuba
in 1960, the US
Government cut the Cuban sugar quota, the Soviet Union
stepped in to take it instead. On 6 July 1960 the Castro Government decreed the
expropriation of the US-owned sugar mills. In October Cuban enterprises were
also nationalized. Then, in April 1961, the Kennedy Administration in the USA
sponsored a landing by US-trained exile forces at the Playa de Largos (Bay of
Pigs), on the south coast of Cuba. Castro seized the strategic moment and
declared his revolution ‘socialist’ on 16 April. On 1 December 1961 he stated
publicly: ‘I am a Marxist-Leninist and I shall continue to be one until the
last day of my life.’ In April 1961 the Soviet Union formally recognized Cuba
as being engaged ‘in the construction of socialism’ and shortly afterwards
agreed to send intermediate-range ballistic missiles to Cuba, thus triggering
the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
9.
Coup attempts in Venezuela
In April 2002
the US Government greeted with enthusiasm a coup to displace Chavez. This,
however, was ultimately unsuccessful. Subsequently, a coalition of business and
trade union interests concentrated on trying to force a referendum to oust
Chavez
10.
Coca
The coca plant,
erthroxylum coca, is a hardy shrub which grows naturally and is legally
cultivated in the Andes. Since the 1980s the US government has preferred to try
to prevent the illegal cultivation of coca in South America rather than to stop
it entering the US A. At a meeting with US President George Bush at Cartagena,
Colombia, in 1989, therefore, several Latin American Presidents were forced to
agree to the presence of US anti-drug squads on their territory and to the use
of aerial crop-spraying and other methods to destroy illegal coca sites and
processing laboratories. This policy, which still continues, has been
conspicuously unsuccessful and has earned the USA a disproportionate amount of
ill will, especially in poverty-stricken Bolivia. Coca ini klo ditambah huruf –ine
( cocaine :D ).
11.
Cocalero / Association of Coca-growers
Under the US-led
campaign to end illegal coca cultivation in Bolivia (the ‘Dignity Plan’), coca
production for the manufacture of cocaine was drastically reduced during the
1990s. There was, however, strong opposition to the policy from a combination
of indigenous groups and small farmers, resulting in rural unrest and
demonstrations, the issue meshing with a range of other grievances, and
protests continued after the new government of Jorge Quiroga took office.
On 15 January
2002 farmers at Sacaba, Department of Cochabamba, attempted to reopen a coca
leaf market closed by presidential decree; subsequently, at the end of January,
seven people were killed in a clash nearby. On 9 February, after mediation by religious
leaders, the Government agreed to allow the markets to stay open for legal dealings
in coca leaf. Meanwhile, legislators had voted on 24 January to strip the president
of the Cocalero (coca-growers’ association), Evo Morales, of his parliamentary immunity
from prosecution for alleged incitement.
However, in
response to increasing military activity in Chaparé, there were clashes between
troops and cocaleros, which led the Government to transfer coca eradication
efforts to the National Police. Morales, running as the candidate of the
Movimiento al Socialismo, subsequently took 20.94% of the vote in the
presidential election held on 30 June 2002, winning strong support from the
indigenous peasant class. In his campaign he pledged to expel US Drug
Enforcement
Administration officers from Bolivia and US government officials warned that
aid to Bolivia would be cut off if he were elected. hehee ngancam tp terpilih
:D.
12.
Colombia
Sebagai sekutu
utama USA di Latin America. Colombia is a member of the United Nations, the
Organization of
American States, the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA—Asociación
Latinoamericana de Integración), the Andean Community of Nations and the Rio
Pact. In its foreign policy it has traditionally followed the lead of the USA
and it has only one unresolved boundary dispute, with Venezuela, offshore in Lake
Maracaibo. In 2002 the USA was the greatest purchaser of exports, followed by
Venezuela. The USA was by far the greatest supplier of imports in that year,
followed by Venezuela.
13.
Conaie
Confederation of
Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador / Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas
de Ecuador
Conaie merupakan
salah satu grup gerakan sosial di Ecuador. Conaie founded in 1986 to give a
voice to indigenous Ecuadorians, who form one-third of the population. As a
pressure group in 1989 it obtained an agreement with the Ministry of Education
on the establishment of bilingual, bicultural education. It adopted direct
action in 1992 as part of the general increase in indigenist awareness
throughout the continent of the impact of globalization.
Conaie began a
campaign of civil disobedience. Following elections in 1994, a new right-wing
majority attempted to reverse 30 years of slow land reform through a Land
Development Law passed on 13 June. This led to massive protests from Conaie. Conaie
later joined with other Indian organizations, trade unions and grassroots
activists of the Patriotic Front in protesting against the economic policies of
President Jamil Mahuad Witt, elected in July 1998. In response, on 11 March
1999 the President proclaimed a state of emergency, a partial freeze on bank
withdrawals and a tough austerity programme which, following the withdrawal of
support from the Partido Social Cristiano on 15 March, passed Congress with
only a meagre majority and in revised form. During 1999 Ecuador, which owed US
$16,000m., defaulted on interest payments to its international creditors, who indicated that they would not
provide further bail-outs
without
structural reform, and there was hyper-inflation.
On 18 January
2000 Conaie mobilized its largest demonstration against Mahuad and his
neo-liberal economic policies, which included a highly controversial project to
adopt the US dollar as the country’s currency. on 21 January supporters of
Conaie seized the Congress and Supreme Court buildings. While President Mahuad
abandoned the Palacio Carondelet and took refuge in a nearby air force base, a
‘junta of national salvation’ was proclaimed, consisting of the Conaie leader,
Antonio Vargas, and the former president of the Supreme Court, Carlos
Solórzano, as well as Col Gutiérrez. Following
strong representations from the USA and other American states, however, on 26
January Congress declared that Mahuad had abandoned his post and Vice-President
Gustavo Noboa Bejarano was duly sworn in as President, thus preserving
constitutional forms.
The new
Government decided to go ahead with both the privatization and dollarization
proposals, and, after further widespread unrest, on 4 September 2000 Conaie
announced an indefinite general strike. Though plans for the privatization of
Petroecuador were suspended, the dollar replaced the sucre as the national
currency on 8 September.However, serious popular protests erupted again at the
beginning of January 2001 starting among indigenous peasant farmers who were
soon joined by public-sector workers and students. The protests, once more led
by Conaie.
Eliminating
subsidies would have meant that the cost of liquid propane gas (LPG) would
double, at the end of a year in which inflation had reached 91%. The increases
had been made in order to reduce the budget deficit in accordance with the
requirements of the International Monetary Fund’s structural adjustment
package. Finally the Government did negotiate an end to the ‘great national
mobilization’, lifting the state of emergency on 2 February 2001 and restoring
the subsidy on LPG. In November 2002 Conaie’s decision to support the
candidature and social programme of former Col Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa was
undoubtedly a major factor in his decisive victory in the second round of the
presidential elections held towards the end of that month. He thus became the
first member of the indigenous community to hold the country’s chief office.
14.
COSEP - Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada
Higher Council
of Private Enterprise, Nicaragua
F. 1972, COSEP
has been a powerful lobby group for free-market solutions to Nicaragua’s
economic problems. It includes organizations representing all the major sectors
of Nicaraguan business and is a member of the Coordinadora Democrática
Nicaragüense.
15.
Cuba
Negara sosialis
ini punya sejarah cukup nyata, berat, melelahkan dengan intervensi ekonomi, politik
dan militer, kekonsistensian negara ini walaupun di pukul dengan kebijakan
embargo tetapi tetap bertahan. Sekarang merupakan negara dengan pelayanan
publik dan sosial yang baik dan leading dalam perkembangan teknologi dan
pelayanan Kedokteran di Latin America khususnya bedah dan mata :D.
In 1902 Cuba became nominally independent,
therefore, but under the terms of the Platt Amendment the USA maintained its
tutelage over the island, and when the first President, Tomás Estrada Palma
(1902–06), sought re-election, the Conservatives rose in revolt and the USA
intervened again. Though in 1909 self-government was restored, resentment grew
at the continued presence of US Marines, who protected Mario García Menocal
(1913–21) when he sought re-election in 1917. However, when Calvin Coolidge
chose not to intervene in 1925 he was blamed for the rise to power of the
dictatorial Gerardo Machado y Morales,
who dominated Cuban politics from 1925 to 1933, when he was overthrown in a
popular revolt. This paved the way for the rise of Fulgencio Batista, who rose
from the rank of sergeant to become Commander of the National Guard in 100
days. In 1934 he shunted aside the enthusiastic but ineffective Ramón Grau San
Martín and nominated a more pliable President. In 1940, under a new,
semi-parliamentary Constitution, with a Prime Minister as head of government,
he became President himself and constitutional government was maintained until
1952. Then, although he had promised a free election, Batista seized power for
himself.
Fidel Castro,
was as a result imprisoned for only a year before being released, when he and
his brother fled to Mexico, from where they sailed in the last days of 1956 to
organize a second insurrection in Cuba. In 1958 the regime swiftly crumbled,
and at the end of the year, as a guerrilla victory coincided with a popular
uprising in Havana itself, Batista fled to the USA. in 1965 Che Guevara left
Cuba to try to spread the Cuban model of guerrilla warfare abroad, only to be
killed in Bolivia in 1967.
With the
inauguration of Ronald Reagan as US President in January 1981 relations took a
turn for the worse. In April 1982, contrary to the trend in the rest of the
hemisphere, the US authorities prohibited both trade and investment in Cuba by
US citizens. US intervention in Grenada in 1983 resulted in the death of a
number of Cuban construction workers, and the clandestine US war on Nicaragua
heightened tension on the island. From 1986 the government began a process of
‘rectification of errors and correction of deviant trends’. The electoral
defeat of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua left Cuba isolated within the
hemisphere. Ironically, it was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union,
which plunged Cuba into economic crisis, that the USA again tightened the economic
embargo on the island by the Cuban Democracy (Torricelli) Act, 1992, and the
Cuban Liberty and Solidarity (Helms-Burton) Act, 1996.
With the end of
the Cold War US pressure on Cuba was stepped up and the embargo intensified. In
1992 President George Bush closed US ports and airports to third-country
vessels suspected of carrying goods or passengers to Cuba and the US Congress
passed the Cuban Democracy
(Torricelli) Act. This Act reduced economic assistance to countries that traded
with Cuba, increased punitive action against individuals who violated the
embargo and prohibited US subsidiary companies abroad from trading with Cuba.
Upaya untuk menakuti setiap negara yang trading dengan cuba.
16.
Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN)
National
Liberation Army, Colombia
Gerakan ini
muncul dengan melihat kondisi objektif negaranya (Colombia) yang sangat berada
di kaki tangan USA (elit negara dan kesemuanya). Established in January 1965, the ELN at first
operated in the department of Santander (north-eastern Colombia) under the
leadership of Fabio Vasquez Castaño and with the support of a (pro-Chinese)
Workers’ Students’ and Peasants’ Movement. Earlier, on 7 January 1966, Fr
Camilo Torres Restrepo, a former Dominican priest who had advocated a
‘Christian revolution’ to overthrow the existing social order, disclosed that
he had joined the ELN, explaining that, as all lawful means of obtaining
redress were barred to the people, he would pursue the armed struggle in the
country until the people had gained power; however, on 15 February 1966 he was
killed in a clash between guerrillas and an army unit. Torres’ memory continues
to provide inspiration for the movement.
On 22 November
1983 ELN members kidnapped the brother of President Betancur, and made several
demands, including an increase in the monthly minimum wage, a price freeze on
consumer goods, a reduction in public service prices, the release of political
prisoners, the arrest of suspected members of Muerte a Secuestradores and the
demilitarization of
rural areas. The
hostage was later released unharmed.
17.
Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN)
Zapatista Army
of National Liberation, Mexico
Salah satu
gerakan pembebasan yang begitu terkenal
di Latin America maupun di penjuru dunia lain, melihat kondisi objektif negara
mereka yang sangat kuat di steer oleh AS para elit korup penjual negara,
keterpurukan nyata ekonomi politik dan sebagainya, reaksi atas munculnya skema pasar bebas
amerika utara (NAFTA) yang kemudian menjadi trigger. Gerakan ini sangat berani
karena Mexico berada tepat pada halaman belakang USA.
On New Year’s
Day 1994 the previously unknown EZLN seized control of three towns in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas:
Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas. Its agents also attacked a fourth
town, the historic tourist site San Cristóbal de las Casas, where they
ransacked the Palace of Justice and set fire to it before retreating into the
mountains. The former Governor of Chiapas, Gen. (retd) Absalón Castellanos
Domínguez, was seized at his cattle ranch and abducted as a hostage. In its
manifesto, ‘Today we say enough!’, the EZLN made clear the reason. The regional
authorities (of whom Castellanos was the most hated representative) had, they
said, stolen their lands from them. ‘We possess nothing, absolutely nothing,’
the EZLN went on, ‘no home, no land, no work, no education.’
The Government
of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, which was celebrating Mexico’s entry,
on 1 January, into the North American Free Trade Agreement, was greatly
embarrassed by the insurgency. Within a week, the guerrillas had extended their
control to the towns of San Miguel and Guadalupe Tepayac, the country was on
nationwide alert, one-fifth of Mexico’s army had been deployed to the Chiapas
region.
The choice of
the name ‘Zapatista’ for the new movement was significant Though Emiliano
Zapata, the celebrated Mexican revolutionary, had no connection with the state
of Chiapas, his name had long been used by the ruling Partido Revolucionario
Institucional to legitimize its virtual monopoly of political power. Chiapas
was the poorest state in Mexico and the insurgents wanted investment, land
reform, and the opportunity to choose their own political leaders. On his
release on 16 February 1994 the former Governor agreed that the social
injustice which was the root cause of the revolt really existed. One-third of
the households had no electricity, while 40% had no running water. The state
ranked last on major indicators of literacy (in Spanish). It was also the
Mexican state where allegations of human rights violations—in particular the
use by landowners of pistoleros to drive the Indians off their traditional
lands.
Though the
movement demanded for the native Indian population its traditional rights,
however, its charismatic leader, ski-masked ‘Subcomandante Marcos’ (actually
Rafael Sebastian Guillén Vicente, a university teacher and son of a well-to-do
Tampico furniture dealer), made use of portable computers and the internet to
circumvent government blocks on communications. During the summer, while the
Government was preoccupied with the presidential election campaign, there was
an effective stand-off between insurgents and the army and parts of Chiapas
fell into near-anarchy. On 19 December 1994 the guerrillas, who by this time controlled
about one-fifth of Chiapas state, demonstrated their ability peacefully to slip
through the army cordon by erecting roadblocks, proclaiming ‘liberated zones’
and occupying the town of Simojovel and, it was claimed, 37 other
municipalities.
18.
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
The US
Administrations of President Bill Clinton (1993–2001) revived hopes for
pan-American economic integration. Leaders of 34 countries of the Americas
convened in Miami, Florida, USA, in December 1994, at Clinton’s invitation, to
discuss a draft hemispheric free-trade agreement. They agreed to accept in
principle a programme of biennial summit meetings that would lead to a
convergence of existing trade blocs and to the establishment of an FTAA by
2005. In 1995 the 12 presidents of the Rio Group (the permanent organization
which, in 1987, succeeded the ad hoc Contadora Group), reaffirming their
commitment to democracy and the elimination of corruption, asserted their
support for the proposal. Elsewhere there was some concern that successful
subregional co-operation might be prejudiced. Hence formal negotiations did not
begin until the Second Summit of the Americas at Santiago de Chile in March
1998. No agreement on the order of negotiations was reached. Nevertheless, the
Third Summit of the Americas, held in Québec, Canada, in April 2001 reaffirmed
the target date of 2005.
19.
Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación
Nacional (FMLN)
Farabundo Martí
National Liberation Front, El Salvador
Satu lagi
gerakan gan anti hegemon. The Front was formed in 1980 in Cuba to consolidate a
number of pro-Cuban guerrilla groups. It took its name from Agustín Farabundo
Martí, the first leader of the Salvadoran Communist Party. A political wing,
the Frente Democrático Revolucionario, was formed at the same time. On 10
January 1981 the FMLN launched a widely heralded ‘final offensive’ intended to
secure a decisive victory before the Reagan Administration assumed power in the
USA. Within a week, however, it was clear that the nation-wide uprising that
had been envisaged had not occurred, though the armed forces, having sustained
heavy casualties, had failed to inflict significant losses on the guerrillas.
The peace
agreement was signed at Chapúltepec Castle, Mexico, on 16 January
1992, and the
demobilization of the guerrillas was achieved so swiftly that the conflict was
formally declared ended on 15 December, when the FMLN registered as an official
political party. Since that time the FMLN has been the principal opposition
party in El Salvador, though its
effectiveness has been severely impaired by its division into three main
factions. In the
presidential elections of 1994 the FMLN candidate, Rubén Zamora Rivas, obtained
32% of the votes cast, and the party went on to make significant gains in the
legislative elections of 1997. In 2000 and 2004, however, it failed to make
much impact on ARENA’s vote.
20.
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia
(FARC)
Colombian Revolutionary Armed
in April 1966
set up the FARC under the leadership of Marulanda. By September 1999 the
conflict had spread into Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Panama, all of
which mobilized forces to contain it. The new factor was the emergence of a
right-wing ‘death squad’ organization, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia.
On 30 April 2000
the FARC made a second attempt to relaunch itself as a political party, the
Bolivarian Movement for a New Colombia. Talks resumed with the government but
were suspended by the FARC on 18 November in protest at the USbacked ‘Plan
Colombia’. Later, on 29 December, Diego Turbay, president of the Congressional
peace commission, and six of his colleagues died in an ambush in the FARC zone.
Negotiations continued throughout 2001, without success
21.
Fuerzas Democráticas Nicaragüenses (FDN)
Nicaraguan
Democratic Forces
In November 1981
US President Reagan authorized National Security Decision Directive 17 which
allowed for a clandestine force to be formed for the purpose of launching a
counter-revolutionary guerrilla campaign in Nicaragua from bases in Honduras.
This force soon became known to its opponents as contras (short for
counter-revolutionaries) and the name endured, though the anodyne title chosen
by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was Nicaraguan Democratic Forces.
In its initial
stages the covert war against the Sandinistas did not go well. Focusing on
so-called economic targets in the northern half of the country, the insurgents
gained little popular support and were unable to establish bases within the
country. When the movement seemed on the point of stalling, however, the Reagan
Administration intensified its campaign. On 3 January 1984 irregular forces
co-ordinated by a US warship attacked oil facilities at Puerto Sandino. On 25
February similar attacks on the Atlantic port of El Bluff and the Pacific
harbour of Corinto were accompanied by the laying of mines which damaged four
freighters, one of Soviet registration. On 5 April the USA vetoed a UN Security
Council resolution condemning the mining of the ports. Meanwhile, at a press
conference, President Reagan had complained that the Nicaraguans were
‘exporting revolution’ and stated openly, ‘We are going to try and
inconvenience the government of Nicaragua until they quit that kind of action.
The failure of
the FDN to make headway against the Provisional Government stemmed from three
causes. First, the personnel of the FDN, mostly former members of Somoza’s
National Guard, were chosen largely for their opposition to communism. They
were not particularly competent and, after the assassination of Somoza in
Paraguay in 1980, lacked leadership. Hence, the CIA sponsored a second
opposition movement in the south of the country, the Alianza Revolucionaria
Democrática (ARDE). ARDE, led by a disaffected ex-Sandinista, Edén Pastora
(‘Comandante Cero’), began operations in September 1982. Pastora had the
popular appeal that the members of the FDN lacked.
US troops were
deployed in Honduras and US helicopters were used to transport contra forces.
In late March 1986 an incursion by Nicaraguan troops into Honduras was used by
the USA as a pretext to inflame opinion against the Sandinista Government.
Continuing Sandinista confidence in ultimate victory made it easy for the US
Administration to gain support in the US House of
Representatives in June 1986 for a vote to transfer $100m. in economic and
military aid to the contras. In Nicaragua this was regarded as a declaration of
war and was followed by the closure of the opposition newspaper, La Prensa, and
the expulsion of the conservative Bishop Pablo Antonio Vega, who had argued in
favour of aid for the contras.
Nevertheless,
when the disclosure of the Iran-Contra affair caused a scandal in the USA in
November 1986, the most acute danger to Nicaragua had in fact already passed.
Thereafter the contra forces were held in their camps in Honduras while US
forces conducted a series of exercises on Honduran soil that were intended to
impress the Sandinistas. The final phase of the insurgency, in 1986–1990,
consisted of a series of negotiations between Nicaragua, the USA and other
interested parties. A final resolution of the conflict came in 1990 as a result
of the election victory of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro and the formal
demobilization of the contras under UN auspices.
to be continued …….
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