By JEAN PIERRE CHAUVIN*
The old US recipe for Latin America.
“Artisanal terrorism and high-tech terrorism, religious fundamentalist terrorism and market fundamentalist terrorism are very similar” (Eduardo Galeano).
Anyone who has even minimal knowledge of the Republic in which it survives, despite the genocidal commitment of the current misgovernment, knows that: (1) since the end of World War II, the US has dictated what is in the booklet of banks and governments, as “responsible” conduct for Latin American countries. (2) Accomplices of the banks and landlords, the rulers (civil or military) act as Uncle Sam's doormats and collect the “bill” from the people, who, justly enraged, resist the brutality of the “reforms” recommended by their rich cousins. (3) Local rulers react with extreme violence to the people's protests, in the name of order and the republican façade. (4) Meanwhile, the US continues to monitor the instability of the countries it commands, happy as hell to be recommended as the land of freedom, democracy and neoliberalism.
The subject is not new; nor am I claiming originality. Eduardo Galeano always alerted us to the shady alliances between the countries of so-called Latin America with their European “conquerors” and, from the XNUMXth century, with the United States – “president of the planet” (The Theater of Good and Evil, 2008, p. 17). “In 1968 and 1969, foreign banking advanced with the impetus: the First National City Bank, currently has no less than 110 branches planted in seventeen countries in Latin America. The figure includes several national banks acquired by City in recent times” (The Open Veins of Latin America, 2020, p. eleven).
For those who condemn The Open Veins of Latin America since it is a very “old” book (the first edition is from 1970), don't be shy: there is more recent material on Uncle Sam's good deeds. Readers, if any, could consult the chapter “The Monroe Doctrine and Pan-Americanism”, by Bradford Burns, published in 2003. He revealed that, at least since 1823, Brazil had already rolled out the green and yellow carpet for the trampled by the USA, thanks to the machinations of the Baron of Rio Branco, the “Monroe Doctrine” being an eloquent example of this: “Less than two months after President James Monroe recommended to Europeans, on December 3, 1823, that they distance themselves from Western Hemisphere, the Brazilian government recognized the new doctrine, and spoke of an offensive and defensive alliance with the United States” (The Unwritten Covenant, 2003, p. eleven).
Two years later, in United States: the new imperialism, the Scotsman Victor Gordon Kiernan showed how the neocolonialist policy of America-made-for-the-[North]-Americans, set in motion since the beginning of the 1917th century, worked. In Puerto Rico, for example, “US leadership and policy of assimilation, with the gift of American citizenship in 6” resulted in “besides the inhabitants, the territory was also being Americanized. American companies owned most of the sugarcane plantations, which ranged from 8 to XNUMX hectares” (United States: the new imperialism, 2009, p. 281-282).
Among the research carried out in Brazil, I highlight the unavoidable study by Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, published in 2008, which describes in detail the methods used to overthrow Salvador Allende in 1973: “The maneuver to bring Chile into economic, social and political chaos actually began shortly after the election of Salvador Allende. The fact that he was the first Marxist elected President of the Republic, through legal procedures, in a democratic regime, certainly provided the climate for the beginning of a bank run, encouraged by the CIA and magnified by the Minister of Finance and Economy of the government of Eduardo Frei” (Formula for Chaos, 2008, p. 163).
Assuming that these meager examples are not able to sensitize the exempt beyond the rubbish they receive through social networks - perhaps there is interest in turning our eyes to Brazil. Historian Carlos Fico has shown the abject links between the military here and the sheriffs in the north, obsessed with sweeping away the “communist threat”, see the politics of the Brother Sam, imposed during the government of João Goulart: “the negative assessment of the government of Goulart was amplified with the implementation of the military regime. He came to be identified as the main person responsible for launching the country into dictatorship [...] The identification of his attitudes as the causes of the 64 coup would be the basis of the 'preventive counter-coup' thesis, that is, the assumption that Goulart intended to perpetuate itself in power beyond the constitutional term” (The Big Brother, 2008, p. eleven).
More recently, Everaldo de Oliveira told the story of the Haitian invasion by the United States, confirming the maxim that one can only be a nationalist under the banner of Uncle Sam. On “July 28 [1915] the first 350 Marines, coming from the Guantánamo base in Cuba. Under the command of Admiral William Caperton, five companies were ordered to occupy the Haitian capital. On August 7, they already controlled the entire national territory, with the Haitian military and police forces and their barracks occupied. The new Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, stated at the time that occupation was 'the only thing to do if we are to cure the anarchy and disorder which prevail in that republic'.” (Haiti: two centuries of history, 2019, p. 94-95).
We took a short tour of the mainland; however, if the issue is still not clear enough, please let the reader take a look at what has happened to Colombia over the past few days, yet again. Why? Answer: because yes. The cycle is old, perverse and well known. Evidently, Brazil was never immune to it, despite being so generous towards the invaders, and hostile towards those from here. But let's not worry: soon, the group of "moderate" toucans and "renewal" oranges will come to accommodate the domestic situation, capitulating once again to the interests of the US (and whoever else wants a share of this no man's land). .
Unless I'm mistaken about the prognosis, the most shitty representatives of our "elite" (whatever that means) will repeat the usual fallacies. Reinstalled in Miami, they will proclaim to be patriots and will do everything in the name of the “beloved homeland”: commodity of all but ours, Brazil.
*Jean Pierre Chauvin is a professor at the School of Communications and Arts at USP.