The Thing about ALBA

The Thing about ALBA / Fernando Dámaso
Fernando Dámaso, Translator: Unstated

Since its founding ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our
Americas) has always raised great doubts. As stated at its inception, it
was created to promote economic cooperation between its members. It has
become instead a clumsy political instrument, a part of the new Latin
American populist left as headed by the president of Venezuela, who is,
in the end, the one who provides all the capital for the project. And,
as we all know, "he who pays, calls the shots." The examples are
abundant and quite well-known.

The alliance's latest declarations confirm this. First, a resolution
called for the immediate pull-out of its member countries from USAID (US
Agency for International Development) due to interference and the
financing of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as for
activities and projects meant to destabilize legitimate governments that
are not in tune with the agency's interests.

Second, in a special statement it rejected the impeachment of the
president of Paraguay by that country's senate (which, along with the
president, was democratically elected) in a 73 to 1 vote (even though
the majority vote included members of his own party). In a display of
blatant interference it declared its support for the impeached
president, calling on the people of that country to defend democracy and
reminding Paraguay of its reliance on the support of Latin America and
the Caribbean. So what does this mean? That one type of interference is
good and the other bad?

This is nothing new. When similar problems arose in Honduras, it behaved
in the same way. In a fit of hysteria it tried to reinstate the Honduran
president, who had been removed from power, by flying him home in a
Venezuelan plane and launching an air operation which failed. It then
tried to sneak him across the border with Nicaragua only to see him
holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Brazil had allowed
itself to play this dirty little game, forgetting that it was supposed
to be acting as mediator.

Later Venezuela entered into an alliance with Ecuador, beating the drums
of war against Colombia, in a dispute involving the presidents of these
three countries. In the end this whole media fuss simply melted away,
diplomatic relations were restored, and nothing ended up happening.
Politics as usual! More recently, it has continued to follow the same
orthodox ideological line. It maintained its unconditional support for
Gaddafi until the end. It also maintains support for Syria's Assad, for
the leadership in Iran, and for a few such others.

It is worth noting that, when there have been problems in some of its
member countries, or in countries in tune with its policies, it adopts
an attitude of blatant interference, taking positions of unconditional
support for their presidents. This is something it does not do when
dealing with those countries less in tune, in which case support is
given to those who oppose these governments, no matter who they might be.

ALBA more closely resembles an instrument created to destabilize Latin
America than to foster its integration. It uses all its resources to
support the access to power by politicians who share its ideology, many
of whom are messianic addicts of perpetual power. It also carries out
systematic economic and social proselytizing in the countries where it
operates with the objective of grooming followers to share its
totalitarian vision.

Venezuela and its allies are attempting now to revive the Cold War
politics the now-defunct Soviet Union practiced towards its satellites
and client states. But Venezuela is not the former Soviet Union and its
fancying itself a comparable Latin American power has little basis in
reality. With the possible exception of Ecuador its companions on this
absurd adventure are a few poor, economically broken countries,
dependent on its petroleum and its dollars. They have chosen to live off
this rich uncle, obeying him more as a means of survival than out of any
real political loyalty. Fortunately, ALBA, with its extreme ideological
positions, which are not in any significant way the result of serious
and objective analysis, seems to have a short shelf life given its
falling growth rate and the possible physical disappearance of its
principal agent and financial backer.

June 29 2012

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