Monday, May 17, 2010

Some Seeking Reelection via Subterfuge in Latin America

By Jerry Brewer

We continue to be inundated with daily reports of violence, death, and political dissension within the southwestern hemisphere, nations from within must wonder if a panacea actually exists to streamline this resonant discord.  What are the factual elements of this scourge and who might possibly be the architects of this seemingly conspiratorial artifice?

Massive wealth generated from narco-trafficking is certainly the fuel of this bold stratagem.  The revenue is capable of funding guerrilla operations, all forms of terrorism, rogue intelligence services operating clandestinely with various transnational agendas on behalf of their governments, and just simply riches for the creators and masterminds.  Can one person at the top of such a proposed pyramid wield such power and reverence?

Such a transformation with much conversion of thought and deed via an integrated strategy must include many perpetrators in agreement.  Although, many of the lesser conduits must be and will be compartmented as to the intricate “big picture.”  All of these components come together in somewhat of an unwitting confederacy — each a necessary tool for an operational agenda that has been designed for fluid movement. 

Central America witnessed one of the largest guerrilla insurgencies in Latin America during the decade of the 1970s.  Cuban and Soviet financed troops and supply lines throughout Nicaragua and El Salvador were attempting to overthrow opposing governments via their revolutions.  Latin America has since undergone prolific upheaval over the years. 

In spite of familiar rhetoric ad nauseam, one cannot ignore the expansion and saturation, along with confusion and shift, of diverse ideologies from Argentina to the U.S.-Mexican border.  One course of proactive thought-provoking conjecture must be the inherent desire of the current left wing, and those leaning left, to move to scrap governments' constitutional term limits for presidencies.

The most recent move to secure oligarchic intentions is in Nicaragua, as President and Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega begins to focus on his 2011 reelection efforts, despite the constitutional ban against it.   The Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce accused the Sandinistas of “gangsterism and terrorism” recently as a mob of several hundred Sandinista thugs, armed with hand-held mortars, fired homemade fragmentation bombs at Managua’s Holiday Inn Select Hotel.  This was where opposition lawmakers were discussing how to counter “Ortega’s attempt to reelect his cronies.”  The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed "profound worry" about the situation in Nicaragua and called on political leaders to preserve the country's shaky institutions.

This deliberate agenda of rejecting constitutional bans on extending term limits has become the popular and powerful dance of many Latin America’s leftist regimes.  The Supreme Court in Honduras in June of last year, fed up with President Manuel Zelaya’s attempts to eliminate term barriers to reelection by sponsoring a referendum ruled illegal, wasted no time in ordering the removal of Zelaya.  Quick to react to the rule of Honduran law against Zelaya was President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and President Ortega of Nicaragua who deployed troops to the border with Honduras.

President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, who was elected in 2008, is currently facing internal congressional conflict, and there is “mistrust of Lugo, behind whose every move seems to [be] an ulterior motive to dissolve congress.” As well, the Paraguayan Human Rights Coordinating Group believes Lugo has intentions to dismantle the Ejercito del Pueblo Paraguayo, a self declared Marxist-Leninist group in the northeast of the country.

Much of the smoke and mirrors, and sleight of hand, occurring within these political circles are perceived circumspectly at best.

What is graphic and can be seen clearly is the narco-terrorism filtering from South America through the narrow Central American corridor into Mexico.  Los Zetas, the former enforcers for Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, have been reported to be training new gunmen in Guatemala and El Salvador, with remnants remaining of weapons, ammunition, and illegal airstrips as they have fled from police.

These paramilitary groups' access to sophisticated weaponry is a profound question to be answered as they all participate in a broad range of criminal enterprises — among them drug trafficking, human smuggling, kidnapping, extortion, arms dealing, contract killings, and money laundering.  The Honduran government has called for assistance with what they described as many “Venezuelan flag” aircraft, laden with drugs, found on Honduran soil.

The expansion of political turmoil throughout the hemisphere, coupled with the tentacles of subversion via attacks on police, government, and deaths of innocent citizens, is still nebulous as to the true and primary source of power.  However, conspiracy certainly exists via the modus operandi of this vast network of misery.

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Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida.  His website is located at www.cjiausa.org.