By Revolter
You may have heard that the US Treasury Secretary is literally begging Congress to nationalize $700 billion worth of bad corporate debt this week. While it's no surprise that Chavez couldn't resist making a little joke about the irony of it all, surely other Latin American leaders wouldn't start piling on as US capitalism crumbles, right? At least they wouldn't dare do it in New York City, Ground Zero of the new Great Depression, right? Erm..well...Let's check out what went down, after the jump.
>>> Argentina's Cristina Kirchner noted that, "the most formidable state intervention that there's memory of comes precisely from the place that had told us that the state wasn't necessary," and then she tried to embarrass the US by giving their crisis a stupid nickname. Somebody's still bitter about that IMF-sponsored disaster.
>>> Surely Chile's Michelle Bachelet would prove that not all center-left Latin female presidents hate our freedom. Nevermind. "The avarice and irresponsibility of a few, combined with the political negligence of others, has sunken the world into a situation of great uncertainty." Than the "moderate" borrowed the slogan of the World Social(ist) Forum - "Another world is possible."
>>> Paraguay's Fernando Lugo diagnosed the problem. "This is a due to immoral speculation. This speculation is motivated only by the rush to wealth."
>>> Brazil's Lula was weirded out by Bush's unhealthy obsession - "He opted to talk again about terrorism." "The economic crisis . . is the most important thing at this moment." He blamed "the boundless greed" of a few for the crisis.
>>> After taking the US to task for its support of the Bolivian opposition, Evo Morales alluded to the failures of the US system. "We are in a time without empires, a time without domination and without the imposition of economic models that can badly hurt a country."
>>> Honduras's Mel Zelaya agreed. "Imperialism as a system of domination should disappear from the face of the Earth." "Even with a third of [$700 billion], we could have reduced or even finished off poverty in Africa, in Asia and in Latin America."
Oh Mel. You are a leftist. But what about the conservative, staunch US allies in the region?
>>> Not much out there on Alan Garcia's UN speech per se, but when he returned to Peru, the unpopular president said that if the crisis hits his country, "the best way to prepare ourselves is to concentrate our investments in the poorest and most humble . . that is what's important in a democratic government." But as Reuters point out, most Peruvian's think he's usually just bullshitting.
>>> Mexico's Felipe Calderon wants to increase the power of the UN, as well as that US scourge, the International Court of Justice. "Multilateralism is the path of the 21st Century, the response to globalization."
>>> Colombia's Uribe talked about cocaine. He told the West to stop snorting it and send him more money. "Whoever buys a personal dose of illicit drugs, helps to set off a car bomb in Colombia." He must be real fun at the after-parties. And oh BTW his administration has to answer for another drug-related para-politica scandal.
So basically everybody went around giving the finger to the Bush Administration. While at the UN, Bachelet convened another impromptu meeting of UNASUR to reaffirm the group's support of Evo and Bolivia and to set up a commission to investigate the opposition's killing of dozens of Morales supporters - With the US watching from the sidelines. "It shows that in Latin America, the U.S. policy has been defeated," according to Evo. Obviously it was the best UN General Assembly ever.
