Latam leaders in Bolivia support President Morales and blast European countries

Latin American leaders gathered in Bolivia on Thursday to back President Evo Morales, fuming after some European nations temporarily refused his plane access to their airspace amid suspicions US fugitive Edward Snowden was aboard.

Morales arrived home late Wednesday after a long layover in Vienna, saying his plane was diverted there because it was barred from flying over four European nations, sparking outrage among Latin American leaders.

The Bolivian leader's plane odyssey began hours after Morales declared in Moscow that he would be willing to consider an asylum application from Snowden, who is seeking sanctuary in several Latin American nations to evade US espionage charges.

“Apologies from a country that did not let us pass over its territory are not enough” Morales said before talks with fellow leaders in the central city of Cochabamba. “Some governments apologized, saying it was an error, but this was not an error.”

Presidents Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Jose Mujica of Uruguay and Desi Bouterse of Suriname arrived for the afternoon talks while Argentina's Cristina Kirchner landed later.

”We are in Bolivia to give a hug in solidarity to our brother Evo Morales, to our dear Bolivia, but also to take decisions and show that we won't accept this sort of humiliation against any country of (Latin) America,“ Correa said before arriving.

”Imagine if this happened to a European head of state, if this had happened to the president of the United States. It probably would have been a casus belli, a case for war,“ he said. ”They think they can attack, crush, and destroy international law.“

Maduro said Europe had ”attacked the international immunity that protects a head of state.”

Correa had called for a larger summit gathering leaders of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), but the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru had yet to confirm their attendance, even though they too condemned the incident.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos voiced support for Morales but warned on Twitter against ”converting this into a diplomatic crisis between Latin America and the EU (European Union).“

Bolivian officials accused France, Portugal, Italy and Spain of denying entry to Morales's jet late Tuesday as he flew back home from Russia due to ”unfounded rumors“ Snowden was on board.

Morales has also lashed out at the United States, urging Europeans to ”free themselves from the US empire.“

The US consulate's walls in the city of Santa Cruz were sprayed with red graffiti, one reading ”Gringos Obama out.“ On late Wednesday, some 100 protesters burned flags and threw rocks at the French embassy in the Bolivian capital La Paz, smashing windows.

Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, has applied for asylum in several Latin American nations while waiting in legal limbo in a Moscow airport, trying to escape US justice after leaking details of a vast US phone and Internet surveillance program.

Morales likened described his situation as a ”13-hour kidnapping.“

France since apologized for temporarily refusing entry to Morales's jet, with President Francois Hollande saying there was ”conflicting information“ about the passengers.

The Bolivian government has lodged a complaint with the United Nations and planned another to the UN Human Rights Commission.

”What was the main objective? Just to scare me? Shut me up? Intimidate me? What was the goal?” Morales said.

Russia joined Latin American leaders in condemning France, Spain and Portugal, while Venezuela's Maduro said his government would review relations with Madrid.

Venezuela main purchaser of weapons in 2012, but Brazil has largest defence budget

The defence industry is booming in Latin America amid economic growth and greater concerns regarding national security, said the renowned security and defence consultancy firm IHS Jane's. Imports of weapons soared 16% in the subcontinent in 2008-2012, climbing from 3.42 billion to 3.96 billion dollars annually, the firm said in a report called “The Balance of Trade.”

 A display of Venezuelan military power

The report said Venezuela imported some 1.2bn in 2012, surpassing Brazil, the country with the largest defence budget in the region. The document highlighted that the trend may continue even after the demise of former President Hugo Chávez.

IHS Jane's analyst Ben Moores said that Venezuela was halfway in its rearmament program and that it would be very costly to drop it.

The US remains the top defence supplier in the region, with 758.52 million dollars in 2012. But Russia, particularly thanks to sales to Venezuela, stood behind the US with 730.8 million.

In May, the Russian government weapons exporting firm Rosoboronex stated that Venezuela's arms contracts amounted to 11 billion dollars, thus turning Russia into the second largest seller of arms to the region.

Brazil has the largest defence budget with 30.6bn dollars in 2012, which is three times more than Colombia’s 12.9bn and more than five fold Mexico’s 5.8bn and Venezuela’s 5.5bn.
 

Russia Seeks New Arms Deals on Growing Latin American Market

Russia will actively seek new deals on the Latin American arms market, which it expects to reach a value of $50 billion in the next ten years, the head of a Russian Technologies (Rostec) high-tech state corporation delegation said on Saturday.

“According to our expert estimates, the volume of the Latin American arms market will reach about $50 billion in the next ten years. If we focus our efforts on this, corresponding contracts could be signed,” said Sergei Goreslavsky, head of the delegation of Rostec, which comprises state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, at the SITDEF Peru 2013 defense technology exhibition.

Goreslavsky said Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico were all interested in buying helicopters and air defense systems. Russia, the world's second largest arms exporter after the United States, already has existing or previous arms contracts with those countries, as well as with several other Latin American states.

Earlier on Saturday, Goreslavsky said that Russia was in discussions with Peru over the purchase of Russian trucks, helicopters and tanks, and that Russia was considering allowing Bolivia to purchase about 10 Mi-8/17 helicopters on credit.

Rosoboronexport sold $14.5 billion worth of weaponry to Latin American countries in the past 12 years, the company’s general director Anatoly Isaikin told the State Duma on Monday.

Superjet-100 to prowl Latin American skies

The Russian Sukhoi Superjet-100project is making up for the image-building losses the airliner has suffered due to a number of accidents. The aircraft maker has upgraded nodes and components to allow claims in a move that’s largely boosted the airliner’s external competitiveness. The Mexican Airline Interjet says it will have bought 20 Superjet-100 airliners by the end of 2014.

According to the Mexican Airline’s CEO Jose Alvarez, the air-carrier will invest more than one billion dollars in its purchases, using loans from Italian, French and Russian banks. The first supplies are due as early as in May this year. The last aircraft of those purchased is to be delivered in December next year.

The acquisition of 20 Russian-made Superjet-100 planes will enable Interjetto fly to as many as 80 new destinations, both at home and abroad, specifically to the United States and Colombia.

The Chief Analyst with the Russian AVIAPORT agency, Oleg Panteleev, feels that the deal to be wrapped up is very interesting and important both to the Russian aircraft-makers and the Mexican air-carrier. Here’s more from Oleg Panteleev.

"Interjet has been quickly growing, so it will need just this kind of an effective regional 100-seater, Oleg Panteleev says. The Russian aircraft performance does meet the Mexican airline’s requirements, but Interjet wants all the aircraft to be delivered on time, and it will expect the Russian plane’s reliability and time on the wing to be in conformity with what the aircraft-maker says they are".

The Superjet-100 airliner will replace the A-320 Airbuses that Russia bought from Europe years ago and that are overage now. Besides, Superjet-100 consumes 15% less fuel. Mexicans will continue purchasing Airbuses, but Superjet-100 airliners seem to perform more efficiently at high-level airports.

Just how efficient the Russian airliner will prove in Mexico will obviously determine the future of the aircraft on the international market. The airliner has suffered a spate of crashes in recent years, which caused potential buyers to think better of their plans to purchase it. Anyway, experts are certain that Superjet-100 will cope with its so-called “childhood diseases” that are typical of all new aircraft, and will eventually prove attractive to many partners. The experts’ opinion is shared by Victor Pryadka, Director-General of the Alliance Company of Avintelaviation technology.

If Russia adheres to the time of delivery, and the operation of the aircraft in Mexico proves successful, more Latin American countries will seek to buy the plane. Although the aircraft market is saturated, Superjet-100 has actually few rivals. South East Asian nations have taken interest in the Russian airliner. But the Sukhoi Company must pursue a correct marketing strategy to turn that interest into actual acquisition contracts. Meanwhile, the company engineers are doing their best to ensure that the contract will be carried out.

Mercosur ‘suspended’ Paraguay feels free to establish trade links with other countries

President Federico Franco announced in a press conference that if Paraguay is suspended from Mercosur the country will feel free to look for other trade agreements and international relations.

 President Franco next to the new Vice president Oscar Denis

“Once suspended Paraguay is free to take its own decisions; we are going to balance costs and benefits, and we will decide what is best for Paraguay’s interests”, said Franco when asked about the possibility of establishing trade links with the US, China and other economic spaces.

“This means the end of the tutelage from neighbouring countries”, he added in direct reference to Argentina and Brazil and insisted that his administration’s message to the international community is that Paraguay has always been “a free and independent country”.

Following the ceremony when he took the oath to the new Vice president Senator Oscar Denis, Franco reiterated that he will step down from office 15 August 2013, handing the office to whoever is chosen by the Paraguayan people in free and democratic elections 23 April 2013. “My mission and legacy will be to put the house in order and deliver a country with governance and stability”.

Franco was sworn in as president following the impeachment of his predecessor Fernando Lugo by an overwhelming vote in the Senate for “ill-performance of his duties as president”.

His swift removal in an impeachment process has been seriously questioned in the region because of it took less than 30 hours, Lugo’s defence was limited and it was described as a “summary trial”.

Paraguay: Back to Latin America's bad old days ?

While the ouster of Paraguay’s president is a setback to the young democracy of the country, it shouldn’t be viewed as a repeat of Latin America’s history of coup d’états. The painful process of democratic maturity will continue, albeit slowly.

The hasty impeachment of Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo by the Congress on June 22 has brought back memories of the bad old days of Latin American history marked by coup d’états. This is the third overthrow of a democratically-elected president in the New Latin America, which had started its confident march on the path of democracy, seeking a new destiny in the twenty-first century. The previous cases were the ouster of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002 and Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. The difference in the case of Paraguay was the absence of two critical ingredients of a classic Latin American coup: military and the Big Brother from the north, the US. This one was a constitutional coup staged by an overwhelming majority of the elected representatives of both houses of the Congress. The lower house voted 76-1 and the senate 36-4.

The impeachment, however, is not surprising. It was being plotted from the very first day of Lugo’s assumption of office in 2008, after his historic victory over the mighty right-wing Colorado party which had ruled the country continuously in the previous sixty-one years. What was surprising was that the Colorado oligarchs had allowed Lugo, a leftist Bishop of the Poor, a political outsider and new comer, to win in the 2008 elections. Their overconfidence and underestimation of Lugo, coupled with the division within the party leadership, did them in.

The Colorado party is not just a political party. It is the strongest institution in Paraguay with a total stranglehold over the political and economic power system. Even the civil servants and diplomats are members of the party. The Colorados were therefore determined to recover power by any means and wanted to nip in the bud the unprecedented expectations raised among the poor people of Paraguay by the leftist Lugo, who promised to reform the system. Using their majority in the Congress to block his proposals, they didn’t let Lugo implement any of his progressive policies; they paralysed his administration by internal sabotaging with their loyal bureaucrats. Lugo simply did not have the political skills or a solid political party to deal with the ruthless Colorado machinery. In addition, his own Vice President Federico Franco – sworn in as President only a day after the coup – has been conspiring with the party to topple Lugo. Franco is the leader of the Liberal party, the second largest after Colorados. He seems to have made a deal with the Colorados, who have let him become president for one year, up until the next elections set for April 2013, when they expect him to cede power.

The real military coup attempt was in 1996, when the Army Chief General Lino Oviedo threatened to overthrow the civilian government. The foreign ministers of the other three Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay – flew to Asuncion immediately and told him that if he took over, they would expel Paraguay from Mercosur, which accounts for three-fourths of Paraguay's trade. The General backed down. This time, UNASUR, the union of the twelve South American countries, sent a group of foreign ministers to Asuncion but the Paraguayan Senate paid no heed and passed the impeachment resolution quickly. All the countries of the region have condemned the ouster of Lugo. Argentina and Brazil have recalled their ambassadors. Besides non-recognition of the new President, there is threat of isolation and expulsion from the regional groups. Paraguay has already been suspended from the bi-annual Mercosur summit to be held in Argentina this week.

The chances of restoration of Lugo to the presidency do not seem to be bright. First, Lugo himself has given up, saying that he would abide by the decision of the Congress, and promptly vacated his office. Secondly, Lugo has lost his personal moral ground after the recent scandals caused by his admission of affairs with women when he was a bishop and his acceptance of fathering of children with at least two women. Thirdly, he does not have adequate political machinery to bring the masses to the streets and threaten the Congress or the new President. Lastly, the Brazilians, who have the maximum clout in Paraguayan affairs, will not go out of their way to help Lugo. He had annoyed Brazil by forcing them to pay more for the electricity they import from Paraguay and claimed it as one of his major achievements. Brazil will also keep in mind the thousands of Brazilian farmers (who dominate the soy cultivation) settled in Paraguay and whose interests were under threat from the land reform proposals of Lugo. Brazil has taken the position that they would go by Mercosur and Unasur decisions. But Unasur, which is meeting at the summit level on 27 June in Lima, will not go beyond a point to confront the elected Paraguayan Congress which has done the impeachment with an overwhelming majority.

It seems that the new President Franco might ride out the isolation and manage to finish his term, in the same way as the vice president of Honduras did after the coup. The Colorado party is likely to come back to power next year and continue its business as usual, including the continuation of the dubious distinction of keeping Paraguay as the only country which does not have a system of personal income tax. The poor masses of Paraguay will have to wait for the next Messiah.

While the ouster of Lugo is a setback to the young democracy of Paraguay and a disappointment to its masses, it should not be seen as repetition of history for Latin America as such. The region has irreversibly changed its paradigm and is set on the foundation of democracy. What happened in Paraguay is damage to the super structure and a bump in the road. It is part of the painful process of the democratic maturity in some countries of the region.

The ouster has significance for India as well: President Lugo visited New Delhi last month and met the Indian Prime Minister and the President. During my meeting with him before the visit, Lugo expressed his admiration for Indian democracy and wanted to learn from India’s example. It is a pity that he did not get time to put into practice whatever he had learnt.

A Voice of Reason - Uruguay will not support any kind of economic sanctions on Paraguay

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica rejected on Monday the possibility of applying economic sanctions on Paraguay following on the “parliamentary coup” as was announced by Venezuela which decided to cut the supply of subsidized oil.

At the end of the day it’s the people who suffer, said President Mujica

In statements to the press later reproduced in the Executive web, President Mujica said that “from a real point of view, there was some kind of parliamentary coup” with the summary removal of elected president Lugo but he added he does not favour applying economic sanctions “because at the end of the day it’s the people who suffer and pay the consequences”.

Mujica anticipated that will be Uruguay’s position at the next Mercosur summit in Mendoza, June 28/29, and likewise with any decision to be adopted by Unasur.

Land locked Paraguay is extremely vulnerable to any kind of economic sanctions since all its trade is done by river or land through its neighbours Argentina, Brazil and Uruguayan ports.

Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro during a press conference denied there was any “ideological issue or political justification” behind the strong condemnation of the new Paraguayan government and the “need to apply the democratic clauses, since we know first hand of efforts to convince lawmakers to abide by the law”.

“The institutional order was broken in Paraguay and it was a summary trial which removed President Lugo. The impeachment did not have the necessary guarantees, the principle of due process neither was respected, as defined by the Inter American Human Rights Commission” added Almagro.

The Uruguayan minister denied Unasur was interfering in the internal affairs of Paraguay and underlined the unity of Unasur countries above different political boundaries: “if we are all on the side of democracy this is how it should be done”.

More specifically on the Mercosur ban for Paraguay, “this refers to the summit and the decision making bodies; all other economic and trade rights remain effective and there is nothing like a blockade or any other type of sanction against the country”.

However Uruguayan opposition strongly criticized Mercosur, Unasur and the government for “a clear interference in the internal affairs of Paraguay, particularly by large countries”.

“The big countries in the region have ‘ganged’ together against Paraguay, and our government is supporting that, when we should, as a small country and as history teaches us, be keeping a distance and let the Paraguayans comply with their constitution and legal system as they have”, said Senator Jorge Larrañaga, head of the main opposition party.

Similarly Senator Ope Pasquet from the junior opposition party said “Uruguay was interfering in the internal affairs of Paraguay; they have kept to what the constitution says and this is not a court trial so if Franco told the Brazilians about the coming impeachment and the fact he would be named next president…that belongs to the political realm and speculation”.

“We have to be extremely careful about these regional organizations and how far they go and pretend to interfere in internal affairs of other countries. I believe our government was too quick in reacting to events”, concluded Senator Pasquet.

Shame & Disgrace of the UN as it objects to Human Rights fro Falkland Islanders

C24 chair calls Falklands’ referendum ‘political ploy’; praises Argentine president

The chair of the UN Decolonisation Committee Ecuadorian ambassador Diego Morejón Pazmiño described the UK announcement of a referendum in the Malvinas Islands as a “political ploy”, insisting that the Falkland Islanders can not appeal to the right of self determination.

Falklanders can not claim self determination, said Ambassador Morejon Pazmiño .

“The referendum is a political ploy from the English government when there is a certain symbolism over the Malvinas issue because it is the anniversary of the war and because the Argentine president is here in New York” and was one of the speakers at the Decolonization Committee said ambassador Morejón Parmiño.

Last Tuesday and two days before the 30th anniversary of the end of the Malvinas war (June 14), the elected government of the Falkland Islands announced they would be holding a referendum in the first half of 2013 so that the Islanders can decide on their “political status”.

The government of the Falkland Islands when making the announcement said that independent, international observers will be invited to observe the process and verify its outcome.

According to Morejon Pazmiño the Islanders can’t appeal to the right of self determination they claim, because in the Malvinas case “there is a principle of territorial integrity” from Argentina which is above other considerations and the UK is the “occupying power” since 1833.

“The position of England is not that of an administrative power, it is that of an occupying power. It does not administrate a colony that can be claimed as independent. That figure does not exist in the C24”, added the Committee chair.

“There are two issues: self determination and territorial integrity of States. You can’t accept a form of colonization when there is a principle of territorial integrity, which is the applicable form in the Malvinas case”, he added.

Of the 80 non autonomous territories that existed when the Decolonization Committee was created by the United Nations in 1960/61, only 16 are left, a majority of which under British control.

The chair of the Decolonization Committee underlined the attendance of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Thursday because “it gives the UN system credibility and likewise to the task of this Committee as a negotiating body”.

He also mentioned the fact that the Argentine head of state was accompanied by representatives from the congressional opposition which is “a clear signal of internal cohesion in Argentina in an issue so bonding as is that of sovereignty”.

Ambassador Morejon Pazmiño effusively congratulated and publicly praised the Argentine president following her speech and participated of the standing ovation which was started by the numerous Argentine delegation that accompanied Cristina Fernandez.

However he also admitted that until the United Kingdom does not modify its position “no negotiation is possible”.

The UK position is that above all is the Islanders’ right to self determination and as long as they wish to remain British and hold no discussions with Argentina on sovereignty, that is and will be the case.