New threat: communism in Latin America
By Alejandro Pea Escluza
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the principal foreign policy and intelligence institutions of the United States considered that communism had disappeared and they ruled it out as a real threat. Soon after, a new threat emerged: terrorism, and since then, intelligence organizations in the US lost interest in the subject, forgetting about communism in the process.
Communism is surging south of the border, thanks to the work of lefties like Hugo Chavez and Luiz Ignacio Lula de Silva
However, communism did not disappear. In Latin America, under the direction of Fidel Castro and with the support of Lula da Silva, all the leftist groups reorganized in the region with the purpose of taking power under the umbrella of the Forum of Sao Paolo. [1]
To conceal their intentions, the Forum of Sao Paolo (FSP) abandoned its Marxist discourse and adopted diverse themes to carry on their struggle: Appealing to indigenous populations, Liberation theology, and a fierce criticism of capitalism and globalization.
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The organization is typified by the strong relationship between its chief leaders: Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Sandinista, Daniel Ortega, and, since 1995, Hugo Chvez, Venezuela’s president. His entrance marked a change of phase for that organization, since it was able to have control over an unlimited flow of petrodollars to expand.
Since 1990, when the Forum of Sao Paolo was first established its growth has been impressive. The Presidents of nearly every Latin American nation belong to the FSP or have achieved power supported by the Forum of Sao Paolo.
The United States has not been able to fully grasp the danger of the revival of communism in the region. It is perceived that the mere coexistence with the free market of some “moderate” members of the Forum of Sao Paolo mean that they are not actively supporting the efforts of the Chavez/Castro Axis (Lula da Silva, Nstor Kirchner, Michelle Bachelet, Tabar Vsquez, Torrijos [2]); secondly, there is no present nuclear threat coming from any of these countries. As can be seen in the following list there are communist as well as terrorist organizations that are represented in the Forum’s membership.
Some of the Participants of the Forum are [3]:
- Argentina – Communist Party of Argentina
- Barbados – Clement Payne Movement
- Bolivia – Communist Party of Bolivia
- Brazil – Workers’ Party, Communist Party of Brazil
- Chile – Communist Party of Chile, Socialist Party of Chile
- Colombia – Colombian Communist Party, National Liberation Army (FLN), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
- Costa Rica – Costa Rican Peoples Party
- Cuba – Communist Party of Cuba
- Dominica – Dominica Labor Party
- Dominican Republic – Dominican Liberation Party
- El Salvador – Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front (FMNL)
- Guatemala – Unin Revolucionaria Nacional de Guatemala (URNG)
- Guyana – Working People’s Alliance
- Mexico – Party of Labor, Popular Socialist Party and Partido de la Revolucin Democrtica (PRD)
- Nicaragua – Sandinista National Liberation Front
- Paraguay – Paraguayan Communist Party, Free Homeland Party
- Peru – Peruvian Communist Party, Socialist Party of Peru. Ex-leaders of the MRTA.
- Puerto Rico – Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Socialist Front, Hostosian National Independence Movement, University Pro-Independence Federation of Puerto Rico.
- Uruguay – Broad Front, Communist Party of Uruguay, Socialist Party of Uruguay, Tupamaros
- Venezuela – Communist Party of Venezuela.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, some communist groups decided to accept the neo-liberal model in the economic front, but keeping their political scheme intact. But to coexist with the free market does not mean that they have embraced the model. In the case of Kirchner and Lula, they have made a pragmatic decision to “accept” free markets only because it is useful to them, but not because they disagree politically with Castro-Communism. In fact, every time they can, they support the Chvez regime.
Regarding nuclear armaments, it is true that up to now the Forum of Sao Paolo has not been able to obtain weapons of mass destruction, but it is only a matter of time. In the long run, its member’s alliances with Iran and North Korea will provide the necessary supplies and technology to achieve this goal.
The lack of understanding by the United States with respect to this threat is evident when its authorities think they will be successful by asking the “moderate leftists” to contain the “radical leftists” (Castro, Chvez, Morales, Correa, Ortega).
The Forum is not satisfied with their extraordinary accomplishments achieved up to now; they also want to have control over Colombia and Mexico. That is why, in the next few months they want to destabilize the administrations of Alvaro Uribe and of Felipe Caldern. The FARC and the PRD [4] of Lpez Obrador, members of the Forum of Sao Paolo, will have the political support and the petrodollars of this organization to use towards that end.
It is of vital importance for the security of the Western Hemisphere that the institutions of the United States open their eyes with respect to the new threat that is emerging on its southern border and that they carefully study the dangers posed by the Forum of Sao Paolo.
*Alejandro Pea Esclusa is a leader of the Venezuelan Opposition and founder of the organization, Fuerza Solidaria. He ran against Hugo Chavez in the 1998 presidential elections and lectures widely throughout Latin America.
[1] The Sao Paulo Forum: fall and rise of communism. https://www.fuerzasolidaria.org/WebFS/Escritos/FSPFallAndRise.html
[2] Martn Torrijos Espino. President of Panama.
[3] Leftist Front-runners in Brazil, Nicaragua. Aug. 21, 2001. NewsMax.
[4] Party of the Democratic Revolution (in Spanish: Partido de la Revolucin Democrtica, PRD) is one of the three main political parties in Mexico. Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador is affiliated with this group.
Mr. Gaffney is the host of Secure Freedom Radio, a nationally-syndicated radio program heard weeknights throughout the country. He is an associate author of highly acclaimed Shariah: The Threat to America and the publisher of over a dozen other books and monographs from the Center for Security Policy Press.
In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving U.S.-USSR relations, nuclear forces, arms control, missile defense policy and U.S.-European defense ties. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO’s senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.
From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.
From February 1981 to August 1983, Mr. Gaffney was a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by the late Senator John Tower (R-Texas). And, in the latter 1970’s, Mr. Gaffney served as an aide to the late Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Washington) in the areas of defense and foreign policy.
Mr. Gaffney holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Gaffney’s leadership has been recognized by numerous organizations including: the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award (1987), the U.S. Business and Industry Council’s Defender of the National Interest Award (1994), the Navy League of the United States’ Alfred Thayer Mahan Literary Achievement Award (1999), and the Zionist Organization of America’s “Louis Brandeis Award” (2003), the Western Conservative Summit’s Stephen H. Long Award (2015), the Council for National Policy’s George Washington Military Leadership Award (2016) and the IMPACT Award from Ginni Thomas and United in Purpose (2017).
Mr. Gaffney was born in 1953 and resides in the Washington, D.C. area.
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