TCS on Latin America

Writing at Tech Central Station Carlos Ball wonders if we are looking at the makings of a socialist hemisphere and finds that the US is a big part of the problem:

Such behavior is truly revolting, but also troubling is the fact that the U.S., with little or no consideration, has been making enemies of its traditional friends in Latin America. Since 9/11, U.S. consulates throughout the hemisphere have been denying visas or making it extremely difficult to get them to Latin Americans that do business in this country, who own vacation homes here or studied or have their children attending American schools and colleges, despite the fact that they have been coming here as tourists or to visit family members for decades. Even though no Latin American took part in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there seems to be a clear presumption of guilt once they enter the grounds of an American embassy or are inspected by a Homeland Security officer.

Regarding U.S. policies towards Latin America, there is a double standard everywhere you look. It is crystal clear where Lula, Chávez, Kirchner, Vásquez, etc. want to go. Many ideas and policies of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara are being rediscovered and openly applied by them, while U.S. foreign economic policy continues to sail down a third way between capitalism and socialism. No wonder such little respect is shown towards Washington. Free trade, yes, but not regarding sugar or shrimp or steel or lumber or whatever deep pocket lobbyists want to keep out today. Private enterprise and the right to work, sure, as long as the interests of American unions are safeguarded by "fair trade", which includes a "level playing field" (unaffordable wages and working conditions) and "no child labor", even if the real alternative for many of those youngsters is begging or prostitution, rather than going to school.

Also at TCS Melana Zyla Vickers figures that Venezuela's biggest export is trouble (or revolution) not oil:

Leftist guerrillas from eight Latin American countries have received training at Venezuelan military bases this year, according to an Ecuadorian intelligence report revealed in a Quito newspaper earlier this month. El Presidente Chavez of course denies the charges. But his recent vows to create a regional, anti-American leftist front, his alliance with Fidel Castro's Cuba, his rising military expenditures and persistent reports that weapons disappear from the Venezuelan military into the hands of regional leftist rebels, make the charges all the more believable.

The Ecuadorian newspaper, El Comercio, wrote that since 2001, a 200-man leftist "liberation army" has been operating in Ecuador and that some of the men received training in Venezuela. In a follow-up story this month, the Miami Herald wrote that the intelligence report says the Venezuelans provided a month-long training course for guerrillas from Peru, Bolivia, Chile Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Venezuela.