The Heart of the Beast

While not as blatantly racist, today this mindset of superiority and obligation of the United States to intervene in the affairs of other nations in order to save a "lesser" people from themselves continues to remain part of the US government’s justification to pursue its interests in the name of humanitarian concerns.

The history of US intervention in Latin America demonstrates the emptiness of this supposedly humanitarian agenda. While the US rhetoric publicly championed the ideals of democracy and human rights, such ideals mean absolutely nothing when they stand in the path of US interests. Whether this means overthrowing democratically elected regimes as in the case of Chile, Guatemala and Haiti or the sponsorship of death squads and brutal regimes through out Latin America, the history makes clear where the US government’s priorities really lie.

Barack Obama may possibly be the very first US president of color. He has promised a departure from the US foreign policy on Latin America embraced by the Bush administration and the similarly militant policies supported by John McCain, but in reality is the very same policy with the familiar patronizing concern. In his speech to the Cuban American National Foundation, Obama made very clear his Americentric view of the world and his belief that US interests can be advanced in the region by preventing "lesser" people from behaving "foolishly".

According to Obama, in light of the Bush administration’s policies it is "no wonder, ... that demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum."

Obama would have us believe that it was the US government’s failure to act that resulted in people democratically electing leaders such as Hugo Chavez. Similarly Chavez’s unchecked influence is responsible for the powerful social movements in Bolivia which have lead to the election of Evo Morales and the rise of MAS. These social movements in Bolivia and other parts of Latin America have little to do with Chavez but instead are a reaction to unresponsive governments and bankrupt economic policies pushed on Latin America by the US and other developed nations through the IMF and World Bank.

Obama continued his tirade against Chavez and demonized him for his "anti-American rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy", the first two being the standard blanket criticisms the US likes to hurl at those that oppose it’s interests and the last can only be aimed at Chavez’s commitment to policy to reduce poverty and increase regional cooperation.

When it comes to the embargo on Cuba, which only serves to punish the Cuban population and for years has been condemned by the UN as a violation of international law, Obama states the embargo is "strong, smart and principled diplomacy" and that such hostility will inevitably "bring about real change in Cuba." This despite the fact that the embargo has not toppled the Cuban government as the US had hoped and can only serve to make progressive change in Cuba more difficult.

Obama means to remedy the Bush administration policies which have proved "incapable of advancing our interests in the region" while insisting that "the United States must be a relentless advocate for democracy." Predictably the two have often proved incompatible and when push comes to shove it is the US interests that have prevailed at the expense of the democratic freedoms and human rights of those we profess to care about.

When it comes to foreign policy in Latin America Obama offers nothing more than "The White Man’s Burden" mentality. It is this same mentality historically held among the US politically elite and that many Latin American nations have fallen victim to.

# posted by Crooked : 11:55 AM