You may want to check out the Brazil politicos W is
propping up, LOL. They will never pay back a penny.
BRAZIL
Expert Warns of Crisis in Latin America
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Saturday, July 20, 2002
The election in October of radical Luis Ignacio da Silva as president of Brazil could trigger the spread of anti-U.S. dictatorships in Latin America that would hold sway over as many as 300 million people and boost the potential of terror attacks on the U.S. from the south, warns Hudson Institute scholar Constantine C. Menges.
Perennial candidate da Silva has managed not only to hang onto his early lead in the presidential polls but has climbed to 40 percent, 20 points ahead of his closest rival, free-market centrist Jose Serra, the choice of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s Brazilian Social Democratic Party.
Menges fears that under da Silva, giant Brazil, a republic friendly to the U.S., will become "the focal point for political and military assistance to the Communist narco-guerillas in Colombia and to anti-democratic groups seeking to overturn potentially fragile democracies in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru – not to mention neighboring Argentina, already in the grip of economic crisis.”
"By the end of 2003, the United States might be faced with anti-American regimes in most of South America,” Menges concludes in the July 22 issue of the Weekly Standard.
Castro Axis
Behind da Silva, says Menges, stands a powerful Castro-Chavez alliance that wants desperately to evolve into an even more powerful and dangerous "Castro-da Silva-Chavez Axis,” a moniker first coined by Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who has admitted that the potential election of da Silva has him wary of "immense economic problems in all of Latin America.”
The Chavez arm of the axis is, of course, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who, according to Menges, has been and remains a key supporter of terrorism. Forging alliances with Iran, Iraq and Libya, Chavez has backed communist guerrillas in Colombia and radical groups in Bolivia, Ecuador and other countries.
At the direction of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Cuban operatives helped bring Chavez back to power, and as a quid pro quo, says Menges, Chavez has provided Castro with free oil, probably in the value of $2 billion.
Da Silva has direct and intimate ties to Castro, says Menges. Da Silva and Castro co-founded Forum of Sao Paulo back in 1990. Each year the forum convenes a veritable Who’s Who of communists, terrorists and leaders of radical political movements from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
"These annual meetings have been used by the participants to coordinate their plans for taking power in their respective countries and for executing actions against the United States,” explains Menges.
Arab Connection
Such intrigues include the PLO, says Menges, which along with terror agents of Hezbollah reportedly hide among the large Middle Eastern communities in Brazil and Venezuela.
He maintains that is a "strategic priority” for Castro and Chavez to see da Silva rise to power in Brazil, which has the world's eighth-largest economy. "Already Chavez is probably contributing millions, if not tens-of-millions to da Silva out of the estimated $70 billion in oil revenues…."
Meanwhile, Menges adds, "It is a virtually certain that Castro is committing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of his skilled political and intelligence operatives to help da Silva win ….”
According to Menges, da Silva will fit right in the Castro-Chavez orbit.
Da Silva is on record saying that Brazil should have nuclear weapons, embrace communist China and perceive its enormous foreign debt load as nothing less than "economic terrorism.”
Da Silva aside, there is already momentum in Brazil pushing it in directions contrary to U.S. interests. For instance, after Brazil’s president exposed a secret plan by the military to build an atomic bomb, it came to light that elements of the military had secretly exported 8 tons of uranium to Iraq.
Menges also reports the defection to Iraq of 20 missile scientists, who were disgruntled after the cancellation of the country’s ballistic missile program in 1991.
Recent moves by Workers' Party nominee da Silva, such as naming prominent industrialist Sen. Jose Alencar as his vice presidential candidate and promising to honor debt payments, contain inflation and maintain budget surpluses, have given the appearance of a move to the center.
However, Menges says da Silva’s real stripes are revealed best in remarks such as his labeling of President Bush’s Free Trade Areas of the Americas as "a USA annexation project.”
Dr. Menges is a former director of George Washington University’s Program on Transitions to Democracy. His public service includes a stint as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and at the CIA as a national intelligence officer.
Brazil - link
pages.stern.nyu.edu
BTW, Brazil - A country almost as large as the United States and in October it appears a man as President who has been a close ally of Fidel Castro. Currently he is at 40% in the polls and rising his closest opponent is at 20%.
He cofounded with Fidel Castro the forum of Sao Paulo, every year terrorist and radical political movements from across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East attend.
These meetings have been used for discussing way's of taking power in their respective countries and executing actin against the United States.
Brazil borders almost every country in South America, for decades da Silva has blamed democracy, blamed market oriented institutions, and the United States for all social and economic problems of his country.
From 1965-79 Brazil had an active program to develop nuclear weapons, the program continued after 1990 even though a democratically elected President had exposed
the program.
The investigation of the nuclear program revealed elements of the military had secretly exported 8 tons of uranium to Iraq in 1981. Upon the shutdown of the nuclear weapons program 20 missle scientist were reported to have found employment in Iraq.
Da Silva has said his country should have nuclear weapons and should move closer to communist China.
extracted from link "Situation critical FT" Jun 23, 2002)
Brazil is under pressure. On Friday, the Real plunged to an all-time low against the dollar before recovering slightly in afternoon trading. Spreads on the country's sovereign bonds have widened alarmingly. The country's stock market, Latin America's biggest, has fallen to its lowest level this year. International investors, it seems, are bailing out in droves.
The decision last week by Moody's, the credit-rating agency, to downgrade its outlook for Brazil, has fuelled speculation that the country might be about to follow Argentina into default. If it does, the rest of Latin America could follow. Many believe that would mark the end of the region's experiment with market-based reform and usher in an era of political and economic instability. As if to underline the region's vulnerability, Uruguay's currency lost about 10 per cent of its value last week after the country was forced to abandon its exchange-rate peg.
"Brazil will be a litmus test for Latin America," says Arturo Porzecanski, head economist for emerging markets at ABN Amro in New York. "God help us all if it goes wrong."
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The International Monetary Fund, seeking to contain a deepening economic crisis in South America, said Wednesday it would provide $30 billion in loans to Brazil in one of the biggest bailout packages in the history of the global lending organization.
The 15-month agreement, announced by IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler, followed intense talks between the IMF and Brazil and came as Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was wrapping up a fact-finding mission to the region.
Brazil has been working to avert an economic crisis sparked by uncertainties ahead of elections in October. Some investors and lenders were worried that the next administration might decide to default on the country's $250 billion in debt.
"The new agreement would commit $30 billion of additional financing by the IMF, 80 percent of which would be disbursed during 2003,'' Koehler said in a statement.
The new loans are in addition to an existing $15 billion credit line the lending institution has extended to Brazil, which saw its currency -- the real -- sink to record lows last week on investor worries about its ability to meet its debt payments
Brazil's Serra puts social spin on campaign
Reuters, 08.07.02, 10:58 PM ET
By Mary Milliken
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's ruling party candidate Jose Serra, struggling to gain support ahead of presidential elections in October, on Wednesday unveiled an electoral platform heavy on promises of a better life for all.
Stuck in third place in the polls for over a month, Serra promised a new political era that would build on incumbent President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's economic policies, like his inflation-busting Real Plan, while paying much more attention to social change.
"What the Real Plan did for economic stability, our Social Plan will do for the people," said Serra, apparently responding to polls that show 90 percent of voters want some degree of change in the next government.
Serra, a health and planning minister in Cardoso's centrist administration for most of the last eight years, is the preferred candidate of financial markets, which believe he will carry on the legacy of economic reforms.
But the polls show a different view among voters. With less than 15 percent popular support, Serra has fallen far behind the left-leaning candidates Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Ciro Gomes, both of whom have 30 percent or more two months before the first round of voting.
Investors burned by Argentina's financial collapse fear that neither Lula nor Gomes will be able to manage the economy and its hefty $250 billion debt. The currency has sunk to an all-time low and the perceived risk of investing in Brazil bonds has shot up, prompting a new $30 billion loan accord on Wednesday with the International Monetary Fund.
Serra, however, has the government machine working behind him, and around 45 percent of voters are still undecided about who they want for president.
At the presentation of his "government program" in his native Sao Paulo on Wednesday, Serra emphasised his ideas for creating jobs and cutting crime in one of the world's most violent countries.
"This is what Brazilian families want most," said Serra, flanked by his telegenic running mate, Rita Camata. "And for employment opportunities, the economy has to grow."
With an emphasis on exports and import substitution, Serra is targeting average growth of 4.5 percent per year, compared to just over 2 percent in the Cardoso years, and 8 million new jobs. That is slightly lower than Lula's goals of 5 percent growth and 10 million jobs.
Under Serra, the current account deficit will be halved to 2 percent of gross domestic product by the middle of the decade and real interest rates will drop to around six percent from 11 percent today, he said.
Despite his lofty social spending plans, Serra said he can keep the IMF-mandated budget surplus, funding his projects with more tax revenue from economic growth and tax reform. |
