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Bolivian Democracy and the US: a History Lesson

by CounterPunch (reposted)
The Good Neighbor Policy and Other Political Amusements
Bolivian Democracy and the US: a History Lesson

By SAUL LANDAU
The prospect of socialist peasant leader Evo Morales as Bolivia's next president disturbed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Charles Shapiro. "It would not be welcome news in Washington to see the increasingly belligerent Cuban-Venezuelan combo become a trio," he emailed on October 21, 2005 to the Miami Herald's Andres Oppenheimer (Dec 4, 2005).

Shapiro combined buzz words with clichés. "The nature and scope of our cooperation with the next Bolivian government will depend on our shared interests: strengthening democracy, fostering economic development and combating illegal narcotics, along with that government's commitment to its international obligations."

These trite but coded phrases tell the next Bolivian government: do Washington's bidding, or get your butt kicked. Shapiro may think that phrases like "shared interests" and "democracy" Shapiro turn him into a literary magician: "Presto, the coin (history) has vanished."

Such routine pronouncements on US-Latin America policy presume that a policy exists, something beyond Washington demanding Latin American obedience to its dictates, so that US companies can continue their looting. Throughout, the last century, the United States has provided different labels for its domination. By the early 20th Century, the Monroe Doctrine took the form of "Gunboat Diplomacy." The Navy would routinely intervene to protect US investments and ensure "stable"--read obedient -- governments.

In the early 20th Century, Theodore Roosevelt invented "Dollar Diplomacy," Gunboat's twin sister. "Diplomacy" became a euphemism for encouraging corporate investment in Lat America and then defining those loans or investments in bananas and minerals to define U.S. interests in the region.

To make sure dollars flowed to corporate accounts, the Navy intervened when local political turmoil (independence and revolutionary movements) arose. US forces collected customs revenues and sent them to US banks. So, when students read a State Department document that states that US forces occupied Panama from 1903 to 1914 "to guard American interests," they will understand the context.

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http://counterpunch.org/landau12162005.html
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