As if by clockwork, diplomatic tensions are rapidly intensifying in Latin America as the US tries to reimpose its stranglehold over the region.
In September last year we reported, in the article “Back to Business As Usual: The US Is Once Again Vigorously Stirring the Pot in Its Own ‘Backyard‘”, how the US is seeking to reimpose its military and strategic stranglehold over South America — or failing that, to sow enough chaos and division in the region to undermine China’s growing economic influence there.
As the Commander of US Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, explained in disarmingly candid fashion at the Atlantic Council in Jan 2023, the main goal of the US government and military (and, of course, the corporate and financial interests they serve), is to tap Latin America’s abundant natural resources, including rare earth elements, lithium, gold, oil, natural gas, light sweet crude, abundant food crops, and fresh water, while depriving China and Russia of access to those same resources.
Since then, Washington has signed agreements with three countries (Argentina, Ecuador and Peru) allowing US troops to operate along their coastlines and/or on their sovereign territory, in the ostensible name of waging Washington’s war on drugs. In Argentina, the Milei government recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States allowing members of the US Army Corps of Engineers to operate along the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway, one of the largest freshwater basins in the world.
In Uruguay, the Senate just approved the entry of US military personnel from US Special Forces into Uruguay, who will be in the country between April 7 and May 16, ostensibly for training purposes. On Friday, Javier Milei made an unscheduled 3,000-kilometre trip to Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Tierra de Fuego, to meet with General Richardson and US ambassador Marc Stanley. He was also there to check on the status of Argentina’s new Integrated Naval Base, a project begun two years ago under the previous administration that had originally generated concern in Washington about the possible participation of Russia and China. Now, it seems that the US will be the sole partner in this geo-strategically vital venture.
“It will be a logistics center and the closest port to Antarctica, helping to turn our country into the entry point to the white continent,” Milei said. “It will also help improve the local economy and give support to scientific research conducted by several international Antarctica projects.” In his morning press conference, Milei’s spokesman, Manuel Adorni, clarified that it will be Argentina and the US who will control this gateway to the white continent.
The Argentine president, dressed in military fatigues, also announced plans to increase Argentina’s “strategic alliance” with the United States in order to better defend its sovereignty (no, seriously). As the Buenos Aires Herald reports, he even lashed out at previous governments, accusing them of failing to take Argentina’s sovereignty seriously.
“They have done nothing to defend us from drug traffickers and Islamic terrorism,” he continued, before taking a veiled jab at China and its fishing industry. “They have not defended the sovereignty of the Argentine Sea from illegal fishing.”
[Translation: the anarcho-capitalist Milei is nothing more than a puppet. He just announced a US military base in Argentina. While he shouts “long live freedom, carajo” he sells out his country]
Also on Friday, the Mexican government granted political asylum to Jorge Glas, a former Ecuadorian vice president who had been taking refuge at the Mexican embassy in Quito since December last year. Glas is accused of corruption charges related to the Lava Jato (car wash) scandal implicating the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, and has already served five years in prison. He was released on appeal in 2022 but the political and judicial authorities want him back in jail.
Blowback Begins
In response to Mexico’s announcement, Daniel Noboa’s government in Quito declared the Mexican ambassador persona non-grata and surrounded the Mexican embassy with hundreds of soldiers and police officers…
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Nick Corbishley 