It's the Amazon, Stupid!

Everyone remembers the famous phrase with which Bill Clinton disarmed George Bush Sr. in the 1992 presidential race. A similar expression could be used at the present time, when many think, in Brazil and beyond, that Obama is visiting the country to sell F-16s manufactured in the U.S., out-maneuvering their French competitor, and to promote participation of U.S. companies in the huge expansion of the Brazilian oil business in the coming years. Also, to ensure a reliable and dependable supply for the country’s insatiable demand for fuel through agreements with a country in the Southern hemisphere, which is less confrontational and unstable than their traditional suppliers both in the Middle East and in Latin America itself. Apart from that, the business portfolio that Obama carries includes the involvement of U.S. companies in the renovation of infrastructure for transport and communications in Brazil and in surveillance and security services that will be required for the FIFA World Cup (2014) and Olympic Games (2016). Those who point to these facts do not cease to highlight the bilateral problems which affect their business relationship, above all due to the persistence of U.S. protectionism and the obstacles that this creates for Brazilian exports. Their relationship, therefore, is nowhere near as harmonious as many say. Moreover, the growing regional and, in part, international gravitation towards Brazil is viewed with concern by Washington. Without the support of Brazil and Argentina, along with other countries, the Bolivarian initiative to end the FTAA would not have prospered. Therefore, a powerful Brazil is an obstacle to the imperialist projects in the region.

Given this, one must question the objectives of Obama’s visit to Brazil. First, let us observe the information in context: since the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff’s government, the White House has employed a vigorous offensive aimed at strengthening bilateral relations. Ten days had passed since her installation in the Planalto Palace when she received a visit by Republican Senators John McCain and John Barrasso; a few weeks later it was the turn of the Treasury Secretary to be, Timothy Geithner, who would come knocking on the President’s door. The visitors’ interest was sparked by a presidential changeover and a hopeful signal from Brasilia, as the new president announced that she was reconsidering the purchase of 36 fighter jets from the French firm Dassault, which the outgoing President Lula had agreed to while still in office. This change in attitude meant that the lobbyists of big businesses in the military-industrial complex — being the “permanent government” of the United States, regardless of the temporary occupant of the White House — descended on Brasilia in the hope of securing a first contract for $6 billion that, in future, could increase significantly if the Brazilian government, as is hoped, orders the purchase of a further 120 planes in the years to come. But it would be a mistake to believe that Obama’s trip is inspired purely by reasons of finance.

In reality, what interests him the most in his capacity as administrator of the American empire is to further U.S. control of the Amazon. The main requirement of this project is to hinder, since fully stopping it is not possible, the growing coordination and political and economic integration in the region which played a huge role in wrecking the FTAA in 2005 and thwarting a secessionist conspiracy and coup in Bolivia ( 2008) and Ecuador (2010). It will also attempt to sow discord between the most radical governments in the region (Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador) and the “progressive” governments, particularly Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. These latter countries, becoming increasingly fenced in, struggle to find a space between surrendering to the dictations of the empire and its liberating ideals which, embodied today in the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance, two hundred years ago inspired the struggles for independence of our countries. The rest are secondary issues. Given these prior facts, Rousseff’s indecision regarding the retrofitting of the armed forces comes as a surprise because, if Brazil were to finally close the deal favoring the purchase of the F-16s instead of the French Rafales, her country would see its desire to assert its effective sovereignty in the Amazon seriously undermined. This is not to say that Brazil should buy Dassault aircrafts, but what it does mean is that any alternative is preferable to a purchase from a U.S. supplier. If such a thing were to happen it is because the Foreign Ministry has overlooked, with reckless negligence, the fact that in the geopolitical chessboard of hemispheres, Washington has two strategic objectives: the first, more immediate, is to end the Chavez government by resorting to any means necessary, be it legal and institutional or, failing that, any other form of sedition. This is the manifest and vociferous objective of the White House. Yet the fundamental long term goal is the control of the Amazon, where enormous wealth is deposited. The American empire, in its exorbitant race to the exclusive ownership of the natural resources of the planet, wants to claim for itself, without any meddling from an outside party, in what its ruling class perceives as its natural hinterland: water, strategic minerals, oil, gas, biodiversity and foods. For the more adventurous American strategists the Amazon basin, like Antarctica, is an area of free access where national sovereignty is not recognized and is open, as such, to those with the “technical and logistical resources” which permit its rightful exploitation. Namely, the United States. But obviously, no top official of the State Department or the Pentagon, let alone the president of the United States, goes around saying these things aloud. But they act on the basis of this conviction. And, in line with this, it would be foolish for Brazil to take a gamble on installations and military technology that would place it in a subordinate position to the player with whom it is ostensibly disputing the possession of the vast resources of the Amazon. Or does anyone doubt that, when the time comes, the United States will not waste a second in resorting to force to defend its vital interests threatened by the lack of access to natural resources locked in that region?

What is at stake, therefore, is the control of the area. Obviously, Obama will not utter a word of this to his hostess. Because, among other reasons, Washington already exercises a certain de facto control over the Amazon from its vast superiority in the field of satellite communications. Moreover, the long chain of military bases with which the U.S. has managed to surround the area ratifies, through the traditional methods of imperialism, this undeniable ambition of territorial ownership. The fear that moved ex-president Lula da Silva to accelerate the retrofitting of the Brazilian armed forces was the unexpected reactivation of the United States’ Fourth Fleet only weeks after Brasilia announced the discovery of an enormous submarine oil field off the Sao Paulo coast. From there it became evident, as a flashing nightmare, that Washington considered unacceptable a Brazil that, in addition to having a vast territory and a rich endowment of natural resources, could also become an oil power and, for that matter, a country capable of counterbalancing U.S. dominance south of the Rio Grande and, to a lesser extent, at the global geopolitical table. The astute and courtly minuet of U.S. diplomacy has hidden the true interests of an empire hungry for raw materials, energy and natural resources of all kinds and for which the vast Amazon basin presents an irresistible attraction. To conceal its intentions, Washington has used – successfully, because the Amazon basin ended up being surrounded by U.S. bases – a subtle operative of distraction for which Itamaraty fell as a naive rookie: offering its support to help Brazil obtain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. It is difficult to comprehend how experienced Brazilian diplomats took seriously such an unlikely offer which would mean clearing the way for Brazil’s entry whilst shunning countries like Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, India and Pakistan. Dazzled by such a promise, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry and the military high command did notice that while they were being distracted by futile digressions on the matter, the White House was setting up bases everywhere: seven, yes, seven! In Colombia in the northwest quadrant of the Amazon; two in Paraguay, in the south; at least one in Peru, to control access to the region from the west; and one, in process, with France’s Sarkozy to install the necessary military troops and equipment in French Guiana needed to monitor eastern Amazonia. Further north, bases in Aruba, Curacao, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Puerto Rico and Guantanamo to harass Bolivarian Venezuela and, of course, the Cuban Revolution. Attempting to reaffirm Brazilian sovereignty in the region by appealing to equipment, weapons and technology made for war by the U.S. constitutes an egregious error since the technological and military dependence that this would entail would leave Brazil tied hand and foot to the designs of imperial power. Unless one thinks, of course, that the national interests of Brazil and the United States coincide. Some do indeed think so, but it would be very serious if President Rousseff incurred such an enormous and irreparable error of judgment. And the costs – economic, social and political – that Brazil, and the entire region with it, would have to pay because of such folly would be exorbitant.

Rebelión has posted this article with the author’s permission through a license from Creative Commons, respecting their freedom to publish it elsewhere.