Latin America and the U.S. Crisis

The structural crises in the world’s political, economic, social, agricultural, energy, environmental and moral spheres presents us, without a doubt, with an epochal change. It’s a panorama of new realities and immense challenges, in which only a revolution in conscience has the tremendous ability to liberate, innovate, transform, change and construct the new multipolar world order.

Agreeing with Marxist-Leninist theory about the nature of the U.S. crisis, we can affirm that we are in capitalism’s parasitic and decadent stage. The parasitic character of imperialism is manifest in that the financial oligarchy has nothing to do with the real production of goods and services, but controls the economy and politics of capitalist countries.

The parasitic decadence of U.S. capitalism is reflected in the real estate crisis, in monetary speculation that is 20-times larger in financial terms than in terms of real production, in the weakening of the dollar, in consumerism, in the use of raw materials, and in high public and private indebtedness, which threaten eventual insolvency by canceling the debt, or default. These are the principal causes of the frightening pandemic affecting the major economies of the world and its impact on Latin America, which expresses itself as such:

1. The downturn of the the U.S. economy will lessen consumption of raw materials, primarily petroleum, which can generate a fall in oil prices and lessen the availability of foreign currencies for countries that export it.

2. The growth in U.S. unemployment produces a decline in income in remittances throughout Central America, where they are a principal source of foreign exchange income.

3. The decline in non-traditional exports to the U.S., particularly in food production.

4. The high public and private debt leading to a collapse in major economies and panics in securities markets, producing a lack of confidence and restrictions on loans in international financial markets.

Latin America must prepare itself, facing a scenario different from that of 2001 at the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec, Canada, where President Chávez alone declared that Venezuela opposed the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, and in the same year proposed the Bolivarian Alliance for Peoples of the Americas as a platform for integration, putting emphasis on solidarity, complementarity, justice and cooperation. From that moment, until the recent UNASUR meeting in Peru for the inauguration of President Ollanta Humala, all the countries unanimously decided to open debate to confront the crisis in the capitalist world.

This crisis represents a great opportunity for Latin America in the new rearrangement of a post-capitalist, multipolar world. We have great challenges in this century such as:

1. Building the new multipolar world order, profoundly democratic and participatory in its diverse institutions, separate from the interests of the multinationals so that it may be the guarantor of peace, justice, and equality.

2. The regulatory and controlling role of the state: The countries with the best growth and least damage from the capitalist crisis are those where the state has had a leading regulatory role, such as China, Russia, North Korea, and India.

3. Building the new world economic architecture in order to distribute economic resources efficiently: BancoSur, reserve funds, regulatory and supervisory institutions for securities and financial markets.

4. A new universal currency for exchange and reserves, backed by a basket of currencies from countries, regional blocs, and raw materials such as oil.

5. Substituting the communal state for the bourgeois state: The state has to lead an active citizenry in the transformation of society, meaning decisive responsibility in its communities. Its communities must identify, prioritize, and resolve their own problems. To be able to act in a rapidly changing and dangerous world, the post-capitalist state must return to creating citizenship.

6. Building socialism (direct social ownership): The pension funds of workers are the principal source of savings in society; the workers are owners of the means of social production. Regulation and protection against plunder are the challenges facing public policymakers.

Let us remember that the World Bank and the financial oligarchy came to power in Latin America from this source of savings.

The 21st century is the Latin American century. Conscious and united, we can build a world of peace, justice, and equality, according to our will.