The Backyard

Leaders in the United States have abandoned their iron-fisted domination of Latin America to bury themselves in invasive and taxing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and, currently, Syria, ever since the attack on the twin towers. At least that was the pretext used to pursue new goals in the Middle East. Since then, popular democratic movements in our continent have made progress.

The operations of the U.S. military and its allies, France and England, in the Middle East, have become a political, diplomatic, military and economic quagmire for the leaders of the global, capitalist-imperialist system. The widespread crisis in Europe and bankruptcy in the United States, in the former economic power of Detroit for example, reflect this failure.

The system has responded with compulsive survival tactics — pursuing military and geopolitical goals that have led to control of oil riches and other natural resources in emerging countries fighting for their economic and political independence. This context frames the new outlook U.S. leaders have toward Latin America.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that Latin America is the backyard of the United States, although, previously, he had also announced the end of the Monroe Doctrine without much ado. Constant visits by political honchos from the United States, like Obama, to the Summit of the Americas in 2009 and Costa Rica in May of 2013; Vice-President Biden and the secretary of state to Colombia and Brazil; the formation of the recent Pacific alliance with governments allied with the U.S. against the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas; the deepening of the crisis and militarization in Colombia; espionage against Brazilian president Rousseff; and attempts at destabilization and assassination of Venezuelan President Maduro are red flags that U.S. political hawks are preparing a counteroffensive against Latin American liberation and emancipation processes.

In spite of being buried in other interventionist wars, the U.S. has not completely left Latin America to its own devices. It has maintained influence with subversive operations and threats to overthrow governments that escape from its sphere of influence. Nevertheless, these foolhardy attempts have failed.

In spite of all efforts to unify and integrate the continent, political and ideological disparities still exist. Countries and governments allied with the political mandates of the White House will not let up efforts to shoot down advances toward democracy and unity. These governments are the main source of aggression against countries that have dared challenge the current direction of things. One example is the government of Colombia, with Uribe, Santos and other oligarchs at its head.

Colombia’s intimidation of Nicaragua, stemming from a decision made by the court at the Hague that President Santos has officially identified as inapplicable and unacceptable, constitutes forceful bullying that violates international norms. This type of provocation has a clear precise objective: general destabilization in order to prepare the area for an imperial invasion.

Working constantly toward furthering positive, participatory democracy is the key to curbing North American domination. Additionally, popular, intellectual, democratic and revolutionary groups in countries with right-leaning governments should continue to fight for power in their respective countries. This will put Latin America in a much stronger position to negotiate with hegemonic powers and do away with the ridiculous, jingoistic idea of backyard domination.