[Marxism] Re: Argentina's Kirchner to military: "I am not afraid of you"

[Carlos Petroni <cepetroni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Walter wrote:
(Another strong indication of changing times in Latin America.
Clearly, this indicates that you don't need a weather forecaster
to know which way the wind blows. A remarkable development. Only
El Salvador and Colombia seem to be out of step with the general
leftward trend. Even in Colombia, something positive can be drawn
from the fact that the left is now the main opposition in parlia-
ment in that country. Uncertainty remains in the elections about
to take place in Mexico and in Peru, but the broad trend is clear.)
=================================================================

And, of course, he added an article from the Cubans who, with that
particularly lineal way of thinking, pose the issues as simple as that.

Not so.  In reality, Kirchner's speech was a very weak reaction
to a very serious question: thousands of military and their
families are winning ground in organizing a conspiracy to
pressure the government. Mildly disciplining a dozen military personnel
when hundreds are involved and one speech do not the problem
solve.

The Argentinean armed forces had been caught recently in the
following conspiracies:

1. Spying on politicians, government officials and human
rights advocates.  Of hundreds of intelligence gathering units
in all three forces, only half a dozen were centralized at
the Ministry of Defense as a result.

2. Meetings between hight and medium ranking officers with
their counterparts at the US Embassy.

3. Meetings at units of the so-called "carapintadas' who are trying
to organize once again.

4. Organized dozens of public events, the most notable
one with 3.000 in attendance supporting the "dirty war" of the 1970s
under the cover of "honoring the death" at the hands of the guerrillas
in the 70s.

The government had been trying to appease the military by:

1. Increasing ten times the budget for the Armed Forces to
start owning and developing weapons factories.

2. Increasins wages and pension plans.

3. Distributing slaps on the wrists when officers are caught
in severe disciplinary violations.

4. Allowing the Armed Forces to reach strategic alliances with
their counterparts in Brazil and Chile (two of the most
reactionary armies in the continent.)

5. Allowing the meetings to take place at the US Embassy, sending
troops to Haiti, and 600 officers to train at the
School of the Americas, Fort Braggs and other locations.

It's time to DISSOLVE THE ARMED FORCES, but Kirchner believes
he can reform them by lecturing them on abstract human rights
courses and telling them "I'm not afraid."

Here is the URL of an article we wrote of a serie we had been
developing for more than two months:

Ruido de armas en los cuarteles
(Weapons' noises at the Barracks)
http://www.izquierda.info/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=464

By the way, today's Clarin -- the largest daily in the country -- published
a serie of interesting, tought still superficial, articles on
the issuel;




Lea todos los días análisis y articulos de izquierda y un servicio de noticias 
que se actualiza cada hora. Lea Izquierda Punto Info


                
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