Delta variant escalates catastrophic spread of COVID-19 in Brazil

Tomas Castanheira

In recent days, the health secretariats of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have announced the existence of community transmission of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the two largest metropolitan centers of Brazil.

Street vendors in Brasilia, July, 2021 [Credit: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil]

On Wednesday, São Paulo City Hall reported that the investigation of a Delta variant case, originally confirmed on June 21, revealed that the patient had had no contact with anyone from abroad, and that three other people from his family were also infected. The following day, Rio de Janeiro City Hall reported its first two cases of local transmission of the variant, along with 10 other infected people who had been in contact with the patients.

The Ministry of Health, while not yet assuming community transmission in Brazil, recognizes 27 confirmed cases of the variant that originated in India, which have already led to five deaths.

The president of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom, made an alarming statement last week, declaring that “The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic.” Transmission of the Delta variant around the world has already reached at least 104 countries, is being accompanied by an explosive rise in epidemiological curves in dozens of countries.

This situation, with its incalculably devastating potential, is being driven by the criminal actions of capitalist governments around the planet, which are promoting the irresponsible suspension of measures to control the virus under the mantra of a “return to normalcy”

In Brazil, the picture is no different. On Friday it surpassed 540,000 COVID-19 deaths and continues to record the highest number of daily deaths in the world. On average, 1,244 people die from COVID-19 every day in Brazil, while another 42,819 are being infected, according to Worldometer data.

The Brazilian public health institution Fiocruz warned in an extraordinary bulletin on July 14 that despite observing “the maintenance, for the third consecutive week, of a downward trend in COVID-19 incidence and mortality indicators” in Brazil, “the high rate of positivity demonstrates an intense circulation of the virus.”

The reduction in the rates in recent weeks, according to the researchers of the Fiocruz COVID-19 Observatory, is a result of an advance in the vaccination of the Brazilian population, which is still at an early stage, with only 15 percent fully immunized.

The researchers, however, warn that “the available vaccines have limits in relation to blocking the transmission of the virus, which continues to circulate with intensity” and maintain that the “concern with the possibility of the emergence of variants with the potential to reduce the effectiveness of available vaccines is pertinent and cannot be lost sight of.”

They end by appealing to the population to maintain measures of social distancing, wearing masks, and attending vaccination campaigns.

These recommendations clash head-on with the policies being pushed by all parties of the Brazilian ruling class, which are forcing the end of any isolation measures and encouraging among the population the feeling that the dangers of the pandemic are over.

The malign effects of these actions were revealed in a Datafolha survey published on July 14, which points out that, for the first time, “the perception that the pandemic is under control in the country is a majority.” According to the survey, 53 percent of the Brazilian population believes that the pandemic is partially controlled, 5 percent that it is totally controlled, and 41 percent that the pandemic is out of control. In March, 79 percent stated that the pandemic was out of control.

Neither Folha de São Paulo, which conducted the survey, nor the other corporate media outlets question what has permitted this perception to advance among Brazilians, and even less do they propose to combat such ideas by exposing their misleading bases and the extreme risks they carry.

In an editorial this Friday, the Estado de São Paulo celebrated the drop of COVID-19 numbers in Brazil and referred to the Datafolha survey stressing that the “relief and the perception of control are justified.” Its only recommendations—which reflect the dominant position of the capitalist class—are that governments continue vaccinating the population “in the shortest time possible” and that “personal care is still strictly necessary.”

While seeking to isolate the growing opposition of the Brazilian population against the homicidal capitalist response to the COVID-19 pandemic to the figure of “denialist” President Jair Bolsonaro, these bourgeois outlets work to frame the equally criminal actions of local politicians as “responsible” policies.

The millionaire governor of São Paulo, João Doria, of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), is promoting a widespread attack on coronavirus restriction measures, totally indifferent to their catastrophic effects. With a terrible average of 373 deaths per day, São Paulo is the state most affected in absolute terms by COVID-19, and already has 133,901 deaths from the disease.

With the full support of the media, the São Paulo government promoted the reopening of its schools last February. This measure has already resulted in at least 1,194 outbreaks in school facilities and the deaths of 100 teachers and three students in the state public network alone, according to data from the APEOESP union up to June 30.

Last week, Doria announced a flexibility package that includes, besides the expansion of the capacity and working hours of all economic sectors and the realization of 30 test events with large public participation, the resumption of in-person classes in universities and the end of the limit on students within school classrooms. The requirement for 1.5 meters distance between students was also reduced to only 1 meter.

On Wednesday of this week, he continued his series of attacks on social distance measures by demanding the return of all public employees who were allowed to work from home for belonging to so-called high risk groups. Justifying his ruthless action he declared, “Life is returning to normalcy and we are confident about it.”

Just one day later, Doria announced he was infected for the second time with COVID-19, even after being fully immunized. His illness, a product of his own criminal policy on behalf of capitalist interests, completely demolishes his cynical “life is back to normal” claim.

Doria’s policies are being replicated by governors in every Brazilian state. The capital city of Rio de Janeiro has also adopted the reduction to 1 meter of distance in classrooms, aiming for a full return of students soon. Last week, teachers in Minas Gerais voted massively for a one-week strike in protest against the reopening of state schools by governor Romeu Zema of the pro-capitalist New Party.

In Bahia, teachers are clashing with Workers Party (PT) Governor Rui Costa, who announced the return of in-person classes later this July. Confronted by the decision of teachers not to return to schools, Costa publicly threatened them, stating, “If you miss [work] days in a row without an excuse, you will not receive your salary and eventually you will be fired.”

The uncontrolled development of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and around the world is exposing the utter inability of capitalism and its political representatives to respond to the most basic problems of humanity.

The task of putting an end to the pandemic through a response based on the science and the social interest of preserving life depends upon the mobilization of the working class as an independent political force.

The intensification of the class struggle internationally, which finds its expression in Brazil through the growing strikes and massive demonstrations against the homicidal policies of the ruling elite, is opening the way for this revolutionary perspective.

Indonesia becomes new COVID epicentre as infections and deaths skyrocket

Robert Campion

Following months of skyrocketing daily cases and deaths, Indonesia overtook all other countries this week to become the new global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday, the official number of infections rose above 50,000 for the first time to 54,517, along with almost a thousand deaths. On the same day, India recorded fewer than 42,000 daily cases, far below the height of more than 400,000 infections in May. Brazil’s daily tally dropped to below 53,000 on Thursday, as Indonesia continued to climb to 56,757 cases.

UNICEF aid workers in Indonesia [Credit: UNICEF]

The situation in Indonesia is starkly similar to that of India in April–May, when it was devastated by the highly-infectious Delta variant. In that period, India reported roughly 29 cases per 100,000 people, which Indonesia is swiftly approaching with 20 per 100,000, according to official figures. Indonesia’s vaccination rate is estimated to be 5.8 percent, whereas India’s was 3.3 percent in early May.

Taking into account the far lower levels of testing and contact tracing, it is highly likely that Indonesia has already outstripped the infection rates at the height of India’s outbreak. Disagreements between health experts over the true number of cases are not focused on the accuracy of official statistics, which are widely dismissed, but rather on how many times greater the real infection tally is.

Indonesian epidemiologist Dicky Budiman stated that the number of daily cases could already be over 100,000, a figure he warned could double by the end of the month and lead to a death toll of 2,000 per day.

Official figures show that more than 90,000 of the country’s 120,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients are occupied. Cases of the Delta variant are concentrated in the islands of Java and Bali, but it is also spreading in the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and West Papua, which are unequipped to deal with a major outbreak.

Bed occupancy in the province of Lampung in Sumatra reached 86 percent on Monday, 85 percent in East Kalimantan and 79 percent in West Papua.

It is likely, however, that these figures substantially understate the extent of the crisis. There are widespread reports of hospitals overflowing—with some constructing makeshift emergency COVID wards in car parks and outdoor areas, and others turning patients away. An untold number of people are perishing in their homes for lack of treatment, while in some areas, gravediggers are working through the night because of the high death toll.

Many health workers, particularly on the remote islands, have not even had their first dose of a vaccine. The government is now scrambling to reach its vaccine target of inoculating more than 181 million of its population of 270 million by March 2022.

The outbreak in the world’s fourth most populous country, with cases of the Delta strain spreading, portends dire consequences elsewhere. Surges are also being recorded in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, while South Korea and Taiwan are also experiencing a resurgence.

So long as the virus is allowed to spread anywhere it threatens the whole world, not only with further sickness and death but the possibility of more virulent mutations. The massive growth of cases is an indictment of the global capitalist system, which at every stage of the pandemic has subordinated human lives to the interests of profit.

The Indonesian administration of President Joko Widodo has responded to COVID-19 along the same criminally-negligent lines as his counterparts around the world. Far more resources over the past year have been devoted to propping up big business than the health sector.

When the virus first hit Indonesia in January–February last year, the government initially denied there were any cases, in order to “avoid panic.” When the level of deaths became undeniable later in 2020, the government continued to downplay the risks, with some of its prominent representatives promoted unscientific remedies such as praying, supposed “wonder drugs” like ivermectin and even eucalyptus necklaces.

With a daily positivity rate well above the World Health Organisation guidelines of 5 percent, Widodo brushed off the “commotion” that the government was placing the economy over public health. He stated in October that compared to other countries with similar populations, Indonesia was much better at handling COVID-19. The high positivity rate, however, demonstrated that the real number of infections was far higher than the official numbers.

An indication of just how widespread the virus already was in this period has been provided by a recently published study involving the Jakarta Provincial Health Office, the University of Indonesia, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and staff from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It found that by March this year, nearly half of all residents in Jakarta had likely contracted COVID-19, or more than 12 times the official tally.

The figure was based on testing for coronavirus antibodies, which can last for 5 to 7 months after infection, in the blood of around 5,000 people between the dates of March 15 to March 31. The results showed that 44.5 percent had the antibodies. If extrapolated to Jakarta’s population, that would indicate that 4.7 million of the city’s 10.6 million people had potentially caught the virus.

In the early days of the latest surge, the government continued to downplay the severity of the situation, despite clear warnings from epidemiologists. Even last Monday, the senior minister in charge of Indonesia’s pandemic response, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, claimed that the outbreak was “under control,” with the government preparing for a “worst case scenario” of 40,000 to 50,000 cases a day.

In light of the latest figures, Pandjaitan abruptly reversed his position, declaring at a press conference on Thursday: “Now, I ask that we understand that the Delta variant is a variant that cannot be controlled.” He also substantially revised the “worst-case” scenario,” stating: “If we’re talking about 60,000 [infections per day] or slightly more than that, we’re okay. We are hoping not for 100,000, but even if we get there, we are preparing for that.”

The government has blamed the outbreak on workers, accusing them of “indiscipline” and of not following limited stay-at-home orders. Millions, however, have no possibility of isolating, because they are forced to work just to put food on the table.

The government has also refused to implement a complete lockdown. Instead, designated “red zones” on Java and Bali were belatedly introduced on July 3, leaving milder restrictions in place throughout the archipelago.

“Emergency social restrictions are still inadequate,” stated University of Indonesia epidemiology expert Pandu Riono. “They should be twice as stringent since we are facing the Delta variant, which is two times more contagious.

“I predict the outbreak will increase continuously in July as we are not able yet to prevent the spread of infections,” he warned.

Official story of assassination in Haiti begins to unravel

Roger Jordan

Glaring inconsistencies in the official narrative of the assassination of Haiti’s President, Jovenel Moise, are fueling suspicions that powerful figures within the impoverished country’s corrupt ruling elite were involved in the July 7 murder. As evidence grows linking far-right figures with ties to the former Duvalier dictatorship to the crime, US imperialism is intensifying its intervention with the aim of covering up what happened so as to bring about an accommodation between the warring factions within the Haitian elite.

Soldiers stand guard near the residence of Interim President Claude Joseph in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, July 11, 2021, four days after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise [Credit: AP Photo/Matias Delacroix]

Moise was executed in his residence in Pétionville, a suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince, in the early morning hours of July 7. His body was found riddled with 12 bullets, and his eye had been gouged out. The authorities have blamed a commando unit made up of 26 ex-Colombian military personnel and two Haitian-Americans for the crime. Eighteen of them have been captured, three have been killed, and the remainder are still being sought.

The authorities have focused their interest on 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a preacher and failed businessman living in Florida, and John Joel Joseph, a political rival of Moise, as the chief suspects. Sanon, who has never held political office, is improbably accused of having plotted Moise’s demise so as to return to Haiti and become president.

One of the most striking facts undermining the official narrative is that not a single member of Moise’s security detail was injured during the attack. The president’s residence is accessible only via a single road from Port-au-Prince, meaning that the commando unit would have had to pass through security checkpoints. As one retired Colombian special forces soldier, who claimed to have been offered a position to provide security for the Haitian president by a Florida-based security firm, put it, “How can you have this type of assassination and not have a single dead but the President himself? If my fellows had done the job, they would have had to enter the residence and kill the guards before killing the President. You would have seen a combat scene.”

Other reports have noted that many of the Colombians were not aware of the mission they were signing up for. According to relatives, they were offered monthly salaries of up to $2,700 and told they would be providing security for important dignitaries and investors in Haiti.

In comments to Colombian radio station La FM, Colombian President Ivan Duque stated that only a handful of the mercenaries knew what was going on. “Once they were over there, the information they were given changed,” he added. “They ended up involved in these unfortunate events.”

Suspicions are growing over the role of far-right forces with ties to the former Duvalier dictatorship, as well as former assets of US imperialist agencies. Of the 39 people arrested in connection with the assassination to date, several previously served as informants for the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, according to CNN.

Dimitri Herard, head of security at Haiti’s presidential residence, was placed in police custody Wednesday in connection with the investigation of the assassination. The Colombian National Police confirmed that Herard was in Bogota in late May, but it remains unclear whether he met with any of the Colombian suspects. A total of four security personnel are reportedly in custody, including former police officer Gilbert Dragon. Both Herard and Dragon are associates of Guy Philippe, who led the US-backed coup against elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. The fact that figures with such close ties to the faction of the Haitian ruling elite linked to the Duvalier dictatorship had such important positions in the Moise regime underscores just how right-wing his government was.

The most spectacular allegation to date came from Colombian television channel Caracol, which claimed to have information from the FBI and Haitian authorities proving that interim president Claude Joseph was involved in the assassination. Joseph, who was prime minister under Moise, was informed that he would be removed from his post two days before the assassination when Moise appointed Ariel Henry to take over as prime minister. Henry had not yet taken office when Moise was assassinated. Claude Joseph subsequently claimed to be in charge and declared himself interim president.

According to a WikiLeaks cable, Joseph was a leader of a student group that received funds in 2004 from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US agency created to carry out political operations previously run by the CIA in Latin America and around the world. Joseph’s Grand Front National des Etudients Haitiens was described in the cable as “an active, responsible pressure group.”

Underscoring the concern among the Haitian authorities over powerful political figures being implicated in the assassination plot, the Haitian national police promptly issued a strongly-worded denunciation of the accusation against Joseph, labelling it a “lie.”

Whether or not Claude Joseph was involved, observers are increasingly calling into question the narrative that Sanon and John Joel Joseph are the primary suspects. “If you look at the profile of these people, and I know some of them very well, I don’t think they are the big fish responsible for or behind this murder,” Haiti’s minister of elections Mathias Pierre told Bloomberg. An anonymous US source told the Colombian daily El Tiempo, “(s)uch a plan can only be made with high level government officials.”

There is no shortage of bitter conflicts within the venal and corrupt Haitian ruling elite that could have served as the pretext for Moise’s assassination. The president, who was widely despised by the Haitian masses for his loyal enforcement of IMF-dictated austerity measures, was viewed as a threat by factions of the ruling establishment. They feared that Moise’s efforts to cling to power beyond his constitutionally-mandated five-year term and to assume dictatorial presidential powers would allow him to secure important sections of the economy for his cronies. In the months prior to his assassination, Moise removed some of his political opponents by firing mayors and senators. In September, he had intended to hold a referendum to abolish the constitutional ban on two consecutive terms for president. The existing constitution also includes a limit of two presidential terms in a person’s lifetime.

Powerful sections of the ruling elite traditionally enjoyed a virtual monopoly on highly-profitable sectors of the economy, including gasoline distribution and cell phone coverage. Bitter conflicts have also raged in recent years for control of lucrative public works contracts.

The US imperialist intervention in Haiti, which is being stepped up in the wake of the assassination of Moise, has always been aimed at cobbling together some sort of agreement within the venal Haitian ruling elite so as to facilitate the ruthless imperialist exploitation of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. Although President Joe Biden has asserted that the deployment of US military personnel is “not on the agenda,” the US Marine contingent tasked with guarding the American embassy in Port-au-Prince is being augmented.

Moreover, the investigation into Moise’s assassination is being led by FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials. At least eight FBI agents have reportedly been in Haiti as part of the investigation, and they have already completed an initial report.

Haiti’s long and bitter encounter with US imperialism and its Canadian and French allies demonstrates that nothing good can come from investigations led by Washington. Between 1915 and 1934, US Marines occupied the island nation and brutally suppressed a nationalist rebellion. The same imperialist interests were behind Aristide’s ouster in 2004, which inaugurated a 13-year military intervention under the mantle of the United Nations that included widespread human rights abuses and the triggering of a devastating cholera outbreak that claimed over 10,000 lives.

Haiti’s workers and impoverished masses can take forward a struggle against the social misery and grinding poverty they confront only by refusing to support any faction within the country’s corrupt pro-imperialist ruling elite. What is required is the unification of the fight by the Haitian masses to put an end to the imperialist domination of their country with the struggles of the working class throughout the Caribbean and the Americas on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program.

Bloomberg says Sri Lanka is the highest risk of foreign debt default in Asia

Saman Gunadasa

Bloomberg reported last week that Sri Lanka was the highest default risk in the Asia-Pacific, overtaking Papua New Guinea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The news agency’s “debt default probability” scale now rates Sri Lanka at almost 28 percent, up from 13 percent six months ago. Under Bloomberg’s model any country rated over 1.5 percent is deemed to be at “a high risk of failure to pay.”

The news agency said that Sri Lanka’s “first test comes on July 27,” when it must repay a $US1 billion bond to investors. “[S]peculation is growing,” it continued, “that it may need to turn to the International Monetary Fund [IMF] for additional finances after securing assistance from countries including China.”

Attempting to downplay the deepening crisis, Sri Lanka’s Minister for Finance and Capital Markets Ajit Nivard Cabraal insisted that loans would be repaid on time. He cited government controls on foreign exchange and short-term swap agreements with China, India and Bangladesh.

In March, the Rajapakse government obtained a $1.5 billion currency swap line from Beijing. The Sri Lanka Central Bank is also expecting a $250 million swap facility from Bangladesh and $400 million from the Reserve Bank of India. The Central Bank’s arrangements, however, are a desperate attempt to postpone any default on foreign debts.

Pointing to Colombo’s ongoing debt crisis, Fitch Ratings has revealed that the government will have to find $29 billion between now and 2026 to service debt repayments.

Sri Lanka is reeling under the impact of an economic crisis exacerbated by the global pandemic, with export income and remittances falling drastically and tourism having all but collapsed. The Central Bank this year has made about $1 billion in debt repayments. As a result, the country’s foreign currency reserves dropped to $4 billion by the end of June, sufficient for only 2.7 months of imports.

The Rajapakse government has already curtailed a host of imports, including essential food items, automobiles, fertilisers and pesticides and last month increased fuel prices, pushing up the cost of transport and many essential items.

Earlier this month the Central Bank, in a bid to save foreign exchange, planned to curb imports of electronic goods, such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and mobile phones. The measure was abandoned, after news of the plan was leaked to the media.

The Central Bank printed around 650 billion rupees in 2020, a program it has intensified this year with 230 billion printed last month alone. The attempt to overcome falling government revenue has only succeeded in increasing the already-high rate of inflation.

The Sri Lanka rupee rose to around 200 rupees for a US dollar, a 6 percent increase on the rate early this year.

Amid the intensifying crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapakse last week appointed his younger brother Basil Rajapakse as finance minister. He is the national organiser of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the fifth Rajapakse brother in the cabinet.

Sri Lanka Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse [Source: Wikipedia]

The finance ministry was previously held by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, the president’s elder brother. Basil Rajapakse’s appointment as finance minister does not indicate a rift within the ruling cabal but is to strengthen the government’s hand in preparation for even sharper austerity attacks on the working class and the rural masses.

Basil Rajapakse appealed to the media and the trade unions to help the government “overcome the challenges the country is facing on multiple fronts” soon after his appointment as finance minister. “We have overcome worse political challenges mainly because of everyone who supported us,” he added, but “unpleasant actions might have to be taken.”

Rajapakse’s reference to “overcoming worse political challenges,” relates to two ruthless actions taken by President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government to defend Sri Lankan capitalism from 2005 to 2014—the final years of the bloody communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and its response to the global financial crisis in 2008–2009.

All of Sri Lanka’s opposition parties, trade unions and the media backed the communal war, which ended in May 2009 with the killing of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians. Ordinary people who criticised the government’s actions were murdered, “disappeared” or severely tortured. At the same time, the government obtained massive foreign loans to finance its war, with workers and the poor made to pay with wages frozen and social expenditure slashed.

Colombo responded to the 2008–2009 financial crisis by retrenching around 500,000 employees and imposing IMF-dictated austerity measures to secure a $1.5 billion bailout loan. In 2016, the IMF refused the last instalment of another $1.5 billion loan obtained by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime, citing its failure to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Over the past 18 months, President Rajapakse has spouted nationalist rhetoric, curbed imports and implemented new austerity measures, while insisting that his government would not have to turn to the IMF. Last week, however, the Sunday Times, citing a treasury official, reported that the government would request $800 million under IMF special drawing rights.

In February 2020, the IMF reviewed the Sri Lankan economy and said: “The authorities should move ahead with growth-enhancing structural reforms to fully harness Sri Lanka’s economic potential.” It repeated its call for the privatisation or commercialisation of all state enterprises, further cuts to public education and health, more state sector sackings and other measures.

The Rajapakse regime, however, will have to implement even harsher austerity policies than those proposed last year by the IMF, which were issued before the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Colombo’s decision to print billions more rupees and provide generous tax concessions to big business, saw Sri Lanka’s fiscal deficit climb to 11 percent of GDP last year. Economists have calculated, however, that the real figure is a staggering 14 percent.

In line with the president’s criminal policy of prioritising profits before human lives, Finance Minister Rajapakse has also confirmed that he will push for the abandonment of the remaining coronavirus health restrictions. At a meeting this week with other ministers, he emphasised the need to “revitalise the manufacturing base of the country,” warning that unless this occurred, “the government will fall short of money to run the economy.”

Last month, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka wrote to the government, urging it to take more measures to boost their activities and profits. The big-business lobby group wants new laws to expand home/remote work, part-time employment, contract work and flexible hours. It has also demanded more restructuring of state-owned enterprises in order to exploit those industries and services. These job destruction demands will further increase unemployment and poverty, which according to some commentators is over 10 percent.

Colombo’s attacks on jobs and social spending will fuel the eruption of mass struggles despite the desperate efforts of the unions, opposition political parties and the media to prop up the Rajapakse regime.

In line with an unfolding wave of struggles by the international working class, Sri Lankan workers have begun resisting the government and big business attacks as indicated by widespread strike action and demonstrations in the health, education, administration, electricity, railways and plantation sectors in recent months.

Evo Morales Denounces a new US-led Plan Condor

Nan MCurdy & Nora McCurdy

Operation Condor was a US-directed secret intelligence system that operated in the 70s and part of the 80s in six South American US-backed dictatorships that cooperated to assassinate progressive forces including priests and nuns. Thousands of people were disappeared during Condor. President Morales is denouncing the 2019 coup against him and the recent assassination of Haiti’s president as part of a new US Plan Condor.

Bolivia

“The sending of war materials by the former presidents of Ecuador, (Moreno), and Argentina, (Macri), and the letter of thanks from General Terceros are further evidence that, together with the assassination of the President of Haiti, by former Colombian military personnel, show the execution of a second Condor Plan under U.S. direction.

We alert the Latin America social movements about #PlanCóndor2 and the need to strengthen the struggle for peace with social justice and democracy to preserve the sovereignty and independence of our States and the dignity of the people.

In the face of the Bolivian right wing and its US-paid media that lie and do not show a single piece of evidence of the alleged fraud [2019 elections], more evidence continues to appear about those who participated in the 2019 coup d’état and the support given by anti-popular governments with war material and money.

We reaffirm that #PlanCóndor2 is underway and we must agree on measures so that the right-wing governments of Latin America do not continue to participate in coups d’état under the leadership of the United States, causing mourning and pain to our peoples.

We warn the people, militants, sympathizers, patriotic military and professionals committed to their country: We are in the sights of the U.S. because we recovered our natural resources, nationalized strategic companies and closed the military base in Chimoré. They do not forgive us.”

Cuba

On June 23 of this year, 184 countries of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of an end to the US embargo on Cuba. It was the 29th consecutive year where virtually all countries, except the US and Israel made this demand. In recent years the Cuban media has denounced millions of dollars of US funding, through organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to create and fund opposition media and the organization of youth. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez on July 11 rejected the smear campaigns of the US media hegemony in the midst of the Covid pandemic with the intensification of the illegal economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States.

“In a subtle, cowardly and opportunistic manner, those who have maintained the blockade and those who have been used as mercenaries and lackeys of the empire, appear with humanitarian doctrines to strengthen the criterion that the Cuban government is not capable of dealing with this situation; if they are worried about the people of Cuba, they need to end the blockade,” said the Cuban president. The US is intensifying the blockade hoping to cause an internal implosion. “They want to suffocate us and try to put an end to the Revolution…I am giving this information to ratify that the streets belong to the Revolution; that the party and the Government have all the disposition to debate and help,” said President Díaz-Canel.

The President called on the base of the Revolution to go into the streets to face the provocations of manipulators who promote protests and support illegal sanctions against their own country; “we know that there are revolutionary masses facing small anti-revolutionary groups, we are not going to let any mercenary of the US empire provoke destabilization.” he added.

The head of state emphasized that the provocations of small groups intend to create a scenario so that the US can justify an invasion. “In the second half of 2019 we explained to our people that we were going through a difficult juncture, from the signs that the US was giving against Cuba,” he recalled.

“The financial, economic, commercial and energy persecution increased, they [Washington] want to provoke internal social problems in Cuba in order to call for humanitarian missions that translate into military invasions and interference,” denounced President Díaz-Canel. The president recalled that Cuba was included in the infamous list as sponsors of terrorism, “a unilateral list; they believe they are emperors of the world,” he added.

Peru

Peru has served as a haven for the Peruvian wealthy and for transnational corporations going back at least 40 years. In the June 6 elections Pedro Castillo, a teacher and candidate of the Free Peru Party, won in the second round. But his opponent Keiko Fujimori refused to concede. Daughter of former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori and a member of Peru’s wealthy elite, she has the support of the country’s oligarchy and corporations. With 100% of the votes counted Castillo won 50.127% of the vote (8.84 million votes), beating Fujimori of the Fuerza Popular Party, who received 49.873% (8.79 million votes).

The US and the Peruvian oligarchy as well as Fujimori and her army of lawyers are using the model of an electoral coup to try to keep Castillo from the presidency because he is calling for a constituent assembly and appears to favor far-reaching reforms that would improve the lives of the inpoverished majority and diminish the power of the country’s elites as well as corporations. Just six weeks before the election the US sent a new ambassador to Peru, Lisa Kenna. Kenna was an adviser to former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a nine-year veteran at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a US secretary of state official in Iraq.

Haiti

On June 30, just a week before the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, William Burns, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency arrived in Colombia to participate in a “sensitive” security mission. The Colombian ambassador in Washington, Francisco Santos, reported on the CIA director’s trip to Colombia, but said he did not want to give further details about Director Burns’ visit to Bogota. “I prefer not to tell you, it is a delicate mission, an important intelligence mission that we were able to coordinate,” responded Santos when questioned about the mission.

The US has seven military bases in Colombia and a history of support for the narcotics dealing paramilitary forces that are the political base of right wing President Ivan Duque and his sinister narco-terror implicated mentor former president Álvaro Uribe. So it makes sense that Colombians may well have been part of the commando that killed President Jovenel Moise. There has been a lot of disinformation given about the assassination of Moise to try to confuse people, but it is not difficult to surmise which country is most likely behind the assassination.

In a March interview, former US ambassador to Haiti, Pamela White talked about a plan to “put aside” President Jovenel Moise leaving power in the hands of an interim Prime Minister. All this to avoid democratic elections which the population have been calling for since early 2020. How do you “put aside” a president? The US government has a long record in the region of assassinating popular presidents and leaders or supporting coups to overthrow elected governments, as it did in Haiti in 2004 to remove President Aristide.

In 2020 when Moïse should have stepped down and when the most popular party, Fanmi Lavalas was calling for elections, the US backed him staying in power. Polls show that the progressive party Lavalas is very popular and if the US were to allow fair elections, they would very likely win. Whoever murdered President Moïse and for whatever immediate reason, the principal medium term result is continued chaos for Haiti’s people, including possibly another military intervention, putting a stable political settlement further out of reach than ever.

Nicaragua

With careful direction and millions of dollars from US agencies and foundations a coup was attempted in 2018 against Nicaragua’s government which won the 2016 elections with over 72% of the vote. The failed coup attempt left over 260 people dead including 24 police. Along with executions, hundreds of Sandinista supporters and government workers were kidnapped and tortured. With destruction of government and private buildings, vehicles and equipment, loss of 130,000 jobs and business closures Finance Minister Ivan Acosta calculates the cost to the economy of more than a billion dollars – more than the combined losses caused by the Covid pandemic and the two devastating hurricanes of November 2020.

A new destabilization plan called RAIN, Responsive Action in Nicaragua, managed and financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was leaked from the US embassy in July 2020. Many more millions have been given by the US to their agents and proxy organizations in Nicaragua to carry out RAIN’s operational program which openly calls for an unconstitutional “transition” and for promoting “transition-related activities.” These activities violate Nicaragua’s Constitution, the country’s 2007 criminal code, national security legislation and money laundering laws in compliance with international standards, as well as the law relating to non-profits.

The current US administration has maintained president Trump’s designation of Nicaragua as an “extraordinary and unusual threat to the US national security and foreign policy.” This means that Nicaraguans accepting money from the US government and participating in US programs to promote a “democratic transition” are actively collaborating with a hostile foreign power.  Since June this year over twenty Nicaraguans involved in these unlawful and potentially treasonous activities have come under investigation.

The offences they are accused of involve not only possible treason for organizing, financing and participating in a coup d’état, requesting foreign economic and even military aggression, and promoting coercive measures against the government and individual citizens. Additionally, some are under investigation for money laundering, financial fraud relating to abuse of non-profits, and the law on registration and financial reporting as foreign agents, similar to the US FARA legislation. Moreover among the detained are people who, by engaging in this broad range of law breaking, violated the terms of the Amnesty Law from which they benefited in 2019.

Venezuela

There have been numerous attempts on President Maduro’s life in recent years, including an attack by drones carrying explosives. In May 2020, a large group of US funded terrorists, including two US citizens, after training in Colombia entered Venezuela by boat, hoping to kidnap or assassinate President Maduro. Their presence was quickly reported by local fishing workers and the group was intercepted by the Venezuelan authorities.

US Southern Command has long openly proposed plans and advocated measures to facilitate the overthrow of Venezuela’s elected government. Recently, Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, has again denounced that the US Southern Command and the Central Intelligence Agency are elaborating plans from Colombian territory to attack Venezuela. He again accused the CIA of planning to assassinate him. President Maduro alerted the Venezuelan people and urged them to be prepared “to respond forcefully to any destabilization plan in perfect civil-military union.”

Maduro’s statement comes in relation to the arrival in Colombia of the commander of the Southern Command, Craig Faller, and the director of the CIA, William Joseph Burns whose visit, as the Colombian ambassador to the US explained was a “delicate mission,” taking place right before criminal attacks in Haiti and Venezuela.  President Maduro noted, “We have received Information … they are behind plans to continue threatening and attacking peace and democracy, the institutions and the leadership of our country.”

The Venezuelan government’s warnings about the continuing conspiracies, violence and preparation of mercenary groups in Colombia to attack Venezuela were borne out recently by attacks in Venezuela’s capital. Various criminal gangs staged attacks in different parts of Caracas including one on an important police center. The attacks were clearly coordinated to create a climate of fear and uncertainty during a visit by a European Union Delegation to assess the possibility of EU observers monitoring the important elections scheduled for later this year. The Venezuelan security forces took action to control the areas under attack and dismantled the criminal gangs responsible.

Conclusion

As political leaders like Evo Morales and leading intellectuals like Stella Calloni and others have repeatedly made clear, the US elites and their regional allies are desperate to impose a new Plan Condor in Latin America and the Caribbean. Of course, historically they have always sought to suppress regional emancipation in the form of progressive movements and governments.  But in a global context, they now also fear the growth of the region’s economic links with Asia, especially China. Despite their enormous political influence, economic power and military presence the US and its allies face a losing battle, just as Spain did 200 years ago.

One model of US and allied control is the kind of antidemocratic intervention developed in Haiti and Honduras by the US, Canada and Western Europe. This model ensures a neutered, corrupt central government and neocolonial rule via international agencies and Western NGOs. But the collapse of Haiti and Honduras into neocolonial subjugation is still mostly an exception in the region. Apart from Haiti, the other Caribbean nations have proven to be very resilient against US pressure, consistently blocking moves against Venezuela by the US and Canada in the Organization of American States for example.

Also Nicaragua’s decisive 2012 legal victory regaining over 90,000 km2 of Caribbean maritime territory, usurped by Colombia for decades, has meant that Nicaragua has joined Cuba and like-minded progressive Caribbean island nations in regional bodies, reinforcing the presence of revolutionary influence in those forums. In practice, that means promotion of development policies focused on people rather than on corporate profit. From Mexico and the Caribbean to Chile and Argentina, despite the aggressive offensive against Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, it is the right-wing allies of the US that are in crisis, precisely because the mean, bitter, sterile Western vision of capitalist development condemns people to misery and despair.

So it is no surprise that widespread popular protests have arisen with varying levels of intensity in Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay and Brazil. Guillermo Lasso’s right wing government in Ecuador will soon face the inevitable consequences of implementing repressive neoliberal economic measures. While the US and its allies managed to destabilize Argentina thanks to its elites looting the country under Mauricio Macri and taking on debilitating foreign debt, the country’s foreign policy remains an important force for progressive regional integration against US wishes. The same is true of Mexico.

Despite economic, diplomatic and military power, the intense, well-coordinated US and allied efforts to destabilize Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua and the region generally are failing. China’s influence is growing as that of the US declines. Haiti and Honduras may for now have become tragic showcases of what the US and its allies want to impose on Latin America and the Caribbean but Bolivia’s heroic people showed that even a successful right-wing coup can be reversed. The current US-led Plan Condor may not be the Monroe Doctrine’s swan song in Latin America. But in any case, the writing is very much there on the wall for anyone who cares to see.

US Targets Nicaraguan Presidential Election: Former Solidarity Activists Echo Imperial Talking Points

Roger Harris

Before Henry Kissinger became a Clinton pal, liberals condemned him for saying: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” The 1973 US-backed coup and bloodbath in Chile followed. Now Uncle Sam has a problem in Nicaragua, where independent polls predict a landslide victory for Daniel Ortega’s leftist Sandinista slate in the November 7^th presidential elections.

The US government and its sycophantic media are working to prevent Ortega’s reelection. On July 12, the US slapped visa restrictions on one hundred Nicaraguan elected legislative officials, members of the judiciary, and their families for “undermining democracy.” A month earlier, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on President Ortega’s daughter, along with a military general, the head of the central bank, and an elected legislator.

These and other recent illegal US sanctions on Nicaragua are designed to promote regime change and are based on the ridiculous charge that this poor and tiny nation is a “extraordinary and unusual threat to the US national security,” when the opposite is the case.

The NICA Act of 2018, under the Trump administration, imposed sanctions, including blocking loans from international financial institutions controlled by the US. In August 2020, the Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua (RAIN) plan was revealed, which is a multi-faceted coup strategy by which the US contracted corporations to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. RAIN calls for a “sudden, unanticipated transition” government to forestall what they admit would otherwise be a Sandinista victory in a free election. In a seamless handoff from the Trump to the Biden administration, the pending RENACER Act would further extended “targeted sanctions.”

US intervention in Nicaragua and, indeed, in all of Latin America under the 1823 Monroe Doctrine has a long history continuing to the present. Back in 1856, US citizen William Walker tried to impose himself as head of a slave state in Nicaragua, only to be assassinated four years later. In 1912, the US began an occupation of Nicaragua, forcing the country to become a US protectorate. The US was ousted in 1933 in a war led by national hero Augusto C. Sandino, after whom the present revolutionary party was named. In the 1980s, the US government proxies, the Contras, fought the new Sandinistas after they overthrew the US-backed Somoza dictatorship.

Problematic premises

In the past, most US progressives opposed the imperialism of their government. But more recently, as Jeremy Kuzmarov of CovertAction Magazine observed: “United States warmakers have become so skilled at propaganda that not only can they wage a war of aggression without arousing protest; they can also compel liberals to denounce peace activists using language reminiscent of the McCarthy era.”

A recent Open Letter to the Nicaraguan Government from U.S. Solidarity Workers 1979-1990 reflects the US imperial talking points. This US open letter, dated July 1, is joined by one from Europeans, formerly active in solidarity with Nicaragua, and one from international academics, mainly in the field of Latin American studies. (Links to all three letters may be dodgy.) All three letters, likely coordinated, use similar language to make matching critiques and demands.

While other international activists from the 1980s still prioritize non-intervention and solidarity with the Sandinista government, the concerns expressed in the open letter should be respectfully evaluated. The open letter is based on the following problematic premises:

The open letter claims the Ortega “regime” is guilty of “crimes against humanity.”

In fact, Nicaragua is by far the most progressive country in Central America under the Sandinista government.

Unlike the Guatemalans, Hondurans, and El Salvadorians in these US client states, Nicaraguans are not fleeing to the US in search of a better life. Poverty and extreme poverty have been halved in Nicaragua, and the UN Millennium Development Goal of cutting malnutrition has been achieved. Basic healthcare and education are free, and illiteracy has been virtually eliminated, while boasting of the highest level of gender equality in the Americas. Nicaragua, which enjoys the lowest homicide rate in Central America, also has the smallest police force with the smallest budget in the region. These are not the hallmarks of a dictatorship.

The open letter claims the 2018 coup attempt was simply a “demonstration of self-determination.” While the open letter correctly notes that the events of 2018 reflected an element of popular discontent, it renders invisible the millions of dollars and many years of US sponsored subversion in Nicaragua.

Social media campaigns of false information orchestrated by US-sponsored groups fueled viciously violent protests. According to solidarity activist Jorge Capelán: “those who kidnapped, tortured, robbed, murdered and raped citizens here in Nicaragua in April 2018 were the coup promoters. They themselves recorded everything with their cell phones. They even set fire to murdered Sandinista comrades in the street.”

Benjamin Waddell, a signatory to the open letter, admitted “it’s becoming more and more clear that the US support has helped play a role in nurturing the current [2018] uprisings.” Dan La Botz, another Ortega-must-go partisan, provided the background: “US organizations such as USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and no doubt the CIA had for decades, of course, worked in Nicaragua as they do everywhere in the world.”

No substantive progressive alternative was offered by the opposition in 2018, according to William Robinson, another signatory to the open letter. Rather, 2018 was an attempt to achieve by violent means what could not be achieved democratically at the ballot box.

The open letter claims the Nicaraguan government “in no way represents the values, principles and goals of the Sandinista revolution.” This stance arrogates to foreigners the role of telling the Nicaraguan people how to evaluate their revolution. The electoral process in Nicaragua makes clear that the Nicaraguans think otherwise.

After successfully overthrowing the US-backed dictator Somoza and fighting the counter-revolutionary war against the US-backed Contras, the Sandinista’s lost the 1990 election. Notably, outgoing President Ortega without hesitation obeyed the electoral mandate, the first time in Nicaragua’s history that governing power was passed peacefully to another political party.  After 17 years of neoliberal austerity, Daniel Ortega won the presidential election of 2006 with a 38% plurality and went on to win in 2011 with 63% and 72.5% in 2016. Ortega’s ever increasing electoral margins suggest the majority of Nicaraguans support him as the legitimate leader of the Sandinista revolution.

Problematic proposals

Using the same loaded language as the US government, the open letter calls on the “Ortega-Murillo regime” to release political prisoners currently being held, including “pre-candidates,” members of the opposition, and “historic leaders” of the Sandinista revolution; rescind the national security law under which these individuals were arrested; and negotiate electoral reforms.

Nicaragua has passed two recent laws: the Foreign Agents Law and the Law to Defend the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination for Peace. These laws, which the open letter wants rescinded, criminalize promoting foreign interference in Nicaragua’s internal affairs, seeking foreign military intervention, organizing acts of terrorism, and promoting coercive economic measures against their country. These are activities, it should be noted, that are similarly prohibited in the US’s FARA Act, after which the Nicaraguan laws were modeled.

The recent actions of the Nicaraguan government prosecuting people who break their laws is a normal function of governance. That some of the accused perpetrators may have political aspirations does not immunize those individuals from arrest for unlawful activities.

The letter from the aforementioned academics claims that among those detained are the “most prominent potential opposition presidential candidates.” In fact, none of the 17 political parties in Nicaragua have chosen their candidates, and “most of those currently under investigation do not belong to any legally registered party.” In fact, Stephen Sefton reports from Nicaragua that “no leading figure from Nicaragua’s opposition political parties has been affected by the recent series of arrests of people from organizations that supported the 2018 coup attempt.”

One of the most prominent of those arrested is NGO director Cristiana Chamorro, charged with money laundering for receiving millions of dollars from the USAID, other US government agencies, and allied foundations for regime-change purposes. In her defense, she incredulously claimed that the US State Department had audited her and found everything to their liking.

The “historic leaders” of the Sandinista revolution are just that; people who had broken with the revolution long ago and since 1994 had collaborated with the US-allied rightwing opposition and NGOs. More to the point, they are being charged with illegal collusion with foreign powers.

The open letter calls for “negotiating electoral reforms,” but electoral law in Nicaragua as in the US is determined by the legislative process and not by negotiations among various power blocks. Nicaragua has implemented some but not all reforms mandated by the Organization of American States. The fourth branch of government, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), oversees elections. A third of the current CSE is composed of representatives of parties other than the ruling party, even though the Sandinistas hold a supermajority in the legislature.

The right of the Nicaraguan revolution to defend itself

While acknowledging “the long and shameful history of US government intervention,” the open letter does not acknowledge the right of the Nicaraguan revolution to defend itself. On the contrary, their implied endorsement of the 2018 coup attempt is a call for regime change by non-democratic means and an implicit pass for US interference.

The open letter’s finding that “the crimes of the US government – past and present – are not the cause of, nor do they justify or excuse” the behavior of the current government in Nicaragua is a door that swings two ways. Whatever the alleged wrongdoings the Ortega government, that still does not justify the US government’s regime-change campaign. The open letter is thunderously silent on current US intervention, notably the punishing NICA and RENACER acts.

The Nicaraguan government has prioritized the needs of poor and working people and has made astounding progress on multiple fronts. That is why they are being targeted for regime change, and why the Nicaraguans have taken measures to thwart US intervention.

The Trump administration specifically targeted the so-called “Troika of Tyranny” – Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua – with repressive illegal sanctions aimed at regime change. That policy of US domination did not start with Trump, nor is it ending with the new US administration.

The imperialists are clear on who they target as their enemy; some elements on the left are less clear on who is their friend and whether Nicaragua has a right to defend itself.  If the signers of the open letter believe, as they claim, “in the Nicaraguan people’s right to self-determination…of a sovereign people determining their own destiny,” then the November 2021 election should be protected, free from interference by the US, its international allies, and its funded NGOs.