The death of Argentina’s former president is a sad loss. His bold defiance of the IMF paved the way for South America’s progress
By Mark Weisbrot
Published by The Guardian Unlimited (UK) on October 27, 2010.
The sudden death of Néstor Kirchner today is a great loss not only to Argentina but to the region and the world. Kirchner took office as president in May 2003, when Argentina was in the initial stages of its recovery from a terrible recession. His role in rescuing Argentina’s economy is comparable to that of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Great Depression of the United States. Like Roosevelt, Kirchner had to stand up not only to powerful moneyed interests but also to most of the economics profession, which was insisting that his policies would lead to disaster. They proved wrong, and Kirchner was right.
Argentina’s recession from 1998-2002 was indeed comparable to the U.S. Great Depression in terms of unemployment, which peaked at more than 21 percent, and lost output (about 20 percent of GDP). The majority of Argentines, who had until then enjoyed living standards among the highest in Latin America, were pushed below the poverty line. In December of 2002 and January 2003, the country underwent a massive devaluation, a world-historical record sovereign default on $95 billion of debt, and a collapse of the financial system.
Although some of the heterodox policies that ultimately ensured Argentina’s rapid recovery were begun in the year before Kirchner took office, he had to follow them through some tough challenges to make Argentina the fastest growing economy in the region.
CARACAS – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States if it were to back a Colombian military attack on Venezuela, warning Washington to stay out of the fray.
Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota Thursday in response to charges by President Alvaro Uribe that 1,500 Colombian guerrillas had set up camp inside Venezuela and were launching attacks from its territory.
The firebrand leftist president said on Sunday he had intelligence that “the possibility of an armed aggression against Venezuelan territory from Colombia” was higher than it has been “in 100 years.”
The new Oliver Stone documentary South of the Border is raising awareness of the often shabby U.S. media treatment of Latin America.
A recent example is a June 24L.A. Times piece by Alex Renderos headlined “El Salvador President Under Fire.”
The president is former FMLN leader Mauricio Funes, who was elected last year. According to the Times, things are going poorly for him: Crime and corruption are still problems, he is facing an ”avalanche of criticism,” and “Salvadorans are growing impatient.”
The paper adds:
Funes’ failures have hit the poor and working class especially hard. After two decades of one-party right-wing rule, they greeted the rise of the left with great hope. Today they are deeply disillusioned.
When the evidence of public discontent–especially in Latin America–is at least in part based on a newspaper editorial, one should be cautious.
Published: June 18 2010 23:29 | Last updated: June 18 2010 23:29
I am sitting on the floor, back against the wall, of a cramped, stuffy room in a Caracas hotel, waiting for Oliver Stone. There must be 25 other journalists in here – most of them local writers from Venezuela – all waiting to quiz the filmmaker about South of the Border, his new documentary on the rise of the left in Latin America and the phenomenon that is Hugo Chávez. The bright lights from the TV cameras have made the little space hot and uncomfortable but the glamorous female presenters near the stage don’t have a hair out of place. They sit smiling, straight-backed and motionless – in contrast with me, a crumpled mess who has spent the best part of 24 hours getting there.
A woman who will translate for Stone is fiddling with a microphone when the director of Platoon and the upcoming sequel to Wall Street strides into the room. He is wearing a blue suit – the jacket has been tossed over his shoulder, which is wise, given the heat – a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie. He is also sporting a moustache which, together with the suit and parted mop of dark hair, gives him the rakish appearance of a character from one of Graham Greene’s Latin America novels.
Stone takes the stage next to his producer, Fernando Sulichin, a slim, bald Argentine, while a silver-haired moderator who looks like a game-show host tells the reporters they can begin their questions. Reviewers have criticised the documentary for being too positive a portrait of Chávez, and Stone is on the defensive almost immediately, frowning when a young man asks him about the balance – or lack of it – in the film.
Stone between Bolivian president Evo Morales (left) and producer Fernando Sulichin (right)
By Jay A. Fernandez
Viva Oliver!
Noted political firebrand Oliver Stone attended the Bolivian premiere of his documentary “South of the Border” last night at El Coliseo La Coronilla, an enormous indoor sports stadium in Cochabamba. More than six thousand Bolivians, including Bolivian president Evo Morales, attended. Stone even walked away with the key to the city, bestowed on him by the city’s mayor.
“I don’t think in my entire career in cinema I’ve seen a crowd so big to see a movie of mine,” Stone told the audience. “I’m honored to bring this film to Cochabamba.”
In 2005, during a visit to the South Bronx in New York City, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a lofty promise to help active community members cope with local issues. A half-decade and a few million dollars later, Chavez’s promise has become a reality and residents from the community are reaping the benefits.
The program, which officially took off in 2007, is controlled by CITGO Petroleum Corporation, the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company. With a three-year agreement to provide $1 million annually, CITGO’s profits have now funded numerous social projects in what is one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States.
With over 500,000 residents and around 50% living in poverty, no one expected the modest $1 million would generate an economic recovery. However, for many start-up organizations and small nonprofits, the funds have been a vital resource especially during the economic slump.
Petro-Bronx, a coalition of resident volunteers, decides through consensus how the money will be divided annually based on proposals submitted by various groups around the South Bronx.
The groups funded are a majority community-based and built as a response to what they argue has been a decades long recession in the South Bronx. From worker-run and food cooperatives to environmental justice and women of color collectives, many of the groups are also creating new democratic alternatives in an area that has received little attention from the city.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a workers’ day takeover of four power companies on Saturday, expanding the state’s dominion over key industries.
Morales signed the nationalization decree at offices of one of the companies in the central city of Cochabamba hours after police and soldiers moved in to secure them.
By Associated Press via Los Angeles Times
May 1, 2010 | 7:37 p.m
![Cochabamba2[1]](http://riskybusiness.hollywoodreporter.com/files/Cochabamba21-300x199.jpg "Oliver Stone takes South of the Border to Bolivia")
Stone between Bolivian president Evo Morales (left) and producer Fernando Sulichin (right)
