Tam sim no hais tias John McCain tau txiav txim siab txog kev xaiv tsa Republican, nws yog qhov xav tsis thoob tias nws yuav ua li cas rau lwm lub ntiaj teb yog tias nws raug xaiv tsa Thawj Tswj Hwm.  For example, how would the “maverick” McCain deal with Latin America?  In recent years, the region has taken a decidedly leftist turn; new leaders such as Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua have openly challenged U.S. diplomatic and political influence.  McCain cov ntaub ntawv qhia tias nws yuav ua raws li txoj cai hawkish thiab antagonistic nyob rau hauv hemisphere.  It’s even possible that the Arizona Republican, who has suggested that the United States might be in Iraq for hundreds of years and might “bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran,” could ratchet up military tensions in Latin America and escalate conflict with countries like Venezuela.

 

 

Lub koom haum International Republican (IRI)

 

McCain tau ua tus thawj coj ntawm International Republican Institute (IRI) txij li xyoo 1993.  Ostensibly ib tug tsis-partisan, kev ywj pheej-tsim ib pab tub rog, nyob rau hauv kev muaj tiag IRI ua hauj lwm raws li ib qho cuab yeej rau kev nce qib thiab txhawb txoj cai nyob deb tshaj ntawm Republican txawv teb chaws txoj cai txheej txheem.  More a cloak-and-dagger operation than a conventional research group, IRI has aligned itself with some of the most antidemocratic factions in the Third World. 

 

Ntawm qhov chaw tsawg kawg, IRI zoo li muaj cov txheej txheem tsis zoo suav nrog kev tsim tsev tog, kev cob qhia kev tshaj tawm, lub koom haum ntawm kev cob qhia kev coj noj coj ua, kev tshaj tawm xov xwm, thiab kev txhawb nqa pej xeem zej zog.  In reality, however, the IRI is more concerned with crushing incipient left movements in Latin America. 

 

One of the least known Washington institutions, IRI receives taxpayer money via the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development (U.S. A.I.D.).  Lub koom haum ua haujlwm nyob ib ncig ntawm rau caum lub teb chaws thiab muaj peev txheej ntawm $ 74 lab.        On the board of IRI, McCain has been joined by a who’s who of Republican bigwigs such as Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick. 

 

IRI's Latin American Cov Haujlwm

 

In Haiti, IRI helped to fund, equip, and lobby for Haiti’s two heavily conservative and White House-backed opposition parties, the Democratic Convergence and Group 184.  Cov pab pawg tom kawg, suav nrog ntau ntawm cov kob cov lag luam loj, lub tsev teev ntuj thiab cov kws tshaj lij, yog nyob rau ntawm qhov kev tawm tsam ntawm Jean Bertrand Aristide ua ntej Haitian Thawj Tswj Hwm raug yuam tawm hauv 2004.  Nyob rau tib lub sijhawm, IRI funneled cov neeg them se cov nyiaj rau cov kab mob nyuaj los tiv thaiv Castro cov phooj ywg rau Republican Party.

 

In Venezuela, IRI generously funded anti-Chávez civil society groups that were militantly opposed to the regime.  Pib xyoo 1998, xyoo Chavez raug xaiv, IRI tau ua haujlwm nrog Venezuelan cov koom haum los tsim cov kev tawm tsam tawm tsam Chavez, suav nrog cov ntawv xov xwm, TV thiab xov tooj cua tshaj tawm.  Additionally, when politicians, union and civil society leaders went to Washington to meet with U.S. officials just one month before the April 2002 coup, IRI picked up the bill.  IRI kuj tau pab nyiaj rau lub koom haum tsis ncaj ncees ntawm Venezuelan Cov Neeg Ua Haujlwm (uas tau ua lub luag haujlwm tseem ceeb hauv kev tawm tsam tawm tsam Chávez destabilization ua rau muaj kev tawm tsam) thiab Súmate, ib lub koom haum koom nrog hauv kev kos npe sib sau ua ke los nthuav tawm tsab ntawv thov hu rau Chavez. nco qab.

 

 

McCain and Cuba

 

McCain has taken a personal interest in IRI’s Cuba work and praises the anti-Castro opposition.  The Arizona Senator has called Cuba “a national security threat,” adding that “as president, I will not passively await the long overdue demise of the Castro dictatorship … The Cuban people have waited long enough.”  McCain wants to increase funding for the U.S. government’s anti-Castro radio and TV stations, seeks the release of all Cuban political prisoners, supports internationally monitored elections on the island, and wants to keep the U.S. trade embargo in place.  What kind of future does McCain envision for Cuba?  No doubt, one in which the Miami anti-Castro exiles rule the island.  McCain’s most influential advisers on Latin American affairs are Cuban Americans from Florida, including Senator Mel Martínez and far right Congress members Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros Lehtinen. 

 

 

Rau McCain, Nws Tsis Muaj Kev Ua Lag Luam Dawb thiab Kev Ua Tub Rog

 

Ntawm Capitol Hill, McCain tau sib tw txhawb Asmeskas Latin American cov thawj coj thaum ua haujlwm cais cov tsoomfwv uas tau nce siab los tawm tsam Asmeskas kev ua nom ua tswv.  On Colombia, for example, McCain has been a big booster of official U.S. policy.  Despite Colombia’s status as a human rights nightmare, the Senator supports ongoing funding to the government of Álvaro Uribe so as to combat the “narco-trafficking and terrorist threat.” 

 

McCain tau nyiam tus kheej hauv thaj av Andean.  He has traveled to Ecuador and Colombia so as to drum up more support for the counter insurgency and drug war, now amounting to billions of dollars a year.  McCain qhov kev ntshai tshaj plaws yog tias Democrats tuaj yeem tua cov nyiaj ntws mus rau Uribe.  Nws tau hais tias "Koj tsis tsim kev sib koom tes zoo los ntawm kev tig koj rov qab rau cov phooj ywg," nws tau hais. 

 

McCain seeks to confront countries such as Venezuela and Cuba by encouraging U.S. partnership with sympathetic regimes that support American style free trade.  “We need to build on the passage of the Central America Free Trade Agreement by expanding U.S. trade with the region,’’ he has said. “Let’s start by ratifying the trade agreements with Panama, Peru, and Colombia that are already completed, and pushing forward the Free Trade Area of the Americas.”

 

Chavez tau yog ib qho teeb meem loj tshaj plaws rau kev ua tiav ntawm McCain cov txheej txheem kev lag luam dawb, txawm li cas los xij.  In recent years, the Venezuelan has pushed his own barter trade scheme, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, which promotes economic solidarity and reciprocity between Latin American nations.  Concerned about growing ties between Cuba and Venezuela, McCain said “He [Chávez] aspires to be this generation’s [Fidel] Castro. I think the people of Venezuela ought to look at the standard of living in Cuba before they would embrace such a thing.” 

 

 

Fighting the Information War in Latin America

 

Speaking in Miami’s Little Havana, McCain said that “everyone should understand the connections” between Evo Morales, Castro, and Chávez. “They inspire each other. They assist each other. They get ideas from each other.  It’s very disturbing.” McCain said Chávez breathed “new oxygen” into Castro’s regime, and that the U.S. government should do more to quell dictatorships throughout Latin America.  Perhaps not surprisingly given his historic involvement in IRI, McCain’s campaign Web site even featured an online petition calling for support in his quest to “stop the dictators of Latin America.”  Daim ntawv thov hu kom tshem tawm Chavez "los ntawm lub npe ntawm kev ywj pheej thiab kev ywj pheej thoob plaws hauv peb lub ntiaj teb."

 

Though the petition was later taken down, McCain has staked out hawkish territory on Venezuela and would surely escalate tensions with the South American nation.  Most troubling is the Senator’s strong push for renewed U.S. propaganda in the region. McCain has criticized the Venezuelan government’s decision to not renew Radio Caracas Television’s license, and has called for reestablishing an agency like the United States Information Agency (the USIA oversaw a variety of agencies including the Voice of America radio network before it was merged into the State Department in 1998).

 

“Dismantling an agency dedicated to promoting America and the American message amounted to unilateral disarmament in the struggle of ideas,’’ McCain has said. “We need to re-create an independent agency with the sole purpose of getting America’s message to the world. This…would aid our efforts to communicate accurately with the people of Latin America.” 

 

If McCain was ever able to push through his aggressive media initiatives, he would antagonize many nations in the region which resent the pervasiveness of U.S. dominated media.  Already, Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, and Uruguay have formed a joint satellite news station called Telesur (in my upcoming book scheduled for release in six weeks, I devote an entire chapter to the issue of media politics in South America). 

 

From Bolton to Big Stick

 

Txhawm rau ua kom qhov teeb meem tsis zoo, Tus Thawj Coj ntawm IRI tau nrhiav kev txhawb nqa neo-conservative cov nuj nqis los ntawm Bush tsoom fwv xws li John Bolton.  Thaum lub sij hawm tom kawg lub rooj sib hais hauv Senate, McCain tau hais kom nws cov npoj yaig Democratic pom zoo rau tus neeg sawv cev xaiv tsa sai.  Bolton has been a hawk not only on Iran but also Venezuela.  McCain, who refers to Chávez as a “wacko,” said it was important to confirm Bolton.  With Bolton at the United Nations, the U.S. would be able to talk back to “two-bit dictators” like the Venezuelan leader.   

 

Like Bolton, McCain apparently shares his colleague’s disdain for the United Nations and wants to create a so-called League of Democracies.  As envisioned by the Arizona legislator, the new body would take the place of the United Nations on such issues as conflict resolution, disease treatment and prevention, environmental crises, and access to free markets.  Interestingly, McCain qhov kev tshoov siab rau Pab Koomtes yog Teddy Roosevelt, uas muaj lub zeem muag ntawm "cov teb chaws zoo li lub siab ua haujlwm ua ke rau kev thaj yeeb thiab kev ywj pheej."

 

Roosevelt, however, was no dove: he wielded a Big Stick and practiced gunboat diplomacy in Latin America.  Nws yog ib txoj cai uas John McCain tej zaum yuav xav rov kho dua yog tias nws raug xaiv tsa Thawj Tswj Hwm thaum lub Kaum Ib Hlis.

 

 

Nikolas Kozloff yog tus sau kiv puag ncig! South America thiab Rise of the New Left (Palgrave-Macmillan, Plaub Hlis Ntuj 2008), Thiab Hugo Chávez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006)

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