The peoples of Latin America have long faced oppression and economic exploitation from abroad. Examples abound of how first Great Britain and then the United States freely disregarded the sovereignty of Latin Americans in order to keep them poor, uneducated, and desperate for bad jobs and charity hand-outs. Despite this long legacy of exploitation, imperialists have never been able to extinguish the struggle for freedom and democracy that permeates the continent. Latin America today faces a host of attacks from neoliberal imperialists who are increasingly becoming more militaristic in their methods.
The US-forged Plan Colombia allegedly aids the Colombian government fight a civil war against FARC, a leftist revolutionary movement, and combat illicit drug production and exportation. This multi-million military aid package is being given to a state that arms right-wing paramilitary groups to target all democratic forces in the country, including trade unionists, human rights activists, and progressive clergy—Colombia has by far the highest rate of unionist homicide in the world. In fact, corporations have contracted these paramilitary groups to crush unionizing drives in their firms and silence those who protest poor environmental practices. Plan Colombia also gives the United States military a foot-hold into the Amazon region with its immense mineral, vegetable, and genetic wealth (the US military is trying to get another base on the other side of the Amazon by trying to arm-twist the Brazilian government to cede them control of Alcântara Launch Center in Maranhão, Brazil). An undemocratic Colombia with groups that actively target and murder democratic forces is a setting where transnational corporations can freely continue their long history of forcing people to work for a fraction of the value their labor produces. Young Colombian workers and intellectuals are organizing to force the Colombian state to respect human rights and disarm paramilitary groups. Youth all over the world are united in opposition to Plan Colombia because it is a direct affront on the rights of Colombian people to force its government to become more accountable to their needs instead of international capital’s needs.
Capitalist imperialists also fight to destabilize nations that resist neo-liberal domination. In 1959, Cubans were able to oust North American imperialist domination from their country. Since then, they have achieved enormous gains in education and healthcare with indicators that are among the best in the hemisphere, despite 40 years of crushing economic sanctions. The Bolivarian Revolution led by President Chavez in Venezuela began a process of ending aristocratic rule of urban elites and expanding participation of workers in government. Venezuela’s abandonment of the accepted world order where development occurs primarily for elites has led to several US-backed plans to depose Chavez’s government, a crippling freeze by the lucrative oil sector, an anti-government blitz by Venezuelan corporate press, and a current effort to force a national referendum against Chavez’s presidency (run by a government agency that is controlled by elites). Both these nations have taken steps to move away from capitalism and its inherent exploitation and begun to build national systems where a fuller democracy is possible, though much work defending and expanding these revolutions needs to be done.
The most widespread and perhaps most dangerous form of capitalist imperialism facing Latin American sovereignty today is neoliberal globalization and its institutions. Developing Latin American nations (nations that through centuries of colonialism financed development in Europe and in the United States) that need to borrow money to finance development projects must adopt a series of fiscal and monetary measures that theoretically would make them safer for investors. These measures (mostly inflationary controls, liberalization of national markets, and relaxation of labor and environmental laws) have led to a type of development that benefits only foreign speculators and a small number of nationals; the majority of workers and the middle class only contribute to this system, but never benefit. Not only do peoples of Latin America become increasingly indebted, forcibly adopt failing development schemes, lose control of their own economies, and become increasingly poorer, but also they never have access to developed nations’ markets because of protectionist trade policies in the developed world. Free trade only works in one direction.
The Free Trade Area of the Americans (FTAA) threatens to entrench this one-way trading system even more. FTAA would create a hemispheric free trade area that would fully expand the “benefits� of neoliberal globalization everywhere in the Americas. Democratic forces fear that FTAA would be yet another way for the United States to dominate Latin American economies by flooding southern economies with its products (while keeping its own markets closed) and allowing its companies to use cheaper Latin American labor while undermining North American workers and Latin American labor laws. Neoliberal globalization fosters increased inequality, foreign domination of national economies, and opposition to democratic forces.
Latin American youth have long been mobilized against neoliberal reforms. Youth were instrumental in the election of Lula in Brazil, in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela and the Socialist Revolution in Cuba, in ousting of neoliberal puppet presidents in Argentina, as unionists and human rights intellectuals in Colombia, and in many other fronts. Here in Brazil, university and high school students have formed national union-like entities—UNE and UBES, respectively—to represent their interests. Organized out of local student councils, UNE and UBES unite thousands of students across the country to demand for better investment in public education, public transportation, and better access to jobs. UNE and UBES formally represent students, but they struggle for improvements for all young Brazilians. In September, students in three large Brazilian cities stormed the streets demanding for a reduction in bus tariffs; students led the battle to maintain a public service that is essential for all workers (young and old) accessible and public. These organizations are also mobilizing against the perennial IMF demand to cut public spending in education by demanding better funding for public schools, increased access to universities by public school students (vs. rich private school students), and a public job-creation program to combat the rampant unemployment among graduates and young workers.
Latin American youth do not limit their militancy to opposing neoliberal advances in their own countries; they also enthusiastically joined the international struggle against war. Opposing US imperialism is central in struggles for democracy in Latin America. The neoliberal forces that promote Plan Colombia, FTAA, IMF, and WTO have become much more militarized and aggressive. The United States’ determination to become the only hegemonic power by any means necessary has tremendous implications for struggle in Latin America. In face of forces that work to weaken Latin Americans’ control over their lives, economies, and governments, it is essential for democratic forces to defend the sovereignty of their nations and build international alliances to present an united front in opposition to imperialist aggression. Latin American youth militancy and organization has been and will be central to this effort.
Flavio Casoy is a member of the YCL from Providence, Rhode Island and is currently residing in Brazil for the year.
Members of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) and other groups, carrying a banner reading: "no to FTAA," protest against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) in front of the U.S. Embassy, in Brasilia, Sept. 17, 2002. Representatives of various labor and political organizations protested to demand Congress call a plebescite on whether Brazil should join the FTAA.
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