Chile's new President, Michelle Bachelet: There is still hope for people

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060607/pl_usnw/chile_s_first_female_president_to_be_honored_by_women_leaders_from_across_u_s__at_the_white_house_project_s_landmark_dinner134_

I heard on the radio on C-Span. She was introduced by Geena Davis (Commander in Chief) at a gala reception honoring Bachelet. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am all for women heads of states now trying their hands at leadership roles. We guys have had most of the opportunities and we have screwed it up in grand fashion. Bachelet's speech was magnificant. Try to find a link to it if you can. I was absolutely amazed that the Bushbots allowed this event to take place and even sponsored it.

So. America seems to be moving toward REAL social democracy and the new leaders seem to be serious about redistributing the wealth and resources of their countries if only they can fight off the capitalist bully to the north and oligarchy corporate whores all over the place.

A former political prisoner of Pinochet or so I hear.

Condi Rice went to Chile to get this accomplished. What they apparently want is for Batchelet (Chile) to vote against Venezuela's rotating membership (coming up) in the UN Security Council. Can you just imagine Chavez sitting there across from John "death squad" Bolton? (US Security Council meetings could become re-e-e-e-eally interesting again!) I don't know if Batchelet will go along with these wretched mass murderers and torturers who are running our government. She was tortured by the US-backed dictator Pinochet, and members of her family were killed by THAT junta. Also, if she is perceived as doing the Bushites' bidding, she will quickly lose support in Chile. Bush is despised by the vast majority of South Americans, except for the tiny rich elites and fascists who would just as soon see the torturing and the death squads begin again.

I don't know what chips she has to play (Chilean natural resources, US military facilities?). I'm not that up on the Chilean economy. I just hope she drives a hard bargain with the Dark Lords, if she feels she has to play their game on this. It would be a terrible thing to see one South American leftist government betray another--if Chile were to vote against Venezuela.* I hope she puts a very high price on it--if she's going to do it--something that could benefit all in the end, and maybe works it out with Chavez beforehand. Chile has a long standing conflict with Bolivia (100 years or so) over Bolivian access to the sea, which Batchelet wants to peacefully resolve. Bolivia is closely aligned with Venezuela. And it's hard to imagine Bolivia cooperating with Chile on resolving this dispute, if Chile backstabs Venezuela.

You see the kinds of things that Vampira (Rice) is playing with--it's a Bushite M.O. She's undoubtedly done everything she can to stir up animosity and division, and is bribing, threatening, lying, and committing all sorts of evil deeds, meanwhile--no doubt--scheming in the dungeon to get Batchelet "swiftboated" or assassinated. The whole thing (the UN bit) may be a scheme to destroy Batchelet as a positive, socialist force, and thus help break up the continent-wide leftist coalition that is forming. (Venezuela was recently inducted into Merceseur, the regional trade organization.)

-------------------

*(There would be absolutely no justification for banning Venezuela from the Security Council--where member General Assembly countries rotate into one of the seats for, I think, a year. Germany held that seat during the Iraq war preliminaries. Venezuela has a far more democratic government than the U.S. Its elections have been highly monitored by the OAS, the Carter Center and EU election monitoring groups, and have been found to be honest and aboveboard. It is a Constitutional government. It is peaceful. It has highly successful social programs for the poor--medical clinics, schools, small business grants and loans. It is hugely popular--in Venezuela and among the vast population of poor people in the surrounding region (Bolivia, Peru). The Bush junta and our war profiteering corporate news monopolies have tried their very best to slander its president, Hugo Chavez--but this is almost entirely because he controls so much oil. There is absolutely no substance to any of their slanders. So it is very hard to see how Michele Batchelet and Chile could go along with excluding Venezuela from the Security Council.)

And Morales gave her a coca-encrusted guitar

X D

Here's a good article on Batchelet and the junta. She's not going along, apparently. And Venezuela is not slated for the seat--it is one of several candidate nations. (I got that wrong.) But they did try to strongarm her on it. Maybe the fancy DC fete is just to get her not to openly criticize them, as Chavez has done.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1749