US President George Bush has been touring Latin American countries this March with two goals in mind: keep the continent divided and keep it subservient to US imperialist interests. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has also been visiting his neighbours. His goals are the opposite: to unite the countries of Latin America and to encourage and support the continent's independence from US imperialism.
On March 9, the two presidents were faced off on opposite sides of the river separating Argentina and Uruguay. Bush had just arrived in Uruguay, where he was driven in a well-armoured limousine caravan, protected from a strong demonstration protesting the visit. Chavez, after signing a treaty with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner on cooperation between the two countries' energy companies, spoke to a public meeting of 40,000 people in the Cancha de Ferro soccer field in Buenos Aires.
As the work day in the Argentine capital ended, residents from Buenos Aires and its working-class suburbs began to pour into the stadium. Coming in chartered buses, by public transport and on foot, they represented dozens of parties and organisations, from the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo to unions and community organisations. There were also visitors and immigrants from Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay (there were many Uruguayan flags) — plus at least two anti-imperialists from the United States.
Even from the middle-class apartment block behind the stadium, people had hung a Brazilian and other national flags to show their solidarity with the pro-Chavez, anti-Bush demonstration.
When Chavez began to speak sometime after 8pm, it was obvious the people were with him, and he with them. Every upbeat phrase was cheered — from any reference to Fidel Castro, Cuba or the Argentine-born Che Guevara to the heroes of the Latin American independence struggle, from Simon Bolivar to Don Jose de San Martin of Argentina.
But nothing aroused more noise — both cheers and whistles depending on the statement — than Chavez's ironic comments about the US president. "He doesn't even smell of sulfur anymore", said Chavez, alluding to his own comments in September at the United Nations, "but he has the smell of a political corpse, who will soon disappear into cosmic dust".
The Venezuelan president and most others in the stadium were quite aware of Bush's weakened position and waning popularity back in the US, where political polls put his approval rating at under 30%. Chavez spelled out how Bush had failed to provide for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and left tens of millions without health care.
"If he really wanted social justice in the world, he should do something, instead of just talking", said the Venezuelan. "He should order the US troops out of Iraq and use the vast sums of money from the war to end hunger and death throughout the world."
"Outside the United States", Chavez added, "Bush's popularity rating is probably negative", to more laughs and cheers from the crowd.
Someone must have unwisely written into Bush's talks a message involving Simon Bolivar. He made the error of claiming that both he and his South American partners were "sons of Simon Bolivar and George Washington".
Chavez stopped short of calling Bush "a son of a …", but the audience finished it for him. The Venezuelan president launched into a history lesson contrasting the slave-owning George Washington, who founded the country destined to impose its rule on the Americas, with the great South American liberator, Bolivar.
But his message to the audience was also that the unity of the nations and the peoples of Latin America "is absolutely essential for their liberation". While Chavez spelled out later that a 21st century liberation movement meant also a struggle for socialism, he made it clear that he also included those political leaders — like Kirchner — who were not attempting to move toward socialism but were striving for some political and economic independence from the colossus of the North.
The Latin American countries presently aligned against imperialism include Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and now Ecuador, and on some levels Argentina and to a lesser degree, Brazil. While Brazil's president, Luis Ignacio "Lula" da Silva, signed an agreement with Bush dealing with the joint development of ethanol fuels, he has so far refused to use Brazil as a military and economic bulwark against governments in the region that Washington considers its enemies.
Bush brought only a small "carrot" to offer the region. Much of what he offered — a medical ship run by the US Navy and scholarships to study in the US, English lessons and home construction — the Cubans and Venezuelans have offered for years in greater amounts, on better terms and with more solidarity.
Bush's tour includes Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. In every country on the list, and some others, thousands took to the streets to denounce his visit. In Colombia, where youths burned US flags in defiance of the death-squad regime, and in Brazil, where tens of thousands marched on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, police attacked demonstrators, but couldn't stop the actions. Tens of thousands also protested in the Zocalo, in downtown Mexico City. In Guatemala, a Mayan group plans to spiritually fumigate a religious site following Bush's planned stop there.
If the masses perceive a world leader — and with good reason — as an arrogant war criminal, that leader had better be powerful and generous if she or he expects to gain points. Bush is politically weak and came almost empty-handed.
[Abridged from US newspaper Workers World. Visit .]