It's Michelle Bachelet's Latin America Now!!
{Updated Thursday, December 19, 2013}
{Updated Thursday, December 19, 2013}
This week {Sunday, December 15, 2013} Michelle Bachelet was overwhelmingly re-elected as President of Chile, a wealthy and very important Latin American nation. {The AP/Jorge Saenz photo on the left shows Bachelet after her victory was assured} She had been President of Chile from 2006 till 2010 and left office with an 84% approval rating! Chile's democracy does not permit consecutive terms so Bachelet, between elections, worked on behalf of women and children for the United Nations in New York City. Now 62-years-old, a trained pediatrician and lover of children, the outcome of yesterday's presidential election was a foregone conclusion once she entered the race. Chile and Latin America need Michelle Bachelet. So does the world. For Latin America and the world, Michelle Bachelet represents the absolute and total antipathy to the Henry Kissinger-installed/supported dictators that plagued Latin America for so long. Every nation in Latin America understands that appraisal. However, Americans do not understand it because the United States media, both printed and electronic, has neither the integrity nor the courage to explain how and why remembrances of Henry Kissinger assured Ms. Bachelet's easy re-election Sunday as President of Chile.
Henry Kissinger is now 90-years-old. He was born on May 27th, 1923 in Furth, Germany. From 1969 till 1975 he was National Security Advisor. From 1973 till 1977 he was U. S. Secretary of State. During those years, Henry Kissinger used his ultra-powerful position in control of the U. S. foreign policy to stave off Latin America's fervent desire for democratic governments to replace brutal and thieving dictators often installed and massively supported by the United States, the world superpower and, supposedly, the greatest proponent of democracy! This week's overwhelming re-election of Michelle Bachelet as President of Chile reminds Latin Americans of Mr. Kissinger. In 1973 Mr. Kissinger, supported by President Richard Nixon, orchestrated the overthrow and death of Chile's very popular and democratically elected President, Salvador Allende. For the next 17 years, Allende's democratic government was replaced by General Augusto Pinochet, a murderous tyrant but one that, in exchange for U. S. support, allowed U. S. businesses to partake in the rape and robbery of Chile. Pinochet is famed to this day for his Operation Condor assassins that killed innocent people around the world, including the murders of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his beautiful American aide Ronni Moffitt within sound of the White House in Washington. Any study of the Letelier-Moffitt murders will reveal that Pinochet's favorite assassins were well-trained Cuban exiles and that the CIA Director at the time, George H. W. Bush, tried to steer the FBI's investigation of the Letelier-Moffitt murders away from Kissinger's beloved dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Since he left government work, Henry Kissinger has amassed fortunes with his lucrative and secretive consultancy business. Once he was appointed to a prestigious presidential committee and he readily accepted. Then he was told he would have to reveal his clients. That was when he readily declined. To this day, Kissinger would not set foot on Chilean land because to this day Chile is trying mightily to come to grips with the Pinochet years by continuing to put on trial his cohorts during his murderous reign. One of the many innocent people murdered during the Pinochet dictatorship was...THE FATHER OF MICHELLE BACHELET! Americans are not supposed to know the extreme brutality of the Kissinger-Pinochet connection nor are they supposed to know the significance of Sunday's overwhelming re-election of Ms. Bachelet as the President of Chile.
Democracies other than America's are abundantly aware of Henry Kissinger's ties to Augusto Pinochet. However, to this day in the U. S. media, especially on the cable "news" networks, Kissinger can spend hours promoting his latest book or his other projects and never have to worry about being asked about such untidy things as Pinochet. If a celebrity such as Kissinger were asked a tough question, it would send a message to other celebrities not to appear on cable "news" shows. And then the cable "news" programs would have to actually go out and cover news instead of having all those "talking head" celebrities free-of-charge on their sets. Thus, for the most part, Americans are kept in the dark about things they need to know if they are to be significant participants in their democracy -- which, after all, is precisely what a democracy should be all about.
Peter Kornbluh heads the Chile Project and the Cuba Project at the U. S. National Security Archive based at George Washington University. Beyond doubt, Peter Kornbluh knows more about the modern histories of Chile and Cuba than any person alive. He is also the best at de-classifying long classified U. S. documents that, for decades, shielded anti-democratic actions by Henry Kissinger and others. Peter publishes those actual de-classified documents on the National Security Archive for all to see. Because of Kornbluh and a handful of other great investigative journalists {such as James Bamford}, there is really no excuse for Americans not to properly comprehend what is going on today in Latin America, such as the re-election of Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Americans who do not know Peter Kornbluh simply do not know important Latin American history.
Peter Kornbluh is a prolific orator. The year 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the U. S.-backed coup that resulted in the death of the democratically elected President Allende to install the murderous but U.S.-friendly Pinochet for 17 bloody years. On this 40th anniversary of the coup, Peter Kornbluh has made ubiquitous speeches about the significance of the coup and how it relates to Latin America today -- including the re-election of Ms. Bachelet, whose father was one of Pinochet's victims, as President of Chile.
Also, in 2013 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Pinochet coup, Peter Kornbluh has updated a new version of his book "The Pinochet File." The updated book is 605 pages long with page-after-page of actual de-classified U. S. documents to chronicle at long last the uncontested history of the Pinochet coup that killed Chile's democratically elected President Allende and later murdered thousands of others -- including Michelle Bachelet's father, Orlando Letelier, Ronni Moffiff, and thousands of other innocent people. Peter Kornbluh is not only a superb journalist but also a patriotic, democracy-loving American. He believes Americans need to know the true history of Latin America if they are to fulfill their role as defenders of America and democracy. To do that, Peter Kornbluh believes, requires knowledge of U. S. history in Latin America. To not know that history, he believes, leaves the U. S. democracy in a precarious situation in which the likes of Henry Kissinger, with no accountability to worry about, can run roughshod over foreign nations that prefer democracy over imperialist dictators. Even if accountability is decades late in coming, it is still important for Americans to acknowledge it, not necessarily to punish the elderly Henry Kissingers of the world but to assure that democracy-lovers learn from history and then apply that knowledge to their current democracy as well as to all future democracies.
Michelle Bachelet's re-election Sunday as President of Chile will be covered this week on the back pages of America's newspapers and barely mentioned, if at all, by America's cable "news" operations. That's a shame because the United States democracy needs a vibrant, honest, and fair news media. Latin America is important to America. And newly elected President Michelle Bachelet in Chile personifies Latin America today -- a totally new Latin America than the one envisioned by Henry Kissinger who would prefer U.S.-friendly dictators throughout the region. Like President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, the Latin American superpower, Michelle Bachelet represents the trend in Latin America of democratically electing superbly intelligent and honest females to replace once entrenched males who tend to be motivated mostly by money, womanizing, and power. Michelle Bachelet, Dilma Rousseff, etc., tend to be fueled and motivated by genuine concerns for the welfare of the majority of their citizens, especially the historically maligned women and children. Ironically, the strident abuses of males like Henry Kissinger and Augusto Pinochet expedited that remarkable transformation in Latin America. Please take note that the politician who finished a distant second to Michelle Bachelet in Sunday's election in Chile was...a woman named Evelyn Matthei. No male was seriously considered.
God bless Latin America! May all your Presidents be women!
President Michelle Bachelet of Chile is truly a great person. As a pediatrician, she worked tirelessly to better the lives of less fortunate women and children. As the re-elected President of Chile, she continues to work tirelessly on behalf of women and children. She understands that how a nation treats its women and children will, and should, define it as a nation. In decades and centuries past, power-hungry and money-hungry males like Augusto Pinochet had their bloody, thieving decades of devious devastation. Now it's time for good, smart, caring women like Michelle Bachelet to correct those historic mistakes in the evolution toward decency. ALL HAIL HER CHILEAN PRESIDENCY! And now...congratulations to all of Latin America!
As for the United States of America, President Michelle Bachelet in Chile should represent a much-needed history lesson as well as also nurturing an abiding interest in meaningful topical events, and not just a fascination with the latest Miley Cyrus scandal. Sunday's Associated Press article from Santiago, Chile concerning the overwhelming re-election of President Bachelet was written by Luis Andres Henao. That AP article pointed out that: "Policies imposed by Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship kept wealth and power in a few hands." That AP article said that today Chile has wealth for being, among other things, "the world's top copper producer," and that, "its fast-growing economy, low unemployment and stable democracy are the envy of Latin America." And a prime reason that Chile today is "the envy of Latin America" is the simple fact that the re-election of Michelle Bachelet means that Chile has a decent leader to disperse that wealth to its very deserving majority of women and children, not as in the past when it was dispersed to a few friends of Pinochet, Kissinger, etc.
Sunday's Associated Press article by Luis Andres Henao about President Bachelet's re-election as President included this fact: "The 62-year-old pediatrician ended her 2006-2010 presidency with 84 percent approval ratings." The AP article also stated this fact: "Bachelet's father was tortured to death for refusing to support the strongman Pinochet. And Bachelet was imprisoned herself." Well, America! Bachelet is no longer a prisoner. Neither is Chile! Instead, Bachelet is the re-elected President of Chile. The photo on the right is today a memorial at the military base where Bachelet's father was murdered, reminding Chileans and Latin Americans of their dictatorial history, a sad past that includes the detestable, murderous Pinochet rule that Henry Kissinger and the United States imposed on Chile. Americans who love democracy and who love America should know the history of Chile -- especially from Pinochet to Bachelet -- because it parallels the history of Latin America. And with that knowledge of Latin American history, Americans would realize the true significance of Sunday's re-election of Ms. Bachelet as President of Chile. Kissinger's loss is a big victory for democracy!
On the left is the Pinochet prison where Michelle Bachelet was tortured while in that other prison {depicted above} her father was being tortured to death. Chileans today are vividly reminded of both those prisons because Chileans need to know about past foreign-backed dictators like Pinochet so there will be no foreign-backed dictators in their future. Americans need to understand Chile's history because, in the past, the United States was indelibly tied to Pinochet and other such brutal Latin American dictatorships. Not knowing history leaves Americans ignorant of modern events. The modern history of Kissinger and Pinochet in Chile, you see, paved the way for today's Michelle Bachelet presidency.
Fidel Castro was a dear friend of Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende and Fidel Castro was a bitter enemy of vile U.S.-backed Latin American dictators such as Pinochet in Chile, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Samoza in Nicaragua, Batista in Cuba, etc. The photo on the right shows Fidel Castro with Allende shortly before Allende died in the bloody U.S.-Pinochet coup in 1973. The powers that be in the United States to this day seem to believe that the U. S. democracy is not strong enough for Americans to comprehend the significance of the above photo, lest they denounce their democracy. But it's the Kissingers that usurp and defame that democracy that should be denounced, not democracy itself!
Today as the new democratically re-elected President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet is Fidel Castro's dear friend. For Americans to comprehend such facts, they would need to be better informed about Latin American history that includes...Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Augusto Pinochet, Michelle Bachelet, etc. All that history is important because it is also topical. Today Fidel Castro is 87-years-old and has, amazingly, managed not to be assassinated or overthrown in Cuba by a vast array of Kissinger-like American right-wingers. And today at age 62 Michelle Bachelet has just been overwhelmingly re-elected as President of Chile. Instead of being ignorant about such things, Americans need to understand them.
Last week, for example, the whole world paused to eulogize the life of perhaps the world's most beloved person, Nelson Mandela. The event highlighted the fact that Americans, conveniently ignorant of how and why Mandela attained such heights, were surprised when some insightful coverage of the Mandela memorials pointed out that Mandela himself deeply loved and admired Fidel Castro. For Americans to be appalled at Mandela's relationship with Fidel Castro is one thing. But to be totally ignorant of it is another thing altogether, similar to being ignorant about why Chile's beloved newly elected President Michelle Bachelet is Fidel Castro's dear friend. An ignorant American might ask, "Was Mandela crazy? Is Bachelet crazy?" Uh, no. Mandela was both brilliant and intelligent. Bachelet is both brilliant and intelligent. Fidel Castro is many things, including brilliance and intelligence. Americans need to be less ignorant about such things even if they have to Google the facts for themselves. Afterward, embellished with facts, it would then be alright to hate Fidel Castro and love Henry Kissinger.
The book on the right is entitled: "Modern World Leaders: Michelle Bachelet." If they do not do something easy by just Goggling Peter Kornbluh's Chilean and Cuban postings on the U. S. National Security Archive website, Americans, for starters, should purchase Richard Worth's book that chronicles the rise of today's wave of new female leaders like Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. There are reasons for the phenomenons that Richard Worth documents. One of the reasons, of course, is Henry Kissinger's fondness for dictators like Pinochet in Chile as opposed to the murdered democratically elected President Allende and today's newly democratically elected President Bachelet. Being blinded to Latin American history by an embarrassed U. S. government and by an inept U. S. media should not, in this age of easily accessible search engines like Google, condone the ignorance of Americans when it comes to such monumental events as this week's memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa and this week's re-election of Michelle Bachelet as President of Chile. The ineptness of the U. S. media, including the power of a right-wing propaganda machine like Fox News, is no longer an excuse for Americans to be ignorant of colossal modern events such as the death of Nelson Mandela and the re-election of Michelle Bachelet. After all, the year is 2013 and that entails the now well-established marvels of such things as the Internet and Google. Yes, perils like cancer and Fox News still abound. But while the search for cancer's cure is ongoing, the search for curing Fox News has been discovered! It's called the Internet and Google. So today -- this hour, in fact -- Americans should turn off their television sets and Google the name "Michelle Bachelet." Then they would know what to think as opposed to being told what to think. Such a transformation would take a while to get used to but, for sure, it would be a very worthwhile endeavor.
The Cuban News Agency -- Prensa Latina -- has released this updated photo of Fidel Castro. It was taken Friday -- December 13, 2013 -- at Castro's home in Havana and shows the 87-year-old Fidel with Ignacio Ramonet, the Franco-Spanish journalist. Ramonet, the long-time Editor-in-Chief of Le Monde, is Fidel Castro's only authorized biographer. He said he spent two hours with the revolutionary icon. Afterward, Ramonet told the Associated Press's Anne-Marie Garcia, "I found him to be in excellent health and in a good mood, physically, mentally and psychologically. He's interested in everything. The environment, the climate crisis, Chile, Venezuela, South Africa. I found him alert, on top of current events."
This AFP/Adalberto Roque/Getty Images photo was taken Tuesday, December 17th, 2013 and depicts an important and ongoing event in Havana. It shows leaders of the FARC guerrilla movement heading to the Convention Palace in Havana to continue peace talks with the Colombian government. Notice that two of the top FARC guerrilla fighters are women. For decades, thousands of lives have been lost in Colombia as the FARC has battled government armies. The U. S. has devoted billions of dollars to support anti-FARC efforts. Today even the U. S. government has praised Cuba for taking the lead in trying to broker a peace.
This AFP/Yamil Lage photo was taken in Cuba Tuesday, December 17, 2013 and shows an elderly Cuban woman paying homage to St. Lazarus at St. Lazarus Church in El Rincon, which is 25 km from Havana.
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