Anti-Cuban Coups

Reshaping Latin America
{Updated: Friday, April 22nd, 2016} 

     This photo -- courtesy of Fernando Bizerra Jr./EPA -- was taken this week at the Planalto Palace in Brazilia. It shows Brazil's embattled President Dilma Rousseff blowing a kiss to her loyal and fervent supporters, the country's poor people that she has so remarkably helped. But, continuing a recent trend in Latin America, Dilma is about to be impeached although she was reelected to a second term as Brazil's President in 2014. But Dilma doesn't call it an impeachment; she calls it "a coup." Furthermore, she says the "coup-leaders" are acting at the behest of right-wing U. S. members of Congress aligned with powerful anti-Castro Cuban-American hardliners, "not so unlike the 2002 coup" that briefly overturned Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's Cuban-friendly democratically elected President. That coup, bloodily successful for 72 hours, was tied to anti-Castro zealots in the George W. Bush administration, which indeed famously celebrated Chavez's overthrow in the White House till millions of poor Venezuelans quickly restored Chavez to power. This week Dilma supporters pointed out that leaders of the "coup" against her met with, among others, powerful U. S. Senator Bob Corker and with Carlos Gutierrez, who was President George W. Bush's anti-Castro Secretary of Commerce. The Dilma supporters suggest strongly that what happened to Chavez is the same thing that is happening to her and other democratically elected Cuban-friendly leaders in Latin America. Dilma, a legendary fighter, is taking her fight to the United Nations today -- April 22nd -- where she is expected to point out that her "impeachment" is really a "coup" supported by U. S. factions.

       On Thursday, London's The Guardian used this photo of Dilma Rousseff in a terrific article written by David Miranda entitled: "The Real Reason Dilma Rousseff's Enemies Want Her Impeached." The British press is much fairer regarding former and current Latin American coups than the American press, and thus Miranda wrote: "Corruption is just the pretext for a wealthy elite who failed to defeat Brazil's President at the ballot box. Indeed, most of today's largest media outlets in Brazil supported the 1964 military coup that ushered in two decades of rightwing dictatorship and further enriched the nation's oligarchs."   

        The Guardian used this photo of Eduardo Cunha, the very controversial man who is leading the mighty impeachment movement against President Rousseff. After pointing out that at least 60% of the Brazilian congressman opposing Rousseff have criminal charges against them, The Guardian caption to this photo said: "Eduardo Cunha was caught last year with millions of dollars in brides in secret Swiss bank accounts." 

        The London-based The Economist used this SOS photo in its article entitled "The Great Betrayal" regarding the impeachment farce against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. If you go online to read the two aforementioned British articles, you will take note of revelations about the remnants of the 1964 Brazilian coup now in Congress and leading the coup against President Rousseff: "One of them, prominent right-wing congressman Jair Bolsonaro -- widely expected to run for President and who a recent poll shows is the leading candidate among Brazil's richest -- said he was casting his vote in honor of a human-rights abusing colonel in Brazil's military dictatorship who was personally responsible for Rousseff's torture when she was imprisoned as a youthful resistor. Bolsonaro's son Eduardo cast his vote against Rousseff in honor of the 'military men of 64' -- the ones who led the coup." That revelation about the Brazilian Congress may be eerily reminiscent of the U. S. Congress, which includes Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami as one of the most vehement congressmen opposing President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Mario Diaz-Balart's father, Rafael, was a Minister in the 1950s Batista dictatorship in Cuba. And so, the rightwing second generational congressional problem Rousseff is having in Brazil parallels Obama's U. S. problems.

       As a two-term President of Brazil, by far Latin America's most powerful nation, Dilma Rousseff once enjoyed a whopping 91% APPROVAL RATING. That was because her Workers Party greatly improved the lot of Brazil's majority poor people. Of course, Brazil's minority rich people and apparently their U. S. supporters strongly oppose Dilma's social efforts. So, what is she accused of? THE ANSWER: "She is accused of breaking budgetary laws by borrowing from state banks to cover a shortfall to pay for social programs that help poor people." Helping poor people, of course, incurs the wrath of the greedy rich.

       Dilma Rousseff is a dear friend of Cuba's revolutionary icon Fidel Castro. Her Brazilian government largely financed the billion-dollar modernization of Cuba's economically important Mariel Port. As her impeachment nears, Dilma blames it partly on U. S. anti-Castro zealots that she feels "are unchecked."  

      Dilma's friend Cristina Fernandez is also Fidel Castro's dear friend. Cristina just completed two terms as Argentina's democratically elected President and, under Argentine rules, she was not allowed to run for a third term. Like Dilma, Cristina maintained that her support of poor Argentinians and of Cuba caused "anti-Cuban U. S. factions that include greedy hedge fund Wall Street billionaires" to continually battle her presidency. Thus, Cristina's chosen successor, considered a friend of poor people, was defeated and the new Argentine President is "U.S.-friendly," which to many Latin Americans means "rich-friendly." 

       The lucrative and revengeful Castro Cottage Industry in the U. S. hasn't targeted Dilma Rousseff and Cristina Fernandez coincidentally. Harassing or impeaching two two-term Cuban-friendly Latin American presidents has a lot of fall-outs and collateral damage such as hurting Cuba, helping rich people in the U. S. and Latin America, and brutalizing poor people. Cristina said, "Cuba-friendly Presidents of Chile, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia and other Latin American nations are facing the same thing Dilma and I are facing." Dilma said, "Any Latin American President who supports the majority poor in their countries will encounter unending problems from rich Americans who believe Latin America's natural resources should benefit them, not Latin American natives. From the 1950s into the 1980s, from Batista in Cuba to Pinochet in Chile, U.S.-backed dictators were armed and supported in exchange for allowing rich Americans to join them in pillaging those helpless nations. Latin American democracies finally prevailed, but my democracy, Cristina's democracy, all our democracies are still targeted by like-minded U. S. imperialists." As she fights her impeachment, Dilma presumably will make similar claims at the UN today -- Friday, April 22nd.

        As a beautiful young and non-poor girl in Brazil, Dilma Rousseff became a guerrilla fighter against a U.S.-backed Brazilian dictatorship that was, she believed, "brutalizing poor people," She later said, "If little Cuba could overthrow a U.S.-supported dictator, why couldn't big Brazil? Yes, little Cuba inspired me to try."

The Brazilian dictatorship arrested Dilma Rousseff.

       The very day she was forced to sit without her glasses at a sham trial, Dilma had already been beaten on her back, buttocks, and legs -- areas hidden by her clothing to appease the dictators. She was told that if she didn't publicly admit to treason, she would be beaten daily, which she was. But she never admitted to treason, just to "trying to keep foreign-backed dictators from preying on my country's poorest people."

       Later when she was the democratically elected President of Brazil with that 91% approval rating, Dilma Rousseff was asked by the United Nations to provide details of her years of torture by the Brazilian dictatorship. As the above montage and photo shows, she provided those details, evoking memories that made her cry. Her vivid testimony was recorded by the UN and by the Hague and to this day "crimes against nature" are being pursued in trials against some of those long-ago but unpunished perpetrators.

       This photo of President Dilma Rousseff was taken this week at a news conference in Brasilia in which she confirmed that she will be at the United Nations in New York today to explain why she believes the impeachment proceedings against her constitute "a coup." It is believed that she decided to fly to the UN after she learned that "coup leaders" had, among other things, met with "known U. S. meddlers in Brazilian and Latin American affairs, and I mean backers of other coups." It is believed she was referring, in particular, to U. S. Senator Bob Corker and Cuban-American Carlos Gutierrez, two men she compares to Otto Reich and Roger Noriega. {People throughout Latin America still consider Reich and Noriega as two prime Bush administrators who backed the 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez}. 

         Bob Corker has been a Republican U. S. Senator from Tennessee since 2007. He is currently the powerful Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Unfortunately, Brazil and Cuba are still classified as foreign countries. If Mr. Corker indeed met with people President Dilma Rousseff believes are "coup leaders," perhaps she and the United Nations need to know what transpired at that meeting.

        Carlos Gutierrez was born 62 years ago in Havana, Cuba. From 2005 till 2009 he was U. S. Secretary of Commerce in the administration of President George W. Bush. An extremely wealthy businessman, he is currently co-chair of the right-wing Albright Stonebridge Group, a think-tank regarding foreign relations.

        When he was President Bush's Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez was extremely unkind to his native country, Cuba, especially during the period when the island was devastated by back-to-back hurricanes and he teasingly withheld aid. If, as President Dilma Rousseff believes, Mr. Gutierrez has had meetings with people she considers "coup leaders," perhaps she has a right to know what transpired at that meeting. Moreover, perhaps the American people need to know...considering the fact that past coups and support of dictators in Latin America has so massively deflated the United States image around the world.

Dilma Rousseff is a great lady.

         But Dilma Rousseff is a sad lady today as she prepares to fly to the United States tomorrow to fight at the United Nations against her unwarranted and unsavory impeachment. She has fought all her life for poor people, especially the poor people in her Brazil and in Cuba. That is not an impeachable offense, except in the eyes of greedy rich people who have been her lifelong enemies. She has twice been democratically elected President of Brazil after being imprisoned and tortured in her youth by a U.S.-backed dictatorship. Today the people who should be impeached are the ones trying to impeach her. And saddest of all for democracy-loving Americans, it appears that once again some of the "coup leaders" might be rich and powerful Americans who, as in decades past, will never be held accountable for their actions.

        This Associated Press photo shows Brazilian women strongly supporting their beloved President, Dilma Rousseff, as they try to defend her against the coup being orchestrated by a band of unsavory rich Brazilians who could care less about Brazil's poor and middle class citizens.

         This poor Brazilian lady has ample reason to cry. Rich thugs are trying to impeach her President, Dilma Rousseff. Portuguese and Spanish are the two main languages in Brazil. In Portuguese, the banner this lady is holding says, "DOWN WITH THE COUP, IMPEACHMENT NO." She punctuated the words with tears.

It's not an impeachment.

It's a coup.

&*************************&