February 15, 2007

Brazil/Bolivia Update

It has been a while since I have reported on the conflict between Brazil and Bolivia. My apologies to those of you who rely solely on this site for Brazil news.

A little background: Last year president Evo Morales of Bolivia ordered Bolivian troops to take over foreign oil refineries in that country. Most of the refineries belong to Brazilian oil concern Petrobras. His incentive for doing this came from Venezuelan Hitler-wannabe Hugo Chavez.

Instead of standing up as the president of Latin America's largest and most powerful country, president Lula (a nickname which, fittingly, means "squid") rolled over and played dead. The excuse he offered for his inaction was appalling: "Bolivia is poorer than Brazil, so we are not going to take a hard line against them."

Today an agreement was signed between the two countries which basically gives Morales everything he wants. The BBC had this to say:

BBC NEWS | Business | Bolivia and Brazil agree gas deal

The deal, signed by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales, ends months of dispute over the issue.

First of all, let me say that this ends nothing. Morales has discovered that he can bully Lula around, and he will continue to do so. You can count on it.

The article continues:

At a ceremony in Brasilia to mark the signing of the agreement, Mr Morales said: "This accord leaves us strengthened and allows us to deepen our democracy."

This is one of the most dishonest statements I have heard in quite some time. Morales is not interested in "strengthening democracy". In truth, he wants to do just the opposite. He is following the playbook of Hugo Chavez, and desires only to strengthen his own personal power.

Speaking of Hugo Chavez, his latest idea (after getting dictatorial powers from a lackey congress) is to nationalize private food outlets.

These are challenging days in Latin America.

Posted by Andrew on February 15, 2007 6:06 PM.