LATIN AMERICA: Demonstrators Say Yes to Peace, No to Bush

www.ipsnews.net Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 15 (IPS) - Thousands upon thousands of protesters throughout Latin America took to the streets to express their opposition to a potential U.S.-led war on Iraq, finding unique ways to repudiate Washington, which many peace activists accuse of trying to take control of the Arab country's oil reserves. With marches, forums, dances, costumes and drums, across the region -- in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela -- people came together for a day of mobilisation for peace, an effort that encompassed 603 cities around the globe. In Latin America, Saturday was marked by harsh criticism of U.S. foreign policy as that country seeks a green light from the international community -- and through the United Nations -- to invade Iraq. "The world is mobilising against (U.S. President George W.) Bush and against war," summarised labour leader Víctor De Genaro, of the CTV, one of Argentina's main trade unions, during a march of thousands of people in Buenos Aires that ended outside the U.S. embassy. The protest march, which took place under an intense summer rainstorm, was also organised by human rights groups, student associations, leftist parties and groups related to the World Social Forum. Argentine Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel said the war that Bush is seeking against Iraq is not aimed at neutralising terrorism, as the U.S. president's speeches indicate, but rather "is an attempt to take over the world's energy sources," and is encouraging intolerance and hate. "Bush is trying to gain control of Iraq's petroleum reserves," asserts environmental activist Martín Prieto, director of Greenpeace-Argentina. Greenpeace joined the Buenos Aires protest Saturday with one of its members wearing a Bush mask and a sign identifying him as "the oil villain", and surrounded by placards reading "They Kill for Oil". The call for a day of peace rallies was formalised at the latest World Social Forum, held in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in late January. The Forum has become the core of the international movement that opposes the current process of economic globalisation. Brazil also saw thousands of people come out to demonstrate in favour of peace. Major anti-war events took place in Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and at least 15 other cities. Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo reported the most numerous rallies, with 20,000 to 30,000 people in each, according to organisers. The Brazilian protests were marked by vivid colours and a vast array of masks and costumes, and included the participation of union leaders, leftist parties, the MST landless peasant movement, and numerous officials, encouraged to take part by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself, and his leftist Workers Party (PT). Worried about the effects on the region of an eventual war in Iraq, Lula on Friday contacted presidents Eduardo Duhalde (Argentina), Ricardo Lagos (Chile) and Lucio Gutiérrez (Ecuador) to propose an emergency meeting of South American foreign ministers in order to study the matter. In Uruguay, meanwhile, activists and citizens had a jump-start on the anti-war protests, holding one of Latin America's most numerous rallies on Friday night -- some 70,000 strong --, according to organisers. Though El Observador newspaper put the total at 20,000. The march in Montevideo, convened by the opposition leftist coalition known as the Broad Front, the labour union, and student, environmental and human rights organisations, followed the main avenue from Liberty Plaza to the state-run University of the Republic. There, a 10-year-old girl read a proclamation for peace, as well as a letter by world-renowned Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, a leader in the peace campaign. "The key to what is occurring with Iraq is petroleum, just as it is in the Venezuelan crisis," the writer said in an interview with a Buenos Aires radio station. "We should ask ourselves why this Mr. Oil is so poorly behaved and is capable of overthrowing governments, triggering wars, poisoning water and the air to sustain consumption," Galeano said. The Cuban capital saw a protest Saturday of some 5,000 workers and students, convened by the government to speak out against war. The event was presided by the minister of "revolutionary" armed forces, Rául Castro, President Fidel Castro's brother. In Chile, some two-dozen organisations staged an anti-war march in Santiago, ending outside La Moneda, the presidential palace. There, activists burned a scarecrow, symbolising Bush, and a U.S. flag. Additional protests took place throughout the country, in Temuco, La Serena, Valparaíso and Concepción. The peace march organisers said they hope to maintain pressure on the Lagos government, as Chile is a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, where the current debate on Iraq's disarmament is taking place. Friday, Chile's foreign minister Soledad Alvear reiterated before the council Chile's desire for a peaceful way out of the crisis. Activists from ATTAC-Chile (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens) told IPS that if there is a war, they will call for a boycott on products imported from the United States. "Because the root motivation to attack and dominate Iraq is related to controlling its oil reserves, we suggest focusing the boycott on fuel," says ATTAC. In Mexico, neighbour and trade partner of the United States and also a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, a march of some 15,000 people took place under the slogan "No to the imperialist war!" According to a telephone poll conducted last month by the daily Reforma, 83 percent of Mexicans consulted said they were against a U.S.-led war on Iraq. Guatemalan Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchú commented in a conversation with IPS that "war will impoverish all Latin Americans," and she added that the motive behind the tensions is petroleum. "We must stop the madness of Bush, of (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair, and (Spanish Prime Minister) José María Aznar," stated Menchú. Even Venezuela, in spite of its own profound political crisis, had its anti-war protest, a march through Caracas organised by civil society groups under the theme "Not a drop of oil for the war." In Paraguay, the traditional February carnival in the southern city of Encarnación had a touch of the international anti-war protest. Saturday afternoon, a caravan of activists travelled through the city with a large white banner and broadcasting over loudspeakers the song "Imagine", invoking the song of the murdered former Beatle, John Lennon, now a hymn of peace. (END/IPS/LA/IP/TRA-SO LD/MV/DCL/03) (END/2003)