Latin American press review

Andy Jackson Saturday March 29, 2003 The Guardian

The Latin American papers, positioned in what the US regards as its "backyard", have been divided over the war in Iraq. "This unilateral decision to attack Iraq is an unprecedented step," lamented La Nacion in Argentina. It felt the US had gone too far this time: "Even its regretful incursions into Latin American politics have been limited to supporting domestic groups."

In Mexico, Reforma questioned why its northern neighbour had blocked the signal of the country's Canal 40 TV station after it showed footage of dead Iraqi civilians. "One of the US's greatest strengths has always been its freedom of expression," said the paper. "But when it denies the right of its people to see what it is doing in their name, it does a great disservice to the principles it is trying to enforce in Iraq."

Less enthusiastic still was Gilberto Lopez y Rivas of La Journada, who wondered in the Mexican paper what principles the US was espousing. "The US has long used the pretext of liberty to commit crimes against the rights of Latin American people," he said. "They did not establish democracy in a single one of the countries in which they intervened - only fictional representations of that promise ... Now it is time for Iraq to be liberated, and Latin Americans know only to well what that liberation means."

Journal de Brasil noted that the war had caused the end of President Lula de Silva's political honeymoon. "The quarrel between George Bush and Saddam Hussein is of little consequence to us," it said. "What is currently at stake for Brazil is our democracy and, above all, our right to live in freedom from fear."

Venezuela has a turbulent and besieged leader of its own, and La Nacional wondered whether President Hugo Chavez could deal with his country's problems. Reports of Colombian guerrillas and drug traffickers operating within Venezuela led the paper to question Mr Chavez's defence policy. "The government can no longer continue on its ambiguous course," it said. "It is obsessed with the defence of Caracas as if it is there that our sovereignty is at risk. But concentrating troops in the capital puts the security of all the regions at risk. Under the indifferent gaze of the government, the rural population has been placed between the sword and the wall. If it is not already too late, our leaders must take responsibility, speak truthfully to the country, and preserve our nation from potentially damaging threats."