Wikileaks Panama: Superb coverage from Bananama Republic on the Martinelli leaks

The reaction from the recent Wikileaks revelations in Panama may mark the first case when the leaked cables have significantly weakened a current government administration and a country President. Okke over at Banamana Republic has done a great job of stringing together the scandals so far and the three posts over at his site are today's required reading.

The first post is on how the country's Veep called the the current Panama Canal expansion "a disaster", which is interestng enough but nothing destabilizing. However it was a mere hors d'oeuvre for what followed in....

...the second Banamana Republic Wikileaks post, an absolute gem. Here we get a great rundown an analysis of the big scandal currently hurting President Martinelli and his government, how he tried to strongarm the US into giving him illegal phonetaps on his political enemies, plenty more rogue behaviour detailed and a character assessment of the Prez dude from the US ambassador that will remain for the ages; "His penchant for bullying and blackmail may have led him to supermarket stardom but is hardly statesmanlike. He risks losing the good will of his backers in the Panamanian elite and business communities. Martinelli is not a member of Panama’s traditional elite, and he could be on thin ice if his “anti-corruption” measures end up being seen primarily as shake-downs for fast cash."

Then yesterday we had the third installment of Bananama Republic's Wiki-coverage, with the fallout from the wiretap revelations and more on the DEA in Panama.

Go read them all now, especially that second one. Top stuff and we very heart Bananama Republic.

Wikileaks quote fun quiz thingy

Which South American President yesterday said the following about the quality of information relayed to the USA by its ambassadors abroad and revealed by Wikileaks? 

"The poor ambassadors they send here have a very limited capacity and this is why afterwards they end up bombing a country (and) looking for weapons of mass destruction that don't exist."

"They told me there was an atomic bomb in Iraq, (but) it was all rumours. This has cost Mr Tony Blair, who believed the rumours, very dearly."

 Was it:

a) Hugo Chávez
b) Alan García
c) Rafael Correa
d) Lula da Silva
e) Evo Morales
f) Cristina Fernandez

The answer is here, so guess first and click second.

News roundup (we ring the bell then run like hell)

Peru gets to enjoy Wikileaks for about the first time, when the idiot US ambassador at the time makes mental noodlings about the narco-corruption inside Peru's army, notes how he thinks military chiefs are paid off by the narcos and gets them all huffy and puffy and indignant. Personally, I think ex-Ambassador to Peru McKinley (now hanging in Colombia) is right in the general suspicion stakes but has conjectured over the wrong details. Because he's a dumbass. Gotta love wikileaks as it shows just how blunt the sharp minds really are.

Wikileaks and Venezuela are two words that go together well, because due to media brain conditioning it's about the only country that you gringos care about down here. Anyway, Setty does the job of keeping us up to date with the drip-drip-drip. Unsurprisingly, Alvaro Uribe has so far come across as far more of a brutish and belligerent character than that guy Hugo with the beret.

There's an old saying in Buenos Aires Argentina. "If your car gets stolen, go look for it in Asuncion" (capital of Paraguay). According to Brazil's Canal F, that one holds true for Sao Paulo Brazil as well. Its report covers how cars stolen from the big metropoles get trucked to Paraguay via bribed police checkpoints and barges that cross the Itaipu lake. Then they're swapped for armaments, drugs or an average of U$2000 a piece if there's nothing laying around to play swapsies with.  

Bolivia uncovers another massive cocaine factory on its lands being run on a Colombian technology model in the eastern Santa Cruz region. You won't get to hear about this or any other of the efforts made by the brave and hard-working FELCN Bolivian drugs squad anywhere else (in English anyway) because your media wants you to believe something completely different about Bolivia.

Venezuelan oil Wikileaks fun

Thank the higher powers for Setty. Not only does he know about the Venezuelan oil scene a squillion times more than the humble author currently scribing, but he's also gone and done the legwork on a new batch of Wikileaks just out that concern Big Oil and Venezuela and saved me the tedium. Go read it all here, with added insight from the brain of the Settyman.

OT: US to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011

I laughed so much reading this that I just can't resist sharing. Today the US State Department announced the following and we're just going to present the NR without further comment:

"The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 - May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press."

It goes on:

"The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21^st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression."

And then:

"At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information."

This is not a spoof, nor is it a joke. The whole NR can be read right here.

x

Venezuela arrests Julian Assange

In a shocking display of Tyranny™, Hugo Chávez today arrested ChampionOfFreeSpeech™ Julian Assange on trumped-up charges that have little or nothing to do with the real reason for his detention.

We join the FreeWorld™ in condemning Chávez's actions and demand the speedy release of Assange.

A lot as been written about Wikileaks...

...and this humble corner of cyberspace isn't going to join in the fest bar the stuff that's 1) LatAm and 2) fun (audience sighs with relief), but I would like to direct you to a most thoughtful and insightful post written by Okke Ornstein on the subject, a hundred times better than the vast majority of guff written on the phenomena so far. Here's the link, go find out for yourself.

Evo's tumour again

Despite Bolivia flatly denying that the operation Evo went through was to remove a tumour, another new Wikileak has emerged mentioning the case and getting pretty specific. Here's the excerpt from this cable:

Despite the official government position that 

President Morales will undergo treatment to correct a 

deviated septum immediately following the referendum, several 

contacts confirm that the problem is actually a tumor in the 


pituitary near the sella turcica and that Morales will travel 

to Spain for the operation.  xxxxxxxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxxxxxx told us Morales' first choice, Cuba, could not 

perform the surgery. 

Detailed stuff, right? In the end, note that Evo didn't travel to Spain or Cuba but had the corrective surgery in La Paz Bolivia. However, it was performed by Cuban surgeons. 

By the way, that very same cable linked above is evidence that The USA really doesn't have the first clue about Bolivia, even at a diplomatic level. Here's a dude writing his letters home from the La Paz Embassy talking about Bolivia's "quickly crumbling economy". Jeeez! For one thing Bolivia's "crumbling economy "just happened to be the number one best performing economy in the whole of The Americas in 2009 and for another, the economic policies have continued to this day, giving Bolivia a decent growth forecast for 2010. Currency reserves are at an all-time record, its trade surplus is excellent and the acid test of any country, its currency, shows strength all round, with the crawling peg recently ratcheted up a notch and Bolivians, for the first time ever, holding more savings in local currency than in the US Dollar. No wonder US policymakers get the country so wrong: they're informed by utter dumbasses. 

What is (was) up Evo's nose?

Another cute leak this morning:

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 000093 

SIPDIS 

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/AND, INR 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2019 
TAGS: PREL PINR BO BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL'S LULA OFFERS BOLIVIA'S MORALES TREATMENT 
FOR TUMOR 

Classified By: Ambassador Clifford M. Sobel, Reason 1.4 
(b) and (d) 

¶1. (C) In a conversation with Ambassador Sobel following the 
January 15, 2009 La Paz meeting between Brazilian President Lula and 
Bolivian President Morales, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson
 Jobim (protect) confirmed an earlier rumor that Morales is 
suffering from a serious sinus tumor. Jobim told the Ambassador 
that Lula had offered Morales an examination and treatment at a 
Sao Paulo hospital. Although there have been been public reports 
that Morales needs surgery for "acute sinusitis," and related 
otitis and headaches, according to Jobim his problems in fact 
are caused by a serious tumor and the surgery will be an effort
 to remove it. Treatment has been put off, however, until after
 the constitutional referendum scheduled for January 25. Jobim,
 who attended the meeting between Lula and Morales, commented 
that the tumor might explain why Morales has seemed unfocussed
 and not his usual self at this and other recent meetings. SOBEL

UPDATE: Bolivia is denying that Evo ever had a tumour. From this WaPo story:

"Morales' spokesman Ivan Canelas denied there had ever been any tumor, saying Morales had surgery last year for a problem with his nasal septum that was causing him constant colds. In a radio interview, he said the leaked cable "had a big dose of speculation.""

WhaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAt? Y-y-y-y-y-y-you mean it's remotely possible that the US Diplo corps in South America has been making shit up about Evo Morales? WHAT A SHOCKAH!

A fun Chávez wikileak

French Elysee Diplomatic Advisor Jean-David Levitte, on September 11th 2009:

"Levitte observed that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is "crazy" and said that even Brazil wasn't able to support him anymore. Unfortunately, Chavez is taking one of the richest countries in Latin America and turning it into another Zimbabwe."

Gotta wonder about these Frenchies, what with Brazil having come out with unmitigated support for Chávez time and again since that 'advisor' shot his mouth off to the US visiting delegation to Paris. Anyway, apart from that and the usual US paranoia about hezbollah in Paraguay, there doesn't seem to be much about LatAm in the leaked documents, so forget this corner of the world and worry more about Saudi Arabia wanting to bomb the frak outta Iran, methinks.

UPDATE: One more. Apparently The USA was worried about Argentina's President Cristina and the state of her mental health. Oh that's caring of them, isn't it?

UPDATE 2: Sketch adds another in the comments section. Thanks Sketch, here it is:

Have you seen the one from the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa?

""there is no doubt that the military, Supreme Court and National Congress conspired on June 28 in what constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch,"

"There is equally no doubt from our perspective that Roberto Micheletti's assumption of power was illegitimate."

"Forced Removal by Military was Clearly Illegal"

"Congress Had no Authority to Remove Zelaya"

A thought for wikileak Sunday

Less out of choice and more because of a scratch-that-itch thing, I've spent the last few hours picking over the pending wikileak dump that's supposed to happen later today and the morality or otherwise of it all. I keep coming back to one thing and it gets shared here as a random musing more than anything else.

We, i.e. the John&Joan Qs Citizens of this world, have been told to accept a more intrusive government that knows more and more about what we do and how we spend our lives because "only people with something to hide will be worried". However, according to what we've seen out of the US State Dept the last 72 hours this line of logic doesn't work when the people turn tables on governments.

Hillary's about to find out what an intrusive pat-down really feels like. On with the show.