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Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper will meet with US President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in New Orleans April 21-22 2008 to discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The discussions are a continuation of a process which began in 2005 and, at the latest meeting in Montebello Quebec in August 2007, lays out a broad framework for the integration of the three countries to strengthen economic, security and trade relations. The summit convenes at a time of a deepening economic and political crisis in the US in the wake of the sub-prime housing melt down, the credit and debt crisis and the continuing war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Harper aims to solidify his imperialist position within Latin America and sacrifice and make complicit Canadian workers in Washington’s foreign policies of permanent war and occupation. Harper continues to hand over control of Canadian resources to trans-national corporations in a policy of “fortress America” in exchange for a greater share in mining and banking interests in Latin America and the imperial council of NATO. The foreign policies of the Harper regime seeks to allow Canadian mining and banking interests a free hand in the exploitation of the natural resources of Panama, Ecuador, Columbia and Chile and prepare the ground for a greater military role in the region.
In the recent World Peace Council World Peace Conference in Caracas Venezuela the Canadian Peace Congress heard reports from conference delegates of Canadian mining companies interference in Panama through mining giant Teck Cominco and INMET. A struggle is underway to halt the expansion of open pit mining on indigenous lands and the control of water in the region. The reports indicated that the Canadian Embassy in Panama promoted a “mining forum” that actively supported INMET in the exploitation of minerals in the area. There will be more on this in the near future.
Reports were also made to the Canadian Peace Congress by Latin American delegates of the brutally violent murders and suppression by the Republic of Columbian Álvaro Uribe regime of labour leaders and peace activists. In 2006 687 people were kidnapped and more than 17,000 murdered in the country. This is the regime that Prime Minster Harper said, "When we see a country like Colombia that has decided it has to address its social, political and economic problems, it wants to embrace economic freedom, it wants to embrace political democracy and human rights and social development, then we say we're in."
The Uribe regime has implemented a policy of brutal repression by drug lords and death squads which masquerade as democracy. In 2004 Uribe began the liquidation of the State Mining Company of Colombia, Minercol Ltda. The January 28, 2004 Uribe Decree 254 eliminated its employees' union Sintraminercol and cleared the way for the wholesale turnover of the exploration, exploitation and administration of mineral, energy, and public resources to multinational corporations – Canadian mining corporations Teck Cominco and INMET were at the table.
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) reported that, “Colombia is the country where more trade unionists are killed than in the rest of the world combined. Four hundred (400) union officers and rank-and-file members have been brutally and systematically murdered during the administration of President Alvaro Uribe Velez. Of these crimes there have been only 7 convictions. In 2006, 72 unionists were murdered and 23 so far in 2007.
The Uribe decree is part of a continuing broader policy of privatization of Colombian natural resources and services, the elimination of trade unions and the violation of rights of expression, of collective bargaining, and of unionization which includes military and paramilitary threats, summary executions, arbitrary detentions, threats and assassinations.
SPP Framework for Imperialism
Increasing tensions in Latin and South America are the back drop to the SPP meeting between Canada, Mexico and the US where interference in Venezuela was instigated by Columbia and the CIA.
The leaders will meet with representatives of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC). In preparation for the meeting in New Orleans, the ministers responsible for the SPP met in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, to outline the agenda and prepare the ground work for the summit. In a February 28 2008 joint statement the framework for the meetings were outlined as:
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa met in Washington DC April 8 2008 to prepare the groundwork for the meetings between the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the US. At the April 8 Washington press conference at Loy Henderson Auditorium, US Secretary Rice said, “[T]he relationship between the United States, Canada and Mexico is one of the most critical from the point of view of American foreign policy.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Bernier stressing the importance of the SPP meetings said at the news conference, “[I]t is important to have economic freedom between our three countries, but also to have a security partnership together…we share the same values that, in our foreign policy, it is important for our country to promote human rights and economic freedom. And we want to do that when we have other meetings at the international level, like OAS and other kind of meetings.”
Bernier’s comments come amidst a back drop of intensification of Canadian imperialist penetration into Central and South America through mining and banking corporations. This policy is an expansion of Canadian capital into the region and sets the stage for increased interference in the region by Canada. Secretary Rice outlined that policy in remarks at the press conference where she said, “[W]e talked about some of the regional issues that are facing the Organization of American States and the Summit of the Americas. And we will continue that discussion over lunch as we look at issues as disparate as Cuba, concerns about the neighborhood, and our joint desire to see this hemisphere be one that trades in freedom, that seeks prosperity and social justice for its people and that does all of this in the framework of democracy and good neighborliness.”
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio One news reported that the leaders will be making a statement on Venezuela and Cuba. Prime Minister Harper is on the forefront of this regional strategy of interference. In Harper’s July 17th 2007 speech to the Chile-Canada Chamber of Commerce in Santiago Chile Prime Minister Harper indicated that Canada is willing to become a bigger player in the region and “for the long term”. Harper said, “Foreign direct investment from Canada into the Americas now stands at close to 100 billion dollars – a number that is more than twice the size of Canadian investment in Asia.”
Harper expressed that Canada is prepared to challenge Venezuela and reverse “the return to the syndrome of economic nationalism, political authoritarianism and class warfare”. Harper’s thinly veiled warning to Venezuela is part of the tri-lateral strategy of integration to reverse the independent economic development of Latin America away form the debt policy of the IMF and the World Bank. Harper continued, “Canada is an emerging energy superpower and is committed to working with you in addressing this challenge”.
As part of this strategy Foreign Affairs Minister Bernier repeatedly emphasized at the Washington press conference the Harper government’s desire of rapidly implementing a Free Trade Agreement with Columbia. Bernier said, “[W]e want to be sure that entrepreneurs from Colombia will be able to sell their goods to Canadians and vice versa, that Canadians will be able to buy goods from Colombia. And I don’t see the – a government interfere in that. We believe in free trade and economic freedom…So I hope that as a country, we’ll be able in Canada to have a free trade agreement with Colombia as soon as possible.”
Canadian exports to Colombia totalled $446 million in 2005, and bilateral trade reached $1 billion according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The major exports to Columbia are wheat, pulses, newsprint, paper products, automobile parts and fertilizers. Canadian companies have invested in many Colombian industries. Over the last five years Canadian companies have invested in agri-food, mineral exploration and construction and forestry.
An April 16 2008 article by the Embassy reported that Colombian Ambassador Jaime Giron Duarte appeared before the Standing Committee on International Trade. The report sited International Trade Minister David Emerson support of Canadian-Columbian free trade agreement saying that, “There's a government in Colombia that's working hard trying to build a viable democracy and deal with human rights, and why not give them the economic opportunities to go with what can keep them out of poverty and off of businesses that may be linked to drug trades”. The Embassy article said that, “Canada also has major mining interests in the country, which borders Venezuela, where natural resources have been nationalized.” The Columbian Ambassador stated to the committee that, “We believe there is a relationship between democracy and economic development.”
Security issues will be central to the SPP meeting. For example the recent “bi-lateral” Civil Assistance Plan agreement signed by the US and Canadian militaries at US Army North Headquarters, Fort Sam Houston Texas on February 14, 2008 to permit “the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency”. The military generals signing the agreement said, “This document is a unique, bilateral military plan to align our respective national military plans to respond quickly to the other nations request for military support of civil authorities.”
The plan is part of a deepening integration of the Canadian and US militaries through NORAD and NORTHCOM where “continental” security decisions are to be made outside of the elected representatives of the nation and transferred to military commands.
Deepening integration of the three nations expands the provisions of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to include standardization of science and technology regulations, military commands, immigration and labour mobility, capital and banking structures. The SPP places emphasis on developing a continental security perimeter which outlines technical integration of military commands and armaments for increased interoperability, intelligence sharing and border controls. It centralizes the command structures to coordinate domestic security issues and places the control over the implementation of troop deployments in the hands of the military.
The Canadian Peace Congress condemns the Harper administration for its interference in Latin America and calls for an immediate halt to further discussions on SPP. The Canadian Peace Congress expresses solidarity with the just struggles of the Latin American peoples to control their own resources and defend their sovereignty and borders from foreign interference. |