IRAQ-LATAM: Anti-‘Yanqui’ Feeling Fed from Afar

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 27 2003 (IPS) - The current resuscitation in Latin America of past anti-U.S. spirit is not solely the result of the U.S.-led attack against Iraq, but the invasion did touch off widespread feelings that have been growing in recent times, say analysts in the region.

This trend was evident in the recent elections of leftist presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Lucio Gutiérrez in Ecuador, reflecting "the failure of a certain policy of the International Monetary Fund which is generally attributed to the United States," Ricardo Israel, former director of international studies at the University of Chile, told IPS.

The new "anti-imperialism" is also fueled by Washington’s position in the negotiations to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and its unilateral reaction to the Sep 11, 2001 terror attacks, says Clovis Brigagao, director of the Centre for American Studies, in Rio de Janeiro.

Backing his opinion is Marcos Coimbra, head of the Brazilian Vox Populi Institute, a public opinion research firm. "There haven’t been specific polls on this question in Brazil, but the sentiment is visible" in the demonstrations against the Iraq war, he said in comments to IPS.

"The roots of this shift in attitude predate the war," and are due to a set of policies seen as "neoliberal", such as market liberalisation, privatisation and denationalisation of the economy, whose results people consider unsatisfactory, reinforcing nationalism to the detriment of the U.S. image, said Coimbra.

This sentiment was also stimulated by the "overwhelming criticisms" Lula made against the war and against U.S. policies. But there is some ambivalence among Brazilians, "a mix of hostility towards and admiration for" the United States, said the opinion expert.

The anti-war demonstrations of today are different from those of the 1960s and 1970s because the anti-imperialist attitude of the past was "exclusive to the left, while now it is held by everyone. Even the right-wing criticises the United States," notes Newton Carlos, a veteran commentator on international issues for Brazilian television and newspapers.

One example is the coverage of the war by O Globo and Estado de Sao Paulo, two media organisations associated with the country’s conservative sector, says Carlos.

Since Mar 20, O Globo newspaper has been publishing a special supplement titled "Bush’s War".

U.S. President George W. Bush’s policies, and the attack against Iraq in particular, "affect the prestige of the United States," and the reaction is against that country, without making much distinction between the government and the people, given that polls say most of the U.S. public backs the war, says the commentator.

In Cuba, which is the target of a four-decades-long U.S.-imposed blockade, there is a great deal of effort to make precisely that distinction between government and citizens. It has been years since a U.S. flag has been burned on the socialist-run island, while this act of protest has been common enough in many other Latin American countries in recent days.

Throwing stones at U.S. embassies or U.S.-based shops, promoting boycotts of U.S. products and companies, and lobbing insults at Bush have become the norm in the Latin American protests against the invasion of Iraq that began last week.

In Buenos Aires, Quito, Sao Paulo and Mexico City, as well as the region’s other big cities, there have been aggressive acts against U.S. symbols, and now the superpower’s embassies and consulates are being guarded by police.

In Quito, activists painted slogans on the windows and threw eggs at the local offices of American Airlines and of the fastfood outlets of Pizza Hut and McDonald’s during a protest on Mar 20 that drew more than 5,000 people.

The expansion of anti-U.S. sentiment in Argentina is manifest in the figures reported by the Graciela Romer and Associates polling institute. In December, 58 percent of respondents said they were anti-United States, but this month the portion reached 71 percent, and 80 percent among young adults.

In this month’s Romer poll, 89 percent of those surveyed said they oppose Argentina sending troops to participate in the war in Iraq.

The prevailing attitude puts former Argentine president Carlos Menem (1989- 1999), candidate in the Apr 27 presidential elections, in an uncomfortable spot. In 1991, Menem supported the U.S.-led Gulf War, and even sent two warships to join the alliance against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

"A vote for Menem is a vote for going to war," says Elisa Carrió, presidential candidate for the Alternative for a Republic of Equals Party.

The current anti-war and anti-U.S. majority in Argentina suggested by the polls emerged in the fertile ground of discontent fomented by the serious economic crisis this country has been suffering for more than a year and a half, particularly since Washington has refused to facilitate agreements with the IMF and World Bank, points out analyst Rosendo Fraga.

But Latin American opposition to war has not been expressed in massive mobilisations, and there are just a handful of hotspots for anti-war activism, such as in Argentina and Brazil, believes Rodolfo Fernández, director of international studies at the Mexican Technology Institute.

Mexicans have a "schizophrenic" relationship with their powerful northern neighbour, he said in an IPS interview. "On the one hand they think the United States is the source of all their woes, and on the other they envy and seek out ‘the American way of life’."

Nevertheless, 82 percent of Mexicans surveyed said that President Vicente Fox should remain firm in rejecting the war in Iraq.

Chilean expert Israel predicts that the evolution of public opinion will depend on how long the war is drawn out, the level of the Iraqi population’s support for Saddam Hussein and whether or not Iraq is found to possess weapons of mass destruction, which was the motive cited by Washington for launching the invasion.

Even if such weapons are found, says María Céspedes, a university student in Santiago, "there will always be the legitimate doubt that they were planted by the CIA (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency), because the Bush government has already violated international law and does not recognise ethics."

* Dalia Acosta (Cuba), Diego Cevallos (Mexico), Gustavo González (Chile), Kintto Lucas (Ecuador) and Marcela Valente (Argentina) contributed to this report. (END/IPS/LA-WD/IP/TRA-SO LD/MO/DCL/03)