Stories written by Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist, is author of "The Open Veins of Latin America".

CONFESSIONS OF THE TORTURER

The information obtained through torture is not credible, or barely so, for the simple reason that pain transforms anyone into an author of fiction; the powers that use torture, on the other hand, reveal their true identity through this grim practice: in the chambers of torment, the commanders take off their masks, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. In this analysis, Galeano writes that the occupying forces preach democracy and freedom but practice crime and torture. The rest is pure theatre: the ceremonies, proclamations, speeches, promises, the transfer of sovereignty. Torture generates information that is of minimal usefulness and questionable veracity. Yet it has been and continues to be used because it is efficient in punishing heresy, causing humiliation, and sowing fear. The monks of the Inquisition knew this very well, and so does the top military brass of today\'s imperial adventures. Power does not use torture to protect the population but to terrorize it. Will it be as efficient as power thinks it is? Galeano asks.

THE WHITE CURSE

On the first day of this year, freedom in this world turned 200. But no one noticed, or almost no one. A few days later the country where this birth occurred, Haiti, found itself in the media spotlight, but not for the anniversary of universal freedom but because there had been a bloodbath that culminated in the ouster of President Aristide, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and novelist and author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. But the international experts are far more destructive than invading troops, Galeano writes in this column. Placed under strict orders from the World Bank and IMF, Haiti obeyed every instruction. The government paid what it was told to even if it meant there would be neither bread nor salt. Their credit was frozen despite the fact the state had been dismantled and the subsidies and tariffs that had protected national production had been eliminated. Rice farmers, once the majority, soon became beggars or boat people. Many have ended in the depths of the Caribbean, and more are following them to the bottom, only these shipwreck victims aren\'t Cuban so their plight never makes the papers. Today Haiti imports all of its rice from the US, where international experts, who are rather distracted people, forgot to prohibit tariffs and subsidies to protect national production.

BAD HABITS

A small gesture of national dignity set off a raging scandal early this year: Brazil required of US visitors what the US required of Brazilian visitors: to obtain a visa and have their picture and fingerprints taken at the border, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and novelist and author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. In this article, Galeano writes that everything was explained by September 11, which President Bush continues to use as a shield of perpetual impunity. However, though no Brazilian had anything to do with bringing down the World Trade Centre, the most serious terrorist act in Brazilian history, the coup of 1964, took place with the political, economic, military, and media participation of the United States. It is inconceivable for us to imagine the story the other way around. What would have happened, Galeano asks, if Iraq had invaded the US on the pretext that it had weapons of mass destruction. Or if the Venezuelan embassy in Washington had pushed and applauded a coup against George W. Bush? And what if the countries of the South refused to accept a single condition imposed by the IMF and World Bank unless they began imposing them on the US as well, the major debtor of the planet.

DANGER

Power feeds on fear. Without the demons that create it, it would lose its source of justification, impunity, and fortune, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist, author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. Fear distracts and deflects attention. Were it not for the services it performs, the obvious would be plain for all to see: that power looks at itself in the mirror and incites fear by telling us what it sees, Galeano writes. Patriotism is a privilege of those in power. When practised by those who are ruled, is it reduced to mere terrorism? To take two examples, the suicide attacks by desperate Palestinians evicted from their country, or the national resistance to the foreign forces now occupying Iraq: are these terrorism and nothing more? Power disguised negates common sense. If it weren\'t thus, could there be any doubt that the current government of Israel is practising terrorism, state terrorism, and is spreading madness? The more land this country devours and the more humiliation it inflicts on the Palestinian people, the more criminal responses it will generate.

BOLIVIA: THE COUNTRY THAT WANTS TO EXIST

A gigantic explosion of gas -- this was the popular uprising that shook all of Bolivia and culminated in the resignation of President Sanchez de Lozada, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist, author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire.\'\' In this article, Galeano writes that the gas was to have been shipped to California, for a minuscule price in exchange for a few miserable gifts. Sanchez de Lozada called this false privatisation \'\'capitalization\'\', but the country, tired of living to fuel foreign progress, demanded that the gas be used for Bolivia. These fast-moving times are marked by astounding achievements in Bolivia. In 2000 an uprising deprivatised the nation\'s water. A few months ago another popular explosion forced the government to annul the payroll tax that the IMF had demanded be implemented. And popular disobedience derailed a juicy deal for Pacific LNG, comprised by Repsol, British Gas, and Panamerican Gas, known to be a partner of Enron. As for the fugitive Sanchez de Lozada, he lost the presidency but he won\'t be losing much sleep. Though he has the killing of over 80 demonstrators on his conscience, this champion of modernisation is not bothered by anything that can\'t turn a profit.

THE DANGEROUS RAINBOW

The cross and the sword are raised high as in old times, and with good reason: in the last few months, homophobia has come under serious attack, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. Earlier this summer, the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that criminalised homosexuality, effectively voiding similar laws in 12 other states. And in New Hampshire, for the first time in the history of Christianity the faithful and the clergy of the Episcopal Church elected a bishop who is openly gay. Galeano writes in this article for IPS that all of these acts of \'\'grave immorality\'\', of liberty and mental health, are not gifts: they are victories, the result of the persistent battle of gays and lesbians against discrimination and violence. Armed with the rainbow banner, a symbol of human diversity, they are overturning one of the most sinister heresies of the past. The walls of intolerance are beginning to fall.

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