Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 30)
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- Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 30)
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‘Israel in Latin America
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This study was presented at a symposium in Cuba, arranged by the International Secretariat for
Solidarity with the Arab People and their Central Cause, Palestine.
The importance of the Israeli military role in Latin
America can be traced back to imperialism’s defeat in
Vietnam, which for a time diminished the US’s capacity to
intervene directly against popular struggles in the three
continents. US imperialism was forced to devise new plans
for implementing its policies effectively but more quietly,
without having to face the public dissent which prevailed
during its involvement in Southeast Asia. To this purpose, the
US needed a reliable surrogate, a force with advanced
military experience and whose interests paralleled its own.
The natural candidate was the Zionist state.
In Latin America, ‘Israel’ immediately picked up the
slack by increasing the supply of military equipment and
advisors sent to reactionary states to a veritable flood by the
early eighties. Starting in the mid-seventies, a squadron of
Dagger aircraft and Gabriel rockets were sold to Argentina;
150 Shafrir missiles to Chile; Super-mysteres and Kfir C2
combat jets to Honduras - all regimes condemned by the
world community for gross violation of human rights. The
Zionist state engaged in training the internal security forces of
El Salvador and Panama. From 1976, ‘Israel’ was responsible
for supplying almost all the military needs of the Guatemala
dictatorship until January this year, when the Reagan
Administration resumed direct military aid to Rios Montt’s
regime. In Mexico, ‘Israel’ has established a_ licensed
assembly plant for Arava aircraft, planes suitable for
counterinsurgency. High-tech military equipment poured
into the hands of many reactionary governments.
It is no coincidence that the Israeli military role in Latin
America escalated parallel to the ascendence of the military
juntas, and became even more apparent with the resurgence
of the liberation struggle in the area, heralded by the
Nicaraguan revolution. The main function of Israeli military
aid to Latin American has, of course, been
counterinsurgency. Moreover, today Israeli arms serve to
heighten tension in the area in line with US imperialism’s
increasingly aggressive policy and renewed willingness to
intervene directly. Israeli involvement in the US’s “backyard”
clearly shows Zionism’s organic link and common interests
with imperialism. ‘Israel’ is directly participating in the
efforts to embolden Latin American dictators, as was echoed
in the remark of General Gustava Alvarez of Honduras that
his country needs a preemptive strike against Nicaragua the
way ‘Israel’ did against the PLO. The Israeli government has
proven before the international community that it is totally
faithful to the imperialist cause and has no qualms about
supporting regimes in Latin America which have murdered
hundreds of thousands of their own citizens in recent years.
‘Israel’ in Central America
In this paper, we will allow ourselves to concentrate on
Central America, for it is there that the Israeli role became
most visible starting in the mid-seventies - dramatically
exposed by the victory of the Sandinista revolution.
In fact, the Carter Administration’s so-called human
rights policy can hardly be understood in isolation from the
role of ‘Israel’ as an imperialist surrogate. Faced with public
criticism of the US role in maintaining the brutal Somoza
dictatorship, Congress cut off military aid to Nicaragua.
Thus, US imperialism tried to save face, but in Nicaragua, as
30
in other Latin American countries, the US could not have
pretended to implement a policy based on human rights
criteria, if not for the fact that ‘Israel’ moved in to shoulder
the task of arming the éxposed dictatorships. After the
victory of the Sandinista revolution, it was revealed that 98%
of Somoza’s military equipment had come from the Zionist
state.
Today, the US and ‘Israel’ continue to conspire against
the Nicaraguan people by attempting to topple their
revolutionary government. An article in Washington Post
earlier this year revealed a new instance of US-Israeli
cooperation to this effect. The two are working on a
multimillion dollar settlement plan in Costa Rica, along the
border with Nicaragua. This plan calls for settling and
supporting up to 1,000 families on land along the border. The
US agency AID, notorious for links with CIA projects, has
agreed to finance the project with at least $10 million in the
first year alone. ‘Israel’ provides technical expertise, based on
its experience with settlements in occupied Palestine,
especially the West Bank, where private enterprise plays an
increasingly prominent role in colonization. The Israeli firm,
TAHAL, is providing engineers who have been involved in
the project from the start.
It is interesting to note that this settlement project was
begun at the same time as the US started the large-scale
military maneuvers - Big Pine - along the Honduran-
Nicaraguan border. This is one indication that the settlement
project in Costa Rica has a place in the US military plans for
the area. The aim is to create strategic pinchers that would
physically isolate Nicaragua, and serve as bases for the
counterrevolutionaries’ sabotage. The settlement project is
hard to justify otherwise, for Costa Rica has no serious
overpopulation problem that necessitates resettling people in
border areas. A US administration official acknowledged
that AID would never have given an economically risky
project the go-ahead, if it weren't for the political
implications. US ambassador to Costa Rica, McNeil, also
acknowledged this fact, saying in a confidential cable: “It is
essential that the land purchase be expeditiously and quietly
carried out to... avoid land invasion by leftist rebels which
would nullify the project’s geopolitical objectives”.
This is not the first time the Zionists engage in settlement
building in the Western Hemisphere. In Guatemala, in
addition to having sent over 300 advisers, ‘Israel’ has
promoted the regime’s counterinsurgency efforts by
providing the expertise for so-called development projects.
This entailed the physical elimination and transfer of the
Indian inhabitants of certain areas, and the establishment of
kibbutz -like colonies in an effort to deprive the guerrilla
movement of their mass base.
In a recent chapter of the US - Zionist conspiracy against
the people of Latin America and the Middle East, the Zionist
state, at US request, sent massive shipments of PLO weapons
captured in Lebanon, to Costa Rica, to arm the CIA
sponsored contras for their attacks on Nicaragua.
Renewed focus on El Salvador
From 1972 to 1977, the Zionist state supplied the regime in E]
Salvador with 81% of its weaponry. In this period, ‘Israel’ also
began sending military advisors to the country. The recent - هو جزء من
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