U.S. SEEKS TO GET RID OF LEFT GOVERNMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA

Recent events indicate that the Obama administration has stepped up its strategy of "regime change" against the left-of-center governments in Latin America, promoting conflict in ways not seen since the military coup that Washington supported in Venezuela in 2002. The most high-profile example is in Venezuela itself, during the past week. As this goes to press, Washington has grown increasingly isolated in its efforts to destabilize the newly elected government of Nicolas Maduro.

But Venezuela is not the only country to fall prey to Washington's efforts to reverse the electoral results of the past 15 years in Latin America. It is now clear that last year's ouster of President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay was also aided and abetted by the United States government. In a brilliant investigative work for Agência Pública, journalist Natalia Viana shows that the Obama administration funded the principal actors involved in the "parliamentary coup" against Lugo. Washington then helped organize international support for coup.

The U.S. role in Paraguay is similar to its role in the military overthrow of democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in 2009, where Washington hijacked the Organization of American States (OAS) and used it to fight the efforts of South American governments who wanted to restore democracy. Zelaya later testified that Washington was also involved in the coup itself.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-seeks-to-get-rid-of-left-governments-in-latin-america/5333626


BARACK OBAMA PAYS TRIBUTE TO GEORGE W. BUSH AT PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY OPENING

The dedication ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas Thursday was an opportunity for the American political elite, Democratic and Republican wing alike, to express its essential unity and singleness of purpose.

President Barack Obama was on hand, as were former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, to celebrate probably the most hated resident of the White House in US history, the younger Bush, whose administration is associated by tens of millions with illegal war, torture and corporate criminality.

Although not surprising, Obama's fulsome praise for his predecessor, in front of an audience that included former Vice President Dick Cheney and, according to the New York Times, "a collection of current and former foreign leaders and lawmakers as well as hundreds of former Bush administration officials and thousands of his admirers," was especially significant.

The current president told his audience, "The first thing I found in that desk the day I took office was a letter from George [W. Bush], and one that demonstrated his compassion and generosity."

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/26/obam-a26.html