Latin America
Related: About this forumParaguay's rightward spiral
Ten months after the 2012 parliamentary coup that overthrew Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, the South American nation has elected a new leader: Horacio Cartes of the Colorado Party.
Prior to the election of Lugo in 2008, the party ruled the country for 61 consecutive years. At its helm for 35 of these was dictator Alfredo Stroessner.
Cartes' claims to fame includes an appearance in a 2010 WikiLeaks cable from the United States embassy in Buenos Aires concerning "Operation Heart of Stone", a project targeting drug trafficking and money laundering outfits in locations such as the Tri Border Area (TBA) between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
According to the cable, Cartes was the director of "an organization believed to launder large quantities of United States currency generated through illegal means, including through the sale of narcotics, from the TBA to the United States".
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http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/paraguays-rightward-spiral-132539099.html
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bemildred
(90,061 posts)
haikugal
(6,476 posts)why else would the Bushes have purchased so much land and water there? This doesn't come as a surprise at all.
Judi Lynn
(164,124 posts)Sun Myung Moon who owns a vast estate of his own in Paraguay, in addition to the Washington Times and the U.P.I., and heads the Unification Church.
Here are George H. W. Bush and Barbara, celebrating Mrs. Moon's birthday with Moons:
[center]
[/center]Just one happy strange family.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)there is that as well. Don't you just love the 1%?!
Zorro
(18,692 posts)unless he has been resurrected and is lurching around that vast estate as zombie Moon.
Judi Lynn
(164,124 posts)
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)thats just a hoax that chavistas keep repeating. I believe it was started by the Cuban government site Prensa Latina. Chavistas have no problem telling lies.
How cute. Never saw anyone defending Bush.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)the rumor has it Bush bought land in Paraguay apparently to either 1) flee prosecution 2) confiscate the water aquifer. Bush is apparently still living in Texas and took up painting. His library is opening soon I believe. The point is he is not in Paraguay and not being sought by authorities despite the Iraq war calamity.
Its just a rumor. Go on believing whatever you want. Just because it concerns our nation's worst president doesn't make it factual though or that a sensible person is going to believe it.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)Bush’s Paraguay Land Grab
by CP News Wire
Asuncion, Paraguay.
The land grab project of U.S. President George W. Bush in Chaco, Paraguay, has generated considerable discomfort both politically and environmentally.
The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) is the talk of the town in these countries.
Although official sources have not confirmed the information that is already public, the land is reportedly located in Paso de Patria, near Bolivian gas reserves and the Guarani indigenous water region, within the Triple Border.
Alto Paraguay Gov. Erasmo Rodriguez Acosta revealed he heard that part of the land purchase consists of an ecological reserve (Fundacion Patria), with which Bush is affiliated.
In its interview with Rodriguez Acosta, neike.com.py reported that he does not have documentation of this affiliation and it could not communicate either with the foundation or with the National Rural Development and Land Institute, in charge of these state lands.
Concern increased last week with the arrival of Bush’s daughter, Jenna, and a source from the Physical Planning Department saying that most of the Chaco region belongs to private companies.
Luis D’Elia, Argentina´s undersecretary for Land for Social Habitat, says the matter raises regional concern because it threatens local natural resources.
He termed it "surprising" that the Bush family is trying to settle a few short miles from the US Mariscal Estigarribia Military Base.
Argentinean Adolfo Perez Esquivel warned that the real war will be fought not for oil, but for water, and recalled that Acuifero Guaraní is one of the largest underground water reserves in South America, running beneath Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (larger than Texas and California together).
"The southern U.S. states are already struggling with water shortages," asserted the 1980 Nobel Peace Prizewinner.
Orlando Castillo, Paraguay Peace and Justice Service member, recalled the US military buildup in Chaco under a bilateral agreement.
This article originally appeared in Prensa Latina.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/10/20/bush-s-paraguay-land-grab/
What does his residence have to do with it? So you say it's disinformation, a rumor.....but knowing the Bush family I wouldn't be surprised....lot's of money in privatized water...
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)I've heard it all before. If you want to believe it thats fine. I don't. If it were true, I don't see any problem with Bush confirming that. It would seem simple enough.
Perhaps Bush organized the impeachment of Lugo to get a fellow right winger in the presidency and then will start privatising the water supply. Does that sound like a fairly believable conspiracy? Maybe I'll send this theory to Prensa Latina and have them publish it and then watch all the conspiracy nuts go wild.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)he'll manufacture his own history too. What ever... here's more if anyone is interested, from DKos...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/04/28/328588/-Resurrecting-the-Bush-Huge-Land-Acquisition-in-Paraguay-Story
Quite a cluster of 'coincidences'....
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Okay, pretty obvious, (soon to be, but not soon enough) former dictator scopes out property, flees to a South American location to avoid prosecution for war crimes, and gets into business there. Now, what businesses are the most profitable--ie, the most volatile in the region? Oh yes. Natural gas and water. Where is Bush's property? Oh yes, on the Bolivian border where there have been numerous coup d' etat's in the past 100 years, and several national incidents in the past ten years over said natural resources. And, who is hanging out in the Washington, D.C. area as we speak, after fleeing Bolivia from prosecution? Ex-President "Goni" Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, friend of George W. Bush, who wishes to overthrow democratically elected Evo Morales and reinstate power despite the tremendous hate the majority indigenous population feel for him.
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I'd just note that Bush hasn't fled to South America to avoid prosecution for war crimes. If you have actual evidence Bush purchased the property I am more than happy to take a look, and accept verifiable evidence. Otherwise, its just speculation. and old speculation at that.
to your hearts content...anything can be hidden in numerous ways as anyone who has worked in business registration will tell you. The entire setup is used to hide. Given that knowledge we have to just keep things in mind. He'll never be charged with his crimes...or do you consider those rumors until proven otherwise.
The kleptocracy rules.
We disagree....my remark was off the cuff and hardly worth all this effort.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Guatemala, Chile, and Argentina have all charged war crimes perpetrators decades after they committed atrocities. He hasn't been charged yet is all I know. Again, if he bought property in Paraguay then he bought property in Paraguay. I have no problems accepting that. But it seems theorists were saying he bought property in Paraguay in order to flee prosecution AND confiscate the water supply. Neither of those has happened to my knowledge whether he bought property or not.
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)What in your article confirms the rumour? How hard would it be for someone in Paraguay to go to the land registry and post details. It would not be hard at all. Someone would have done it by now if this were true instead of just reposting old Internet articles that source rumors.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)however I can say that it can be very difficult to trace such things if someone doesn't want you to. Just saying...otherwise just ignore what you find so distasteful, I do.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)that junior bought land in Paraguay to flee war crimes prosecution or obtain control over the aquifer.
There is no evidence I have seen of the purchase yet it gets repeated over and over again. Our friends should simply show us the evidence and then they'll discover how rational people are quite willing to accept facts.
