Lat-Am Watch: Bolivian uproar at EU directive, violent Venezuela

Forcing FIFA to abandon its ban on playing international soccer matches at high altitude is one thing. But whether the Bolivian President Evo Morales can also single-handedly dissuade the European Union from locking up illegal immigrants or sending them home, remains to be seen. If he doesn’t though, it won’t be for lack of trying.

“European citizens arrived in Latin and North America en masse, without visas or conditions imposed on them by the authorities. They were simply welcomed, and continue to be in Latin America,” wrote Morales in an op-ed piece for the Guardian yesterday, in an attempt to explain his rejection at the EU’s proposal to incarcerate undocumented immigrants for up to 18 months. The vote by the European parliament on the so-called “return directive” is scheduled for later this week.

Morales’ words are more than welcome. The EU’s hypocrisy in matters of immigration deserves derision, as does the scandalous way in which migrants from Latin America, Africa and Asia are treated.

The oft-vented notion in countries such as Spain, Britain and The Netherlands that they are as wealthy as they are through the isolated toil of a select group of nationals and that their well-being owes nothing to the drudgery of the rest of the planet means denying the very foundations of the global trade that created that wealth.

Buying and selling, not having, is what generates prosperity. If not Angola would be the world’s richest country. To keep producing wealth freedom of trade and freedom of migration should go hand-in-hand.

The fact is, in the near future the aging Europeans are more likely than ever to need the extra workforce, while ever-tighter regulations force EU businesses and farmers to settle in more compliant parts of the globe. Prosperous Europe is and always will be a joint effort.

So Morales has a point when he chastises the Europeans for “infringing the rights of immigrants,” while maintaining “the great majority of migrants contribute to, rather than exploit, this [European] prosperity.”

However, the Bolivian president has linked his opposition to the EU directive to two ultimatums, which threaten to upset Bolivia and it’s neighbours more than they do the self-absorbed Europeans.

The first is a threat to demand visas for all EU travelers to Bolivia on the basis of reciprocity. Like Brazil, Bolivia already charges US citizens a hefty 100 dollars to enter the country. To implement similar conditions for Europeans would only serve to irritate travelers even more and worsen already strained relations while probably snuffing the nascent tourist industry in the process.

The other ultimatum is a lot more serious. Morales says he will sabotage the emerging trade deal between the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and the EU. That would mean seriously embarrassing Colombia and Peru, the two nations most in favour of a deal. Ecuador, the fourth CAN member is still ambivalent, but does want to strengthen ties with Europe.

Morales’ opposition to free trade agreements with the US has already led to clashes between
him and president Alan Garcia of neighbouring Peru. Last week he challenged García to debate the benefits of such a deal, which Peru is desperately seeking.

Of course, Evo Morales’ Bolivia was never much in favour of trade deals and liberalizing markets – they go against the grain of his 21st century socialism. But to pull out now would effectively render the already blunted CAN completely obsolete. It would force Colombia and Peru to look for bi-lateral agreements with Europe as they are trying to do with the US and relegate Latin American integration to the back burner once again.

For someone so convinced of the enormous advantages migrants and trade have brought to Europe, Morales plans to “go it alone” sound slightly irrational.

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Meanwhile, in Venezuela, violence has gone from being a menace to society to a serious threat against democracy. On Sunday the body of journalist Javier García was found stabbed to death in his apartment in Caracas. García worked for the RCTV television network that had it’s licensed revoked by president Hugo Chávez last year.

Although police have yet to reveal a suspect or a possible motive, Garcia is the second high profile journalist to be murdered in as many weeks. On June 2 gunmen killed Pierre Fould Gerges, the vice-president of the Caracas-based business daily Reporte de la Economía, a crime which is also still under investigation.

Journalists aren’t the only ones to suffer. The homicide rate in Venezuela has soared to 45 murders per 100,000 inhabitants according to Jorge Briceño Leon of the Venezuelan Observatory for Violence. In comparison, the rate in Brazil is 20, in Mexico 14,7 and Argentina around 9.

“The rate of murders has doubled in ten years, while the number of homicides has actually tripled,” Briceño told El Nacional newspaper on Sunday. Last year saw a horrifying 13,200 violent killings in Venezuela, making it the primary cause of death for men aged between 15 and 24. This year is looking to be similarly gruesome with well over 3,000 murders in the first five months.

Since Chávez came to power in 1998 Venezuela has gone from being no more dangerous than comparable countries such as Mexico and Brazil to suffering on a par with the likes of gang-ridden El Salvador or Guatemala. From insecure to downright life-threatening. As a result crime has become Venezuelans number one cause for concern. As for Chávez, if he plans to win the November regional elections, it should be his main headache as well.