Top Issue 1-2024

2 October 1997 Edition

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US in global trade war

By Dara MacNeill


The United States appears to be on the verge of declaring holy war on France. Threats, warnings and other ominous noises have been issuing from Washington, since it was announced that French oil company Total and the Iranian government have negotiated a deal worth some £1.3 billion.

According to the United States, the governance and control of world trade lies entirely within the remit of Washington - and woe betide anyone who disregards their imperial edicts.

Hence, the D'Amato Law, which provides for sanctions against companies (or even countries) that invest more than $40 million in either the Iranian or Libyan energy industries.

As a result, an entirely French company may now be charged with violating US law, for having done business with a country thousands of miles from Washington. Similarly ludicrous US claims apply to Cuba and Iraq. This is what the US means when it speaks of free trade.

Responding to virulent US denunciations of the oil deal, a French government spokesperson warned Washington to "weigh the consequences" of implementing the D'Amato Law. The French have been backed by the European Union, which has threatened retaliatory sanctions on US firms should Washington proceed to implement the provisions of the D'Amato Law in full.

However, there would appear to be a serious contradiction in the outraged US reaction to the Iranian oil deal. In recent months, the Clinton administration has received praise for the position it has adopted on US trade links with the military regime in Burma.

Earlier this year, President Clinton introduced legislation which will effectively ban all future US investment in Burma - ruled by a regime that is composed almost entirely of racketeers, genocidal maniacs and heroin traffickers. Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, has also won a considerable amount of favourable press coverage for her supposed 'get tough' stance on the issue.

Yet 'get tough' appears to have a different meaning in different countries. Invest in Iran, and the oil company Total could face serious punitive sanctions. Meanwhile, Total has been and remains one of the largest investors in Burma.

The word 'sanctions' has never once been mentioned in the Burmese context. Indeed, were it not for oil companies like Total and Texaco, the Burmese regime would lose much of its revenue. Since 1988 - when troops murdered 10,000 unarmed opposition demonstrators in the Burmese capital Rangoon - oil revenue and investment has provided the ruling elite with 65% of its income.

Total is currently constructing a pipeline through southern Burma. The project has involved the wholesale eviction of thousands, along with the use of forced labour. Once opened, the pipeline will provide the regime with $400 million per annum, with which to finance the torture and murder of its own people.

The EU however appears untroubled by this fact, allowing Total to trade with impunity, while the United States seems content to pursue imaginary devils. And for the Burmese regime, it's business as usual.


Church in Mexican drugs scandal


The Catholic Church in Mexico has been having it rough of late. Earlier this month, an investigation into church finances revealed that parishes around the country have been in receipt of regular donations from Mexico's drug lords. Among those donating money were two of the country's most prominent traffickers: Rafael Caro and Armando Carillo. The latter was killed recently in a gunbattle.

Reacting defensively, a church spokesman said the organisation was in the business of washing away sins, not laundering drug money. Another church official has claimed the money was used for 'good works' and other such causes. According to the Pulsar newsagency, the revelations have caused "a wave of national revulsion." The Catholic hierarchy in the country have also attempted to defend the donations, saying that just as with business, banks and political parties it was impossible to guarantee that all financial dealings were "clean."

This is not the first occasion on which the Mexican church has been caught up in a drug scandal. In 1994, a Catholic cardinal was shot dead at Guadalajara airport, to the north of Mexico City.

It was variously claimed at the time that he had been caught in the crossfire of a gunbattle between two opposing drug gangs, or had been the victim of a mistaken identity. However, the picture of the supposed intended victim bore absolutely no resemblance to the departed cardinal - who was quite identifiable in his religious regalia.

In addition, it was later claimed that the Cardinal had been shot several times at close range and documents removed from his car. The killers were said to have escaped aboard a normal commercial flight that had been held up especially for them. The case was never solved.


Anti-Castro Cubans were behind bombs in Honduras


An investigation into a mysterious bombing campaign in Honduras, during the early 1990s, indicates that the campaign was the work of the army in alliance with anti-Castro Cuban exiles.

The bombing campaign appears now to have been an attempt to destabilise the then head of Honduras, Carlos Reina. The military were apparently alarmed by Reina's proposal to place the police force under civilian control and limit the arms purchases of the security forces.

Their antipathy towards President Reina was matched in the Cuban exile community, whose leaders were enraged at what they felt was Reina's friendliness towards the government of Fidel Castro. In addition, the exiles were apparently attempting to set up a base for anti-Cuban activities in Honduras, and thus sought to curry favour among the right-wing military.

Along with ideological similarities, there was also a convergence of economic interests between the military and the exiles. In the army, senior officers were rewarded with lucrative commissions for every arms transaction the security forces was involved in.

Meanwhile, a prominent Cuban exile by the name of Mario Delamico was a major supplier of weaponry to the military.

According to an investigation carried out by the Honduran Nuevo Herald newspaper, military sources, government officials and businessmen have testified to the existence of the plan to destabilise Reina.

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