Southcom boosts US military presence in Latin America, citing China, Russia
‘threats’
Southern Command is ramping up the US military presence in Latin America to
counter China, Russia, and Venezuela, after signing a historic military
agreement incorporating Bolsonaro’s Brazil into its imperial orbit
By Ben Norton
The Donald Trump administration has ramped up US interventionism in Latin
America, overseeing a far-right military coup in Bolivia and backing coup
attempts against the leftist governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Against the backdrop of regime-change operations, the United States Southern
Command has announced a massive expansion of its military presence in the
region.
Brazil will play an anchoring role in the new arrangement, embracing its new
role as an extension of Pax Americana under the far-right government of Jair
Bolsonaro. In recent months, Brazil has been designated a “major non-NATO ally”
and signed a historic agreement incorporating its domestic defense industry
into a Pentagon funding and research program.
In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on March 11, the
commander of US Southern Command, Admiral Craig S. Faller, announced, “There
will be an increase in US military presence in the hemisphere later this year.”
U.S. Southern Command
✔
@Southcom
#SOUTHCOM’s Adm. Faller: “There will be an increase in US military presence in
the hemisphere later this year. This will include an enhanced presence of
ships, aircraft, & security forces to reassure our partners… & counter a range
of threats to include illicit narco-terrorism.”
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This hearing was held before the US government took lockdown measures over the
coronavirus pandemic. But many US military activities have continued despite
the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus — as have Washington’s suffocating
sanctions imposed on Venezuela and Iran.
New cold war rhetoric demonizing China and Russia
The bellicose rhetoric Faller displayed in his verbal testimony and written
statement submitted to Congress reflects the tone of Cold War aggression
officially adopted by the US Department of Defense (DOD).
In 2018, the DOD published its first new national defense strategy in a decade.
The historic document marked a shift from the US government’s so-called “war on
terror” to a new military paradigm based on countering and containing China and
Russia. In the words of former Defense Secretary James Mattis, “great power
competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of U.S. national security.”
Faller’s congressional testimony reflected the new framework. The Southcom
commander rattled off phrases like “the bad guys” when referring to the US
government’s supposed enemies, and described China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and
Venezuela as “malign state actors” who are part of “a vicious circle of
threats.”
Characterizing the Western hemisphere as “our hemisphere” and “our
neighborhood,” Faller lamented that “Russia once again projected power in our
neighborhood.” He added, “The ‘aha’ moment for me this past year is the extent
to which China is aggressively pursuing their interests right here in our
neighborhood.”
The goal is to “maintain the regional balance of power in favor of the United
States,” Faller bluntly declared, advancing a clash of civilizations
perspective in which China and Russia “don’t share our values.”
The Southcom commander’s testimony fixated on China, painting it as the supreme
“threat.” Faller referred to China’s loans to countries in the region as
“predatory financing,” and he claimed “the Chinese government absorbed three
more Latin American countries into its One Belt One Road Initiative,”
fear-mongering about Beijing’s attempt to build a new global territorial and
maritime silk road.
U.S. Southern Command
✔
@Southcom
During testimony before the #HASC, #SOUTHCOM’s Adm. Craig Faller discusses the
importance of providing security support & investments for partner nations in
#LatinAmerica & the #Caribbean and counter #China’s influence in the region.
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As usual, the Kremlin was singled out as a global evildoer. “Russia continues
to play the role of ‘spoiler,’ seeking to sow disunity and discredit the United
States within our own hemisphere,” Faller said.
The Southcom commander heaped praise on right-wing US governments in Brazil,
Ecuador, and Bolivia, where a military coup installed an unelected Christian
extremist regime. Faller was especially grateful that these governments “now
recognize the Cuban threat to freedom, expelling thousands of Cuban officials.”
Echoing the line from Washington, Faller denigrated the democratically elected
Sandinista government in Nicaragua as “authoritarian,” and referred to
Venezuela’s elected government as “the former Maduro regime.”
Without offering any concrete evidence, he went on to claim the “final malign
actors—Maduro and his cronies in Venezuela—pose one of the most direct threats
to peace and security in the Western Hemisphere.”
Expanding military presence in Latin America
In his congressional testimony, Admiral Faller disclosed that there are
“recurring rotations of small teams of Special Operations Forces, Soldiers,
Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and National Guard personnel” in
Latin America.
“There is no other region we depend upon more for our prosperity and security,”
Faller said, “than Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The Southcom commander promised “major exercises to more directly support the
global competition with the PRC and Russia.”
The National Guard has a State Partnership Program (SPP), he noted, in which it
collaborates with the militaries of right-wing countries in the region.
The Southcom commander emphasized that Brazil is the newest member of the SPP.
He added that the US military is “strengthening partnerships with” these
conservative Latin American governments, especially Brazil.
Bolsonaro Southcom US Southern Command
Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro visited US Southern Command on
March 8, 2020
US signs historic military agreement bringing Brazil into its imperial orbit
Craig Faller gave his congressional testimony just three days after hosting
Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro at US Southern Command.
Bolsonaro had traveled to Florida to meet with Donald Trump at his resort in
Mar-a-Lago to discuss escalating their hybrid war on Venezuela.
The extreme-right Brazilian leader then toured the headquarters of Southcom,
where he signed a major military agreement.
Southcom effused in a press release that “Bolsonaro’s historic visit marks the
first time a Brazilian president has visited U.S Southern Command.”
Bolsonaro’s trip came just days after he endorsed a series of far-right,
explicitly anti-democracy protests back in Brazil calling for the restoration
of the military dictatorship.
U.S. Southern Command
✔
@Southcom
During @jairbolsonaro visit to #SOUTHCOM today, the U.S. & Brazil signed a
bilateral Agreement on Research Development, Test & Evaluation Projects that
will expand opportunities to collaborate on new defense capabilities.
@EmbaixadaEUA @DefesaGovBr @thejointstaff @USAemPortugues
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Under the new agreement with the US, Brazil’s Ministry of Defense joined the
Pentagon’s Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) funding system.
The deal followed Trump’s designation of Brazil as a “major non-NATO ally,”
conferring special military status on the country.
The Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo described the treaty signed at Southcom as
“an unprecedented military agreement that, if fully exploited, could help open
the world’s largest defense market to the domestic industry.”
The RDT&E negotiations began in 2017 under the government of Michel Temer, an
unelected right-wing leader who was installed after a parliamentary coup
against the democratically elected left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff of the
Workers’ Party.
The conservative Argentine newspaper Clarín summarized the agreement with the
following headline: “Brazil is incorporated into the US military-industrial
complex.”
Clarín noted that the deal shows “Brazil has changed its international status
and left the regional framework of South America,” essentially integrating
itself into the US imperial system.
This is especially significant because Brazil is the largest country in Latin
America, with the sixth-greatest population on Earth and the fifth-largest
economy.
Clarín called the RDT&E deal “an inflection point in the history of Brazil and
Latin America’s relations with the US.”
Bolsonaro’s administration has now proposed a free trade agreement with the US,
the newspaper added, conditioned on the implementation of four neoliberal
reforms: cutting the social security system, liberalizing protectionist
measures, privatizing 140 state companies, and opening up the Brazilian economy
to foreign capital.
“From this moment on, Brazil has become the United States’ main strategy ally
in South America,” Clarín said.
U.S. Southern Command
✔
@Southcom
Strengthening Partnerships: Photos from today's visit by #Brazil’s President
@jairbolsonaro to #SOUTHCOM. Bolsonaro met w/ Adm. Craig Faller, &
@DeptofDefense leaders to discuss the growing U.S.-Brazil defense partnership.
@EmbaixadaEUA @DefesaGovBr @USAemPortugues
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Ben Norton
