THE EDITOR: US exploitation of Latin America resources, trade and politics is of historic proportions, well-known among the nations involved, to the whole region, to academia, to diplomatic and legal circles, to ecologists, to generations, and to localities.
Whether it is coffee, vegetable oil, bananas, citrus, oil, exchange rates, overtaking local ownership, dumping of products, availability of trade access, international banking, manipulating politicians, narcotics, etc, the extent and scale of exploitations are truly formidable and fearsome.
In the chronology there is no nation except for Brazil, so far, that has shown immunity – from Cuba and Mexico all the way down to Chile and Argentina. This is the theatre that TT has now been led into in the destruction of its refinery plant and infrastructure, and the disintegration of its energy frameworks; and in the Dragon gas "venture."
Presently, Dragon gas is no more than a search for El Dorado that might never materialise by 2027 or at any time. The search is undertaken involving ourselves with money we do not have. If there is something to be discovered worth pursuing it is still a question of when it will happen; and the longer the search the more costly.
Should it be found, how will it be funded? TT will most likely have to go into debt for it and have to trade some more – again – of its local fields and "bid rounds." Indebtedness will mean that the taxpayer is paying for the accruing of benefits to the US interests (satisfying their shares and their sanctions, etc) and to other investors including foreign and local private ones. And an antecedent devaluation just as with the smelter.
At this time "private participation" is already being discussed. Yet that is a secret to the nation. For the winners it has to do with pure numbers – monetising; and pure control – imperialising. A mutually contracted equation, such is the OFAC regime.
The Rowley government and the PNM in its present form are more and more disposing the nation to those manifold complexes.
E GALY
via e-mail
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