Political Control of Continental Resources

Globalization means the entire planet is aspiring to achieve the wealth of the United States, even if they don’t fully accept the role limited government and personal liberty played in achieving our economy. World War 4 Report has a lengthy and detailed review of “the new race for strategic control of the continent's resources” in the Southern Hemisphere: South American Pipeline Wars by Bill Weinberg.

Now a race is on between a series of pipeline projects already being developed under the auspices of multinational corporations and the proposal unveiled at Brasilia: the first predicated on extracting resources from South America with the minimum return to the continent's inhabitants; the other on harnessing those resources to lift the continent's masses out of poverty.

The main pillar of the Chavez plan, in contrast, does not link the Amazon to the sea but crosses the Amazon to link the South American nations to one another. The proposed arteries that would reach the sea envision exports not to the US but to China.

The democratically elected socialist governments on the continent are poised to either re-direct or create from scratch an energy infrastructure they can use to fund their own wishes. With the possible exception of Venezuela, these governments are unlikely to sever existing business relationships with the west, however, there is a clear desire to develop markets with China, India and other growing world economies.

The steps being taken to control and exploit the continents mineral resources are not limited to oil and natural gas. Chavez is actively working to develop Venezuela’s coal fields and of course, mining is the quickest way to destroy support from the environmentalist left.

The proposed new pipeline links between Colombia and Venezuela would have to cross the Sierra de Perija, the mountain range which forms the Colombian border. This strategic Sierra is already slated by the Chavez government for new coal-mining concessions—which has led to the first signs of tension between the populist regime and indigenous peoples and ecologists.

"Coal today currently represents only 0.02 per cent of revenues for the national government," said Lusbi Portillo, a professor at the University of Zulia and head of environmental group Homo et Natura. "Coal is not very significant in terms of economic production. However coal is important to other countries like the US, which consumes more than 900 million tons of coal each year."

Lusbi Portillo argues that Venezuela's environmental movement has been paradoxically weakened under the progressive Chavez government. "It's like ploughing the ocean," says Portillo. "In an oil culture where we were taught that oil, coal and minerals make us rich, where can you go? PDVSA is supposedly ours now, it has been rescued from multinational corporations, this is what people believe, and this makes our work as ecologists even harder."

It is kind of lovely to watch the left struggle between the desire for a sustainable lifestyle, with social justice for the indigenous people, and the desire for the cash flow required for massive government programs to care for the needs of their subjects.