Geopolitical Shifts in CELAC 2023

Viewing geopolitics through a Marxist lens, the interplay of power and space is never static but unfolds in a process of historical and dialectical materialism, along a specific space-time axis and influenced by material conditions.

This analysis is pertinent when examining the events of 2023 particularly in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Conflicts and tensions once thought overcome have resurfaced, while others have cooled or eased.

A decade ago, only Marxists could have predicted the current reappearance of a US-supported Operation Cóndor imperialist agenda in Argentina. The unconstitutional decree for abolishment and deregulation of over 900 laws, pushed by that country's new president and Atlas Network puppet, Javier Milei, has taken center stage, attempting to transform the country by stripping its assets.

Yet at the same time, direct dialogues between Caracas and Washington have allowed Venezuela to export oil with fewer of the illegal, unilateral economic coercive measures called sanctions imposed by the US. This was driven not by magnanimity on the part of the Us but rather its need for more oil to sustain its military industrial complex and petrodollar hegemony.

But de-dollarization, already inevitable, will only accelerate in 2024. And the Sons and Daughters of Bolívar will surely defeat the imperialists' new Monroe Doctrine in Latin America.

Considering the dynamic geopolitical landscape of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023, it is foreseeable that 2024 will be marked by even greater global disputes influencing national, regional, and global dynamics.

The Return of Fascism and Far-Right, Neoliberal, Corporate Puppets in Latin America and the Caribbean

In the current spectrum of bourgeois politics, where the distinctions between right and left are blurred due to overlapping ideologies and a pro-market dominance, Norberto Bobbio's perspective on right-wing governments becomes relevant. The right, as characterized by Bobbio, focuses on individual freedom, promoting the current system of domination, deepening inequality through neoliberal orthodoxy, minimal state intervention, hyper-individualism, and alignment with western geopolitical interests, particularly those of the United States.

This Latin American Right is not characterized by nationalism but rather by a comprador class that receives commissions and funds from imperialist oligarchs, compromising their countries through asset-stripping; that is, the selling, auctioning, or giving away resources, land, and intellectual property.

Resurgence of Far Right in Argentina and Ecuador

Recent developments in Ecuador and Argentina exemplify this trend. Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa, is an heir of the that country's agrarian oligarchy and backed by the powerful family that owns Exportadora Bananera Noboais. In his remaining mandate of a year and a half, Noboa is expected to redouble his policies for a reduction of the state and the curtailment of rights, particularly labor rights.

In Argentina, the alliance between the traditional right, led by Mauricio Macri, and the extreme right, represented by Javier Milei, secured a decisive victory last November. This marked the initiation of a fresh neoliberal cycle, echoing the social and economic repercussions witnessed in the region before.

 The realization of a significant devaluation, widespread layoffs, privatizations, and notably, the immediate criminalization of social protests shortly after assuming control of the Casa Rosada, foreshadows a year of political-social turmoil for the southern nation.

The lingering memory is not that of Menem 25 years ago, but rather the harsh neoliberal ordeal embodied by Macri in just one presidential term, indebting the country for a century and misappropriating vast sums. Argentina's illicit foreign debt has surged past $500 billion.

Working Class Fights Back Against Imperialism

The Central Workers Unions CGT, CTA, UTEP, ATE, along with Social Movements and Working Class Political Parties, have scheduled a nationwide strike on January 24th against the fascistic and neoliberal tendencies in Milei's dystopian neo-monarchic dictatorship. This author projects that the working class will indeed rise up to overthrow Milei's government sometime in 2024.

These events, along with another potential run in Chile by the son of a proud nazi, José Antonio Kast Rist, should prompt reflection on the best strategy moving forward to defeat fascist threats. Rather than focus on solely on the ideologies or programs of political parties and movements in election seasons, our efforts should highlight for working people the utter indifference and detachment of the bourgeois political class.

As with Trump in the US, or Milei in Argentina, working-class voters rationally seek to effect change to the current system to alter their precarious conditions, embracing non-solutions that corporate media attempts to embed in their subconscious.

Central to this is the media's role in endorsing either liberal, right, or extreme-right leadership, obstructing any candidate that could pose a real challenge the bourgeois status quo. The cherished concept of alternation, a cornerstone of liberal democracy, is, in reality, generating cycles of illusory progress and reactionary setbacks, in a bid to divide and repress the working class. Escaping this cycle without dire consequences for affected countries will require a revolutionary message that goes "lower and deeper," to reach and resonate with the masses.