April 20th 2005 - Now that President Mesa of Bolivia is due to be indicted for signing contracts with oil multinationals without congressional approval, he has suddenly come up with the idea of forming a geopolitical axis between Bolivia, Peru and Chile. The condition is that Bolivia comes to an agreement with Chile and regains access to the Pacific Ocean which it lost in the 1889-1893 Pacific War with that country.

Mesa based his proposal on the common history of these three nations, bearing in mind that Bolivia was part of Peru until 1825, when it was called Alto Peru. He also added that his tripartite axis could only become a reality when the question of Bolivia's access to the ocean was resolved.

Access to the ocean for Bolivia has become vital if it is to export liquefied natural gas to the US. Venezuela has also supported this claim to the sea since the Presidency of Antonio Guzman Blanco in 1882.  But this has been the position of Venezuela as a nation-state and not necessarily the position of any political party.  The solution to this historical impasse is not any closer, as far as can be seen from our vantage point.

One can surmise that Chavez may have touched on this delicate subject in the name of a true South American integration during  the Chilean President's visit to Venezuela today.  This visit included talks with President Chavez to rally support for the election of Chilean Foreign Minister, Jose Miguel Insulza as General Secretary of the OAS.  They also discussed the signing of a bilateral energy and scientific agreements. 

Chavez has been an outspoken critic of Chile's inflexible position on Bolivia's access to the ocean, and once provoked the withdrawal of the Chilean Ambassador from Caracas when he made remarks about this matter while in Bolivia for an international meeting. (Chavez said that he had had a dream of seeing himself in a bathing costume on a Bolivian beach!)

Caracas's support for Insulza against the US backed Mexican candidate, Luis Ernesto Derbez, in the OAS elections for its General Secretary resulted in a six round vote deadlock of 17-17 and the next vote is due on May 2nd.

Caracas is obliged to support Insulza, even though he has a hard line attitude to Bolivia's claim for access to the sea. If a US-backed candidate lands in the General Secretary's shoes at the OAS, the US would change the OAS charter, revise the conditions for the application of the 'Democratic Letter' and use it against Venezuela. The United States has made clear it's intention to do this. Caracas cannot permit it, and now that Paraguay has agreed to vote for Insulza instead or Derbez, the US could be in for another defeat at the OAS, as it gradually continues to lose its imperialist grip on South America.

Chavez is an expert at using Venezuela's petro-power to court nations and obtain concessions. It remains to be seen whether the Chilean position regarding conceding a strip of land to the Pacific Ocean from Bolivia will come any nearer in the coming months. We strongly suspect that this case has been at least touched upon today in Caracas.

President Mesa's gambit of a geopolitical axis between Bolivia, Peru and Chile needs to be examined carefully, bearing in mind that Mesa's stance on everything, including Bolivia's sovereign right to its gas, has moved toward a position supporting U.S. dominance in South America ever since he took power in October 2003. The South American Community of Nations (CSN) was legally constituted on December 10th last year and integration should become a reality this year, as a power block against the aggression of the global corporate empire and US militarism in South America.

One month ago, Mesa's primary nemesis in Bolivia, Evo Morales of the Movement  to Socialism party (MAS), also announced that he wanted to create a cross border alliance between the indigenous peoples of Bolivia, Peru and Northern Chile. Could Morales' initiative have sparked by Mesa's proposal? We suspect that Mesa may have made this proposal as a bulwark against any sort of indigenous alliance of the historically excluded?  If so, we cannot help but wonder who has advised him.  Given Mesa's history and friendship with Washington, we are confident that this sort of proposal takes place at least with the  Washington's approval if not by their design.

Our interpretation is that Mesa's political position is weak in Bolivia. He lost the gas war to all intents and purposes after making a badly miscalculated gambit by 'resigning', and is in an even weaker position now that he is due to be indicted as explained above. As Evo Morales leads the people of Bolivia into increasing solidarity and empowerment, the fall of President Lucio Gutierrez in Ecuador yesterday has to be on his mind.  Thus, someone with real political and economic clout will be required to resolve this 122 year dispute between Bolivia and Chile, for Bolivia's right to a coastline.

Hugo Chavez could be the man to broker this agreement; he has the lever of oil; he was the instigator of modern South American integration inspired by Simon Bolivar's vision; he has created a South American TV station, TV Sur, about to be launched and has proposed a University of the South; he also proposed Petrosur - now in place, which is a multi state oil company to push integration forward by making the most of South America's energy resources.

In addition, President Chavez also has other major geopolitical projects on the drawing board such as a Latin American Monetary Fund and a South American Central Bank. The former would grant loans to countries much as the IMF does, and international reserves of all CSN countries would be deposited in the latter, thus breaking the back of US hegemony in the region. All of this could lead to total political, social, economic and cultural integration of South America - Washington's greatest fear in the Western Hemisphere..

The long term aim of all this is within the framework of the ALBA "Bolivarian Alternative for America" which places the human being at center stage rather than the US dollar and the profit-belly of the multinational corporations.

South American integration must be preconditioned by the solution of all border disputes or at least with genuine negotiations taking place. South American countries cannot afford to squabble about petty differences if they want to be included in the advantages offered by a united South America.  They must be willing to reach mutually agreeable compromise within the context of the greater good of the continent.

We regard President Mesa's proposal as another political gambit. He has little to offer Chile, especially if Bolivia votes against the Chilean Insulza in the elections for the General Secretary of the OAS. Again, President Chavez is supporting Insulza. He has the oil and the vision and we predict that he will eventually broker an agreement within the context of South American unity in order to resolve this historical impasse between two countries with the same historical roots.

� Copyright 2005 by AxisofLogic.com

Carlos Herrera is also a regular writer on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at VHeadline