{"id":228313,"date":"2023-01-30T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=228313"},"modified":"2023-01-28T10:38:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T10:38:51","slug":"southcom-chief-aims-to-increase-imperialist-plunder-of-latin-americas-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/01\/southcom-chief-aims-to-increase-imperialist-plunder-of-latin-americas-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUTHCOM Chief Aims to Increase Imperialist Plunder of Latin America\u2019s Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">26 Jan 2023 &#8211; <em>U.S. Southern Command Chief Laura Richardson has expressed interest in lithium and other natural resources in South America. It shows the country\u2019s commitment to corporate profits at the expense of workers, Indigenous people, and the environment. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/laura-richardson-1024x733us-military.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-228315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/laura-richardson-1024x733us-military.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/laura-richardson-1024x733us-military.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/laura-richardson-1024x733us-military-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/laura-richardson-1024x733us-military-768x550.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Laura Richardson, the Chief of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, spoke about the importance of Latin America\u2019s resources for U.S. foreign policy in an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/a-conversation-with-general-laura-j-richardson-on-security-across-the-americas\/\" >interview<\/a> with the U.S. think tank Atlantic Council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy is this region important?\u201d Richardson asked. \u201cWith all its rich resources and rare earth elements, there is the lithium triangle, which today is necessary for technology. Sixty percent of the world\u2019s lithium is found in the lithium triangle: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WATCH: \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 SOUTHCOM Commander Laura Richardson describes how Washington is actively negotiating the sale of lithium in the Lithium Triangle through its U.S. embassies. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uQTvpSRHAH\" >pic.twitter.com\/uQTvpSRHAH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KawsachunNews\/status\/1616594222865334272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >January 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>She also pointed out that \u201cthe largest oil reserves, including light and sweet crude, [were] discovered off Guyana more than a year ago.\u201d The general also mentioned Venezuela\u2019s rich oil, copper, and gold resources. She highlighted the importance of the Amazon as \u201cthe lungs of the world,\u201d and added that \u201cwe have 31 percent of the world\u2019s fresh water in this region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although these interests in Latin America, as the U.S. military official admits, are nothing new, Richardson\u2019s candidness is glaring. She frames the strategic resources of the region as a matter of \u201cnational security\u201d for the United States, for which the country must \u201cstep up [its] game\u201d against adversary powers.<\/p>\n<p>Tellingly, at times Richardson uses \u201cwe\u201d when she mentions the different resources, making explicit the United States\u2019 looting and plundering of its so-called \u201cbackyard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These statements are reminiscent of billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s comments when two years ago he <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leftvoice.org\/we-will-coup-whoever-we-want-elon-musk-loves-imperialism\/\" >tweeted<\/a> \u201cWe will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.\u201d The tweet was in relation to the military coup in Bolivia in 2019, and revealed the capitalist motivations behind imperialist aggression.<\/p>\n<p>The coup government of Dina Boluarte in Peru and the repression against the struggle in the streets likewise has the objective of securing profits and the plundering of natural resources, especially mining, for multinational companies.<\/p>\n<p>Richardson\u2019s statements also show the concrete objectives of the United States at this stage, with the significant loss of its international hegemony and the emergence of other \u201cpoles\u201d of world power, such as China, its greatest geopolitical adversary. The statements are also evidence of the United States and imperialism\u2019s plunder in general, taking and depleting resources while causing irreversible damage to the environment.<\/p>\n<p>Capitalist and imperialist states everywhere are invested to promote coups and violent repression to secure corporate profits at the expense of the working class and the environment.<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Luigi Morris is a freelance photographer, socialist journalist and videographer. He is an activist for immigrants&#8217; rights.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-lede\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Left Voice<em> is a revolutionary socialist news site and magazine dedicated to fostering a sustained and strategic struggle against every form of capitalist exploitation and oppression. As part of an international network of news sites published in eight different languages, <\/em>Left Voice <em>is able to provide a truly internationalist perspective on revolutionary politics, and to examine the movements of the U.S. working class within the larger framework of global revolution.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leftvoice.org\/southcom-chief-aims-to-increase-imperialist-plunder-of-latin-americas-resources\/\" >Go to Original &#8211; leftvoice.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>26 Jan 2023 &#8211; U.S. Southern Command Chief Laura Richardson has expressed interest in lithium and other natural resources in South America. It shows the country\u2019s commitment to corporate profits at the expense of workers, Indigenous people, and the environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":228315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[867,2642,1126,1050,541,2731,2462,780,2137,95,70],"class_list":["post-228313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-militarism","tag-anglo-america","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-latin-america-caribbean","tag-latin-american-union","tag-military-industrial-media-complex","tag-military-intervention","tag-south-america","tag-us-military","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}