Brazil’s far-right government requested the return of thousands of Cuban doctors to help fight the coronavirus. Months ago, President Jair Bolsonaro smeared the doctors as “terrorists” and expelled them.
by Ben Norton
Part 4 - Ecuador outsources coronavirus tests and rams through neoliberal reforms
While countries around the world are seeking medical help from Cuba to contain the coronavirus, Washington’s allies in Latin America are failing to meet the basic needs of their populations.
The US-backed, right-wing government of Lenín Moreno in Ecuador, which has joined Brazil and Colombia in supporting the Trump administration’s coup efforts against Venezuela and attempting to politically and economically isolate Cuba, decided to outsource coronavirus testing to private for-profit corporations.
Ecuadorian companies are charging $250 to $300 per coronavirus test — in a country where the minimum wage is just $400 per month.
At the same time, the repressive Moreno administration – which violated its own laws in handing over WikiLeaks publisher and Ecuadorian citizen Julian Assange to British authorities – has capitalized on the Covid-19 crisis to push shock doctrine-style neoliberal reforms.
Moreno announced that he would reduce the already low salaries of public sector workers, laying off employees, and slashing the budget of state institutions.
An Ecuadorian teachers organization denounced these neoliberal reforms, declaring in a statement, “Once again, the government of Lenín Moreno is revealing itself to be neoliberal and at the service of the large groups of economic power, and is an enemy and executioner of the poor majority.”
The response of governments in Latin America to the coronavirus pandemic shows a clear trend: The closer a country is to the United States, the worse and more dangerous its conduct has been. Meanwhile, nations targeted by the US for regime change and crippled by its global economic warfare are banding together to protect the health of the international community.
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The US-backed, right-wing government of Lenín Moreno in Ecuador, which has joined Brazil and Colombia in supporting the Trump administration’s coup efforts against Venezuela and attempting to politically and economically isolate Cuba, decided to outsource coronavirus testing to private for-profit corporations.
Ecuadorian companies are charging $250 to $300 per coronavirus test — in a country where the minimum wage is just $400 per month.
At the same time, the repressive Moreno administration – which violated its own laws in handing over WikiLeaks publisher and Ecuadorian citizen Julian Assange to British authorities – has capitalized on the Covid-19 crisis to push shock doctrine-style neoliberal reforms.
Moreno announced that he would reduce the already low salaries of public sector workers, laying off employees, and slashing the budget of state institutions.
An Ecuadorian teachers organization denounced these neoliberal reforms, declaring in a statement, “Once again, the government of Lenín Moreno is revealing itself to be neoliberal and at the service of the large groups of economic power, and is an enemy and executioner of the poor majority.”
The response of governments in Latin America to the coronavirus pandemic shows a clear trend: The closer a country is to the United States, the worse and more dangerous its conduct has been. Meanwhile, nations targeted by the US for regime change and crippled by its global economic warfare are banding together to protect the health of the international community.
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