Now, I don't remember anyone raising the question if this immediate taking of command and control by the US was a response to Aristide's public announcement from exile that he wanted to return to Haiti to help the nation respond to the quake's devastation. According to Randall Robinson, Aristide was told not to return to this hemisphere when he was ousted by a coalition of American, Canadian and French forces. In any case, the question of Aristide returning was put to rest as soon as American forces took control of that airfield. And Haiti was left in the hands of precisely the government the economic powers that be wanted in place.
Perkins pointed out that the Pentagon moving thousands of troops into Haiti sends a message to the whole region. He noted that the 4th Fleet has been remobilized to operate in the region, and that the Pentagon is acquiring seven new bases in Colombia. This build-up of US military presence is seen as saber rattling by regional leaders; creates fearfulness, is experienced as an insult to autonomy. As someone who has himself been threatened, Perkins emphasized how threats profoundly shape not only public opinion but diplomatic relations among nations, that they "blow back." To underscore this point, Perkins suggested that the reason Chinese investment is more welcomed in the region than American investment is precisely because the Chinese have no military presence shadowing their business dealings.
Apology of an Economic Hitman, the film. I asked John about a film version of his memoirs now being shown on LinkTv. The film is described as a blend of noire and documentary and it combines re-enactments of his activity in Latin America while he was a "hitman," file footage from that period that illustrates American investment in those countries, as well as segments with John himself in conversation. I wanted to ask him about two segments in particular, one where he is speaking with Martha Roldos Bucaram, daughter of the assassinated Ecudoran president Jaime Roldos, and another of John addressing a large audience in Quito about his activities in Ecuador before the hit on Roldos's presidency and what it meant to him, to Roldos and to the Ecuadoran people.
When I asked John about Martha Roldos' appearance in the movie, he told me that after "Confessions" came out, Martha Roldos contacted him and flew to Miami to meet with him. Roldos, now a popular politician in her own right, was a teenager when her father was killed. It is a measure of Perkins' commitment to his project that this accomplished woman, who lost her father long ago, not only made her peace with him but is now his friend and chose to participate in this film.
A real center of power in the film -- a scene in a theater run by the Casa de la cultura in Quito -- turns out to have been unscripted. John had done a radio show that morning and had planned a short shoot in this theater with a few people behind him while he spoke to the camera.
As it happened, somehow word of the shoot got out and hundreds of people came to the theater not only to listen to him, but to confront him. At this moment in the film, the Quito audience is entirely engaged, at times, hostile. There are catcalls and mutterings. Perkins says someone called out "John Perkins for President of Gringolandia." At times, the group is quiet and tense. That this American is standing there, owning up to his part in a tragic chapter of their history registers visibly and profoundly. It is a powerful moment of apology and a step forward toward reconciliation with the facts of a painful past. And Perkins remarkably pushes through that moment, moving on to lay out for the assembled community (in unscripted fluent Spanish) how the current Ecuadorian president and his government are again under attack by the same powerful economic interests.
I asked John what he was working on at the moment. (A better question might have been, what are you not working on right now?) John has a full schedule of writing and speaking here, in Latin America, Asia and Europe. He gives seminars on international business practices, on sustainability and also on global and personal transformation. He blogs at the Huffington Post as well as at his own site, and has a column in Correo del Orinoco, a Latin American publication. The NewYork Times best selling author's book on the global economic meltdown, Hoodwinked, was released in November.
Visit John's site, www.johnperkins.org to check his schedule of appearances, to read his blog or more about his earlier books or to purchase Hoodwinked. Read Robert Baer's review of Hoodwinked at Amazon:
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