[Editor's Note: The New President-elect of Mexico is a graduate of the think tank Harvard, Catholic, has mentioned already that the U.S. needs to take in more Mexicans by making it easier. One of closest aides stated that he is not the conservative that he is made out to be in the public eye. The Pope on his last visit to Mexico promised the Mexicans that the wall between them and the U.S. would come down sooner or later.]
In 1994, the first Summit of the Americas was held in Miami, Florida, with the presidents and prime ministers of the other 33 countries of the Western Hemisphere attending. Cuba, because it does not hold democratic elections, is the only country which was not a participant. At that meeting they agreed to form the "Free Trade Areas of the Americas" which would be completed by 2005.
According to a recent publication by the State Department entitled "Words into Deeds Progress Since the Miami Summit" [their publication number 10536], the progress made by these countries to totally integrate our hemisphere has been in-depth. Bill Clinton in the opening page comments: "For the first time ever, we established an architecture for hemispheric relations from the Arctic Circle in the north to Argentina in the south. We created a work plan from which the democratic governments of the Americas could be judged by their people. We established a follow-on process to ensure that the decisions we reached at the Summit would be carried out. And we built a framework for further discussion at this year's summit in Santiago, Chile, based on our shared values, common interests, and joint mission to pursue a true partnership for hemispheric peace and prosperity."
The infrastructure which has been put in place in the last three and a half years is quite extensive. There are 23 separate initiatives in the Plan of Action and the report shows the progress which has been made under each of the initiatives. The initiatives are broken up into four main areas: (1) Preserving and Strengthening the community of Democracies in the Americas; (2) Promoting Prosperity Through Economic Integration and Free Trade; (3) Eradicating Poverty and Discrimination in our Hemisphere; and (4) Guaranteeing Sustainable Development and Conserving our Natural Environment for Future Generations. Interestingly, all of these initiatives are a confirmation of the many United Nations conventions and treaties and action items found in many of the mega-conferences such as the "Earth Summit" in Rio in 1992; the U.N. Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994; the Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995; the Fourth Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995; the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul in 1996; and the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996.
In order to implement the above, the labor, transportation, finance, justice, energy, telecommunications, science and technology, education, anti-crime initiatives, trade and commerce, health and human services, etc., ministers from the 34 countries have been meeting since 1994 to implement the above actions. What this means is that the new infrastructure now includes the 34 ministers in each of these areas integrating their organizations with each other, creating new laws and the legal infrastructure to integrate the 34 countries into one! With regard to the social issues and women's rights, the wives of the 34 presidents have also been meeting to implement action items found in the Cairo and Beijing United Nations Plans of Actions for the Western Hemisphere!
The integration of the 34 countries will be done on several levels: (1) the integration of actions by the various ministers—trade, education, finance, etc.; (2) the signing of "bilateral" agreements between the U.S. and Chile, the U.S. and Mexico, the U.S. and (rest of the 34 countries), in which they agree to work together to open markets, and the other processes of government between the two governments; and (3) the signing of the Free Trade Areas of the Americas, which is a public-private partnership. Just as America will sign bilateral accords with the other 33 countries, so too will each of the countries sign bilateral accords with the other countries so that by the time they are done, 1,089 bilateral accords will have been signed to integrate the countries into one.
The Summit of the Americas Declaration of Principles
The Declaration of Principles supporting the Summit of the Americas, states in the first two paragraphs, "The elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas are committed to advance the prosperity, democratic values and institutions, and security of our Hemisphere. We reiterate our firm adherence to the principles of international law and the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and the Charter of the Organization of America States (OAS), including the principles of the sovereign equality of states . . . by building strong partnerships. . . . Our Declaration constitutes a comprehensive and mutually reinforcing set of commitments for concrete results. The document then calls on the Organization for American States, the (World Bank) Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for integration. The Declaration does not call on the Congress of the United States or the Constitution!"
In an interview with Janet Reno, when I asked about America's dependence on international law (without mentioning the U.N. charter), she basically said it was to get the terrorists and the computer hackers. When I countered with, "Do you see an integration as we become more combined to international law on the national level?" she said, "I don't think we are becoming more combined. . . . I think what is vital is that we develop processes and procedures that help us ensure justice, protect human rights and avoid arguments, fusses and discussions about processes and rules as opposed to the basic issues which are when somebody commits a crime that they should be held accountable promptly, swiftly and according to constitutional standards."
Common Currency
With regard to a common currency, interestingly enough, in 1991 former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker predicted, "In five years, you will find a fixed exchange rate among the peso, the U.S. dollar, and the Canadian dollar" (New York Times, 12/18/91). Interestingly enough, former Congressman and Housing Secretary Jack Kemp said he wants a single currency for the United States and the other 33 nations in the Western Hemisphere. "They would have a common currency linked to the U.S. dollar, and you'd have stable exchange rates as a result," said Kemp—who is considering a bid for 2000 (Washington Times, 10/27/97). For the past two years, U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has been meeting with the finance ministers from the other 33 countries. In December in Santiago, Chile, Rubin said, "The United States, Chile, and the whole of the hemisphere have tremendous opportunities in today's economy—if we all meet our challenges. Prosperity in each of our markets provides better opportunities for our trading partners, and instability in any one of our economies creates uncertainty with respect to all of the other economies. In an interdependent world, each country helps itself by getting its own economic house in order and helping other countries to do the same. That's the key to sustaining global growth and to facilitating the integration of our economies. And that is the path to prosperity into the next century." While there has been no open discussion of a common currency or a currency in which all of the South American countries link their currency to the U.S. dollar, there are plans to merge the stock exchanges so that eventually there will be a common stock exchange for our hemisphere.
Congress Bypassed Through Public-Private Partnerships
In a summary taken from the Internet site, http://www.americasnet.net, entitled "The Road to the Summit: From Miami to Santiago," it states, "In the closing remarks of the Summit [Miami], President Clinton stated, 'Our goal is to create a whole new architecture for the relationship of the nations and the peoples of the Americas to ensure that dichos become hechos, that words are turned into deeds.' This 'new architecture' was a new system of cooperation between the countries of the Americas" .
What is this new architecture? At the Habitat II conference in Istanbul in June 1996 I heard the term "public–private partnership" for the first time. I spent nine months researching the concept and have written extensively about it in my book, Prince Charles: The Sustainable Prince.
The three words can be broken down and explained separately, with the meaning then coming together. Partnership is a business arrangement. In a partnership you can have as many partnerships as you wish and you can have as many layers of partnership as you wish. A partnership is the most agile form of business and provides the most flexibility. As I have confirmed in two different interviews with officials at the World Bank, there is always a profit to be made in a partnership. Public refers to government—all levels of government from local to county, to state and federal, as well as international. It also can apply to governmental entities such as the World Bank or the United Nations. Lastly, private refers to the private sector—the non-profit organizations (non-governmental organizations), foundations and businesses—multinational and trans-national corporations. It should be noted that the definition of fascism is the merger of government and business.
When you bring these entities together, where is the power? With whoever or whatever has the money. Is the money with governments? No. Is it with individuals? No. It is with corporations. According to the summit documents, the partners in this public-private partnership are as follows:
Public:
Governments—International Organizations
Organization for American States (OAS)
(World Bank) Inter-American Development Bank
(U.N.) Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
These three form what is known as the "Tripartite" Cooperation Committee to coordinate activities:
Government Ministers—34 Countries
Ministerial Governmental Level—comprised of the ministers of education, labor, justice, etc., from all 34 countries who meet to integrate their respective areas.
Private:Non-Governmental Organizations—public-private sector partnerships, non-profit organizations, and private business. Remember this is a partnership—a business arrangement, and because it is not a treaty or a convention, it does not have to go through congress. It bypasses Congress.
Clinton said in his closing speech, "Here in Santiago, we embrace our responsibility to make these historic forces to lift the lives of all our people. That is the future we can forge together. It is a future worthy of a new America in a new Millennium." .. why Clinton can do this without their approval [is an enigma]. [ Source: http://www.swr.com ]
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