Now we try to be subtle about it but, in a word, the cat's out of the bag. People know what to expect and they are watching.

and they aren't impressed.

Anyone remotely familiar with the attempted police "coup" knows that Correa took away long-time perks from the police, then went into an unhappy police crowd protesting his decision and called them crooks and thieves.

That wasn't the smartest thing for that hothead to do when surrounded by an armed and hostile crowd.

The drama queen then escalated the confrontation by ripping open his shirt and inviting the police to take a shot at him -- and when the police decided to oblige, he skedaddled to safer quarters.

This attempted police "coup" was of Correa's own making, and revisionists have since worked feverishly to spin the event as some heroic stand by the innocent Correa against nefarious forces supported by the US.

Any Latin American protests against "leftist" douchebags apparently can't be authentic, but must somehow be instigated by the USG. How very insulting and patronizing.

overthrow the government. I see that was never mentioned in this article nor is it ever mentioned as a US backed coup in the rantings from chavista fanatical types.

The Ecuador incident was an internal matter. A discontent police force who blundered into trying to arrest or do whatever with Correa. It only increased Correa's popularity as people rallied around him.

Paraguay and Lugo: The deadly shootout was the final straw in Lugo's reign given the deaths on both sides. He was impeached legally including by all but one of his own party.

Honduras. Z's own party also turned against him and Michelletti was from Zs party. He stepped down once the constitutionally planned election was over.

Latin America is more than capable of screwing up there own societies with corrupt, incompetent, and brutal leadership. Just look at Venezuela.

There's a constant drum beating in these posts about the "evil USA empire" which sure seems scripted and composed by Castroites in Havana. I suppose they are so dipped in that brain washed culture they don't realize their posts are all identical and have a single theme.

Cubans don't have access to a free internet, therefore if you write like this it really doesn't get much traction except with the naive radicals who are also into backing the Cuban dictatorship.

That dictatorship is now turning fascist, they want a communist party Chinese style, with the party elite riding Mercedes and BMW, and meanwhile the proletariate is kept in slavery and supposedly brainwashed by this baloney.

Scope for psy-ops

There is plenty of room for subtle psy-ops, including those where the participants don’t know they are participating, to manipulate or destabilise governments, or create negative images of them abroad. These go well beyond necessary criticism of policies. The much-used term “populism” belittles the sometimes considerable social advances made in the target countries, and their achievements in reducing poverty and redistributing wealth; these sovereign choices are called “irresponsible” and “incompatible with democracy.” Before the attempted coup against Chávez in Venezuela in 2002, public opinion was bombarded with rowdy headlines in El Nacional and El Universal — “Taliban in the National Assembly,” “Black October,” “Terrorists in Government” — and calls to overthrow the president.

The first element of the psy-ops aimed at press and foreign diplomats is to claim that “civil society” is demonstrating its discontent. Civil society is a magical expression: It sounds much nicer than “a mobilisation of the rightwing opposition,” even when it refers to a section of society that wins only a small share of the vote in elections. During Venezuela’s February 2014 crisis, “civil society” was replaced with “students,” a far more acceptable term than “the far right in action.” In Chile, two movements played a key role in preparing the coup against Salvador Allende: the Feminine Power group, with its empty saucepan marches in protest over (largely deliberately organised) shortages, and the Catholic University of Chile Student Federation (FEUC).

Then, to reinforce the idea of a peaceful population opposing a dictatorship, it is useful to be able to point to innocent victims. In Venezuela in 2002, when “civil society” was demonstrating against Chávez , snipers killed several of its members, as well as some supporters of the president. This was the perfect excuse for a group of army officers to detain Chávez, who was accused of having ordered his “militias” or “brownshirts” to repress the opposition. Now colectivos (social, educational, sporting collectives) are being demonised and called “paramilitaries.”

Overthrow in Paraguay

Snipers were also used, indirectly, to provoke the overthrow of President Fernando Lugo in Paraguay in 2012. His opponents had called for his deposition ever since he came to power, and their opportunity came at Marina Kue, when a police operation to remove peasant squatters from farmland ended in a shootout that killed 11 peasants and six police officers. An inquiry blamed the deaths on the campesinos, who were accused of having ambushed the police.

Peasant leader Vidal Vega and other witnesses, who conducted a parallel inquiry, claimed that “infiltrators” had shot at both their companions and the police, provoking the shootout. After a hurried political trial, skilfully managed by the congress, the incident made Lugo’s deposition possible: He was accused of encouraging violence against landowners. Vega was later assassinated by two masked men.

Cont'd

Are you kidding me? What the hell are China and Russia doing in the region then? Being good buddies with these nations just 'cause? And get it through your head, most Latin American governments are just as corrupt, if not moreso, than any US or European government. And unlike yourself, there are people in this forum who have actually been or lived in these nations and talk their languages and know their cultures better than you, and they sure as hell has more knowledge about the going-ons in them than you could ever come up with. But then again, blaming a region's problems solely on the US has always been the mantra of all hardcore leftists, so it's no surprise that you believe this bullshit. Just wondering, do you happen to own a couple of Che Guevara t-shirts, or any Che Guevara merchandise, for that matter? It tends to happen often with people who consider themselves hardcore leftists, but what's funny is that it makes them look pathetic and hypocritical.