Trade Realignment

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRADE POLICY

 

Trade Realignment *

 

Beneath the headlines of the day

The American Israeli war on Iran

A trade coalition came into play

In the arrival of a new dawn

 

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay

With the European continent

The world need not wonder why

Trade with the United States is spent

 

This is the start of a realignment

That circumscribes American interests

Our former partners in consignment

Finding deals that serve them best

 

Some may cry America First!

Yet its effects may put us last

We could not have done any worse

Had we given Fair Trade a chance

 

Three more years of high inflation

Three more years of our decline

Three more years of degradation

As our proud nation falls behind

 

* EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement

 

 

Friend of the Devil

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Friend of the Devil

 

When you invite the devil into your fold

Even with virtue’s intent

A story of evil must be retold

Concerning a past that was bent

 

It is not a secret or mystery

What our Agency did in the past

Destroying Latin American democracies

With promises that did not last

 

Now Daniel Noboa of Ecuador

Has opened the gates to his nation

To fight in America’s cocaine wars

A dark and dismal invitation

 

Sheinbaum of Mexico turned us down

But Noboa opened the door

So our darkest operators are on the ground

No one knows what lies in store

 

Maybe they’ll fight the drug cartels

But it comes with an obligation

This is how so many democracies fell

And became subservient nations

 

 

Santiago Falls (The Ghost of Pinochet)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Santiago Falls

 

Jose Antonio Kast

Brings back shadows of the past

The ghost of Pinochet

Has come back to haunt Chile

 

A campaign of law and order

A promise to protect the border

Rising crime and deportation

Mounting fear and desperation

 

We cannot predict the future

But we can warn about the past

As the future travels nearer

Our dread grows deep and vast

 

Recall the disappeared

Remember the oppression

The iron fist of fear

Has Chile learned her lesson?

 

Or is she now condemned

To repeat her sordid past?

On this man you’ll depend

To break his fascist cast

 

 

Hypocritical Oath

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VENEZUELA

 

Hypocritical Oath

 

There is no Cartel of the Sun

It is only a figure of speech

Until this nasty business is done

Maduro is beyond their reach

 

The real leader of a Narco State

The former president of Honduras

Will help make America great

The convicted Juan Hernandez

 

What did he promise our president

In exchange for a blanket pardon?

Money given or money lent

Or a plush Honduran garden?

 

He doesn’t care about democracy

It’s all about the bottom line

He flaunts his crude hypocrisy

And declares that all is fine

 

Maduro sees what’s going on

He needs to strike a deal

It’s not about what’s right or wrong

His wounded pride will heal

 

Our president needs a victory

Any foreign war will do

He doesn’t need our sympathy

And doesn’t care what’s true

 

The Land of Allende

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

The Land of Allende

 

In the land of Pinochet and Allende

Where Latin American democracy

Rose up against the authoritarian tide

And fell against the same

Where the champions of the North

Changed sides by backing a military coup

 

We’re not about to let the will of the people

Stand in the way of American interests *

 

Chileans are facing a critical choice

A communist who is not a communist

Against a republican who is not a republican

The way of the ballot box

Or the way of the bullet

The gentle hand or the iron fist

Reason against rationalization

Persuasion against force

The path of social justice

Or the path of grim austerity

Jeannette Jara or Jose Antonio Kast

The people must choose

 

Choose wisely

For to make the wrong choice

May outlast a generation

 

* Henry Kissinger

 

Wag the Dog (Venezuela)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Wag the Dog (Venezuela)

 

What do presidents do

When the bottom drops out?

When they’ve already lost one shoe

And there’s little left but doubt?

 

They start a war with paper tiger

Someone that doesn’t have a chance

Someone who will not push it higher

But will show up for the dance

 

It seems Maduro fits the bill

He’s well known as a bad guy

If we don’t get him someone will

We’ll frame him with a lie

 

Just like we did in Vietnam

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

We don’t really give a damn

But we’ll make it a solution

 

The problem is it never works

The people will strike back

The invaders are always seen as jerks

When a foreign force attacks

 

It didn’t work in Vietnam

In Afghanistan or Iraq

The people sense a phony scam

Like a rabbit smells a hawk

 

The Fall of Bolivar

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

The Fall of Bolivar

 

The last stand of Simon Bolivar

The father of Latin American democracy

The nation named in his honor

Home to the first indigenous president

Defender of democratic socialism

Fallen to the forces of capitalism

 

One wonders if democracy can survive

For capitalism so often prefers strongmen

 

That it has survived in the northern hemisphere

In western Europe and America

Gives proof that elements of socialism and

Capitalism can coexist with democracy

 

That democracy is so often threatened

In capitalist dominated countries

(a list that now include the United States)

Gives proof that the forces opposed to socialism

Are the forces opposed to democracy

 

The autocrats are lining up against us

Social democracy is at risk

Democracy itself is threatened

Bolivar has fallen but the fight goes on

The people must rise to find a way

 

(Rodrigo Paz elected president of Bolivia) 

War with Venezuela

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

War with Venezuela

 

We’re preparing for war with Venezuela

On the pretense of Narco Terror

Like the Russians invading Australia

The debt belongs to the bearer

 

What fool dreamed up this adventure?

Bush’s folly was not enough

Is this how the man derives pleasure?

By proving he’s bold and tough

 

Just as Putin did in Ukraine

The US will go it alone

An invasion that drags on in vain

An occupation in the American zone

 

Turn back before it’s too late

Like Bush you will stumble and lose

You wanted to show yourself great

Instead you will pay your dues

 

Like Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan

You’ll go down in a flurry of flames

Just another imperialist plan

That forever degrades our name

 

Let’s pretend you’re still a peacemaker

Let’s pretend you don’t want war

You’re a giver not a taker

You can find the other shore

 

Rio in Red

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: BRAZIL

 

Rio in Red

 

A Brazilian flag is stained in red

After Rio’s deadly raid

Hundreds of bodies lying dead

All hope begins to fade

 

The favelas are in mourning

So many people dead

It came without a warning

Leaving only fear and dread

 

Who ordered this abomination?

This massacre of men

Was it meant to cause sensation?

Are they prepared to do it again?

 

Castro ordered the slaughter

The governor of the state

The people were cannon fodder

They met a gruesome fate

 

He accused them of narco terror

An accusation that covers all

No trials. What could be fairer?

Line em up against the wall

 

Is this the way of the world now?

Justice belongs to the strong

We do not ask why or how

We know in our hearts it’s wrong

 

 

The Venezuelan Tragedy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

The Venezuelan Tragedy

 

It is a sad and dreary history

The CIA backed operations

The torture and the travesties

The Bolivarian Revolution

Alleviation of mass poverty

The backlash of institutions

A betrayal of democracy

A reversal of solutions

Corruption and collusion

 

Hugo Chavez had it right

When he embraced social democracy

He kept the workers in his sight

Til he was tempted by autocracy

When Maduro took the reigns

He enacted one-man rule

It became an old refrain

Oppression cold and cruel

 

Had Chavez lived who knows?

His cause might have remained true

But now the discontent grows

When they win the people lose

The democratic movement slows

Their elections are a ruse

The Americans are landing blows

The Venezuelans are abused

 

Democracy in Peru

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Peruvian Democracy

 

Crime is the enemy of a civil society

When crime rises, trust declines

Bringing discontent and social anxiety

Democratic values fall behind

 

In Peru they send their leaders to jail

For failure to stop the criminal waves

That’s what happens when society fails

Corruption pulls them to an early grave

 

Now that Boluarte is out and Jeri is in

The demand for change will be growing

The countdown to elections will begin

They hope the crime rate will be slowing

 

Democracy can’t be a revolving wheel

That does not address the people’s needs

When government abuses power to steal

It is replaced with lightning speed

 

The enduring lesson of Peru’s democracy

Is that stability must take hold

To prevent the danger of autocracy

The people must be strong and bold

 

 

The Argentinian Compromise

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Argentinian Compromise

 

Between a steamroller and a boulder

The Argentinians are in crisis

The prospects are growing colder

With their inflationary prices

 

On one side looms the dragon

The full forces of oppression

Put your pesos in their wagon

You will be headed for depression

 

On the other is the autocrat

The unvarnished force of greed

If this is where your country’s at

Argentina is bound to bleed

 

The land with a tortured history

Is a land in desperate need

With a leader who is lost

And who will pay most any cost

 

To maintain his hold on power

Despite the welfare of the nation

As we approach the final hour

That will define their destination

 

 

Strongmen of Nicaragua

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Strongmen of Nicaragua

 

Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo

Rule the nation with an iron fist

A growing number of desaparecido

Their names were on a list

 

They disappear their adversaries

Like their predecessors did before

No telling where the bodies are buried

It’s a part of the nation’s lore

 

It’s an endless fight for liberty

In the nations below the border

They pray the soldiers let them be

They plead for law and order

 

But the government is the problem

They have guns and they have power

The courts cannot absolve them

When it comes to the reckoning hour

 

They are cursed to live in darkness

Until the light comes shining through

Like a hawk trapped in its nest

Until the day it finally flew

 

Gringo Go Home!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

 

Gringo Go Home

 

Up north they want the border closed

Down south they’re beginning to see

Both sides want the change to slow

They’re not sure what to plead

 

The northerners are moving in

The cost of housing on the rise

The locals lose, the landlords win

When they cater to the gentrified

 

The workers cannot pay the rent

They being pushed aside

Their patience is being spent

Not much longer will they ride

 

It’s happening across the board

On both sides of the border

It strikes on a rebellious chord

And triggers law and order

 

The people rise up everywhere

Their anger springs from fear

You don’t want our workers there?

We don’t want your money here!

 

(Massive protests in Mexico City)