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Hay y hubo Juana
Carrasco Martín Pueden engarzarse perfectamente. El Chicago Sun Times tituló: "¿Buscando armas de destrucción masiva? Existen ocho millones de armas químicas." No se encontraron en Iraq, pero se acumulan en iglúes de concreto en el estado norteamericano de Oregón, su presencia permanece en la húmeda floresta panameña desde cuando la poblaban bases militares estadounidenses, son municiones almacenadas en Australia en cantidades mayores que aquellas aducidas por la administración Bush para iniciar la guerra contra Iraq, o pueden ser encontradas a escasas cuatro millas de la Casa Blanca. Reuters, por su parte, describía cómo Nguyen Van Quy, uno de los tres vietnamitas que querella contra los fabricantes del Agente Naranja, el defoliante que los agresores norteamericanos utilizaron durante la guerra de Vietnam, sobrevive con la muerte a su puerta, pues el antiguo sargento mayor norvietnamita se debilita un día tras otro por un tumor en el hígado causado por la dioxina. Hay más de ocho millones de armas químicas almacenadas en el mundo, amenazando no solo a quienes pueden ser considerados en un momento dado el "enemigo" de alguna guerra, sino también a las comunidades que, a veces sin saberlo, dan albergue a depósitos de sarin, de VX o de otros agentes nerviosos, prolíficamente fabricados por laboratorios en EE.UU. Sin embargo, se habla de "terrorismo químico", como si la única amenaza proviniera de un potencial uso de estas armas por brutales guerreros de la sinrazón, cuando un ejército organizado y poderoso como el de Estados Unidos posee el mayor caudal mortífero y lo usó sin miramientos. Hubo, y por eso Quy y dos de sus coterráneas también demandantes, denuncian sus males y presentan a sus hijos enfermos por el Agente Naranja fabricado por la Dow Chemical Co. y por la Monsanto Co. Los mismos consorcios cuyos herbicidas se emplearon y emplean contra los cultivos de drogas en América Latina, donde tienen contaminadas vastas tierras de cultivo en Colombia, Perú, Ecuador y Bolivia. Otras 30 firmas se nombran en la documentación del litigio de los vietnamitas, cuya audiencia ya está fijada para el próximo diciembre en una corte de Nueva York. Para negarle comida y la cobertura de la jungla a los combatientes vietnamitas, los productos químicos utilizados por las fuerzas norteamericanas contaminaron los suelos y las aguas. Allí permanecen. En Vietnam hay tres millones de víctimas de los 20 millones de galones de herbicidas lanzados entre 1962 y 1971 contra el país asiático, incluido el Agente Naranja, en cuya composición actúa la dioxina que, probadamente, es causa de varios tipos de cáncer, defectos de nacimiento que proliferan en Vietnam en criaturas de pesadilla sin ojos o brazos o con dos cabezas, y de disfunciones de órganos vitales. Pero el adversario vietnamita no fue la única víctima. Como un castigo del averno, veteranos estadounidenses fueron tocados por la desgracia. En 1984, Dow Chemical y Monsanto debieron pagar 180 millones de dólares a esos soldados de EE.UU., paradójicamente convertidos en sus propios "daños colaterales". Hubo y hay... There Are and There Were By Juana Carrasco Martín One can easily be connected to the other. The headline in The Chicago Sun Times read: "Looking for WMD?" That’s easy enough, there are eight million chemical weapons stockpiled. They were not found in Iraq, but they are being warehoused in igloo-like concrete structures in the state of Oregon, USA. They are a permanent fixture in the Panamanian rain forest since the US bases were installed in that country and are also maintained in storage facilities in Australia in quantities far greater than the amount Bush claimed was in Iraq in order to justify the invasion. These types of deadly weapons can also be found a scant four miles from the White House. Reuters, meanwhile, wrote that Nguyen Van Quy, one of the three Vietnamese who are suing the manufacturers of Agent Orange, the defoliant that the US aggressors used during the Viet Nam war, survives with death knocking at his door. The former North Vietnamese sergeant major gets weaker everyday as a result of a liver tumor caused by the dioxin he was contaminated by. There are more than eight million chemical weapons being kept in the world, and they threaten not only those that may in one war or another be labeled as "the enemy" but also the communities that, sometimes without knowing it, are endangered by harboring deposits of Sarin and VX nerve gas, or other nerve agents prolifically produced by US laboratories. Nonetheless, "chemical terrorism" is usually referred to only as a threat that could come from some deranged warlord, ignoring the fact that the well-organized and mighty US Army is the holder of the largest stock of chemical weapons and hasn’t hesitated to use them. Quy and the other Vietnamese plaintiffs are living examples that these weapons existed and were used, and they are denouncing Agent Orange’s effects on their children. These substances were manufactured by Dow Chemical and Monsanto corporations. They are the same consortiums whose herbicides are still being used against cocaine fields in Latin America, contaminating vast extensions of farmland in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Another 30 companies are named in the case brought by the Vietnamese, which is scheduled for a hearing in a New York court in December. In an effort to deprive the Vietnamese fighters of food and the shelter of the jungle, the US forces used chemicals that contaminated the soil and the water. The aftereffects of this chemical warfare continue to be felt today. In Viet Nam there are more than three million victims of the 20 million gallons of herbicides that were sprayed between 1962 and 1971, including Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, believed to be responsible for several types of cancer. Nightmarish birth defects are common in Viet Nam and have yielded babies without eyes or arms, others with two heads and many with vital organ dysfunctions. But the Vietnamese adversaries were not the only victims. As if a punishment from hell, US war veterans have also suffered from the effect of the chemicals. In 1984, Dow Chemical and Monsanto were forced to pay $180 million to US soldiers, who had ironically become their own "collateral damage." Weapons there were, and there are... Juventud Rebelde Digital |
