White House sources: Bush Latin American policy in the hands of gay Latino GOP powerbrokers

The gay Latino group, led by an individual nicknamed "El Padrino" (the godfather) and which has close ties, including gay relationships, with top GOP officials in the Republican National Committee, Small Business Administration, the Department of State, State of Texas, and Executive Office of the President, has been tasked with ensuring that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez does not successfully bid on the sale of Univision, the largest Spanish language TV network in North America. Senior White House officials have provided hundreds of millions of dollars, through CIA and State Department conduits, to the Latino group to ensure that Chavez does not gain control of Univision.

The group has also prevailed upon the government of Panama and particularly senior gay members of the Panamanian government, to ensure that President Martin Torrijos backs out of a regional energy treaty signed between Panama, Venezuela, and Colombia. The deal would see Panama's transisthmian Petroterminales de Panama (PTP) pipeline between Puerto Armuelles on the Pacific to Chiriqui Grande on the Caribbean reverse its flow from east to west to permit the export of Venezuelan oil to China. However, since the Panamanian government only owns a 30 percent stake in the pipeline, the GOP Latino power brokers have applied pressure on a New York-based family-owned firm that owns 60 percent of the pipeline to sink the deal. The law firm that represents the interests of the New York family is reportedly owned by the family of the Panamanian ambassador to the United States and Panama's ambassador to the United Nations. Ten percent of the pipeline is owned by a shadowy Swiss-based firm, the shares of which are held by anonymous parties, that is reportedly connected to the CIA and senior members of the Panamanian government.

The other part of the Venezuelan-Colombian-Panamanian deal that is being targeted by the GOP Latino group for cancellation is a natural gas pipeline from Colombia through Panama and Central America to southern Mexico.

Katin Vasquez, Panama's Economy and Finance Minister and a former Panama Canal Commissioner, is also being lobbied heavily by GOP-connected Wachovia to ensure the bank gets the contract to handle the funding for the $7 billion Panama Canal Expansion Project. The canal expansion is tied to the fact that with the increased use of supertankers, which cannot currently transit the canal, the canal must be quickly expanded to handle what are known as "Post-Panamax" vessels. "Panamax" is standard code for the maximum size vessel that can currently transit the canal. With the thirty-day advance payment requirement, Panama could easily issue bonds to finance the expansion. However, the gay Latino group tied to the Bush administration is using its influence with senior Panamanian government officials, sweetened with cash payments, to ensure that Wachovia gets the financing and Halliburton/Kellogg, Brown & Root gets the lion's share of construction contracts for the canal's expansion.

Vasquez has reportedly been flown to North Carolina in Wachovia's private corporate jet for golf outings. However, observers point out that Panama does not require Wachovia's involvement in the canal expansion project since the canal is a virtual cash cow. Ships are required to pay thirty days in advance prior to transiting the canal.

The gay Latino group reportedly has particularly close ties to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her public diplomacy assistant Karen Hughes. Interestingly, Hughes is the daughter of Maj. Gen. Harold Parfitt, the last U.S. Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.

The GOP group has also been tasked by the White House to work on reversing the leftist tide that is sweeping Latin America. Currently, the Bush administration can only count on three Latin American nations to fully carry out U.S. policy: El Salvador, Panama, and Colombia. With pro-Chavez leftist victories likely in Mexico, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Peru, the GOP Latino powerbrokers are expected to use their influence to generate support for pro-U.S. right-wing political leaders and parties.