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Source: Mint Press News
The Dark Secret Behind a British Billionaire's "Parallel State" in Argentina's Patagonia
March 11, 2019 | By Whitney Webb
The Dark Secret Behind a British Billionaire's "Parallel State" in Argentina's Patagonia
EL BOLSÓN, ARGENTINA – At the "end of the world," spanning the southernmost regions of Argentina and Chile, lies the land of Patagonia, much of which remains a pristine wilderness that has inspired countless naturalists and would-be adventurers with its dramatic landscapes and natural beauty. For many, it is a place that still feels remarkably untouched and removed from the chaos of the modern world.
Yet, it is these very qualities, as well as the region's great oil and gas potential and its abundance of glacier-fed freshwater reserves, that have placed it in the crosshairs of predators — predators armed with billions of dollars, powerful influence over Argentine politics and the country's press, as well as alliances with controversial international financial organizations and key elements of the global Zionist lobby.
Coveted for its still largely unplundered resources, Patagonia has become the target of a close-knit network of notorious billionaires and global elites, who have spent much of the last two and a half decades seeking to transform this area into their own independent state.
Indeed, though several of these billionaires have already created de facto private states where they enjoy near-total impunity within Argentine Patagonia, others have been behind major efforts that have pushed for the territory's secession. Still others have pushed Argentina's government to exchange its claim to Patagonia for "debt relief" as a way of easing Argentina's economic plight that, incidentally, was largely created by this very same group of billionaires. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose connections to this billionaire network are considerable, has had an outsized role in this effort.
Yet this appears to be more than just a venture on the behalf of notable oligarchs and the global elite, as prominent elements of the international Zionist lobby are intimately involved, as is the state of Israel, though the extent of the involvement of the latter is subject to debate. Their interest revolves around claims that date back to the founding of Zionism in the 19th century, when revered Zionist figures like Theodore Herzl discussed Argentina as a potential homeland for a Jewish ethno-state.
Since then, other notable Zionists, including past Israeli ambassadors to Argentina, have argued that Israel is for "European Jews" while "American Jews" must take Argentina for themselves. Notably, the method suggested by Herzl as a means of creating a Zionist state in his seminal work "The Jewish State" involves the exchange of debt for territory.
In the first part of this investigative series, MintPress explores the de facto independent state that has been created by British billionaire and Zionist Joe Lewis, a long-time associate of controversial Hungarian-American financier George Soros. Lewis has essentially bought out the local, regional and even national government of Argentina, allowing him to operate with impunity while he acquires more and more territory through land purchases of dubious (if any) legality, intimidates and threatens locals, usurps crucial water and energy resources from local towns, and operates his own international private airport that no one but he controls.
Subsequent reports in this series will examine the other key players in this effort to create a Patagonian state, namely Argentine oligarchs Marcelo Mindlin and Eduardo Elsztain, who are both deeply connected to the global Zionist lobby and the Rockefeller-founded Americas Society, and are also both close Soros associates. Finally, the role of these individuals and their associates in efforts to use IMF debt slavery to pressure the Argentine government to swap debt for territory will be revealed, as will the role of the Zionist lobby and prominent figures in the global elite.
THE TOWN THAT FOUGHT BACK
The quaint mountain town of El Bolsón, nestled among the picturesque rocky peaks of Argentina's Patagonia and famed for its local legends of gnomes and elves, may seem an unlikely epicenter in a nationwide battle that has pitted locals against powerful foreign billionaires — billionaires who are not only plundering the country's rich resources but eroding its national sovereignty through backdoor deals with Argentina's most powerful, and most corrupt, political leaders.
Yet, however unlikely the role of this sleepy town in Argentina's Río Negro province may seem, for over a decade many locals have used every tool at their disposal to oppose one billionaire's effort to turn the town and much of Río Negro into his own personal fiefdom. This struggle has seen massive demonstrations in El Bolsón against British billionaire Joe Lewis, with some attracting as many as 15,000 participants – nearly 80 percent of the town's entire population.
Lewis, worth an estimated $5.2 billion according Forbes, is best known in the West for owning the British Tottenham Hotspur football club, his sprawling luxury estates and golf resorts in the Bahamas and Florida, and owning well-known brands including Puma sportswear and Vans shoes. He is often described as a "self-made" billionaire, having been born to a poor Jewish family in London, who worked his way up to become one of England's richest men.
Since the mid-1990s, Lewis has been building an empire in Patagonia, having become the owner of extensive properties north of El Bolsón — which, among other things, contain almost all of the town's water reserves, as well as those of the nearby farming community, Mallín Ahogado — and the de facto power behind Pampa Energía, the company controlling most of Argentina's electricity production. Part Two of this series will focus on Lewis' role at Pampa Energía, as well as that of his associate, Marcelo Mindlin.
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