How the U.S. Govt Uses Foreign Aid to Force Countries to Buy GMO SeedsAaron Dykes and Melissa Melton I would like to tell the U.S. Ambassador to stop pressuring the Government (of El Salvador) to buy improved GM seeds, said [President of the El Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technologies (CESTA)] Navarro, which is only of benefit to U.S. multinationals and is to the detriment of local seed production, reported Sustainable Pulse. Through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a self-described independent U.S. foreign aid agency that is helping to lead the fight against global poverty, created by Congress in 2004, $277 million in aid is being dangled over El Salvadors head if, as the World War 4 Report puts it, the Salvadoran Agriculture Ministry continues its current practice of buying seeds from small-scale Salvadoran producers for its Family Agriculture Plan. The threat was apparently made, with clear intentions to advance the interests of transnational agricultural companies. While distributing seed packets under the program from small Salvadoran producers (instead of multinational corporations like Monsanto) have actually spurred the growth of basic food crops by a third and employed over 200,000 hectares for cultivation thus achieving the goals that MCCs entire existence are supposedly based on nearly $300 million in aid might be withheld simply because El Salvador isnt using Monsantos GMO seeds. So which is it? Foreign aid or a corporate pay day? Yes. Apparently Americais doing those things. As Jeffrey M. Smith of the Institute for Responsible Technology once told Russia Today, Basically if were dealing with the federal government, were dealing with an arm of Monsanto. After all, its to the point that a former Monsanto lawyer and Vice President for Public Policy is currently sitting as our FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods. Smith briefly discusses just some of the dangers from GMOs in the RT interview below: But the Millennium Challenge Corporation is no ordinary agency, and El Salvador is not the only country receiving its aid. El Salvador is just one snapshot of a larger, global picture. To give you an understanding of who is running MCC and whats involved, lets dig a little deeper. Currently, six of the nine members are listed on the Council on Foreign Relations official membership roster. Heres a little background information so you can understand who these people are and where they have been. CFRs official description of the video above is that Shah is discussing how foreign assistance and development efforts can spread U.S. values, deter conflict, and shape a more peaceful world. (Emphasis added. Be sure you read between the lines on that one. In fact, you pretty much have to read between the lines on anything these people say.) While the MCC notes that it partners with key shareholders in the private sector, theres no list of corporations easily found on the sitethat is, unless you count this report, Congressional Budget Justification for FY 2009 which lists American businesses who proudly support MCC and its innovative approach to economic development assistance, including producers and beneficiaries of genetically modified seeds such as Monsanto, Cargill, Dow Chemical Company, Mars Incorporated, Starbucks Coffee, Pioneer Hi-Bred, in addition to Raytheon, GE, Microsoft, Citigroup, Boeing, Verizon, GlaxoSmithKline and many others. MCC has signed memorandums of understanding with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) a major initiative by the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations that was launched, staffed and largely the baby of now-USAID director Millennium Challenge Corporation director Rajiv Shah as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Denmark, GE, Microsoft, and the United Nations World Food Program among others. In addition, this document shows that tens of millions of dollars flow from MCC to major defense contractors the likes of Booz Allen Hamilton and PA Consulting (now headed by Bilderbergs Marcus Agius [a Rothschild]) for things like agriculture consulting. El Salvador is only one of nearly 40 countries being helped through MCC with millions in U.S. government aid. Clearly there is a larger strategy to push for global GMO adoption and even outright domination at the expense of traditional agriculture and local farmers. According to MCCs statute, a country may have its eligibility or assistance suspended or terminated if the country has engaged in activities contrary to the national security interests of the United States. Again, read between the lines here. What, you think the American governments national security interests and idea of aid are (a shiny happy fun time where we actually help people with food security and sustainable economic policies) and what the United States of America, Inc., the sultan of corporate imperialism, believes they are might very well be two very different things? El Salvadors compact with MCC says it is supposed to fuel economic growth, but only if that growth is fueled the way Uncle Sam wants it to be through (or rather to) our mega-corporations. Have you come to the realization yet that this whole thing is nothing more than a fancy way to subsidize U.S.-based multinational corporations at the expense of local farmers all over the world thus allowing patented biotechnology to purposefully displace locally adapted heritage agriculture in as many places as possible under the guise of helping these poor countries out? Linda Heard of Intrepid Report frames it well: Aaron and Melissa created TruthstreamMedia.com, where this article first appeared, as an outlet to examine the news, place it in a broader context, uncover the deceptions, pierce through the fabric of illusions, grasp the underlying factors, know the real enemy, unshackle from the system, and begin to imagine the path towards taking back our lives, one step at a time, so that one day we might truly be free 