Foreign policy of Hugo Chávez

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The foreign policy of Hugo Chávez concerns the policy initiatives made towards other nations by the current President of Venezuela Chávez. Chávez's foreign policy may be roughly divided between those concerning U.S.-Venezuela relations and those concerning Venezuela's relations with other nations, particularly those in Latin America and the Third World.

[edit] Relations with the U.S.

See also: United States-Venezuela relations

Since Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela, the long-standing close diplomatic relationship between Venezuela and the United States have progressively worsened. The deterioration has been most in evidence during the tenure of the U.S.'s George W. Bush administration.

[edit] Opposition to U.S. foreign policy

President Chávez and Fidel Castro of Cuba sign the documents inaugurating the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) trade agreement in May 2005. ALBA furthers Cuba-Venezuela economic and social integration and promotes a socially-oriented trade block, which Chávez states is superior to the logic of deregulated corporate profit maximization promoted by the U.S.-backed FTAA.

Since the start of the Bush administration in 2001, Chávez has been highly critical of U.S. economic and foreign policy; he has critiqued U.S. policy with regards to Iraq, Haiti, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and other areas. Chávez has also denounced the U.S.-backed ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

Chávez's public friendship and significant trade relationship with Cuba and Cuban President Fidel Castro have undermined the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba. Longstanding ties between the U.S. and Venezuelan militaries were also severed on Chávez's initiative. Chávez's stance as an OPEC price hawk has also raised the price of oil for American consumers, as Venezuela pushed OPEC producers towards lower production ceilings, with the resultant price settling around $25 a barrel prior to 2004. During Venezuela's holding of the OPEC presidency in 2000, Chávez made a ten-day tour of OPEC countries, in the process becoming the first head of state to meet Saddam Hussein since the Gulf War. The visit was controversial at home and in the US, although Chávez did respect the ban on international flights to and from Iraq (he drove from Iran, his previous stop). ^[1] Chávez has also been intensely critical of U.S. economic and foreign policy: in Iraq, Haiti, regarding the Free Trade Area of the Americas and in numerous other areas.

The Bush administration has consistently opposed Chávez's policies, and although it did not recognize the Carmona government upon its installation during the 2002 coup, those in Washington certainly hoped it would last. The U.S. government has called Chávez a "negative force" in the region, and has sought support from among Venezuela's neighbors to isolating Chávez diplomatically and economically. One notable instance occurred at the 2005 meeting of the Organization of American States, a U.S. resolution to add a mechanism to monitor the nature of democracies was widely seen as an attempt at diplomatically isolating both Chávez and the Venezuelan government. The failure of the resolution was seen by analysts as politically significant, evidencing widespread support in Latin American for Chávez, his policies, and his views.

The U.S. has also opposed and lobbied against numerous Venezuelan arms purchases made under Chávez, including a purchase of some 100,000 rifles from Russia, which Donald Rumsfeld implied would be passed on to FARC, and the purchase of aircraft from Brazil. The U.S. has also warned Israel to not carry through on a deal to upgrade Venezuela's aging fleet of F-16s, and has similarly pressured Spain. In August 2005, Chávez rescinded the rights of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents to operate in Venezuelan territory, territorial airspace, and territorial waters. While U.S. State Department officials stated that the DEA agents' presence was intended to stem cocaine traffic from Colombia, Chávez argued that there was reason to believe the DEA agents were gathering intelligence for a clandestine assassination targeting him with intentions of ending the Bolivarian Revolution.

[edit] Personal disputes

The U.S. has called Chávez a "negative force" in the region, and requested support from Venezuela's neighbors in isolating Chávez. Chávez's anti-U.S. rhetoric has sometimes touched the personal: in response to the ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, Chávez called U.S. President George W. Bush a pendejo ("dumbass"); in a later speech, he made personal remarks regarding Condoleezza Rice. ^{[2] [3][4]}

During his weekly address Aló Presidente of March 18, 2006, Chávez responded to a US White House report which characterized him as a "demagogue who uses Venezuela's oil wealth to destabilize democracy in the region". During the address Chávez rhetorically called George W. Bush "a donkey." He repeated it several times adding "eres un cobarde" (you are a coward), "eres un asesino, un genocida" (you are an assassin, a mass-murderer), and "eres un borracho" (you are a drunk) ^[5]. In September 2006 at the UN General Assembly, Chávez called Bush "the devil" [3]. A day later, as he was promising to double the amount of oil discounts to poor Americans in Harlem, Chávez said Bush was "a sick man" and "an alcoholic" [4].

[edit] Response to assassination calls

Wikinews has news related to:

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson calls for assassination of Venezuela's president

After prominent American evangelical Pat Robertson apologized for his on-air request that Chávez be assassinated, Ted Haggard of the U.S-based National Association of Evangelicals criticized Robertson's remarks. Haggard was concerned about the effects Roberson’s remarks would have on U.S. corporate and evangelical missionaries’ interests in Venezuela. Nevertheless, the Chávez administration reported that it would more closely scrutinize and curtail foreign evangelical missionary activity. Chávez himself denounced Robertson’s call as a harbinger of a coming U.S. intervention to remove him from office. Chávez reported that Robertson, member of the secretive and elite Council for National Policy (CNP) — of which George Bush , Grover Norquist, and other prominent neoconservative Bush administration insiders are also known members or associates — was, along with other CNP members^{[citation needed]}, guilty of “international terrorism”.

[edit] Putative coups and invasions

President Chávez has worked to cultivate relationships with developing world nations that are critical of the West. Above, Chávez embraces Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, during the 60th anniversary celebrations of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome October 17, 2005 Mugabe and Chávez both accused the United States and other capitalist countries of wanting to dominate the world, for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and blamed them for world poverty and hunger.

Chávez accuses the United States government of planning an invasion, codenamed "Plan Balboa". Chávez's own warm friendship with Cuban president Fidel Castro, in addition to Venezuela’s now significant and expanding economic, social, and aid relationships with Cuba, have undermined the U.S. policy objective seeking to isolate the island. Longstanding military, intelligence, and counter-narcotics ties between the U.S. and Venezuelan were severed on Chávez's initiative. Chávez's early stance as an OPEC price hawk has also raised the price of oil for the United States, as Venezuela pushed OPEC producers towards a higher price, around $25 a barrel. During Venezuela's presidency of OPEC in 2000, Chávez made a ten-day tour of OPEC countries, in the process becoming the first head of state to meet Saddam Hussein,^[6] since the Gulf War. Despite OPEC duties, the visit was controversial at home and in the US. Chávez did respect the ban on international flights to and from Iraq (he drove from Iran, his previous stop). Ever since, President Chávez has consolidated diplomatic relations with Iran, including defending its right to civilian nuclear power.

The United States recognized the de facto government of Pedro Carmona during the 2002 coup attempt which briefly overthrew Chávez. On 20 February 2005, Chávez reported that the U.S. had plans to have him assassinated; he stated that any such attempt would result in an immediate cessation of U.S.-bound Venezuelan oil shipments.^[7]

[edit] Maintenance of economic relations

Chávez's socialist ideology and the tensions between the Venezuelan and the United States governments have had little impact on economic relations between the two countries. In 2006, the United States remained Venezuela's most important trading partner for both oil exports and general imports - bilateral trade expanded 36% during that year^[8]

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina battered the United States’ gulf coast in late 2005, the Chávez administration was the first foreign government to offer aid to its "North American brothers". Chávez offered tons of food, water, and a million barrels of extra petroleum to the U.S. He has also proposed to sell, at a significant discount, as many as 66,000 barrels of heating fuel to poor communities that were hit by the hurricane, and offered mobile hospital units, medical specialists, and power generators. The Bush administration declined the offer.^[9]

Later, in November 2005, officials in Massachusetts signed an agreement with Venezuela to provide heating oil at a 40% discount to low income families through Citgo, a subsidiary of PDVSA^[10]. Chávez has stated that such gestures comprise "a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage" and that "[i]t is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the United States."^[11]

[edit] Relations with Third World and other nations

Chávez speaks with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on February 14, 2005 in Caracas, Venezuela (Agência Brasil).

[edit] Latin American integration

Chávez has made Latin American integration the keystone of his administration’s foreign policy. Venezuela worked closely with its neighbors following the 1997 Summit of the Americas in many areas--particularly energy integration--and championed the OAS decision to adopt an Anti-Corruption Convention. Venezuela also participates in the UN Friends groups for Haiti. It is pursuing efforts to join the Mercosur trade bloc to expand the hemisphere's trade integration prospects. The Venezuelan government advocates an end to Cuba's isolation and a "multi-polar" world based on ties among Third World countries. Exemplars of this prioritization have come in the cooperative multinational institutions Chávez has helped found: PetroCaribe, Petrosur, and Telesur. Bilateral trade relationships with other Latin American countries have also played a major role in his policy, with Chávez increasing arms purchases from Brazil, forming oil-for-expertise trade arrangements with Cuba,^[12] funding an approximately $300 million ex gratia oil pipeline built to provide discounted natural gas to Colombia,^[13] and initiating barter arrangements that, among other things, exchange Venezuelan petroleum for cash-strapped Argentina's meat and dairy products. Most recently, Chavez's re-election in December 2006 has been seen as a boost to Cuba, whose long-time leader Fidel Castro is apparently gravely ill.^[14]

[edit] Personal disputes

Although Chávez generally enjoys fair to excellent relations with his Latin American counterparts, there have been examples of heated disputes. On November 10, 2005, Chávez referenced Mexican President Vicente Fox during a speech to supporters in Caracas, saying "the president of a people like the Mexicans lets himself become the puppy dog of the empire" for what he alleged was Fox's support of U.S. trade interests in his promotion of the newly stalled FTAA. Additionally, on the November 13, 2005 episode of his weekly talk show, Aló Presidente, Chávez stated that the Mexican president was "bleeding from his wounds" and warned Fox not to "mess" with him, lest he "get stung." Fox, upon hearing the remarks, expressed his outrage and threatened to recall the Mexican ambassador to Venezuela if the Chavez did not promptly issue an apology. However, Chávez simply recalled Venezuela's own ambassador to Mexico City, Vladimir Villegas. The Mexican ambassador to Caracas was recalled the following day.^[15] Although ties between the two countries have been strained, neither country will say that diplomatic ties have been indefinitely severed. Several groups in both Mexico and Venezuela are working to restore the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

[edit] Peru elections and Vladimiro Montesinos

In 2001, newly elected Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo's suspicion that the Chávez administration was protecting and hiding Vladimiro Montesinos provoked a major diplomatic confrontation between the two countries. The crisis started when Peru's Interior Minister Antonio Ketin Vidal blamed Venezuelan intelligence officers of disrupting a secret joint operation by Peruvian and US agents to capture former Peruvian intelligence chief Montesinos. The Venezuelan press reported the presence of Montesinos in Venezuelan territory months before the capture, despite the fact that José Vicente Rangel, representing the position of the Venezuelan government, denied his presence and any rumors that suggested that Montesinos was inside Venezuela.^[16] An April 2001 article by the journalist Patricia Poleo (for which she was awarded 2001's "King of Spain Journalism Award") described firsthand accounts of Montesinos' presence in Venezuela.^[17] Venezuelan security forces captured Montesinos in June of that year and later deported him to Peru to face charges of corruption, bribery and human-rights violations. Further diplomatic disputes ensued as Venezuelan security forces claimed most of the credit for finding Montesinos while Peru claimed its own forces and American FBI agents deserved credit.^[18] Chávez withdrew his envoy to Peru in response to this affair^[19] and in part because he accused Peru of undertaken security operations in Venezuela without approval.^[20] Gustavo Gorriti, advisor to President Toledo, suspected that President Chávez had no other option but to order the arrest of Montesinos following the pressure of a lead provided by the FBI after the capture of a former Venezuelan army officer who was withdrawing money from a bank in Miami for Montesinos.^[21] When Chávez attended Toledo's presidential inauguration, he was called a "dictator" by members of the Peruvian congress.^[22]

Between January and March of 2006, Chávez commented on the candidates of the 2006 Peruvian Presidential election, openly backing Ollanta Humala while referring to Alan García as a "thief" and a "crook" and considering Lourdes Flores a "candidate of the oligarchy". Chávez's comments led the Peruvian government to consider that he was interfering in Peru's affairs in breach of international law. Both countries recalled their ambassadors.^[23][24] Chávez was described as the "new bully" in the hemisphere following the defeat of Humala (the Chávez-backed candidate) in Peru; the reelection of a U.S. ally, Álvaro Uribe, in Colombia; and signs that Chávez's influence has had a negative effect impact on Mexico's presidential campaign. The Los Angeles Times referred to the defeat of candidates backed by him as the "Chávez effect", noting his imperialism in Latin America and that Latin American countries are "finding Chávez's intrusive drivel about 'Bolivarian' solidarity ... increasingly tiresome".^[25] Latin American election results in 2006 can be seen as a rebuke to Chávez's expansionism and imperialism.^{[26] [27]}

[edit] Iran

President Chávez has developed strong ties with the government of Iran, in particular in the area of energy production, economic, and industrial cooperation.^[28] He has visited Iran on several occasions, the first time in 2001,^[29] when he declared that he came to Iran to "prepare the road for peace, justice, stability and progress for the 21st century".^[28] Mohamed Khatami also has visited Venezuela on three occasions. During his 2005 visit, Chávez awarded him the Orden del Libertador and called him a "tireless fighter for all the right causes in the world".^[30] In May of 2006, Chávez expressed his favorable view of the production of nuclear energy in Iran announced by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and denied that they had plans to develop atomic weapons.^[31] His relationship with Iran and his support of their nuclear program has created concern for the US administration. Condoleezza Rice commented that, given the political strategy of President Chávez in relation to Iran, "Venezuela has become a negative force in the region".^[32]

President Chávez receives Iran's highest honor from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Chavez paid a two-day visit to Iran, as Iran faced international criticism for its nuclear program and as a backer of Hezbollah guerrillas.^[33] On Chávez's birthday (July 28), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented Chavez with Iran's highest honor for "supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the international community".^[34]

Chávez pledged that Venezuela would "stay by Iran at any time and under any condition." Ahmedinejad called Chávez a kindred spirit. "I feel I have met a brother and trench mate after meeting Chavez." Chávez said he "admired the Iranian president for 'his wisdom and strength'," saying, "We are with you and with Iran forever. As long as we remain united we will be able to defeat (U.S.) imperialism, but if we are divided they will push us aside".^[35]

Reuters reported that Chávez told the crowd at Tehran University, "If the US empire succeeds in consolidating its dominance, then the humankind has no future. Therefore, we have to save the humankind and put an end to the US empire". The reports adds that Chávez slashed out at Israel and labeled the 2006 Lebanon offensive as "fascist and terrorist." Decorating Chávez with the "Higher Medal of the Islamic Republic of Iran", Ahmadinejad said, "Mr. Chávez is my brother, he is a friend of the Iranian nation and the people seeking freedom around the world. He works perpetually against the dominant system. He is a worker of God and servant of the people."^[36]

[edit] Libya

President Chávez and Muammar al-Gaddafi

President Chávez's first trip to Libya occurred in 2001 after a personal invitation he received in 1999 by Muammar al-Gaddafi.^[37] During this short visit, they discussed the international situation, declining oil prices, and OPEC production levels.^[38] Some members of the National Assembly of Venezuela accused Chávez of not reporting his trip to Libya and hiding it under a tour of Europe and Africa.^[39] In 2004, Muammar al-Gaddafi awarded Chávez in the city of Tripoli the "Gaddafi Human Rights Award" ^[40] and Chávez called him a "friend and brother", affirming they "shared the same social view".^[41] In 2006, during Chávez's third visit, the leaders signed a general treaty of economical and cultural cooperation, and Chávez called for a mutual union against "American hegemony".^[40] Venezuela's former ambassador to Libya Julio César Pineda said in 2003 that Chávez was coordinating an anti-American strategy with terrorist states following his visit to Libya,^[42] but today, Libya is moving closer to alignment with the United States at a time that Chávez is setting himself up as South America's leading anti-American.^[43][44]

[edit] Israel

Main article: Israel-Venezuela relations

On August 3, 2006 Chávez ordered the Venezuelan charge d'affaires to Israel, to return from Tel Aviv to Venezuela, protesting the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Israel responded by recalling the Israeli ambassador to Venezuela.^[45][46][47]

In an interview with the news agency Al Jazeera in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Chávez made the first of two controversial statements regarding Israel, saying, "They are doing what Hitler did against the Jews."^[48]

Two days later, on his Sunday radio program, Hello, President, he said Israel had "gone mad and is inflicting on the people of Palestine and Lebanon the same thing they have criticized, and with reason: the Holocaust. But this is a new Holocaust" with the help of the United States, which he described as a terrorist country. He went on to say that the United States refuses "to allow the [U.N.] Security Council to make a decision to halt the genocide Israel is committing against the Palestinian and Lebanese people."^[48]

Accusations of Anti-Semitism have been leveled against Chavez because of these comments. The Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter to Chávez, asking him to consider how his statements might affect Venezuela, and the southern area director of the ADL accused Chávez of "distorting history and torturing the truth, as he has done in this case, it is a dangerous exercise which echoes classic anti-Semitic themes."^[48]

The president of the Miami-based Independent Venezuelan-American Citizens, said "That's what you expect from someone who surrounds himself with the dregs of the world. He seeks out terrorists and dictators. It's predictable that he wouldn't defend a democratic country like Israel." Jewish-Venezuelan community leaders in Caracas told El Nuevo Herald that Chávez's statements have created a situation of "fear and discomfort... The president is not the president of a single group but of Venezuelan Jews as well."^[48] The Federation of Israeli Associations of Venezuela condemned "attempts to trivialize the Holocaust, the premeditated and systematic extermination of millions of human beings solely because they were Jews ... by comparing it with the current war actions." ^[48]

Critics of Israel have hailed Chávez. The vice-chairman of Hizballah's political council, Mahmoud Komati, called his actions an example for "revolutionaries", and a "London, left-wing lawmaker" said that Chávez was a "real leader of the Arab people."^[49]

[edit] 2005 UN World Summit

At the 2005 UN World Summit, Chávez on September 15 mocked and denounced the neoliberal model of globalization promulgated by the Washington Consensus as a fundamentally fraudulent and malicious scheme.^[50] Referring to such arrangements as FTAA, DR-CAFTA, and NAFTA Chávez stated that such

“market-oriented policies, open market policies” were and continue to be ... the fundamental cause of the great evils and the great tragedies currently suffered by the Third World".^[50]

Chávez went on to contrast the overwhelming hunger, disease, and poverty of many capitalist Third World countries that institute Washington Consensus policies — e.g. the Philippines, El Salvadore, Honduras — with the results garnered over the last six years of his administration’s democratic socialist policies:

One million four hundred and six thousand Venezuelans learned to read and write. We are 25 million total … And three million Venezuelans, who had always been excluded because of poverty, are now part of primary, secondary and higher studies.^[50]

Chávez also listed the accomplishments of his social welfare programs:

Seventeen million Venezuelans — almost 70% of the population — are receiving, and for the first time, universal healthcare, including the medicine … More than 1,700 tons of food are channeled to over 12 million people at subsidized prices, almost half the population. One million gets them completely free, as they are in a transition period. ^[50]

Chávez summarily denounced the global status quo as a mortal threat to humanity, demanding that a new approach be taken towards satisfying the UN Millennium Development Goals. He also stated that both global warming and imminent hydrocarbon depletion were also fundamentally threatening mankind’s wellbeing. His speech concluded to loud applause and raucous cheering from attending delegates. On the same trip, he also visited the Bronx in New York City to the delight of crowds who saw him, and during a speech delivered at a Bronx church on September 17 stated that, notwithstanding any grievances he may have with the Bush administration’s foreign policy, he had "fallen in love with the soul of the people of the United States". Later, in October 2005 on his weekly program Aló Presidente, Chávez stated that recent catastrophes, including hurricanes, droughts, floods, and famines, occurring around the globe was Mother Nature’s answer to the "world global capitalist model".^[51]

[edit] Border disputes

Venezuela has longstanding border disputes with Colombia and Guyana but seeks to resolve them peacefully. Bilateral commissions have been established by Venezuela and Colombia to address a range of pending issues, including resolution of the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Venezuela. Relations with Guyana are complicated by Venezuela's claim to roughly three-quarters of Guyana's territory. Since 1987, the two countries have held exchanges on the boundary under the "good offices" of the United Nations. The most pressing dispute involves Venezuela's claim to all of Guyana west of the Essequibo River; a maritime boundary dispute with Colombia in the Gulf of Venezuela is less of a priority. The Chávez administration has made moves to normalize these situations by moving towards repudiating Venezuela's outstanding territorial claims.

[edit] Colombia dispute

In late 2004 a diplomatic crisis with Colombia happened after the kidnap by individual Venezuelan officials (with the aid of Colombian agents) of Rodrigo Granda, a high ranking representative of the FARC, in a case known as the Rodrigo Granda affair. At the time, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe condemned Chávez's lack of cooperation in implementing law enforcement actions against the FARC. Chávez responded by temporarily cutting diplomatic and trade ties with Colombia.^[52] The issue was put to rest in a Summit of the two Presidents in February of 2005.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Frisneda, Pedro F. (UPI, 5 April 2005). "Deciphering 'The Chavez Code'". Retrieved 28 October 2005.
• Golinger, Eva. (2005), The Chavez Code: Deciphering the intervention of the United States in Venezuela, Editorial de Ciencias Sociales
• Hugo Chávez's address to the UN’s 2005 World Summit
• Hugo Chávez's Speech to the United Nations
• Parma, Alessandro. (Venezuelanalysis, 24 October 2005). "U.S. Continues to Block Venezuelan Defense Development". Retrieved 28 October 2005.

[edit] See also

• United States-Venezuela relations
• Foreign relations of Venezuela

Topics related to Hugo Chávez
Biography	Early life | Military career | Presidency
Political events	Coup attempt of 1992 | Coup attempt of 2002 | Recall referendum of 2004 | Putative coup attempt of 2004
Elections	Presidential election of 1998 | Presidential election of 2000 | Presidential election of 2006
Governance	Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas | Bolivarian Circles | Bolivarianism | Bolivarian Revolution | Cabinet | Chavismo | Constitution | Foreign policy
Bolivarian Missions	Barrio Adentro | Guaicaipuro | Hábitat | Identidad | Mercal | Miranda | Piar | Plan Bolivar 2000 | Ribas | Robinson | Sucre | Vuelta al Campo | Vuelvan Caras | Zamora
Reactions	Criticism | Media representation | ¿¡Revolución!? | The Revolution Will Not Be Televised | Súmate