The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“PROSPECTS FOR UNITED STATES-VENEZUELAN RELATIONS IN THE CHAVEZ ERA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1239-E1240 on June 28, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PROSPECTS FOR UNITED STATES-VENEZUELAN RELATIONS IN THE CHAVEZ ERA
______
HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, June 28, 2001
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, United States-Venezuelan relations recently have become a matter of concern on the current administration's Latin American foreign policy agenda due to some provocative statements made by President Hugo Chavez. The United States imports 14 percent of its oil from Venezuela, and with President Chavez being driven by his concern over maximizing profits to help serve one of his own policy goals of creating a ``Latin American Union,'' the United States has possible cause for worry that what may be good for Venezuela may not be good for American interests.
Chavez also has visited recently with Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro, criticized Plan Colombia and denounced Washington's $1.3 billion funding of it, which has heightened Washington's edginess over the new status quo. But all of us must keep in mind that it is all but certain that the Venezuelan president's vision for a more unified Latin America will not disappear, and is shared by millions of other Latin Americans.
It is clear that patience is being called for as well as a sense of proportionality. After all, Chavez, at the present time, poses no danger to vital United States interests, and we risk destructive backlash from Latin America if the United States acts too harshly against the Venezuelan leader. Moreover, many of his condemnations of the development model are also being echoed by dissident IMF and World Bank officials.
The following research memorandum was authored by Pamela Spivack and Jill Freeman, Research Associates with the Washington-based Council of Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), an organization that has been long committed to addressing issues associated with democracy and human rights throughout the Hemisphere. COHA's researchers have often spoken out about controversial United States policies towards Latin American countries, and we have all benefited over the years from such insights. The attached article, which will appear in this organization's estimable biweekly publication, The Washington Report on the Hemisphere, addresses United States-Venezuelan relations and how Chavez's rhetoric has worried and concerned Washington. The article also points out that these alienating attitudes toward the United States as well as Venezuela's status as the world's third largest oil exporter are potential causes for the United States to reexamine its benign policies toward Caracas, emphasizing that caution and moderation are now required.
Capital Watch: Prospects for U.S.-Venezuelan Relations in the Chavez era
As concern grows in Washington over President Hugo Chavez's domestic and foreign policy moves, relations with Caracas could soon being to seriously erode. Chavez's leftist Bolivarian rhetoric, his opposition to U.S. antidrug initiatives in Colombia, his close friendship with Fidel Castro, as well as the country's status as a major supplier of petroleum to the U.S., may persuade the administration to reexamine its relatively docile policies towards Venezuela.
The hero of the country's poor, his constituency carried him to an overwhelming victory first in 1998, and then again in 2000. Chavez speaks about integrating the continent, including the military, which is of great importance for both the goals of justice and the ability to combat external imperialist measures. Meanwhile, the Bush administration's fears that the strong man will need to be cut down are growing. Although the State Department's Peter Romero blasted Chavez's support of Colombia's leftist guerrillas in front of a Miami-Cuban audience, Washington's fears had remained latent, far down on its hemispheric agenda. This benign stance was due to the Clinton administration's ``positive engagement'' policy, geared to facilitate equitable ties with the rest of the region. However, there is speculation that Bush may more intensely monitor Caracas' political and economic actions in an effort to block Chavez's ``Latin American Union'' from coming to fruition.
Dissemination of Venezuelan rhetoric
To the consternation of Washington policymakers, specific events have highlighted Chavez's efforts to export his peaceful revolution to neighboring countries. He has roundly criticized Plan Colombia, a massive U.S. military-driven scenario aimed at interdicting and destroying the drug cartels. He recently denounced Washington's $1.3 billion funding of it as well as its components, such as intensified training of the military and Bogota's growing deployment of offensive helicopters, as a dangerous intervention that will not be successful. At a news conference at the U.N. Millennium Summit, September 2000, Chavez emphasized, ``The only solution for Colombia is peace. Sending helicopter gunships to
Colombia is not the only regional country of interest to the Venezuelan leader. According to El Pais of Spain, there is evidence that Caracas has supported radicalized indigenous movements in Bolivia to demonstrate the solidarity of like-minded movements. At the Ibero-American Summit in Panama, 2000, Bolivian president Hugo Banzer exhibited some animosity towards Chavez for his alleged support of such movements. As has been noted in the Miami Herald, Chavez also has been accused of supplying equipment to the indigenous and military figures who later staged a coup in Ecuador. The paper implicated the Venezuelan leader in the delivery of over
$500,000 to Colonel Lucio Gutierrez, who overthrew the Ecuadorian government of Jamil Mahuad. In his failed coup attempt in 1992, Gutierrez adopted a populist slogan much like Chavez's own. The presence of such marrings on Chavez's hemisphere report card has been troubling to Washington.
Threats to U.S. interests
Chavez's recent association with such U.S. ``enemies'' as Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro, has heightened the State Department's anxiety over his intentions. In particular, his evolving friendship with Castro puts the U.S. in a quandary, given that Venezuela is the third largest foreign supplier of crude oil to this country. Chavez flouted U.S. efforts to isolate Havana in devising a five-year deal with the Cuban leader to provide the island with oil to compensate for Cuba's lost Soviet aid. Venezuela will supply Cuba with 53,000 barrels of oil a day, at an annual market price of $3 billion. By granting cheap credits and a barter system, the cost to Cuba will be substantially less. Increased oil revenues from growing U.S. imports that fill Chavez's coffers ironically help to subsidize Cuba's own consumption. Before his visit to Cuba, Chavez suggested, ``We have no choice but to form an `axis of power,'' challenging U.S.-hemispheric dominance. Chavez's declared objective is to generate good will for Venezuela throughout the region by offering similar preferential oil deals to many other Caribbean countries.
Despite climbing oil prices in the past two
Chavez also expanded his presidential powers to undermine the independent power of the judiciary, legislature, media and civic offices, all of which were known for their corruption under previous regimes. Up to this point, Washington has restrained itself, implicitly adjusting to Chavez's style of rule, a difficult position to maintain in light of the growing tempo of his socialist rhetoric and recent controversial policy proposals.
Potential U.S. action
While the Clinton administration overlooked Chavez's political maneuvers in Latin America to maintain a semblance of amicable relations, some of his outcries evoked the wrath of Cuban-Americans wishing to punish him for pro-Castro activism. This is likely to build up the pressure on the Bush administration to ``get tough on Chavez.'' Observers in Caracas assert that he has never concealed his goal of a unified Latin America distanced from Washington. It is doubtful whether a tougher response form Washington would hinder Chavez's defense of such a union. Former State Department official, Bernard Aronson, is already claiming that any disruption of oil agreements with Venezuela could weaken the U.S. economy. Due to economic difficulties and heightened crime, Chavez's promises of jobs and increased security have had to be delayed. However, it is important to note that he has been in office a relatively short period, and appears to have factored in U.S. scorn while seeking his public sector reforms. Whether Washington can long maintain its positive engagement policy towards Chavez's actions remains to be seen, but it is a certainty that he will continue to champion his messianic vision for Venezuela and Latin America.
____________________
