Chavez's Infallible Strategy

By Noquel A. Matos

Venezuelian president Hugo Chavez captured United States's attention again to bolster natioanl support by signing a billion dollar weapon deal with Russia and meeting with United States enemies abroad.

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BY Noquel A. Matos

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s decision to allow American troops to  establish bases on Colombian soil to fight  drug trafficking and the FARC guerillas drew threats of war late last month from neighboring Venezuela, whose President, Hugo Chavez, has a history of support for the left-wing guerrilla movement.

 Chavez, present at the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) held in Argentina on August 29, characterized the idea of U.S troops in Colombia as “an attempt by the Yankees to create an Israeli-like state in South America.”

Chavez, who has frequently claimed that Washington is plotting to invade his country and overthrow his government has established a large militia and vastly expanded Venezuela’s army. Wary of the billions of dollars streaming into Colombia from the U.S., Caracas in recent years has spent $4.4 billion on Russia warplanes, military helicopters and other weaponry.

 In August, Chavez ordered $2.2 billion worth of anti-aircraft missiles and submarines from Russia.  

Outside of Colombia, which receives a steady flow of U.S. aid, other South American countries have upgraded their militaries steadily; United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced concerns of an unfolding arms race in South America encouraged by Venezuela’s military spending. Brazil has been the primary spender with a schedule $12 billion dollars contract to buy five French submarines and 50 helicopters, and to a lesser extent Chile with a $270 million dollars contract to buy 18 F-16 combat warplanes from Holland.  However, Venezuela has taken the spotlight in the arms race because of its anti-American rhetoric and actions. During a recent trip which included stops in several notoriously anti-American countries, including Syria, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Libya, Russia and Iran, Chavez linked the deployment of American troops in Colombian’s military bases as a possible planned United State invasion of Venezuela. While in Iran, Chavez promised President Mahmoud Ahmadijenad 20,000 barrels of refined petrol a day to Iran – an offer which would undermine efforts by the U.S. and Europe to win nuclear proliferation concessions from Tehran by threatening an embargo that could pinch the Iranian economy. Iran, while a major oil producer, lacks refinery capacity to meet domestic demand.

He also granted Russia’s energy consortium a block in the Orinoco oil belt. These efforts by President Chavez of creating ties with America’s enemies has added a geopolitical aspect to ties between the U.S. and Latin American nations, putting them in the uncomfortable position of having to take sides.

Pierre Ostiguy, a professor of Latin American politics at Bard College, described Chavez’s decision to seek ties with America’s enemies and buy armament from them as “a win-win strategy for Chavez. Either the Americans react negatively, with threats, and it will thus bolster Chavez' popularity at home by inflaming nationalism (and pride), at least amongst his supporters; or they don't, in which case he gets better armaments, appease the weapon-hungry army, and builds ties with Russia.”[1]

Since Uribe made the U.S. troop deployment public, Colombia has tried to calm anxiety. Bogota has called for two more UNASUR meetings to discuss curbs on military spending in the continent. However, these talks have only added to Chavez’s popularity around the region due to Colombia’s close ties with the United States.

Chavez has presented the situation as a zero-sum situation as he pronounced from the People’s Balcony in Miraflores Palace after his return from his international trip: “We did not want to buy the weapons, but what else we could do if the Yankees are deploying seven military bases there (Colombia).” As with Chavez’s ties abroad, Uribe’s plan has created a diplomatic deadlock, again forcing South American countries to pick sides: they either support Uribe’s plan and appear in favor of an American military intervention in South America, or they oppose it appearing as champions of sovereignty, even if privately some do fear the further spread of the narco-terrorism Uribe has brought under control but which now ravages Mexico.  

In Latin America, with fresh memories of American imperialism and unpopular interventions in government affairs, to be Anti-American can be the politically attractive thing to do. In the words of Venezuelan journalist Manuel Felipe Sierra, “Chavez found in the activation of Colombian military bases with American logistics a perfect excuse to advance in two fronts: the arm race and location of a perfect strategic enemy for his project” to create an anti-American coalition. Nonetheless, Colombia has stood fast to its conviction that bringing U.S troops to its shores will solve the safety threats that the country faces with drug cartels and the FARC guerilla.  This position has being beneficial for Chavez aims.  South American countries such as Brazil and Bolivia are starting to suspect President Uribe’s plan to be just an excuse for America’s imperialistic agenda.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, on the left, especially believes so: “So now we are drug traffickers and terrorist. When they could not call us communist anymore, they called us subversives, and then drug traffickers, and since September 11 attacks, terrorist.”

With tensions running high Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva phoned President Obama to suggest he explains his military operation in Colombia to the UNASUR. Obama reportedly said he would think about it. Among South Americans government there is a concern as to understanding the specifics of the United States-Colombian plan of cooperation that has not being satisfied despite Colombia’s efforts to do so. President Uribe has traveled to several of the South American capitals to promote support for his plan but the leaders of these countries are either not convinced or stand neutral.

Chavez strategy has proved adept at capturing America’s attention whether facing the moderate tone of President Obama or the hyper-patriotic tone of Ex-President George W. Bush. With coming elections in 2010 and a debt of $10 to $15 billion dollars to foreign companies in the country, Chavez again has found a way to harness the opposition he needs in the United States to bolster his support at home  by allying with American’s foes and, more notoriously, threatening to start a nuclear program in Venezuela.  Chavez appears to be betting that The Monster of “Yankee Imperialism” once again will convince voters to put on their boots and march to the voting booth in 2010 to keep Venezuela free from “foreign occupation.”