Expel U.S. ambassadors from your country, accuse the U.S. of plotting coups and trying to destabilize your country, and cozy up to Iran, and what do you receive from the Obama Administration? An “Oops, we’re sorry! We’ll try to do better next time.” Ecuador’s temperamental President Rafael Correa has often accused the U.S. of plotting against him, especially after he mishandled a domestic police strike in September 2010. In April 2011, he expelled U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges following the release of a WikiLeaks cable he considered offensive. The cable pointed …
The future stability of Venezuela and the survival of the “Bolivarian Revolution” increasingly focuses on the health of Venezuela’s indispensable but stricken autocrat. Before June, the scenario called for Hugo Chavez to rule in Venezuela until 2031. Suddenly, a post-Chavez era in Venezuela, which seemed unimaginable weeks before, moved immediately closer. While the Chavez has not leveled entirely with his nation, the international press is now reporting the diagnosis: colon cancer. “President Hugo Chávez appears to be suffering from colon cancer.” “One source close to Chavez’s doctors told Reuters he …
As part of its initiative “to end capitalism” and realize “harmony” with Mother Earth, Bolivia will propose a U.N. treaty this month for the protection of what it calls nature’s fundamental rights. A “Ministry of Mother Earth” would be created, with an ombudsman to hear nature’s cries and translate them for bureaucrats. From the Vancouver Sun’s coverage: Reflecting indigenous traditional beliefs, the proposed global treaty says humans have caused “severe destruction … that is offensive to the many faiths, wisdom traditions, and indigenous cultures for whom Mother Earth is sacred.” It …
Food prices are on the rise across the globe, fueling much of the political unrest that continues to rage in parts of the Middle East. Unexpectedly severe weather and soaring demand have pushed food prices to “dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick earlier this month. “Global food prices are approaching an all-time high,” agreed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her testimony before the Senate last week. If food shortages caused by the rise in prices continue, Latin America could see …
On the way to a defense ministerial in Bolivia, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was asked about Iran’s growing presence in South America, particularly in Bolivia and Venezuela. He answered most cautiously: Bolivia, obviously, can have relationships with any country in the world that it wishes to. … But I think Bolivia needs to be mindful of the number of United Nations Security Council resolutions that have been passed with respect to Iran’s behavior. Gates said exactly what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last year. Nevertheless, at the defense …
Almost a year ago, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez told President Obama, “I want to be your friend.” Today the much-photographed handshake at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad has become a cold shoulder. Sadly like much of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy, relations with arch-anti-American Hugo Chavez have fallen well short of expectations. Good intentions, positive gestures, and, a little naïveté has not stopped Hugo Chavez from pursuing his mission to consolidate authoritarian rule in Venezuela and undermine U.S. leadership and influence in the Americas. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir …
The Cold War is supposed to be over, and the murderous ideology of Marxist-Leninist revolution either tempered by capitalism and consumerism in China or Vietnam, or confined behind the grim ramparts of communist throwbacks like Cuba and North Korea. If that’s the case, Bolivian leader Evo Morales must not have gotten the memo. In a sharp contrast with Bolivia’s history – it was in fact Bolivian troops which executed the violently homicidal Cuban Communist leader Che Guevara in 1967 for attempting an ill-fated repeat of Cuba’s communist revolution – the …
The expulsion of the U.S. ambassadors from Bolivia and Venezuela sadly reflects the increasing spiral of radicalism, paranoia and bad behavior that are the hallmarks of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and his closest ally, Evo Morales. It is a rejection of models of civility and diplomatic cooperation and hemispheric solidarity once fostered by the statesmen of the Americas. A hunger for power, authority, and endless praise have become the hallmarks of these radical populist leaders. We agree with the Department of State statement of today that the expulsion of the ambassadors, …
Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez faces an election on November 23, and he’s wasting no time in further undermining civil society and consolidating his power. Jaime Daremblum of the Hudson Institute reports: On July 22, the Venezuelan president arrived in Moscow to finalize a number of bilateral energy and military agreements, including several arms deals that (according to a Russian newspaper) are reportedly worth around $2 billion. (His previous weapons acquisitions from Russia total some $4.5 billion.) On July 31, he announced plans to nationalize the Spanish-owned Bank of Venezuela, his …
