On July 12, agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service raided the Caracas home of Venezuela opposition figure Alejandro Peña Esclusa. According Pena’s wife, Indira de Peña, the intelligence operatives blatantly planted evidence including explosives about the apartment and hauled her husband off to jail on treason and terror charges. The …
Secretary of State Clinton’s congratulatory message to Venezuela on its independence day reflects the State Department’s continued inability to craft a coherent strategy for Venezuela. The friendly message claims ingenuously: We [the U.S. and Venezuela] share a common history of emancipation and democratic aspiration. Yet, in reality, it is hard …
Venezuela’s populist authoritarian President continues to battle a slumping economy, high inflation and faltering popular approval ratings. With the national oil company (PDVSA) the chief lifeline of his regime, Chavez will literally beg, borrow or steal to keep pumping oil. Chavez’s nationalization mania took off in earnest in 2007. Last year, …
While hosting Syria’s President-for-life Bashar al-Assad on June 25-26, Venezuela authoritarian populist and aspiring president-for-life Hugo Chavez was quick to promise ever-closer ties with Syria. Assad’s Syria is the longest running country on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Chavez described the Syrian leader’s visit as part of a “strategic …
On June 28, 2009, Latin America’s populist authoritarian movement led by Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez suffered a major setback. Vigilant Hondurans defended their representative institutions and Constitution by removing Manuel Zelaya from power. They did so after Zelaya attempted to alter Honduras’ strict, one-term limit on executive power and adopt …
Washington’s ability to manage multiple challenges continues to be tested in the Western Hemisphere, where Venezuela’s anti-American leader Hugo Chavez is working to destabilize the region and support international terrorist organizations. The Washington Post’s Juan Forero reported on May 20: Now, based on documents and witness testimony, Chávez is facing …
Last weekend President Hugo Chavez announced with great fanfare that Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), had signed an agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to develop part of the Orinoco heavy crude area for which they had given Venezuela a $20 billion loan. As usual …
In his most recent congressional testimony the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela successfully managed to outline Obama Administration policy for Latin America without once mentioning Hugo Chavez or Iran. Such a glaring omission speaks volumes about the Obama readiness to “speak no evil” and bury …
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 …
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rose to power by tapping into populist and nationalist sentiment. Blaming the problems facing his country on western superpowers, Chavez portrayed himself as a man of the people who would bring the wealth of Venezuela to the people. The pie-in-the-sky rhetoric does not jive with cold, …
