U.S. Reservations About Chavez's Change of Tone

The United States Has Reservations About the Turn of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez

by Sergio Gomez Maseri

It was with a large dose of skepticism and reserve that the United States interpreted the apparent “turn” of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who in recent days called for Farc to disarm and promise more cooperation in the fight against drugs. That, at least, seemed to be what was indicated in a hearing arranged yesterday for the Senate Subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere, in which the primary testimony came from Thomas Shannon, who manages this area for the State Department. “For the first time in many years, Venezuela has expressed a desire to explore better relations with the United States,” said a high official, who added that “Chavez remembered with fondness when he could meet with the American Ambassador in order to discuss bilateral issues.” According to Shannon, there is no doubt that the change in Chavez is “guided by circumstances,” between the international loss of face that followed the revelations of Farc’s leader’s accountant Raul Reyes – in which the supposed nexus of the insurgent group appeared – and Chavez’s incapacity to approve constitutional reforms and the imminence of the mayoral and gubernatorial elections, where he could, after the polls, lose a large part of his territorial control. “Chavez is an astute politician and he is in a difficult moment. He recognizes that he has to consolidate internal power and protect international power. Because of that he is acting out of character,” said Shannon. Chavez is normally very diplomatic in his interventions but on this occasion he surprised his commentators. The Undersecretary predicted, in addition, that Chavez, whom he described as “a little too ambitious,” will continue to try to stay in power, even though he has currently blocked constitutional avenues to remove him from power.

Weighing everything, the official left the door open to grant Chavez the benefit of the doubt. “The relationship with Venezuela is admittedly very important for us. Because of that we have to wait to see if he is serious. We will know soon.” As a show of good faith, on Monday, Washington will send David Robinson, special coordinator for the State Department for Venezuela, to Caracas in order to “deepen the offer of dialogue with Chavez.”

Shannon even dared to say that the regional influence of Chavez has begun to stagnate and that soon other countries, like Brazil, will begin to increase their oil exports, which are in large part, the source of power. “His influence will not disappear, but the tide has already turned,” said an official, offering his opinion. But in Caracas, the tone is somewhat less conciliatory. The Venezuelan Chancellor, Nicolas Maduro, energetically rejected Shannon’s comments, as portraying, according to him, “the political tragedy of American foreign policy.” In a chat with reporters, Maduro said, “We do not accept being controlled by any Congress, let alone the American Congress. The imperial system with its institutions and its laws pretends to legislate and impose its decisions on the world, and that cannot be.” For Maduro, normalizing relations between Washington and Caracas will pass by because “the United States claims to sit at a table of equals, one to another… We will sit down to talk about all the issues when there can be conversation without hypocrisy.” However, he demanded that the U.S. “try to discover that they are passing our continent by, and accept that they lost their capacity to dominate our country and our region.”

At the hearing in Washington, there was a lot of interest, from Republicans and Democrats, in whether Venezuela will be included in the list of countries that sponsor terrorism and if strong commercial sanctions are being considered. Shannon, in whose department that decision will be made, didn’t want to pin down the issue, and only said that the government is in agreement about the existence of people close to Chavez who maintain a relationship with Farc. The official remarked that “either he will continue to conspire against his neighbor, Colombia, or he will use his influence with Farc to bring about peace. That is what Chavez has to decide.”