US Celebrating the Death of Chavez: The 'Nightmare' Is Gone … Welcome to Oil!

U.S. officials could not hide their feelings of relief after the death of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In fact, just minutes after Chavez’s death was confirmed, Washington announced Americans’ interest in a “new beginning” and in improving the relationship with Venezuela, as the Venezuelan-American relationship suffered severely since Chavez’s election 14 years ago. It is not weird, actually, for Americans to celebrate Chavez’s death, as the latter attacked almost every American leader in his statements, even Christopher Columbus! Chavez described Bush as “a coward, drunk, evil criminal,” and Condoleezza Rice as “a small girl” whom he advised not to mess with him. Chavez exchanged nasty words with Clinton as well, and he has described Obama as “an impostor who dishonored black people.” Finally, Chavez accused Columbus of “imperialism” and of “leading the way to the mass genocide of indigenous people.” It was surely expected to see Americans happy to know they won’t be hearing the scary words “I am Chavez” anymore.

The Americans glee is not only, of course, because “the nightmare” is gone, but because of the benefits and the privileges they are expecting to have if the new Venezuelan president adopts a different attitude. It is enough to know that Venezuela is still considered a major oil supplier to the U.S. and an influential country that affects its allies, like Brazil, Cuba and some Middle Eastern countries, greatly.

The Secret Calls: The U.S. Game

The Americans are dreaming big today, although they know that reconciliation with Venezuela needs time and is related to many factors that might delay it, especially the fact that Chavezism is more likely to stay in power even after Chavez’s death. In fact, Nicolas Maduro, the most important candidate in the presidential election, is a Chavez disciple.

American leaders as well as the press have suspended any talk of improvement in the U.S.-Venezuelan relationship until they see what Maduro’s rule will bring in the coming days. Some are optimistic about Maduro’s pragmatic nature, while the rest remain fearful about whether the new president will adopt Chavez’s views. However, everybody agreed that the hostility will not disappear overnight, at least not before the mourning is over — and it seems that this mourning is not likely to end soon.

Washington made it clear in its statement that it intends to improve the U.S.-Venezuelan relationship; it seemed to understand the necessity to take it slow. An American administrator actually said that election campaigns are not usually the best time to discuss new policies. That might delay Caracas’ desire to start talks, especially since Maduro, the most influential candidate, clearly represents an extension of Chavez’s views. He also went as far as accusing Washington of killing Chavez.

Along with avoiding direct involvement, the American administration is calling for calm diplomatic efforts to prepare an environment for future reconciliation. Simon Tisdall, assistant editor at the British newspaper The Guardian, wrote that Washington expected Venezuela to go through a transitional phase. Therefore, it called Maduro with the purpose of putting the diplomatic relations back on track, especially after the recall-of-ambassadors crisis in the year 2010. According to Tisdall, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson has called Maduro to discuss the restitution of diplomatic relations. Some American officials reported that an exchange of ambassadors was discussed on the occasion of Obama’s second term. It was said, however, that Jacobson suggested beginning this improvement step by step, starting with more cooperation on the level of drug-trafficking control, terrorism and power plans.

A Big Appetite

Despite all the calls to take things slow, America’s hunger for Venezuelan oil might not wait. Officials are talking about a favorable commercial and economic atmosphere that might get the U.S. to start benefiting from Chavez’s death faster. According to American officials, the Venezuelan and Mexican oil gains from the U.S. exceed by far all the gains from the Gulf region. In this context, Washington is betting on Maduro’s pragmatism and on his diplomatic and syndicalistic background.

America is also counting on the flourishing of economic and cultural relations. In fact, between the years 1998 and 2009, commerce has grown up to 82 percent between the U.S. and Latin America. In the year 2011 alone, the total imports and exports were up nearly 20 percent for both sides, affirmed the director at the Council on Foreign Relations, Julia Sweig. She also stated that commerce with Latin America was three times bigger than that with China and twice that of commerce with Colombia and Russia. Not to mention the mutual benefits that have long dominated American politics, like emigration, drugs and arms trade.

The Bloomberg group finds that the economic situation in Venezuela will favor the U.S. as the crisis will push more people to demand the government to reconsider billions of dollars’ worth of crude going to Cuba, and relations with Iran and Syria. Some newspapers like Liberation, the Christian Science Monitor and Le Courrier International have blamed the U.S. and Obama specifically for the deterioration of the relationship between the two countries as Obama keeps marginalizing Latin America in his foreign policies; he was called to correct that. The U.S. was also advised to work on the development of private agencies that collaborate with Venezuelan “friends.” These agencies’ task will be to appoint representatives in the private sector who will work on the reform of this sector, on the investments in the infrastructure and on the support of security and human rights.

On the other hand, some still consider reconciliation a remote possibility, and that it will not happen overnight, even if the ambassadors are back. They believe that although Chavez is gone, his followers are still ruling and they are used to Chavezism. Those who adopt this point of view will be watching what will happen in the coming days; they assure that Chavez has left hatred for the U.S. in the hearts of Venezuelan people, as well as in the hearts of many world leaders. And as they say, Chavez has died, but Chavezism will always be alive.