In Intensive Therapy!

The United States and the Western alliance have improved their relations with Iran and Cuba, Venezuela’s partners, and other countries sympathetic to the revolutionary cause. However, commercial and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and our country still face considerable obstacles.

President Maduro’s government has been on the defensive toward Washington as it has had to respond to the numerous warnings, accusations and points of view Americans have thrown at it; this, in the context of severely limited democratic functions, the declining oil industry and a black-hole economic crisis.

In the past, the now-deceased President Chavez had a more transformative, offensive foreign policy. Chavez pushed forward to establish the bilateral and regional agendas, confronting the White House on various issues and at times cornering it against the wall.

Venezuela’s view of the United States is framed by the long struggles of countries that have tried to develop policies that do not align with Washington’s interests. Venezuela’s own experience in this context is extensive; in truth, Caracas has been the biggest troublemaker [for the U.S.], something that has not been seen in Latin America and the Caribbean since the beginning of the Cuban Revolution

Venezuela remains a permanent contradiction for the U.S., at once a valuable commercial partner and also a country deliberately isolating itself from the hemisphere in order to limit America’s influence in the region and world.

The future only shows a continuation of this complex conflict. Bilateral relations haven’t been broken yet, but they are definitely in “intensive therapy.” This doesn’t mean we don’t hope for a favorable and beneficial outcome for both peoples.