Transcript Venezuelan Foreign Policy

Venezuelan Foreign Policy
Background, Institutions and Transformation
under Hugo Chavez
Following Defeat of Spanish
• Bolivarian dream
– Gran Colombia
plus
– Death of the
dream
• Nineteenth
century chaos
ends Bolivarian
dream
• 1824: Gran Colombia
Historic Goals
• Better prices for exports to North Atlantic
• Attract foreign investment to facilitate
development
• Minimalize political autonomy enjoyed by
North Atlantic interests inside of Venezuela
• Protect territorial integrity
– Colombia (Guajira peninsula)
– Guyana
– Brazil, Venezuela and the Amazon
Goals & Tactics
• Venezuela – like Brazil -generally assumed a
defensive posture in pursuing its historic goals
– Nineteenth Century
– First Half of Twentieth Century
– During the Punto Fijo democratic government
• Why?
Early Twentieth Century
• The Andeans
– Cipriano Castro
• Resurgent nationalism
• Suspicion of the United States
– Gen. Juan Vicente Gómez (1908-35)
– Transitional Andeans (1935-45)
• Military presidents
• Supported the United States in World War II
Gen. Pérez Jiménez and the
Rationalization of Foreign Policy
• Events leading to the
Pérez Jiménez
government
• Beginning of
professional foreign
service
• Petroleum policy
• Support for the United
States in the Cold War
Institutions and Actors in the foreign
policy process of Venezuela
• President
– overall coordinator
– Names the foreign minister
– Personality important in determining how
much attention the president devotes to
foreign policy
Military: Before Chavez
• 1959 – 1999 – defender of 1961 constitution
• Ally of the United States
– Officers received U. S. training
– U.S. Migroup: strong presence in Venezuela
– Assisted in Grenada invasion
• Purchase of U.S. military hardware
– Fighter aircraft – F15
– Navy purchased Vietnam era swift-boats frontier
defense.
Instituto de Comercio Exterior
• Created by COPEI to increase “non-traditional”
Venezuelan exports to South America and the
Caribbean
• Tensions with the Chancillería
Business and Labor
• Both groups lobbied against entry into the Andean
Pact in early 1970’s
• Business can usually count on subsidies to offset
economic difficulties that derive from presidential
decisions
• 1958-1998: ties of union to the political parties
meant that workers usually accepted the party line
on foreign policy decisions.
Venezuela and OPEC
• Pérez Alfonso; a
founding father
• Less aggressive than
most Arab states
throughout the 1960’s
• Venezuela benefited
from OPEC decisions
following the Yon
Kippur War.
Carlos Andrés Pérez and Venezuela´s new
militancy within OPEC
• Pushed for high prices
• Venezuelan liquid reserves
not as large as middle
eastern reserves
• Venezuelan identification
with OPEC became more
important that
membership in the Andean
Bloc
• Luis Herrera Campins
presides over the second
petroleum bonanza
• President Perez
• President Herrera visits
OPEC
Declining influence of OPEC Mandates
Changes in Venezuela’s OPEC Policy
• Exhaustion of the Pérez
policy under Lusinchi
(1984 – 88)
• OPEC Importance declines
during the Second Pérez
government (1989-93)
• Second Caldera
government (1994 – 99)
– Pressure on OPEC to raise
quotas
– PDVSA exceeds
Venezuela’s OPEC quota
Chavez Transforms
Venezuelan Foreign
Policy
From Ally to Fighting the
“Imperio”
•Visa problems during the
Clinton Administration
•Mentoring by Fidel Castro
•Clash with President George W.
Bush
Alienation from the private
sector
Coup of 2002
Fifth Republic
• Much of pro-USA
military purged after
unsuccessful coup of
April 2002
• Chavez has involved the
military to a greater
extent in policy making
and policy
implementation