The foreign policy of the Hugo Chávez administration concerns the policy initiatives made by Venezuela under its former President, Hugo Chávez, towards other states. Chávez's foreign policy may be roughly divided into that concerned with United States-Venezuela relations and that concerned with Venezuela's relations with other states, particularly those in Latin America and developing countries on other continents. In many respects the policies of the Chávez government were substantially different from the previous administrations that governed Venezuela.
Policy
Latin American integration
Hugo Chávez refocused Venezuelan foreign policy on Latin American economic and social integration by enacting bilateral trade and reciprocal aid agreements, including through "oil diplomacy".The Economist, 28 July 2005. "Using oil to spread revolution". Retrieved 11 June 2005."Guyana Diary". Monthly Newsletter of the Guyana Embassy, Caracas, Venezuela, February 2004. "Guyana to Try for Better Oil Rates Under Caracas Accord". Retrieved 14 June 2006." Under the Caracas Energy Accord, countries can purchase oil supplies on concessional terms. It complements the terms of the San Jose Agreement, through which Venezuela offers special financial conditions to signatory oil-buying countries." Chávez stated that Venezuela has "a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage ... It is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the United States."
Venezuela worked closely with its neighbors following the 1997 Summit of the Americas in many areas—particularly energy integration—and championed the OAS decision to adopt the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, also being among the first to ratify it (in 1997). It became a full member of the Mercosur trade bloc on 31 July 2012, expanding its involvement in the hemisphere's trade integration prospects. Bilateral trade relationships with other Latin American countries have also played a major role in his policy, with Chávez increasing arms purchases from Brazil, forming oil-for-expertise trade arrangements with Cuba, and initiating barter arrangements that, among other things, exchange Venezuelan petroleum for cash-strapped Argentina's meat and dairy products. Chavez's re-election in December 2006 was seen as a boost to Cuba.O'Keefe, Derrick. Regimes unchanged: Chavez's election win strengthens alliance with Cuba. Seven Oaks (4 December 2006). Retrieved 4 December 2006. According to Stuart Davis, his foreign policy sought to promote South-South cooperation.
Chávez sought to develop Latin American relationships through arrangements in which Venezuela could provide oil or financial capital on terms favorable to countries which had also experienced colonialism and neocolonialism. For those Latin American leaders who shared his Bolivarian socialist revolutionary vision of change, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and the Castros of Cuba, Chávez was a visionary who was able to provide cheap or free oil under the PetroCaribe program.
Chávez viewed Cuba as a key international partner due to its internationalist history including its military interventions in southern Africa, and its medical internationalism including the aid it had provided to Venezuela following the Vargas landslides. In Chávez's view, partnership with Cuba would help raise the profile of Chávez's anti-imperialist political project. In October 2000, Venezuela and Cuba formalized this relationship and started to integrate their respective economies through a Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement.
Partnership with Cuba led to the development of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), a regional free trade organization. Venezuelan research center CIECA estimated in September 2008 that Venezuela had given 33 billion dollars to members of the ALBA group since its inception. In ALBA, Venezuela supplied oil on the basis of the Caracas Energy Accord. This treaty implemented Chávez's anti-market strategy: Venezuela supplied oil to 11 Caribbean and Central American countries on a long-term, low-interest basis. The Caracas Accord in turn led to the establishment of the PetroCaribe trade organization in 2005.
Venezuela chaired the Group of 77 in 2002.United Nations, 11 January 2002, Annan urges 'Group of 77' developing nations to build consensus
2005 UN World Summit Chávez summarily denounced the global status quo as a mortal threat to humanity, demanding that a new approach be taken towards satisfying the UN Millennium Development Goals. He also stated that both global warming and imminent hydrocarbon depletion were also fundamentally threatening mankind's wellbeing. His speech concluded to loud applause and raucous cheering from attending delegates. On the same trip, he also visited the Bronx in New York City, and during a speech delivered at a Bronx church on 17 September stated that, notwithstanding any grievances he may have with the Bush administration's foreign policy, he had "fallen in love with the soul of the people of the United States". Later, in October 2005 on his weekly program Aló Presidente, Chávez stated that recent catastrophes, including hurricanes, droughts, floods, and famines, occurring around the globe were Mother Nature's answer to the "world global capitalist model".
OPEC From the outset of his presidency, Chávez took an active role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), seeking to increase oil prices internationally.
UN Security Council In August 2006, Venezuela was actively seeking the candidacy of non-permanent UN Security Council seat. In the final contest between Guatemala and Venezuela, Guatemala's candidacy was backed by the United States while Venezuela was courting Africa, the Arab League and Russia.Chavez hails Russian arms deals. BBC News, 27 July 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2008.Morsbach, Greg. Chavez tour piques US interest. BBC News, 24 July 2006. Accessed 3 April 2008. When submitting Venezuela's candidacy to the Arab League members, El Universal reports that a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Venezuela "will support our Arab fellows against war and incursion of foreign countries".Venezuela approaches Arab League. El Universal, 24 August 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2008. In the end, the compromise candidate was Panama.
World Tours
2010 Chavez was scheduled to tour seven states: Russia, Iran, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Portugal and Belarus. On the tour, he was said to sign a raft of deals including nuclear energy, military supplies such as tanks, and other agricultural deals. In Russia, he would sign an agreement to develop nuclear energy, the purchase of Russian tanks and a bi-national bank. Ukraine and Belarus are both recipients of Venezuelan oil.
Relations with Latin American and Caribbean states
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda enjoys close relations with Venezuela. As of June 2009 it became a formal member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) international cooperation organization and the Caribbean oil alliance Petrocaribe. In 2009 Antigua and Barbuda received US$50 million from Venezuela because of the country's membership of these initiatives. After the American billionaire fraudster Allen Stanford became embroiled in scandal, Hugo Chávez sent urgent financial assistance to Antigua and Barbuda, which was heavily dependent on Stanford's investment when his business empire collapsed.
"We have benefited from these relationships and so we will continue to forge these alliances, whether it is with Venezuela, Cuba or whoever else that we feel is in the interest of Antigua and Barbuda and the sub-region", said the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Baldwin Spencer.
Argentina
In August 2007 a Venezuelan businessman was stopped in Buenos Aires when allegedly trying to smuggle money for the campaign of then first lady and presidential candidate Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on behalf of the Chávez government.
Chile After the death of Hugo Chávez it was known that on 4 May 2010, during a Unasur summit in Buenos Aires, Chile's right-wing President Sebastián Piñera had agreed with him a verbal previously unreleased personal non-aggression pact.Phillip Durán in Chilean newspaper La Tercera, on 9 March 2013, article El pacto de Buenos Aires , retrieved on 9 March 2013
Colombia
Colombia and Venezuela share a long and heavily populated border. They are strong commercial partners and have a considerable shared history, reaching back to the colonization of the New Kingdom of Granada and the formation of Gran Colombia after Simón Bolívar's liberation campaign. Colombia, which receives millions of dollars for anti-narcotics purposes from the United States as part of Plan Colombia, is governed by a popular rightwing administration.
One of the first impasses occurred in late 2004 after the arrest by Venezuelan officials of Rodrigo Granda, a high-ranking representative of the FARC. Granda was then extradited to Colombia in the border city of Cúcuta in what was known as the Rodrigo Granda affair. At the time, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe condemned what he called Chávez's lack of cooperation in implementing law enforcement actions against the FARC. Chávez responded by temporarily cutting diplomatic and trade ties with Colombia.BBC News (14 January 2005). Venezuela cuts ties with Colombia Accessed 23 May 2006. The issue was put to rest in a summit of the two presidents in February 2005.
Chavez also played an important role in mediating with FARC for the release of hostages. He had tried to get FARC's most high-profile hostage Íngrid Betancourt released, only to come out blaming the Colombians for the lack of momentum in talks. This occurred after Chavez, contrary to an agreement with Uribe, called and spoke directly to the Colombian Army chief of staff General Mario Montoya. The agreement called for direct talks with just the heads of state. However, some prisoners, including Clara Rojas Betancourt's top aide who was kidnapped with her, were then released in highly publicized operations.
Later, the Andean crisis led to military moves by Venezuela in conjunction with Ecuador after a raid by Colombia on a FARC bases on Ecuadorian-side of the border. After the raid the Colombian army released several documents recovered from a number of laptops seized during the raid, allegedly supporting the existence of links between FARC and Hugo Chávez."Laptop emails link Venezuela to Colombian guerrillas" article by Rory Carroll in Caracas and Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá, guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 May 2008"Colombia Is Flashpoint in Chávez's Feud With U.S." article by Simon Romero in The New York Times 5 March 2008 Leonel Fernández, the president of the Dominican Republic, then took the initiative to mend relations.
In September 2009, an agreement between Colombia and the U.S. created new tensions between the two countries. The agreement granted the US military supervised access to Colombian air bases for drug interdiction, but was interpreted by Chavez as threat to his country, and has been used as justification for the purchase of nearly 2 billion dollars in weapons from Russia.