Bolivarian Revolution"
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Calhoun, Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Faculty and Researcher Publications Faculty and Researcher Publications 2005 Defining Venezuela's "Bolivarian Revolution" Trinkunas, Harold A. Military Review, July - August 2005 http://hdl.handle.net/10945/43090 Defining Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” Harold A. Trinkunas, Ph.D. INDING A MOMENT in the history of U.S.- The Bolivarian revolution has produced a new FVenezuelan relations when tensions between constitution, a new legislature, a new supreme court the two countries have been worse than at the pres- and electoral authorities, and purges of Venezuela’s ent time is difficult. Some in the U.S. Government armed forces and state-owned oil industries. These perceive President Hugo Chávez Frias as uncoop- policies consolidated Chavez’s domestic authority erative regarding U.S. regional policies on coun- but generated a great deal of opposition in Ven- ternarcotics, free trade, and support for democracy. ezuela, including a failed coup attempt in 2002. Venezuela’s alliance with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, its Even so, after his victory in a presidential recall opposition to Plan Colombia, and its perceived referendum during the summer of 2004, Chávez sympathy for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of seems likely to consolidate his grip on power and Colombia (FARC) and other radical organizations even win reelection in 2006. are further irritants to the relationship. On the other Although the Bolivarian revolution is mostly side. Venezuelan leaders in the Chávez administra- oriented toward domestic politics, it also has an tion believe the United States is fundamentally important foreign policy component. Bolivarian opposed to the success of the Bolivarian revolution foreign policy seeks to defend the revolution in and that U.S. hegemony in the current world order Venezuela; promote a sovereign, autonomous lead- must be checked. ership role for Venezuela in Latin America; oppose Although officials in both countries occasionally globalization and neoliberal economic policies; and express hope that relations will improve, this is un- work toward the emergence of a multipolar world likely to happen given the perceptions each coun- in which U.S. hegemony is checked.2 The revolu- try’s foreign policymakers hold of each other.1 tion also opposes the war in Iraq and is skeptical Since he was elected president in 1998, Chávez of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The has transformed Venezuelan Government and soci- United States has worked fruitfully in the past with ety in what he has termed a Bolivarian revolution. Venezuela when the country pursued an indepen- Based on Chávez’s interpretation of the thinking dent foreign policy, but the last three policies run of Venezuelan founding fathers Simón Bolívar and directly contrary to U.S. foreign policy preferences Simón Rodríguez, this revolution brings together a and inevitably have generated friction between the set of ideas that justifies a populist and sometimes two countries.3 authoritarian approach to government, the integra- Still, the geopolitics of oil make it difficult for the tion of the military into domestic politics, and a United States and Venezuela to escape their tradition- focus on using the state’s resources to serve the al economic and political partnership. The United poor—the president’s main constituency. States is Venezuela’s most important consumer of its main export—oil. As a market, the United States The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the position of the Department of the Army, the De- possesses key advantages for Venezuela, such as partment of Defense, or any other government office or agency.—Editor geographic proximity, low transportation costs, and MILITARY REVIEW July-August 2005 39 an ever increasing demand for energy. Access to Cooperation and Conflict large Venezuelan oil deposits across short, secure The strategic importance of Venezuela to the sea lines of communication is undoubtedly a stra- United States only truly emerged after the discov- tegic asset for the United States. Also, the United ery in 1914 of major oil deposits in Venezuela. In States and Venezuela have often found common a sense, the United States was present at the cre- political ground after Venezuela democratized in ation of the Venezuelan oil industry. American oil 1958, particularly as the rest of Latin America companies and the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation moved away from authoritarianism during the created the physical infrastructure for Venezuela 1980s and 1990s. to become the largest oil exporter in the Western Nevertheless, friction between the United States Hemisphere. They also were key in shaping Ven- and Venezuela on trade policies, human rights, and ezuelan oil legislation and the role this natural regional politics is not new. What is different today resource would play in politics. The strategic im- about Venezuela’s Bolivarian foreign policy is that portance of Venezuelan oil to the United States was it seems to be increasingly at odds with the United confirmed during World War II and reconfirmed States precisely in the areas that once brought the time and again during each political or military two countries together—oil and democracy. crisis of the Cold War and beyond. Venezuela is increasingly ambivalent about its Despite or perhaps because of these close ties, role as a key supplier of oil to the United States, friction arose between Venezuela and the United reaffirming its belief in the importance of the U.S. States over the U.S. preference for private owner- market yet threatening to deny access to oil as a ship of the oil industry in Venezuela, led by interna- strategic lever against U.S. policies. Chávez has tional corporations, and Venezuela’s preference for reinvigorated OPEC, which seemed moribund dur- policies that maximized national control over this ing the 1990s, and he has sought to build direct ties strategic asset. Beginning in the 1940s, Venezuelan to other non-OPEC oil producers, such as Russia, democratic governments sought greater access to and new markets, such as China. a share of the oil profit, initially through higher Ironically, just as U.S. President George W. royalties and taxes but, eventually, by state control Bush’s administration has become more vocal of the industry itself. Venezuela also promoted its about advocating democratization globally, Ven- views regarding the importance of national control ezuela and the United States have fallen out of of oil production in developing countries through step. Increasingly, Venezuela espouses an alterna- its leading role in the creation of OPEC.4 tive vision of participatory democracy that empha- To the credit of both governments, disagreements sizes mass mobilization and downgrades the role over oil policy were always resolved peacefully. of institutions. Venezuela also views U.S. support Venezuela developed a reputation as a reliable for representative democracy in Latin America as supplier of oil to U.S. markets, particularly in mo- thinly disguised meddling. ments of international crisis. One historic missed To what extent does Venezuela’s Bolivarian for- opportunity, at least from the Venezuelan perspec- eign policy represent a historic break with the past? tive, was that the United States never appeared to Does it represent a threat to U.S. interests? In some be interested in institutionalizing a special relation- ways, current friction between the two countries is ship with Venezuela over oil, which they blamed a replay of earlier disagreements over oil and de- on opposition by American oil companies.5 mocracy. What is new about Chávez’s Bolivarian Oil wealth generated during the 1970s allowed foreign policy is that it has moved beyond Venezu- Venezuela to pursue a more assertive foreign policy ela’s traditional efforts to maintain an independent that often irritated the United States. Venezuela’s foreign policy and maximize oil revenue to one of leading role in OPEC gave it a new prominence explicitly seeking out allies in a bid to check U.S. during the oil crises of the period. Venezuelan Pres- power and influence in Latin America. From the ident Carlos Andrés Pérez also promoted a Venezu- perspective of U.S. policymakers, this goal might elan leadership role in the nonaligned movement, seem unfeasible for a country with Venezuela’s which was often critical of U.S. policies. limited power and resources. Nevertheless, it is the In 1974, Venezuela reestablished diplomatic main axis of Bolivarian foreign policy. relations with Cuba.6 Venezuelan support for 40 July-August 2005 MILITARY REVIEW LATIN AMERICA the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in the same side of the Cold War divide. During this Nicaragua in 1979 showcased a willingness to period, Venezuela essentially sought to maintain an actively subvert governments once considered autonomous and sovereign foreign policy, promote U.S. allies. Venezuela also sought to contain and like-minded democratic governments in the region, change U.S. Central American policies during the and moderate U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. 1980s through its leadership role in the Contadora However, it was also careful not to place itself on a group, promoting confidence building and regional collision course with any core U.S. foreign policy peace negotiations as alternatives to a more con- interests. frontational United States stance with Nicaragua and Cuba.7 Bolivarian Foreign Policy Certainly Venezuelan influence in the region The current distance in U.S-Venezuelan re- during the Cold War, especially when backed by lations is greater than any gulf between the two abundant oil money, occasionally frustrated U.S. countries during the 20th century. Even on a designs. But these actions did not preclude frequent superficial level, the tone of current government cooperation between the two countries.