Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by DanKeshet (talk | contribs) at 03:30, 19 June 2005 (importing from Hugo Chavez). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hugo Chávez era

Since Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela, the long-standing close diplomatic relationship between Venezuela and the United States have progressively worsened.

Chávez opposition to U.S. foreign policy

Chávez's stance as an OPEC price hawk has raised the price of oil for the United States, his public friendship and significant trade relationship with Cuba and Fidel Castro has undermined the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba, and long-running ties between the U.S. and Venezuelan militaries were severed on Chávez's initiative. Chávez has been intensely critical of U.S. economic and foreign policy: in Iraq, Haiti, regarding the Free Trade Area of the Americas and in numerous other areas.

Allegations of U.S. covert actions against Chávez government

The United States recognized the government of Pedro Carmona during the 2002 coup which overthrew Chávez. On 20 February 2005, Chávez stated that he had reasons to believe that the U.S. had plans to have him assassinated; he said that any attempt would mean that Venezuela would cut off oil to the U.S.

Personal disputes

Chávez's anti-U.S. rhetoric has sometimes touched the personal: in response to the ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, Chávez called U.S. President George W. Bush a pendejo ("prick"); in a later speech, he made personal remarks regarding Condoleeza Rice. The U.S. has called Chávez a "negative force" in the region, and requested support from Venezuela's neighbors in isolating Chávez.

Allegations over weapons purchases

The U.S. has opposed and lobbied against numerous arms Venezuelan arms purchases, including a purchase of 100,000 rifles from Russia, which Donald Rumsfeld implied would be passed on to FARC, and the purchase of aircraft from Brazil.

OAS

At the 2005 meeting of the Organization of American States, a United States resolution to add a mechanism to monitor the nature of democracies was widely seen as a move to isolate Venezuela.

• v
• t
• e