I had the privilege of traveling to Venezuela and witnessing the country’s presidential Oct. 7 elections and the South American country’s extraordinarily active and engaged citizenry. An impressive 81 percent of the electorate participated in a transparent and secure electoral process that former president Jimmy Carter recently referred to as the best in the world.
U.S. relations with Latin American countries, from Venezuela to Colombia, run the gamut.
As per tradition in Latin American politics, election season means vicious personal attacks against individuals running for office. In Peru, the 2011 campaign season saw Ollanta Humala of the Peruvian Nationalist Party attacked for his friendship with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, as well as for the legacy of his brother Antauro, currently in prison for leading a failed uprising in January 2005 that left several police officers dead in the Andean town of Andahuaylas.
In spite of Venezuela’s President Chavez’s illness, the lack of an obvious successor, along with his support among the poor, make him a formidable opponent in 2012.
Executive power in Venezuela has been so -centric that it’s anybody’s guess who would replace him were he unable to govern.
The United States is apparently backing right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori in the Peru presidential race to keep the forces of Chavez at bay.
Without technology and know-how, even the world’s largest oil reserves are worthless.
The new Republican chair of the powerful House Committee on Foreign Affairs plans to seek sanctions against Venezuela for its purported ties to Middle East terrorist groups and Iran’s nuclear program.
Venezuela tests the fast-food waters. Expansion to U.S. unlikely though because it’s subsidized by the government.
As the United States continues to isolate Iran over its nuclear program, the Islamic regime is engaging in a foreign policy counter-attack with profound strategic consequences. The theater of strategic warfare between the United States and Iran has expanded well beyond the Middle East.From sub-Saharan Africa to Latin America, Iran is selling arms, offering aid and investments, and otherwise establishing a new pattern in south-to-south relations as it battles what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls “Western arrogance.”