Hugo Chavez: A Clear and Present Danger in Our Backyard?

As the White House, the Pentagon and the various intelligence-gathering agencies of the United States focus their attention on such threats as Al Qaeda and other Islamic jihadist groups, the rise of China as an emerging Asian superpower, the growing instability in the Middle East as a result of last year’s Arab Spring popular revolts and Russia’s apparent turn toward autocratic rule by Vladimir Putin, it is important to remain vigilant to national security threats from within the Western Hemisphere.

Even as President Barack Obama’s national security team seeks to reduce the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting the extremist Islamic group known as the Taliban – a struggle complicated by Pakistan’s less-than-enthusiastic attitudes toward U.S. objectives in the region – and American defense budgets undergo cutbacks, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other left-leaning Latin American leaders are forging alliances with Iran and other anti-American entities to challenge what they call U.S. imperialism in Latin America and elsewhere.

Chavez, who has been President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela since 1998 and is running this year for a fourth consecutive term, is not universally loved in Latin America, but he has staunch allies in Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Cuba’s Raul Castro, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega.  In addition, Chavez is a strong supporter of strongmen in other regions of the globe, including Syria’s Bashir Assad, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmajinedad and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

Chavez, who first gained notoriety for leading a failed coup d’etat against the democratically elected President Carlos Andres Perez in February of 1992, has never hidden his antipathy for the United States.  He refers to the U.S. government as “the Empire” and often expresses his support to leaders who oppose American foreign policy even when they attack their own citizens.  In 2011, Chavez not only spoke of his friendship with the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi,  but he also defended Syrian leader Assad’s actions to suppress the Arab Spring revolt in Damascus and other cities.

 "Now some supposed political protest movements have begun (in Syria), a few deaths ... and now they are accusing the President of killing his people and later the Yankees will come to bomb the people to save them," Chavez said.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/quotes-syria-libya/index.html

In early 2012, the U.S. government declared Venezuela’s consul general in Miami, Livia Acosta, persona non grata after allegations surfaced that she had discussed cyberattacks against the United States with Iranian agents while she was on a diplomatic assignment in Mexico City. 

Chavez retaliated by closing the consulate, which is one of the busiest in the U.S., although many in Venezuela saw the President’s move as being politically motivated since a majority of Venezuelans who are expatriates tend to oppose chavismo. By closing the Miami consulate, thousands of Chavez’s political opponents would find voting in this fall’s elections difficult, if not impossible  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/chavez-orders-closing-of-miami-consulate.html

Chavez’s animosity is not limited to the U.S., however.  He has warned other Western powers, especially Great Britain, that Venezuela supports the current Iranian regime in its stance against economic sanctions which are intended to halt the development of nuclear weapons by Tehran, and that Argentina can count on Venezuelan military support if the long-standing differences between London and Buenos Aires over the Falkland Islands (known by Argentina as the Islas Malvinas) lead to a second armed conflict in the South Atlantic.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias

At a meeting of the Chavez-led Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America (or ALBA, in its Spanish acronym), Venezuela’s leader said, "I'm speaking only for Venezuela, but if it occurs to the British Empire to attack Argentina, Argentina won't be alone this time.” 

Copyright ©2012 Alex Diaz-Granados. All Rights Reserved.