Newsday: "Venezuela's promise of oil leads to U.S. support of Chavez

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bilateral Ties
Venezuela's promise of oil leads to U.S. support of Chavez
By Mike Ceaser
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEWSDAY

October 20, 2002

Caracas, Venezuela - Six months after the Bush
administration appeared to welcome his brief ouster in a
coup, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered
Washington the biggest olive branch he has. In recent weeks,
Chavez has opposed any Arab oil blockade against the United
States in the event of war with Iraq.

"We cannot use oil as a political weapon and OPEC [the
Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries] should be fully aware of this," Chavez told the
BBC Friday. Venezuela's opposition to a blockade, proposed
by Libya and Iraq, forms an important protection for the
Bush administration as it considers attacking Iraq despite
widespread international disapproval. Venezuela is the
United States' fourth-largest oil supplier.

The declaration caps a dramatic shift for Chavez, who has
built his image by jabbing the United States and befriending
its enemies, including Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The
shift has led to a marked improvement in Chavez's ties with
the Bush administration.

In April, when army officers and U.S.-oriented business
leaders ousted Chavez in a coup, Washington failed to
condemn the move and seemed to blame Chavez for his
downfall. Many Venezuelans assumed that the United States
had backed the coup, which failed after two days.

In the past six weeks, with Venezuela's economy desperate
for cash and Washington eager to defuse any Arab oil weapon,
Chavez has made clear that he would guarantee oil supplies
to the United States.

In what was widely seen here as a conciliatory response, the
U.S. Embassy declared Sept. 18 that the United States would
oppose any "illegal and/or violent actions with the purpose
of overthrowing or preserving the present government of
Venezuela." That call for non-violence in the long-running
political crisis here dismayed Chavez's most radical
opponents, who have made thinly veiled calls for another
coup attempt.

Now, bilateral ties "are at their best point of the Chavez
administration," said Caracas political scientist Angel
Alvarez. In addition to its guarantee of oil supplies,
Chavez's government has moved toward letting the United
States again fly its drug-interdiction planes over Venezuela
en route to Colombia, said Julio Cesar Montoya, president of
the National Assembly's foreign relations commission.

Chavez and the Bush team are unlikely partners. As Latin
America's politics has tilted leftward in recent years,
against the economic and social policies advocated by
Washington, Chavez has been one of the most prominent and
theatrical leaders of the trend. A former paratroop
commander, he attempted a coup in 1992. Six years later, he
was elected president by masses of impoverished Venezuelans
who welcomed his vow to clean up corruption and direct some
of this country's vast oil wealth to their benefit.

In office, Chavez has wielded power heavily against his
foes, helping to polarize politics and ignite violent street
clashes and the coup attempt in April. And he has kept up
his strident criticism of U.S. influence in the hemisphere,
notably its pressure on Latin American nations to privatize
economies and drop restrictions on trade.

Chavez's new cooperation with Washington, if embarrassing
for a self-proclaimed revolutionary, may help calm the
political warfare here at a time when he remains weak, his
army divided and political confrontation still hot.

The U.S. call for moderation has forced Chavez's foes to
focus more on democratic forms of opposition, and less on
coups, said Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the
Organization of American States. The main goal of opposition
protests, such as a nationwide strike set for Monday, is now
early elections.

The U.S. appeal "has gotten through and probably has
something to do with the change within the [opposition] ...
and that has been beneficial," Gaviria said early this month
on a visit to mediate between the two sides.

Chavez's ruling party, the Fifth Republic Movement, has not
been subtle about its new sentiments. Banners with its logo
hang over downtown Caracas avenues, proclaiming, "Venezuela
and North America, now more united than ever."

Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.








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