Council On Hemispheric Affairs
Monitoring Political, Economic and Diplomatic Issues Affecting the Western Hemisphere
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
COHA Opinion
Spanish Arms Sale to Chávez: Venezuelan F-16s Bad; Chilean F-16s Good
This fall has been a trying time for the Bush administration, both at home and around the world, but in no arena is its
reputation more compromised or the contempt with which it is held is greater than throughout Latin America. In the midst
of the most vulnerable period for the Bush Administration to date, a fire-tongued South American leader has dared to
step up and publicly and repeatedly blast Washington. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías capitalized on November’s
Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina to bash President Bush and his shortsighted policies for the Western
Hemisphere, and has continued his criticism of Bush’s domestic and international policies, particularly when it comes to
Washington’s arrogance of power and the White House’s one-sided trade policy for the region.
Chávez also has been an indefatigable booster of the expansion of Mercosur, and the strong possibility that in the
future Latin America will have its principal trade ties with the EU rather than the U.S. While the sour relations
between Chávez and Bush are nothing new, what has gone largely unexamined during the latest spat between the White House
and Venezuela’s radical president is the underlying significance of the caustic relations between the U.S. and one of
its largest foreign oil suppliers, and perhaps even more importantly, is conflict between them inevitable?
Furthermore, is the Spanish sale of equipment which, Caracas insists, will be utilized in the war against drugs, any
more menacing than the $500 million sale of U.S. F-16s to Chile, which demonstrably has the potential to trigger an arms
race with Peru and Argentina? Ironically, the chief Lockheed lobbyist for the sale of F-16s to Chile was Otto Reich, who
later became one of Venezuela’s most bitter, if not most controversial, critics. After he joined the Bush administration
as its assistant secretary of state for western hemispheric affairs and later as a White House advisor, Reich became
privy to a planned 2002 coup to overthrow the Chávez government and then enormously embarrassed the Bush administration
by allowing it to be one of the first hemispheric governments to recognize the coup regime for the 48 hours that it was
in power. It is clear that the U.S.’ protestations are not based on any fact, but rather the blind odium that guides the
Bush administration when dealing with the Caribbean.
Two Strikes Against Chávez
The Bush administration repeatedly has denounced Chávez as a socialist doctrinaire of the mold of his close friend Fidel
Castro. Washington also names Caracas as having a wild-eyed agenda bent on “destabilizing” Latin America. Chávez, on the
other hand, often refers to Bush as “Mr. Danger” and often derisively critiques White House hemispheric policies. While
on the surface the conflict can be viewed as a mere difference in style, in reality, it symbolizes a profound clash of
political cultures, values and ideology. The U.S. feels genuinely, if erroneously, threatened not simply by Chávez’s
braggadocio, but by what he stands for and what he increasingly represents for the rest of Latin America – its Ariel in
contrast to Bush’s Caliban. Chávez, and his unrestrained contempt for the nation whose unending desire for Venezuela’s
oil helps bankroll his “Bolivarian Revolution,” symbolizes Latin America’s mounting discontent with Washington’s
policies directed towards the region. More often than not these serve the narrowly defined self interest of the latter,
but rarely those of the region.
The Nature of the Initiative
Chávez has come to epitomize the region’s discontent with Washington’s non-productive Latin American policies, and the
hectoring that the region feels that it is subjected to by the U.S.-dominated international lending institutions.
Representing a counterattack and with oil as his leverage, Chávez has unabashedly sought external partners for trade,
military procurement and goodwill. This has included highly visible arms deals with Russia and Spain; plans for
constructing oil pipelines to access Pacific Ocean ports in order to diversify clients for Venezuela’s huge oil
reserves, now tilting access in favor of China and away from its current near-total dependence on the U.S. Chávez also
is striving to manumit the region from its psychological and tangible dependency on the U.S. by initiating diplomatic
initiatives involving such White House blacklisted countries as Iraq, Iran and Libya.
From the White House’s perspective, Chávez’s deeply suspect infamous relationship with Fidel Castro, which includes
Venezuela essentially giving oil to Cuba on a subsidized barter arrangement, only heightens State Department paranoia
fueled by right-wing Miami exiles since Chávez is providing Castro a means to survive the U.S. administration’s policy
of economic asphyxiation. U.S. policymakers have reacted to Venezuela’s rancorous initiatives with anything but a steady
hand, but with undisciplined fulminations before Congressional sub-committees and the press, covert funding of
opposition groups in the country and the CIA’s undoubted complicity in the failed 2002 coup that managed to depose
Chávez for a matter of hours until he was returned to power by a group of loyal palace guards and the wrath emerging
from the popular barrios.
A Daring Initiative
The ongoing Bush-Chávez confrontation has escalated since Venezuela’s recent decision to subsidize heating oil for
low-income Boston-area homes through Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petróleos de
Venezuela (PDVSA). The deal was conspicuously brokered by Congressman William Delahunt (D-MA) who with brilliance has
proven himself to be a rare progressive voice for an enlightened U.S.-Latin American policy in the Congress. At a time
when Bush’s approval ratings are at the lowest of his presidency, Chávez’s ability to aid poor people in the U.S. only
rubs salt in the U.S. president’s many political lesions.
Levels of concern in Washington have now surpassed all bounds, as an apoplectic White House turns its rhetorical
howitzer on the $1.56bn (€1.3bn) arms deal that Venezuela and Spain are on the verge of completing that would send
planes and patrol boats to Caracas, that Chávez insists will be used in his country’s anti-drug war. Earlier this month,
the U.S. blocked an Israeli attempt to update Venezuela’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets because parts that the Israeli
suppliers would be providing included American components and would require U.S. authorization for such a sale. The Bush
administration is currently examining whether or not it has comparable grounds to block the Spain-Venezuela deal, which
already has de facto EU permission, after the EU Parliament refused to honor the request of one of its members that the
body investigate the deal to ensure it complies with all European arms export codes.
Where’s the Beef
Despite repeated warnings from Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld and the president that Chávez is attempting to
“destabilize” the region, the Bush administration has yet to present a single piece of evidence that Venezuela has
outrightly threatened – physically or economically – any country in the region, and it is notable that no Latin American
leader has echoed Washington’s allegations. With this in mind, the U.S. might want to reconsider the bully-boy diplomacy
it habitually has used with respect to Venezuela since Bush took office in 2001. It might want to convert what
essentially is an amateur diplomacy of a most rank nature into a relationship that seeks constructive engagement with
Caracas, which reflects an honest attempt to work out differences with the democratically-elected and
constitutionally-guided Venezuelan government. Washington’s current policy towards Venezuela only serves to further
isolate the U.S. in the region, and a continuation of such baseless accusations and obviously propagandistic
condemnations against Chávez will only exacerbate a situation that will further tarnish Washington’s standing in the
region. Considering the monumental importance that Venezuelan oil has in the American economy, now is the time for the
Bush administration to take its rarely-worn “nice guy” garb out of the closet – before this country gets left out in the
cold.
This analysis was prepared by COHA Director Larry Birns and Research Associate Julian Armington,
along with COHA's research group
November 29, 2005
ENDS