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U.S. Concerned About Venezuela Destabilizing its Neighbors

05 August 2005

State Department concern expressed in letter to U.S. congresswoman

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S. State Department has expressed its concern that Venezuela is using its wealth gained from oil production to destabilize the country's democratic neighbors in the Americas by funding anti-democratic groups in Bolivia, Ecuador, and elsewhere.

In a July 27 letter to U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican of Florida), State Department official Matthew Reynolds said the Bush administration is working to bolster democracy in the Western Hemisphere and to deter Venezuelan and Cuban "meddling in the internal affairs of regional democracies."

Reynolds, who is the State Department's acting assistant secretary for legislative affairs, said support for democracy in Venezuela, as elsewhere, is a "cornerstone" of President Bush's foreign policy.  The Bush administration, said Reynolds, is "gravely concerned" about increasing threats to democracy in Venezuela.  These threats, added Reynolds, include what he described as the "concentration of power in the executive, a politicized judiciary, a flawed and distrusted electoral authority, and the deterioration of basic civil rights."

Reynolds said Venezuela's role as signatory to the Inter-American Democratic Charter "obliges it to uphold democracy, human rights, and the rule of law."  The Democratic Charter was adopted by the members of the Organization of American States in September 2001 and declares that "the peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it."

The administration, said Reynolds, has publicly expressed its concern over Venezuela's multi-billion-dollar program to purchase arms and military equipment, including 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles and military helicopters from Russia and maritime patrol aircraft and vessels from Spain, and has conveyed these concerns over these sales to the "highest levels" of the Russian and Spanish governments.

"We continue to monitor the potentially destabilizing effects of Venezuela's arms acquisitions on the region, and we are raising these issues with our democratic allies globally," said Reynolds.

The Bush administration, said Reynolds, is also troubled by the close relationship between the governments of Venezuela and Cuba.  He added that Cuba has a 46-year "proven track record of fostering instability and thwarting democracy at home and abroad."

As "outlined by President Bush's vision for the Western Hemisphere, we remain committed to fostering democracy, good governance, and respect for the rule of law in Venezuela and throughout the region," said Reynolds.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)