Hugo Chávez: world tour 2007
Guardian July 6, 2007
Buoyed by his re-election as president of Venezuela last December, and the continuing high price of petroleum in which his country abounds, Hugo Chávez is busily rallying countries opposed to United States’ hegemony in world affairs. He is doing so while preparing Venezuelans to develop resistance war as an effective anti-imperialist tool to counter Washington’s non-military campaign to overthrow his socialist government and seize Venezuela’s vast oil resources - an assessment disputed by the Bush administration.
To further these broad objectives, he recently undertook a week-long trip to Russia, Belarus and Iran.
Addressing a meeting in Moscow, Chávez urged his audience to remember Vladimir Lenin and “once again come back to his ideas, especially when it comes to anti-imperialism”. And alluding to the American policy-makers, he said: “They don’t want Russia to keep rising. But Russia has risen again as a centre of power, and we, the people of the world, need Russia to become stronger.”
Chávez singled out the pioneering flight of the Russian Sukhoi jet fighters over Venezuela’s independence day celebrations two years ago, on July 5 2005, as the moment when “we broke the fetters of dependence on the US.” This was in tune with his advocacy of a multi-polar world, which offers countries and peoples “real freedom”, not an American version, which allows Washington to “threaten nations and destroy cities” - an obvious reference to Iraq.
Chávez also finalised a contract to purchase five Russian diesel submarines for $1bn to safeguard Venezuela’s oil-rich underwater shelf and thwart a possible embargo by the Bush administration in response to his anti-Washington crusade in Latin America and elsewhere.
Venezuela is now the second largest buyer of Russian weapons after Algeria. Russia has given a licence to Venezuela to manufacture AK-47 “Kalashnikov” assault rifles in Caracas. “We are strengthening Venezuela’s military power precisely to avoid imperial aggression and assure peace, not to attack anybody,” said Chavez in a recent speech at a military base in Caracas.
In Minsk, the capital of Belarus - one of the several countries described by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as “outposts of tyranny”, others being Cuba and Iran - Chávez gave final touches to a deal to purchase an air-defence system with long-range radar, thus upgrading Venezuela’s outdated air defences.
The weapons procurement is being funded by a treasury overflowing with foreign exchange due to high oil prices. Petroleum income has also enabled Chávez to consolidate his popular base at home by providing subsidised food to the underprivileged and extending free education and health care. He has used price discounts on petroleum to gain diplomatic backing of the Caribbean and Central American countries, to the detriment of Washington. And he has financially helped debt-ridden Latin American countries like Argentina.
His moves at home and abroad have given Chávez the clout to challenge the US, sorely dependent on imports of Venezuelan oil, and insult President George Bush with impunity. As insurance for the day when America decides to stop importing the Venezuelan crude, Chávez is forging strong hydrocarbon ties with oil-hungry China. By 2009, Venezuela’s oil exports to China will treble to 500,000 barrels per day. A Chinese oil company is collaborating with the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA to explore a new heavy oil field in the Orinoco Basin.
Last year, Lukoil, a Russian oil giant, began exploring for oil in that area. It also started erecting a gas pipeline in Venezuela. During Chávez’s recent visit to Moscow, President Vladimir Putin promised further investment in Venezuela’s booming energy industry.
In addition, an Iranian company Petropars has planned to plough $4bn in Venezuela’s oil and gas projects. In return, Chávez has backed Iran’s efforts to price oil in euros instead of US dollars, a move aimed at weakening the influence of American investment banks and hedge funds on global energy markets.
Little wonder that Chávez was warmly received in Tehran by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - with the Marxist Venezuelan leader swiftly adopting the local vocabulary of “American imperialism” and his hosts’ specially coined term “global arrogance” interchangeably: “Cooperation of independent countries like Iran and Venezuela has an effective role in defeating the policies of imperialism and saving nations,” he said. “The pillars of the global arrogance have become shaky.”
His confident declaration at the end of his jaunt signalled progress on his mission to forge an anti-imperialist front to counter US influence. Thus far, Washington has been obliged merely to look on and grind its teeth. But for how long?