The United States has a big thorn its side. His name is Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. The man seems to be on a crusade to limit America’s sphere of influence in South America and thwart U.S. foreign policy (a.k.a. oil policy) as best he can. Some have even called for his assassination. Global Policy.org has one perspective:
Chavez has always been outspoken in condemning what he calls “U.S. imperialism,” mocking President Bush as “Mr. Danger” and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld as “Mr. War.” But Venezuelan officials insist that his recent threats to sever ties with Washington — thereby suspending the export of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day — are more than the rhetoric of a populist rallying domestic support. “When the president talks, it is not a joke,” said Mary Pili Hernandez, a senior Foreign Ministry official. “The only country Venezuela has bad relations with is the United States; with all other countries we have good or very good relations. But with just one word, the U.S. could resolve all of the problems. That word is ‘respect.’ ”Chavez asserts that the 21st-century equivalent of the Cold War is the developed world’s thirst for oil — and its attempts to manipulate weaker governments to secure it. Oil-rich Venezuela sells 60 to 65 percent of its crude oil to the United States, making it the fourth-largest oil supplier to the U.S. market. This year, near-record-high oil prices have helped Chavez finance a variety of social programs that he vows will make the country more independent of U.S. influence.
Observers say the oil revenue also has emboldened Chavez’s foreign policy strategy. He has recently inked oil agreements with Argentina, Brazil and his Caribbean neighbors and has launched efforts to strengthen ties with China through oil accords. Rafael Quiroz, an oil industry analyst in Caracas, said the Chavez government believes that the conflict between developing countries endowed with such natural resources and nations with high demands will only intensify in coming years. Chavez would like to precipitate that conflict, Quiroz said. “I think he’s correct to try to speed up that kind of confrontation, because the developing world — where 85 percent of world reserves are — will stand in a better place after that,” Quiroz said. “Every day it is more apparent that oil is fundamental for Venezuela in its international relations, and it is the main ingredient Chavez uses to form strategic alliances.”
SM tipster Sluggo informs us that one of Chavez’s top foreign policy advisors is a Sri Lankan-Canadian human rights activist named Sharmini Peries, who was a journalist with Frontline India before working with Chavez. After interviewing him she joined his cause.
Sharmini Peries became advisor to President Hugo Chavez after interviewing him and members of the Venezuelan government while she was on assignment for India’s magazine Frontline in 2004.
In addition to her work with Frontline, Peries has worked for Democracy Now and other news organizations. She has also been the director of Justice International, a Toronto-based international organization dedicated to human rights and social justice; executive director of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression; executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, an organization defending the rights of immigrants and refugees in Canada; and executive director of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System. [Link]
The picture above is linked to an interview with Ms. Peries. She is quite the rabble rouser it seems. A quick Googling of her name results in scores of left leaning critiques of U.S. policy. I find her current job interesting (and this post worth blogging) because it seems so rare that a foreigner has such influence at high levels of a government not their own. Chavez’s Presidency seems to attract “rebel” spirits from around the globe under a single, mostly anti-American policy, banner. Could she someday be an heir to Arundhati Roy?
