Expulsions from Venezuela Show Tensions Endure in Post-Chavez Era
Expulsions from Venezuela Show Tensions Endure in Post-Chavez Era
"Venezuelans realize that the expulsion of the U.S. officials is just a red herring," points out AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini as tensions intensify between the U.S. and Venezuela.
Tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats by Venezuela and the United States this week show there has been little thawing in the tense relations between the two nations — more than six months after the death of outspoken Washington critic President Hugo Chavez and a week after President Obama was willing to talk by phone with Iran’s new president.
Despite the recent U.S. overtures to other hostile regimes, the gap between Washington and Caracas may simply be too vast for the administration to bridge, particularly since Venezuela’s internal economic and political realities appear to have created a situation in which new President Nicolas Maduro finds it more beneficial to pursue confrontation than reconciliation with the United States.
With Venezuela facing a severe foreign currency shortage and 45 percent annual inflation, analysts say, Mr. Maduro is likely pulling a page from his predecessor’s playbook — hoping insults hurled at Washington will return political benefits at home....
Washington’s reputation in Venezuela suffered significantly after the George W. Bush administration was perceived by many in Latin America to have backed a brief 2002 coup attempt against Mr. Chavez.
What Mr. Maduro has done now, according to Mr. Sabatini, is “give a degree of legitimacy back to the United States.”
“People know this is a ruse,” he said. “So what this does is finally give the U.S. enough space to be able to talk about human rights in Venezuela, which are deteriorating — to talk about the freedom of expression, freedom of association and electoral integrity....
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