Venezuela Foreign Minister Rakes over Old
Coals with Colombia
By Jeremy Morgan, Latin American Herald
Tribune
Caracas - Venezuelan Foreign Minister
Nicolás Maduro returned to the fray once
more by accusing Colombia of “decrying and
throwing aside” Venezuela by opting to allow
the United States military to use bases on
its territory.
The immediate motive behind Maduro’s
outburst on Sunday evening wasn’t clear. His
statements during a television interview
showed at least some of the signs of banging
the drum in an attempt if not to keep the
argument going, then to justify it.
Maduro claimed that Bogotá above all wanted
a free trade deal with Washington, and this
was why it had recently agreed to allow
United States military to use bases on
Colombian territory. But that wasn’t all
that lay behind the accord, he claimed: it
was also “the first rupture, the first blow
against Venezuela.”
For years, President Hugo Chávez has claimed
officials in Washington want to assassinate
him, overthrow his government and seize
Venezuela’s oil wealth. Both the Bush and
Obama Administrations denied any such
intention.
More recently, Chávez has thrown Bogotá into
the same equation by arguing that the
military bases agreement signed by Colombian
President Álvaro Uribe is a direct threat to
the region in general and Venezuela in
particular.
Maduro was speaking on Televen, a private
channel that used to be critical of Chávez
but has since visibly shifted in favor. He
was out to depict Colombian President Álvaro
Uribe as either an innocent patsy or a
willing stooge of the United States, and
more likely the latter.
Colombia wouldn’t be in control of the bases
and Colombian society would be “on its
knees.” In contrast, by breaking with
Caracas, Bogotá had thrown away a
“prosperous” relationship with Venezuela in
which bilateral trade had reached $7 billion
last year, Maduro avowed.
Maduro was intent on depicting Venezuela as
the unwitting victim of the impasse with
Colombia. In fact, it was Chávez who
declared that he was plunging diplomatic and
commercial relations into the “freezer.”
Official figures in Bogotá show that
bilateral trade balance has been hugely in
Colombia’s favor, with exports worth $6
billion. A significant share of Colombia’s
exports to Venezuela consists of food, of
which Venezuela imports half or more of its
needs.
Ever since the break, Chávez has been
searching for substitutes for what Venezuela
used to bring in from Colombia – so far, it
would seem, with only limited success.
Argentine executives are said to have driven
hard bargains during a recent visit by
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of
Argentina.
Maduro was also asked about recent signs of
a rapprochement between Colombia and
Ecuador. He saw this in negative terms as
well.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a Chávez
ally of similarly populist, nationalist ilk,
broke diplomatic relations with Bogotá in
the wake of a Colombian military attack
against a FARC base on Ecuadorian territory.
At the time, the base was being used by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
and was close to the border. FARC’s second
in command, Raúl Reyes, was killed during
the attack.
But as far as Maduro was concerned, when it
came to Quito and Bogotá talking to each
other, Colombian trickiness was once more in
the air. “A few months ago, they attacked
President Correa hard, they attacked
Ecuadorean territory, trying to disturb the
political climate for the elections while
playing at a climate of harmony with our
government,” he said. “Now they’ve changed
the game.”
Colombia’s aim in all this, he claimed was
“to try to divide the progressive forces of
the region,” he continued. Again, the
implication of this was that it was all
happening on orders from Washington and that
Bogotá was a willing tool.
This is not by any means the first time that
Chávez has been in dispute with Uribe. The
fact is that the two leaders have little if
anything in common with each other except
that they live next door to each other.
Chávez’s brand of populist, nationalist
anti-Washington rhetoric is directly at odds
with Uribe’s overt recognition that the
United States is his closest ally in the
region. Similarly, the conservative Uribe’s
commitment to free market economics clashes
with “socialist” Chávez’ penchant for
tilting at “neoliberal” orthodoxy. |
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