Posted on 03/18/2005 1:14:44 PM PST by JesseHousman
The Bush administration is weighing policy options on Venezuela that include launching a high-level task force, highlighting corruption there.
With President Bush personally firing off questions, his administration is carrying out a top-to-bottom review of U.S. policies toward Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his leftist ''revolution,'' U.S. officials say.
One option already on the table is to create a multiagency task force of a type usually reserved for critical issues. Others include campaigns to highlight allegations of graft in Chávez' government and persuade his Latin American neighbors to help rein him in, the officials added.
With Chávez appearing increasingly belligerent toward the Bush administration in recent months, ''a chain reaction has been started to review what are the options on Venezuela,'' said Miguel Diaz, with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
PLAYING IT DOWN
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher seemed to play down the reports of a broad policy review on Venezuela, telling reporters Monday: ``We're always assessing our policies. We're always looking at the situation.''
But a half dozen other U.S. officials interviewed by The Herald portrayed an administration involved in a major reassessment of policy that, although still undecided, appear likely to lead to a tougher U.S. stance.
''We need to have a strategy to contain Chávez,'' Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, the Defense Department's top official on Latin America, told a Miami conference on Latin American security issues last week.
TIME OF TENSION
U.S.-Venezuela relations have been almost hostile under Chávez, who established close ties to Cuba after his election in 1998 and has accused Washington of backing a 2002 coup against him.
He once called Bush ''stupid'' and recently made lewd references to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But now Bush has added importance to the search for new U.S. policies, with one senior government official saying that he has been personally sending questions on Venezuela to the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies.
''He is educating himself on Chávez,'' said the official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the issue.
One policy option that is likely to be adopted, said several government officials and policy experts, was the creation of a special task force to focus on Venezuela. Such panels, known as interagency working groups, usually are set up on critical issues and bring together senior officials with the power to order their own agencies to carry out decisions.
In Venezuela's case, the panel probably would involve at least the Departments of State, Defense and Energy, according to Venezuela experts. Venezuelan crude oil now accounts for about 7 percent of annual U.S. consumption.
Stephen Donehoo, a retired army intelligence official with the Washington-based consulting firm of Kissinger McLarty Associates, said he believes the administration is also considering stronger options.
A SMEAR CAMPAIGN
One possibility, he said, would be a campaign to ''besmirch [Chávez's] name and reputation'' by leaking allegations of corruption in his government. Some U.S. officials already have hinted at massive corruption in planned weapons purchases.
Knowledgeable U.S. officials said the decision to carry out a thorough policy review came after a lengthy period in which Washington for several reasons undertook no major initiatives on Venezuela.
A recall vote against Chávez last Aug. 15 could have unseated him.
Then came the U.S. elections in November, the Bush administration's preoccupation with the Iraqi elections and finally the end of a get-acquainted period by the new U.S. ambassador in Caracas, William Brownfield.
NEWLY EMPOWERED
But since he won the August vote by a large margin, Chávez has announced plans for major weapons acquisitions, accused Washington of plotting to kill him and vowed to cut off oil sales to the United States if he's attacked.
U.S. officials said another option likely to be adopted is a strengthening of the U.S. campaign to persuade Chávez's Latin American neighbors to help contain the Venezuelan president. The Bush administration has steadily denied any plan to force Chávez out of power by unconstitutional means.
Roger Noriega, the State Department's top diplomat on Latin America, told Congress last week that Washington wants Latin American leaders 'to understand the stakes involved and the implications of President Chávez' professed desire to spread his Bolivarian revolution.'''
REGIONAL SUPPORT
But many Latin American governments are now in the hands of leftist presidents who are unlikely to get tough on Chávez, analysts said. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for example, could be a key player in any effort to hem in Chávez but is considered unlikely to do so because he has to retain the support of leftist Brazilians.
Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said last week that his country's center-left government and the rest of Latin America would not go along with trying to contain or isolate the Venezuelan leader.
''We have decided to engage and engage constructively'' with Chávez, Walker told the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think-tank.
''We tell our friends from the United States that we have to avoid simplistic views,'' he added, noting that Venezuela's political problems predate Chávez.
The lack of Latin American support could leave U.S. policy pretty much where it is now -- stuck between a desire to do something about Chávez and a wish to avoid a confrontation that could turn the Venezuelan into a regional hero.
''We're tied up in knots,'' acknowledged one Defense Department official.
Venezuela is our #2 source of crude and we, of course, pay top dollar. Chavez donates crude to Castro's Cuba. These guys are in bed together and muslim nations have more than just cozied up to their soulmate.
If "taming" is a euphemism for something else, then I am all for it.
"The Bush administration has steadily denied any plan to force Chávez out of power by unconstitutional means."
It would be much more fruitful to stoke the flames and watch him be devoured from within.
I've thought about emailing a photo of Noriega in chains to the Venezuelan embassy and asking them to forward it to El Presidente.
That was tried via the oil workers strike and it failed. In fact it backfired and has made him a hero to his country.
Left populist governments are being elected all across Latin America. None of whom have any sympathy for anything that looks like gringo bullying.
That was a pretty stupid remark. On the other hand, I assume he did not come up with it himself. It's the Dems' talking points. He's been talking to Senator Dodd.
Gringo bullying - Which is why direct action against him would look bad. Looks like we need to keep trying to subvert him quietly.
Tried and failed. I think he's already seen to it that there will be no Venezuelan General Pinochet.
Taming? I'd rather he were caged.
We need to remove his "feeding tube."
We'll never do it because the danger exists within our own hemisphere. Monroe Doctrine went out the window when Castro conquered Cuber.
Certainly there is someone in Venezuela who would be willing to be trained on how to use a Barret .50 (that they could keep for themselves once they used it on Chavez).
Great. Containment worked so well with Saddam.
Chavez need a .223 Enema, Thats it,Thats all..........
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