More than a year later, experts on Latin America tell this magazine that Washington's soft line on Chavez in Venezuela adversely is affecting U.S. security and the stability of the entire region. This hands-off policy toward Chavez seems to originate from the highest levels of the Bush administration, these foreign-policy specialists say, and has evolved to the point of negligence of a crisis that already constitutes the greatest threat to regional stability since Castro took power in Cuba in 1959. Indeed, even as Congress has been intent upon removing travel restrictions to Castro's island prison, say these regional specialists, the Cuban leader is working with Chavez to destabilize governments in the region.
A senior U.S. official who worked in Venezuela during the rise of Chavez speaks with grudging admiration of the Venezuelan leader's classic Marxist-Leninist approach to expanding power: two steps forward, one step back. "Chavez is constantly underestimated by people who do not understand his patient, methodical approach to recruiting and strategy," says this retired Army officer. "Chavez never provokes the U.S. or other nations, but instead works obliquely to erode the position of his enemies."
As an example of Chavez's successful approach, the official cites U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) John Maisto, a former ambassador to Venezuela and Nicaragua. He reports that Maisto was the chief exponent of what the source calls the absurd argument that Chavez is a democrat at heart and that the United States should not "push" Chavez into the arms of Castro. "Maisto did the same thing in Nicaragua," says the official, "until Washington lit a fire under him." In fact, this observer says, Chavez has been a radical all his life, influenced by Marxist and authoritarian political theorists, and has been expanding his influence in the region using his links to Cuba and terrorist groups in the Middle East [see "Fidel May Be Part of Terror Campaign," Dec. 3, 2001, and "Fidel's Successor in Latin America," April 30, 2001]. ***
The announcement comes less than a month after Chavez restored control of the capital's police department to the mayor of Caracas, one of his opponents.
"Faced with the problem of crime and public insecurity, the federal government cannot cross its arms," the president said in a speech at Venezuela's Military Academy in Caracas.
Chavez did not say when the military police would be deployed in the capital and its suburbs, beefing up the 9,000-member city force.
Metropolitan Police Chief Lazaro Forero has said violent crime has increased because his officers are often outgunned by criminals. There have been about 1,800 murders in Caracas so far this year, compared to 1,435 homicides in 2002, he said.
In November 2002, the army took control of all police stations in Caracas and confiscated the department's automatic weapons and shotguns, leaving officers to patrol with revolvers.
On Oct. 10, the federal government relinquished control of the stations and dispatched national guardsmen to patrol the capital, but did not return the weapons. Chavez ordered the takeover after accusing the Metropolitan Police force of aiding a botched 2002 coup. [end]