Venezuela is today divided into two camps, the ’Chavistas’ and the ’escualidos’ (’spineless ones’). Neither of these camps is homogeneous. We attempt here an explanatory synthesis of who’s who in this especially complex political panorama.
An anti-imperialist policy
19 September 2003, byFor a country historically linked to the United States, the foreign policy of Hugo Chavez constitutes a significant rupture. In the name of the struggle against a unipolar world Venezuelan diplomacy has developed a range of polices on Latin American integration, the strengthening of links with OPEC and the development of economic relations with China and Russia.
Attempted coups
19 September 2003, byAfter having been swept away at the elections of 1998 to 2000, the opposition began to regain hope from 2001 onwards when the government introduced new legislation; laws which protected small fishers against industrial fishing, laws on land which implemented a timid but necessary agrarian reform, new tax laws which introduce the concept of taxation in a country where nobody was used to it.
The oil curse
19 September 2003, byIn Venezuela, politics and oil policy are synonymous. Indeed, oil is today the main concern of the USA. What happens in Venezuela has, then, world repercussions.
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