Venezuela-US relationship during Chávez era: a convenient enmity?

• Grant number: 14/08726-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2014
• End date: January 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Luis Fernando Ayerbe
• Grantee: Carolina Silva Pedroso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the rise to power of Hugo Chávez, bilateral relations with the United States went through a spiral of increasing tensions, especially after evidences of U.S. interference during Bush administration in an unsuccessful coup attempt (2002) and an oil boycott (2003), both with support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). After these episodes, Venezuela began to invest in the creation of regional schemes without the participation of the United States, whose major landmark is the emphatic performance of Chavez in rejection of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) at Mar del Plata Summit (2005). The victory of Barack Obama seemed to show that the hemispheric and bilateral relations would be more open to dialogue and understanding, but the analysis of the democratic administration foreign policy reveals the maintenance of the political estrangement with the rest of the continent, where the bad management of crisis in Honduras in 2009 is a reference point. With regard to Venezuela, it was observed the continuation of a contradictory relationship, which was anchored in political speeches and gestures of outrage, but economically maintained mutual commercial dependence on oil. So our question is whether this alleged enmity may have been part of a political strategy adopted by supporters and also by opponents of Chavez in Venezuela and the United States. To prove the thesis that maintaining diplomatic enmity was convenient to the interests of Venezuelan domestic groups, we will be reviewing the literature on this bilateral relationship during Chavez Era (1999-2013) and analyze the action of Venezuelan organizations linked to the NED, through documents, speeches, interviews and official data. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PEDROSO, Carolina Silva. Entre o bolivarianismo e a adesão à hegemonia: a relação de Venezuela e Estados Unidos durante o chavismo (1999-2013). 2018. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências. Marília Marília.