The Americano- excerpt from Roger F. Noriega's Latin American Action Agenda for the New Congress:
Assess and Confront Venezuela’s Hostile Campaign
Congress should provide sustained and focused oversight to uncover illegal activities and should press Venezuela’s oil-dependent regime to end its aggressive conduct or face crippling sanctions. Because US diplomats are doing little to confront this threat, Congress, law enforcement agencies, and the judicial branch must take the lead in responding to the grave and growing threat posed by Chávez, the anti-American caudillo (strongman).
Bipartisan congressional leaders have already indicated their serious concerns regarding the conduct of the Chávez regime.[3] The appropriate congressional committees–including those responsible for policy, intelligence resources, and law enforcement–should combine efforts to conduct a thorough review of Venezuela’s aggressive posture and the passive US response.
Congressional inquiry will reveal the extent to which Chávez has transformed his country into a bandit state. Demo-cratic institutions have been neutralized, so his reckless regime is unaccountable. Billions of dollars in petroleum revenue have been looted by corrupt officials, and the state oil company is suspected of laundering illicit funds. Venezuela is willfully violating international prohibitions against aiding Iran’s illegal quest for nuclear weapons and uranium. Civilian and security officials are implicated in drug trafficking that threatens neighbors in the Andes, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and the United States, as well as countries in Africa and Europe. An $8-9 billion arms buildup threatens to fuel an arms race in the region, and weapons have been shipped from Venezuelan caches to terrorists in South America and the Middle East.[4] A once-proud democracy and reliable US friend has been twisted into a hostile and potent criminal enterprise.
Clearly, the response of US diplomats and the intelligence community has been inadequate. Policymakers justify their inaction as a conscious ploy to avoid provoking Chávez, failing to notice that US passivity has sent the message to Iran, China, and Russia that the United States does not care if they join his conspiracy. Under Washington’s nose, Chávez has made strides toward terminating US access to Venezuelan oil by finding a new buyer in China, provided Iran’s terrorist state with a strategic platform from which to operate near US shores, and resuscitated Cuba’s implacable dictatorship.[5]
Some in Congress have advocated designating Venezuela as a terrorist state. Although it is inconceivable that the State Department will abandon its passive stance in this way, Congress can question why US law enforcement agencies have yet to bring indictments against Chávez’s circle of corrupt cronies and to launch an inquiry against state-run Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA). By exposing suspected money-laundering activities conducted by PDVSA and a network of complicit bankers, US prosecutors can attack the foundation of Chávez’s criminal enterprise and his corrupt power base.
The incoming chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), has targeted PDVSA for abetting Iran’s energy sector, which would subject Venezuela’s largest company to US sanctions. In a September 24, 2010, letter to PDVSA president Rafael Ramírez, congressional leaders demanded that the company prove that it is not doing business with Iran. Evidence from sources within the Venezuelan regime clearly indicates that Chávez is making good on his commitment to provide gasoline to Iran to help it circumvent sanctions. Any serious US investigation will find that Chávez has engaged oil companies from China, Algeria, and other countries in these suspect transactions.
For the time being, the Venezuelan economy depends on US oil revenue for its survival, so US sanctions against PDVSA would have a devastating impact on the country. Chávez has managed to hold on to his power base, despite wreaking havoc on the domestic economy and making his country an abettor of terrorism and drug trafficking. Venezuelans across the board–honest and otherwise–may be moved to pull the plug on Chávez’s provocative policies if they threaten the lifeblood of the country.
Comments