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Fall of Chavez means Castro gets no oil
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David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published 4/13/2002
Fidel Castro was snubbed and U.S. motorists caught a break as
governments across the hemisphere scrambled yesterday to assess the stunning
fall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the left-wing populist ousted
under military pressure Thursday after weeks of social unrest.
The new manager of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) declared
that the ex-president's policy of cultivating ties with Cuba's strongman
through subsidized energy trade had been revoked.
"We're not going to send a single barrel more of oil to Cuba," Edgar
Paredes, head of sales and refining at the oil giant told cheering PDVSA
workers.
Venezuela under Mr. Chavez had become Cuba's largest trading partner
and leading diplomatic ally on the continent, shipping up to 53,000 barrels
of cut-rate oil to Cuba each day.
Meanwhile, the price of crude oil staged its biggest drop in five
months, falling 6.1 percent to $23.47 a barrel in New York after PDVSA
workers moved to bring production and exports to full capacity.
Monopoly executive Horacio Medina estimated that operations will be
back to normal within a week.
Since the South American nation supplies 13 percent of oil consumed by
the United States, analysts predicted pump prices could fall as much as 10
cents in the next month.
Public reaction from many of Venezuela's neighbors was muted, despite
the fact that Mr. Chavez had been repeatedly accused of cultivating ties to
Marxist insurgency groups in countries such as Colombia and Peru.
Private relief at seeing Mr. Chavez go was tempered by concerns about
instability in Caracas and unease about the process that removed a
democratically elected leader.
"It's worrying, but we already know that in a deeply divided country,
democracy falls apart," said Peru's president, Alejandro Toledo, speaking to
reporters at a summit of 19 Central and South American countries in Costa
Rica.
In a carefully worded statement, the Latin American leaders "condemned
the interruption of constitutional order" in Venezuela, but stopped far
short of calling for Mr. Chavez's restoration to power.
Both Peru and Mexico announced they would delay formal recognition of
the new government in Caracas as it prepared for a promised round of
elections.
"Coups do not help anyone," said Argentina President Eduardo Duhalde.
The Bush administration has made its unhappiness with Mr. Chavez
increasingly clear in recent months, citing his confrontational governing
style, his embrace of Cuba and his ties to fellow Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries members Libya and Iraq.
Mr. Chavez infuriated U.S. officials in October when he held up a
photograph of dead Afghan children and said the U.S.-led military campaign
in Afghanistan must halt what he called "the slaughter of innocents."
He also slammed the U.S. role in the fight against narcotics
traffickers in neighboring Colombia, amid continuing reports that Venezuela
had established its own ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), the largest leftist rebel group fighting the Colombian government.
FARC operatives were also reportedly finding sanctuary across the
border in Venezuela.
The State Department and the White House yesterday pressed the new
leaders of Venezuela to move quickly to restore democratic government, but
they also made it clear Mr. Chavez was to blame for his own downfall and for
the clashes that claimed the lives of at least 14 protesters.
Said State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker: "Though details are
still unclear, undemocratic actions committed or encouraged by the Chavez
administration provoked yesterday's crisis."
Officials said the administration may dispatch a delegation to Caracas
to assess the situation.
Miguel Diaz, director of South American studies at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, said the quick decision to cut Cuban
oil shipments by the new government of interim leader Pedro Carmona Estanga
was made with Washington in mind.
"Obviously, there's a political signal being given that a change has
taken place," said Mr. Diaz. "The past few years have really taken a toll on
U.S.-Venezuelan relations and the new government clearly wants to repair
some of the damage."
The cautious public statements about Mr. Chavez's fall by many Latin
American leaders may have been a polite cover for some more private glee.
"I think there's a collective sigh of relief today by virtually
everyone in the region, in Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and even El Salvador,"
said Stephen Johnson, a Latin American specialist at the Heritage
Foundation. "Chavez was increasingly seen as a gadfly, and not just by the
other leaders, but by the people as well."
Said Mr. Diaz, "I don't think you'll see too many tears being shed for
Chavez, either in Washington [or] in his own neighborhood."
The sharpest condemnation of Mr. Chavez's downfall came from Havana.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque accused Venezuela's military
of staging a "coup d'etat," adding: "I hope pressure from the international
community and the region's governments prevent the coupsters usurping power
in Venezuela from consolidating their hold."
Rep. Cass Ballenger, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the
House International Relations subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs,
met with Mr. Chavez during a Latin American tour in December.
He said in an interview he found the Venezuelan personally charming,
but without any "sense of business" or management skills.
"Here's a guy who picks a fight with business, then picks a fight with
labor, then with the Catholic Church and then with the military," Mr.
Ballenger said. "It was clear then this was a house of cards that was going
to collapse."
But he added there were still deep concerns about the government now
being formed, saying there were few obvious leaders ready to replace Mr.
Chavez.
"I think everyone is going to be walking on eggshells for the near
future, waiting to see how Venezuela will go," he said.
.Chris Baker contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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