by JOHN CHERIAN
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro with state oil and electric workers during an anti-imperialist rally in Caracas on March 18. PHOTO/Ariana Cubillos/AP
THE United States seems to be back at its old games in Latin America. The region has ceased to be Washington’s backyard since the turn of the century, but that fact has not deterred American policymakers from making efforts to reverse the progressive “pink tide” that has swept across most of Latin America and the Caribbean. President Barack Obama’s efforts at normalising ties with Cuba after more than six decades of hostility were welcomed in the region. But soon after that historic decision, the Obama administration took the unprecedented step of imposing sanctions on the government of Venezuela. Through an “executive order” on March 9, Obama classified the country as a “national security threat” to the U.S. and imposed sanctions on senior Venezuelan government officials. Washington’s move has come in for condemnation from all the governments in the region. Only Canada, under the neoconservative Prime Minister Steven Harper, is openly supporting the action against Venezuela.
Obama’s executive order declared Venezuela as “an extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security. Venezuela and also regional groupings such as the Union of South American States (UNASUR) have demanded that Obama withdraw the order. The U.S. action will be high on the agenda of the forthcoming Summit of the Americas. Following the U.S. action, Venezuela’s parliament gave President Nicolas Maduro the power to rule by decree for the rest of this year.
President Maduro said that the decree powers were needed to prevent the U.S. from meddling in the internal affairs of the country. The Speaker of the Venezuelan Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, said that the President would use his executive powers to tide over the temporary economic crisis the country faced. Cabello also said that one of the priorities would be the repatriation of Venezuelan wealth illegally stashed away in the U.S.
The Obama administration’s action came in the wake of yet another reported coup attempt in Venezuela. On February 11, the Venezuelan authorities announced the arrest of a retired Air Force general, Oswaldo Hernando Sanchez, and 13 others on charges of plotting the overthrow of the government. On February 19, the government announced the arrest of the Mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma.
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