The International Crisis Group (ICG) sells itself as “working to prevent conflict worldwide” but there is one country where their mission looks more like promoting rather than preventing conflict. Exhibit A is their report on Venezuela, released recently.
Venezuela and the People’s Republic of China took a further step forward in strengthening their bilateral relations last Monday when Vice President Li Yuancho visited the Caribbean country as part of his recent tour of South America.
By Steve Ellner - Latin American Perspectives, May 13th 2013
The democratic, peaceful road to socialism, which has been pursued by the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador and serves as an inspiration for much of the Latin American left, hardly represents a new approach.
Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro has wrapped up his tour of the Southern Cone after receiving support from South America's largest economy, Brazil.
After signing nine new bilateral agreements with Uruguayan president Jose Mujica, Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro became the first foreign head of state to visit Montevideo's national trade union centre.
Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said that he will take Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), following accusations by the Venezuelan head that Uribe was involved in plots against him.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro condemned recent Israeli missile strikes on Syrian targets, and denounced a new “campaign” to present Venezuela as “anti-Semitic”.
In its 7th summit over the weekend, the Petrocaribe oil alliance granted membership to Honduras and Guatemala, and adopted a proposed link with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in a new “economic zone”.
Recent events indicate that the Obama administration has stepped up its strategy of “regime change” against the left-of-center governments in Latin America, promoting conflict in ways not seen since the military coup that Washington supported in Venezuela in 2002.
Venezuela and Cuba signed 51 bilateral agreements related to energy management and social programmes in areas including healthcare, education and recreation this past weekend and pledged to spend $2 billion on bilateral social development projects this year.
