Reply #16: Venezuela too

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1220/p06s01-woam.html

Chávez extends regional muscle

BIG BUY: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (l.) met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow last month. Chávez plans to purchase a large amount of Russian arms.
SERGEI KARPUKHIN/REUTERS


Flush with cash from high oil prices, Venezuela's president is pushing his leftist vision across the region.

By Mike Ceaser | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

CARACAS, VENEZUELA – Record world oil prices have filled Venezuela's treasury and helped President Hugo Chávez and his "Bolivarian Revolution for the poor" win two elections in recent months. Now, freed from worries about domestic political opposition, Mr. Chávez is using his new wealth to extend his influence beyond his nation's borders - and perhaps escalate his long-running confrontation with Washington, say observers.

In recent months, Chávez has expanded Venezuela's policy of supplying oil at below-market prices to poor neighbors. He has also made a major arms purchase from Russia and pushed for the creation of a regional petroleum corporation. A firebrand populist and admirer of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chávez has often spoken of spreading his leftist vision across this continent, in contrast to the conservative economic policies that swept South America in the 1990s.

"Without a doubt, Chávez has very great pretensions of increasing his influence" in the region, says Alfredo Rangel, who heads the Security and Democracy Foundation, a think tank in Bogotá, Colombia. "Chávez wants to extend his Bolivarian project to new places."

More than ever, Chávez may be in a position to act. Domestically, he renewed his mandate with a victory in an Aug. 15 referendum, and regional elections in October gave his allies control of 21 of 23 state governorships. Meanwhile, crude oil prices have pushed foreign reserves above $20 billion and have enabled Venezuela to sell oil to Cuba, Paraguay, and elsewhere below the current $45 a barrel.

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