U.S. SHOULD LEAVE VENEZUELA ALONE – by Jess Hunter Bowman

President George W. Bush’s recent visit to Latin America set in stark relief the concern this administration feels over the growing regional influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose country provides almost 15 percent of all U.S. oil imports. While President Bush refused to even mention the Venezuelan president’s name, voices in the White House, the State Department and on Capitol Hill have sounded the alarm, suggesting, "Democracy in Venezuela is in peril" and labeling President Chavez "a demagogue awash in oil money (who) is undermining democracy and seeking to destabilize the region."

Washington’s crisis response measures have gone far beyond President Bush’s goodwill tour of Latin America. Since 2001, the U.S. government, through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), has provided $6.9 million in "pro-democracy" funds to support Venezuelan anti-Chavez opposition groups, including political parties. Similarly, USAID’s ominously named Office of Transition Initiatives provided millions to support so-called democracy programs in Venezuela. U.S. taxpayers are told that this money is used to build democracy. But through these and other covert programs U.S. policy has in fact sought to undermine the Chavez administration, if not oust him from power.

According to U.S. government documents, USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives supports democracy by "training candidates, campaign managers and other political party workers on the mechanics of electoral campaigning," including "message development, get-out-the-vote, day-of-the-vote activities…strategy…and outreach." NED has similar funding priorities. While U.S. officials tout these programs as promoting American democratic values, imagine the scandal that would erupt in the United States if a foreign government, such as the Chavez administration, provided such support to a political party in our elections.

Last year Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chastised Venezuela for "meddl(ing) in the affairs of neighbors," suggesting that Mr. Chavez unduly provided support for candidates in Peruvian and Mexican elections. Secretary Rice seems to miss the irony in her statement given that such "meddling" is current U.S. policy in Venezuela.

Yet despite all the rhetoric and so-called democracy funding coming out of Washington, Mr. Chavez enjoys broad support among the Venezuelan population. Last year Mr. Chavez was overwhelmingly re-elected with 63 percent of the vote in what international observers declared a generally free and fair election with an incredible 74 percent voter turnout. A 2006 poll on democracy in Latin America by the well-respected Latinobarometro pollsters found that Venezuelans were more satisfied with their democracy than any other country in Latin America, save Uruguay. While Mr. Chavez has repeatedly ruffled the feathers of both Republicans and Democrats in Washington with his fiery rhetoric, his policy of redirecting oil revenue to support a set of sweeping domestic social programs aimed at the country’s poor majority has had a significant impact on people’s lives and has garnered him ample support.

Nevertheless, progressive and moderate sectors of Venezuelan society, while recognizing the democratic nature of the government, express some concerns about concentration of power and the rationale for rule by decree powers recently granted to Mr. Chavez. But at the end of the day, these are questions to be addressed by Venezuelans.

It is time for a positive U.S. policy in the region and towards Venezuela, one that moves beyond overstated concerns regarding the direction of Mr. Chavez’s domestic and foreign policy and the security of oil exports. We need a policy that recognizes the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to select their elected officials. After another resounding electoral victory by Mr. Chavez, which cannot be written off as fraudulent, it is clear that further funding and covert operations aimed at propping up domestic opposition, driving down Mr. Chavez’s popularity or ousting him from office are destined to fail, just as they have over the past five years.

It is time for Washington to take its head out of the sand and recognize that democracies are not built through partisan funding. The Venezuelan democracy is in the capable hands of the Venezuelan people.