Lost amid Ch谩vez's rants on Libya, a quieter Latin American foreign policy
| Caracas, Venezuela
Venezuela's offer to mediate a peace deal in Libya was pushed off the negotiating table just as quickly as President Hugo Ch谩vez placed it down. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's son dismissed the idea, and Libya's opposition rebels dually responded to the offer this week by defacing Hugo Ch谩vez Football Stadium in Benghazi (the base of Libya's rebels).
Why is a stadium in Libya named after Mr. Ch谩vez? For the same reason that Colonel Qaddafi owns a replica of independence hero Simon Bolivar鈥檚 sword. The two men are tight.
But lost amid all the bombast of Ch谩vez's 隆Viva Libya! antics, cooler Latin American heads are pursuing a similar foreign policy to more credible effect. And that may provide a telling example to developing economies, and also to Ch谩vez himself 鈥� if he stopped tweeting long enough to listen.
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Indeed, less entertaining than Ch谩vez but more interesting is how many of Latin America鈥檚 former dictatorships have transformed themselves into booming social democracies, still clinging to the goals of social inclusion and international sovereignty espoused during the radical 60s but now adopting orthodox economic and diplomatic tools to achieve their aims.
Two recent examples of Latin American forays into Arab politics provide illustrative contrasts. Ch谩vez's offer to convene a Peace Commission to mediate between his embattled Libyan friend and rebel factions was an embarrassing failure, albeit consistent with his oft-stated goal of 鈥渟outh-south鈥� solutions to developing world problems.
In practice, Ch谩vez's version of "south-south" diplomacy seems to mostly consist of giving away Venezuelan oil at deeply discounted rates to countries like Dominica and Nicaragua. Perhaps because he鈥檚 so chummily embraced international pariahs, such as Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Sudanese indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir (whom he invited to Venezuela), his 鈥渟outh-south鈥� agenda invites ridicule.
Other than Venezuela鈥檚 reliable Latin block 鈥� including fellow Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas members Nicaragua, Cuba, and Bolivia 鈥� no one else seemed to take the proposal seriously.
鈥淚t is as if I were to facilitate an agreement in the Amazon,鈥� Said el Islam Qaddafi said in a March 3 , bringing Ch谩vez's quest for peace just west of the Middle East to an ignominious end. 鈥淸Venezuelans] are our friends and we respect them...but they are far and have no idea."
Ch谩vez has also been among the most stridently supportive of Palestinian statehood, though it鈥檚 probably not causing too much consternation in Tel Aviv. His support starts to assume a potentially ugly tinge when taken alongside his occasional declarations that Israel is supporting his opposition and Mossad agents are in the region to assassinate him.
However, when eight other Latin American nations declare their recognition of Palestinian statehood, as they did in December and January, including regional heavyweights Argentina and Brazil, Israel鈥檚 diplomatic corps is forced to take note.
鈥淭he decisions are largely symbolic but highlight the continuing trend in Latin America to pursue an independent foreign policy that to some degree reflects domestic political considerations,鈥� says Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C.
Israel said the recognition was meaningless. Still, no other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt compelled to call Chile鈥檚 President Sebastian Pi帽era hoping to avoid a similar move by the center-right government. The call was ineffective. Chile recognized an independent Palestinian state on Jan. 7.
This week, Mr. Pi帽era traveled to the Middle East to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials, laying wreaths at the tombs of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Zionist founder Theodor Herzl.
Meanwhile, Ch谩vez's travels are largely confined to visiting the world's most autocratic outposts, with an occasional side trip to sign oil agreements. Billions of barrels of oil might be enough to buy the support of energy-impoverished nations all over the world but it still hasn鈥檛 brought him what he seems to yearn most 鈥� international respect.
