Estados Unidos y Venezuela: una relación necesaria

The author identifies Hugo Chávez’s electoral victory and the implementation of a new type of democracy as two factors that transformed Venezuelan foreign policy, and in particular, the bilateral relationship with the United States. Chavez’s international activism, in addition to his Bolivarian policy signaled a shift from “safe partner” to “partner with reservations” in the country’s relations with Washington. Although Venezuela considered itself a Latin American showcase in previous years, the text argues that Chavez s populist tendencies, his critical posture towards the promotion of democracy and human rights, and his supposed links with Colombian guerrillas has Ied to a “wait-and-see” policy characterized by high levels of caution on the part of the United States.