US Eyes Better Ties with Venezuela, Post-Chávez
US Eyes Better Ties with Venezuela, Post-Chávez
AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth points out that under the current uncertainty there’s no guarantee on U.S.-Venezuela improved relations in a post-Chávez scenario.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is looking towards a post-Chavez era hoping to improve relations with Venezuela, but analysts say it remains unclear if any successor to the fiercely anti-American leader will embrace new ties.
Even though the exact state of President Hugo Chavez's health is unknown as he languishes out of sight in a Cuba hospital, it is clear US officials believe he may never return to power in Caracas.
Even before Chavez headed back to Havana on December 10 for his fourth cancer operation, American officials were maneuvering to extend an olive branch to top Venezuelan cabinet officials.
Fellow expert Eric Farnsworth, vice-president of the Council of Americas think tank, agreed, and also blamed Chavez's intransigence over the years.
"Washington does not want and has never wanted a bad relationship with Venezuela and Washington has been frustrated by the persistence of the poor relationship with Venezuela," he told AFP.
"It has been looking for some times for ways to improve."
And he cautioned that whoever succeeds Chavez -- whether it be Maduro or national assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello recently re-elected in a closing of the ranks by the ruling United Socialist Party -- there is no guarantee ties will take a turn for the better.
Any new leader would have to show he is steeped in the socialist revolution, and the policies so directly associated with Chavez.
A new president would have to "show to the Venezuelan people that they are true to the Chavez legacy, they will have to show that they are truly 'Chavista' and that is how they will gain political legitimacy," Farnsworth said….
