Upcoming Elections and the 2010 Threat Assessment

According to Reuters, a gloomy economy, electricity rationing and revelations of graft are the biggest threats to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's popularity in years and may threaten his majority in the National Assembly in September elections. Reuters outlines some of the problems President Chavez faces as elections approach.

The 2010 Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community reported that “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has established himself as one of the US’s foremost international detractors, denouncing liberal democracy and market capitalism and opposing US policies and interests in the region.”

Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, responded to the report in a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, calling it an attempt “to criminalize our government and encourage sectors of the Venezuelan opposition that are looking for undemocratic ways to reach power.”

About Venezuela

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, (2005 est. pop. 25,375,000), 352,143 sq mi (912,050 sq km), N South America. Venezuela has a coastline 1,750 mi (2,816 km) long on the Caribbean Sea in the north. It is bordered on the south by Brazil, on the west and southwest by Colombia, and on the east by Guyana. Dependencies include Margarita Island, Tortuga Island, and many smaller island groups in the Caribbean. The capital and largest city is Caracas. Its President is Hugo Chavez Frias.

About US Policy

The United States traditionally has had close relations with Venezuela, the fourth major supplier of foreign oil to the United States, but there has been friction in relations with the Chávez government. U.S. officials have expressed concerns about President Chávez’s military arms purchases, his relations with such countries as Cuba and Iran, his efforts to export his brand of populism to other Latin American countries, and concerns about the state of democracy. Declining cooperation on antidrug and anti-terrorism efforts has also been a U.S. concern. Since 2005, President Bush has annually designated Venezuela as a country that has failed demonstrably to adhere to its obligations under international narcotics agreements, and since 2006, the Department of State prohibited the sale of defense articles and services to Venezuela because of its lack of cooperation on anti-terrorism efforts.

- Report of The Congressional Research Service, January 11, 2008