Report Author:
Performance Evaluation
Chavez's Assault on the Media
Discretionary Spending
Petro Diplomacy
Included Files
PETRO-POLITICS AND THE PROMOTION OF DISORDER
FINDINGS
- Venezuela under Chávez has become an even more entrenched petrostate. Today, the Venezuelan state depends more on oil revenues, and on the U.S. market, than in the 1990s. Hydrocarbon wealth has been used to erode checks and balances at home and support like-minded actors abroad.
- Through his opaque subsidies to foreign countries, Chávez is exporting corruption. The disbursal of large amounts of assistance without conditions or standards is more appealing to many countries than the condition-based assistance provided by international financial institutions and agencies like the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation.
- Two important elements of Chavismo since 2006 have been the rise of statism in the economy (as a way to expand public-sector employment and reduce the influence of the private sector) and the general promotion of chaos and lawlessness to control the opposition. Life, liberty, and property are increasingly threatened by violent crime, government- linked thugs, and bureaucratic disarray.
- In another aspect of this lawlessness, the government enacts and selectively applies draconian legislation—on corruption, tax evasion, media content, foreign-exchange access, productivity standards, sources of funding, and other matters—in order to eliminate independent or opposition forces in the private media, the business sector, the landowning class, civil society, and rival political parties. Chávez is thus applying a dictum often attributed to a former Latin American dictator: “For my friends, everything . . . for my enemies, the law.”
- Despite the government’s diligent efforts to eliminate its political antagonists, Venezuela remains a country with considerable political ferment and a vibrant opposition. While opposition groups have long struggled to gain broad popular support, they did win majorities in densely populated regions in the 2008 elections.
- The global economic crisis will no doubt weaken the economic foundations of the regime, compromising its unrestrained foreign and domestic spending. But rather than transforming the opposition into a viable competitor and driving Chávez from power, the downturn may simply stimulate the autocratic side of Chavismo. Friends will continue to receive privileges; opponents will continue to surrender more powers to the state, face more arbitrary treatment, and receive fewer protections under the law. Boom times allowed Chávez to be an electorally competitive autocrat. The crisis will make him less electorally competitive and more autocratic.
June 4 2009 EVENT
On June 4, 2009, a high level conference in Washington DC launched the "Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians" study.
IN THE NEWS
MEDIA
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