Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

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Does the Bolivarian cause in Venezuela threaten U.S. foreign policy? Venezuela has been at the forefront of regional integration ever since Hugo Chavez was first elected president in 1998. Chavez argued that a necessary condition for any nation in the region to depart from the Washington Consensus and forge an alternative economic policy is the independence and sovereignty of the region from imperial domination. He also promoted the idea that in a multi-polar world, the region would be more likely to diversify its trade relationships, experiment with complementary types of commerce, and avoid political submission to any power block on the planet. These ideas have actually been put into practice, bringing about an epochal change over the past sixteen years, that has led to the formation of ALBA, UNASUR, MERCOSUR, CELAC and other associations of Latin American and Caribbean nations that do not include the U.S. or Canada.

The recent CELAC—China conference in January is an example of this exercise of independence and multi-polarity. But none of this poses a threat to the American people or the state. It does however, challenge one of Obama’s major policy goals, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. This free trade accord would be much easier to sell at the Summit of the Americas next month in Panama should the Maduro Administration be ousted in time. But that would be a crude calculation.

The people of the United States can benefit from a partnership with the new Latin America and Caribbean that complements each peoples’ needs and resources; but it must be based on mutual respect for sovereignty, and that means a U.S. policy that does not resort to “arm twisting” to impose free trade and neoliberal economic policies on our neighbors to the South. This would take a re-evaluation of the present overall U.S. hemispheric policy and an immediate step back from the precipice.