Relationship between Venezuela and USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Relationship between Venezuela and USA - Essay Example Latin America exerted new efforts toward integration. Moreover, the U.S. started to visualize a hemispheric alliance that would revolutionize the North-South structure of the American continent (Weeks 10). In Venezuela, the presidency of Hugo Chavez seemed to define a decisive moment, even a snapping point, whose importance should be explored within the perspective of the long-standing history of the relationship between Venezuela and the United States. This essay discusses the relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela. It focuses on Venezuela’s resistance to the domination strategy of the United States. The Interest of the United States in Latin America and Venezuela The key aspect of the relationship of U.S. with Latin American countries since the postwar period has been how these North and South regions of the Western hemisphere became profoundly engaged in the existence of each other in all possible ways—culturally, militarily, politically, and economically. Inter dependence became more evident during the post-Cold War years (De Escobar & Romero 39). However, the culmination of the Cold War did not produce interdependence, instead it exposed it. Latin American countries had been dependent on the U.S. for so long for popular culture, products and/or services, employment, security, technology, and investment capital. The people of the United States, in the meantime, had long desired the productive lands of Latin America, as well as its cheap labor and raw materials. However, the United States has sustained interest in Latin America for a much more important motive (De Escobar & Romero 39-42). Latin America and the U.S. had approximately the same population in 1945. However, by 2005 Latin America already surpassed the U.S. population. As the Latin American population continued growing, the region occupied an even bigger space in the imperialistic goals of the United States. Hence, in a period defined by issues of unilateral militarism, anti-Amer icanism, and globalization, the fusion of Latin America and the U.S. becomes more important than ever (Brewer 50). Venezuela’s democratic aspirations and its oil industry built special relations with the United States that eventually led to other developments: Venezuela’s aspiration to attain stronger independence, and bigger episodes that lessened the sense of Venezuela’s special status. Venezuela somewhat undervalued its relationship with the U.S. Similarly, the U.S. tended to disregard the fact that Venezuelan democracy would be successful (Brewer 81). In fact, forces undermining Venezuela’s national political system escalated gradually. By the 1990s, chaotic episodes in Venezuela would overturn several of these developments and pave the way for major reforms. If not for the uncovering of oil in Venezuela, maybe the United States and Venezuela would not have built the special relationship they have had from then on. The exceptional relationship built b y the extraordinary interest of the U.S. in securing stable oil supplies has been both the strength and weakness of their relations all over the 20th century (De Escobar & Romero 72). Venezuela has always expected that the U.S. would acknowledge their special position as trustworthy friends and have at times felt distressed and ignored that, sometimes, the U.S. has taken them for granted. This may not have been the situation during large-scale conflicts in Europe or other parts of the world, when the oil advantage of Venezuela became more valuable, but in ordinary times, and particularly since the expansion of energy sources that arose after the oil problem in the 1970s, Venezuela has at times fell into the bottom of U.S. priorities (De Escobar &