VENEZUELA Leader Chavez aims to weaken U.S. influence

Hugo Chavez wants to revive Simon Bolivar's dream of a unified Latin America.
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CARACAS, Venezuela -- While Cuban leader Fidel Castro tried to export his revolution throughout Latin America in the 1960s with AK-47s, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is fighting to expand his "21st-century socialism" with oil barrels.
Flush with huge profits from high petroleum prices, Chavez has offered cheap crude and refineries to neighbors, bought up some of their bonds and offered cash aid for development programs in a bid to unify the region around his ideology.
"I think that we Caribbean and Latin Americans need to think about, when the North American empire crashes, what comes next for us," a confident Chavez told delegates from the Caribbean during the October launch of PetroCaribe, an arrangement to send Venezuelan oil to those nations.
Chavez may be underestimating the future of the "empire," and not everyone seems to be signing on to his revolution.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Mexican President Vicente Fox -- who recalled his ambassador from Venezuela last week in response to Chavez's recalling his own ambassador to Mexico after the two exchanged words about economic policy during this month's Summit of the Americas -- seem to be emerging as the United States' strongest allies.
How much sway Chavez gains and maintains with the countries that receive his largesse will also depend on his own staying power at home, the future price of oil and U.S policies.
Aims at integration
But that has not stopped the Venezuelan president from offering his help around the region while pushing to revive the dream of his hero Simon Bolivar, the 19th-century soldier who led a region from Peru to Venezuela to independence from Spain but then failed in his efforts to keep it unified as one nation.
"We are prepared to go little by little towards integration, a union so that we are stronger, and to march forward, as Bolivar says, toward the prosperity of our people," Chavez told the leaders of the Caribbean.
His efforts to export his ideology recall the campaigns of Castro, Chavez's political mentor, to export his revolution with armed groups to Latin America in the 1960s and '70s.
But although unconfirmed Ecuadorean intelligence reports have alleged that 20 Latin Americans received guerrilla training in Venezuela earlier this year, Chavez is more openly using his oil wealth to win influence over the region.
Oil and social programs
PetroCaribe, a pact among Venezuela and 14 Caribbean nations, will provide cheap financing for oil purchases, to be repaid over 25 years. Venezuela also pledged $50 million for social programs in the Caribbean similar to the literacy and health programs that Chavez has launched in his own country.
In addition, Chavez is pushing forward PetroAmerica, a Latin America-wide arrangement that could include swapping human resources such as doctors for natural resources such as oil and natural gas.
As part of the deal, the Venezuelan leader says he'll invest $2 billion to expand refining capacity in Jamaica, Cuba and Uruguay, and has spoken of joint ventures to build refineries in Brazil and Ecuador.
Chavez's search for regional influence already has had some impact, with U.S. officials privately complaining that his warm relations with the 14 Caribbean countries swayed some of their votes in the 34-member Organization of American States.
Opposed OAS candidate
The Caribbean members, for example, joined Chavez in opposing the U.S.-backed conservative candidate for the post of OAS secretary-general, former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores. Flores eventually withdrew and Chile's Jose Miguel Insulza, a moderate socialist, was elected.
"What he's doing is castrating the OAS," said retired U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette, a Latin American specialist now in private consulting. "That's his objective. And it's going to happen. You can count on it."
But Frechette and other analysts say it may not be so easy for Chavez to maintain his new alliances, especially if a drop in prices hurts his foreign assistance efforts and perhaps even his chances of holding power at home.
What's more, Frechette says that Chavez, with his aggressive anti-Americanism and still undetailed brand of socialism, may not be as appealing to his neighbors as the Venezuelan president believes -- and some U.S. government officials fear.