 "Photo: Eric Ou/The Daily Texan")
Students and faculty filled the Eastwoods Room of the Texas Union on Tuesday to hear the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s ambassador to the United States.
The speech comes at a time when the Latin American country’s past rocky relations with the U.S. are entering a period of restoration. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera was originally appointed to the position in 2003 but was recalled by the Venezuelan government in 2008. His recall came following Venezuela’s decision to expel its U.S. ambassador to show support for Bolivia, which was in the midst of a diplomatic dispute with the Bush administration.
Herrera served as the nation’s head delegate to the Union of South American Nations and president of the Bank of Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas before being reinstated as Venezuelan ambassador to the U.S. by the Obama administration.
Plan II and sport management senior James Magown has family in Venezuela. He said that President Hugo Chavez’s threats of war with Colombia worry him, and that the U.S. is in a position to influence relations between the two countries. Chavez is arming the Venezuelan-Colombian border after an agreement between the U.S. and Colombia was established to allow the construction of U.S. military bases in Colombia.
“President Clinton had really great diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and it was really easy to travel back there, but now I don’t feel safe,” Magown said. “It’s really dangerous for someone who doesn’t look Venezuelan.”
Juliet Hooker, associate director of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, helped organize the event and said the ambassador’s speech is relevant to students as Venezuela emerges as a leader in Latin America.
“Our understanding of Venezuela as both an interesting process of change and a major player in the international arena is critical,” said institute Director Charles Hale.
Herrera said that relations between the U.S. and Venezuela soured when the U.S. began its war on terror. He recalled an incident in which the U.S. bombed Afghanistan, hitting a house with five children. Afterward, Chavez condemned the United States’ actions as terrorism.
The Bush administration told Venezuela that nobody stood behind them if they did not stand with the U.S., Herrera said.
“Venezuela is not doing anything to the U.S.,” Herrera said. “It’s exactly the same case as Cuba. What has Cuba done to the U.S.?”
Herrera said many Americans in Congress and in the media accused Venezuela of human trafficking and media censorship, but never of a direct offense against the U.S.
“I don’t think it is a problem with the Obama administration. I think he has an open mind,” Herrera said. “The question is, who is setting up policies with Latin America?”
Obama said his administration will not support military coups in Latin America that interfere with democratic processes, but the government in Honduras established as a result of the country’s coup in June is still in power.
Herrera said these oversights are reminiscent of U.S. policies toward Latin America in the 1980s, which he said were more of an effort to maintain U.S. dominance than to support democracy in Latin America.
“Venezuela’s problem is an emblematic case of how the U.S. uses the same politics of the past and ignores changes in recent years,” Herrera said.
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