On May 22 Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez said his government would like to develop nuclear power as a way of diversifying its energy sources. He said Venezuela would cooperate with Iran and with other Latin American nations to explore possible nuclear and solar energy projects.

In a column published the day before in the Houston Chronicle under the title “Is Venezuela going nuclear?” Douglas MacKinnon, who was press secretary to former senator Robert Dole, pointed to Chávez’s recent hosting in Caracas of Iranian president Mohammad Khatami and the Venezuelan president’s defense of Iran’s nuclear energy program. MacKinnon asserted that the Chávez government “might be trying to acquire nuclear technology or weapons from Iran” and cited an unnamed high-ranking U.S. official who agreed that this represented a “threat” to Washington. Speaking on his weekly Sunday TV program, broadcast at an event in Caracas for Iranian companies, Chávez said, “If we had the technical capacity and the resources right now, we would participate in this effort because it’s one of the paths toward diversifying energy sources…. We could, along with Brazil, with Argentina and others, start investigations into the nuclear sector and ask for help from countries like Iran.”

The Venezuelan president said such development would be “for peace and energy,” not for producing nuclear weapons.

Chávez has defended Iran’s efforts to meet its growing electrical needs by developing a nuclear energy program in face of threats by Washington and other imperialist powers, which argue that Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

Both Chávez and Iranian government officials “have argued that wealthy nations like the United States cannot keep today’s energy-related technologies for themselves while developing countries struggle to produce enough energy to satisfy domestic needs,” reported the Scottish daily Scotsman in its May 23 issue.

Brazilian vice president Jose Alencar was quick to reply that his government was open to cooperation with Venezuela but would not be associated with Iran. Brazil’s science and technology minister, Eduardo Campos, said his country would develop its nuclear program in strict compliance with policies enforced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Under the banner of stopping nuclear weapons proliferation, Washington has led a campaign to prevent Iran and other semicolonial nations from developing nuclear energy to generate electricity. Last November the Brazilian government bowed to imperialist pressure to allow IAEA inspections of its uranium enrichment plant.

Venezuela is the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter. Like Iran, it is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries—a group of 11 semicolonial nations that have united to strengthen their control of oil resources in face of the power of the imperialist oil monopolies, which have tremendous influence over world production, distribution, and prices of petroleum.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government has announced that the state-run oil company PdVSA will move its headquarters for Caribbean operations to Cuba. In 2000, under the Chávez administration, Venezuela began selling 53,000 barrels of crude oil a day to Cuba on preferential terms; it has since increased these sales to more than 80,000 a day.  
 
OAS committee would target Venezuela
In late May the U.S. government announced its intention of getting the OAS to establish a committee to monitor Latin American governments for their “quality of democracy” as defined by the U.S.-dominated body. Comments by U.S. officials make it clear that the main target of such a move would be Venezuela.

The U.S. rulers have taken a hostile approach to the Venezuelan government. They are concerned about the increased confidence of workers and peasants in that country who have fought for land, jobs, greater control of national resources, and improved living conditions. They oppose government measures that have benefited working people, from a land reform to literacy and adult education programs.

“The elected governments that do not govern democratically should be held accountable by the OAS,” the newly chosen OAS general secretary, José Insulza of Chile, declared May 21 in a reference to the U.S. proposal. U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was at his side. A New York Times report noted that “Ms. Rice and other American officials had wrested that remark from him in exchange for American support for his candidacy.”

Anonymous U.S. officials told the Times that Washington would “hold the OAS accountable for holding the Venezuelan government accountable for governing democratically.”

Several Latin American governments distanced themselves from the U.S. proposal for an OAS committee to sit in judgment of Latin American governments. “I don’t think this idea will pass,” said Jorge Chen, the Mexican ambassador. “Every country has its problems,” stated Rodolfo Gil, the Argentine ambassador to the OAS. “But I can tell you one thing: the most powerful countries will never be there.”  
 
 
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