At the 5th Summit of the Americas this spring, Barack Obama and Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, were photographed holding hands and smiling broadly. Obama spoke of "engaging in a new relationship" and forging “partnerships and joint approaches to work on common challenges" in the hemisphere. Observers touted the Summit, and its rare moment of comity between an American President and Venezuela’s Head of State, as the dawning of a new day for the United States’ relationship with Latin America.
Less than half a year on, however, relations between the United States and its southern neighbor have deteriorated rapidly. The announcement last month of a U.S.-Colombian deal to increase the American military presence in the country has inspired region-wide indignation. Chavez has used the deal as justification for a widely publicized $2.2 billion arms deal with Russia, and despite the United States’ assurances that its agreement with Colombia will serve only to aid that country in combating drug trafficking and internal conflict, Chavez remains unconvinced; “We have the largest petroleum reserves in the world. The [United States] has its sights on them, and that although Venezuela has no plans to invade anybody, nor attack anybody. These arms are necessary for our national defense.”
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