Since taking office in 1999, Venezuelan ruler Hugo Ch谩vez has embraced just about every anti-American dictator and strongman on the planet. So it was no surprise last weekend when Syrian boss Bashar Assad made his first trip to Latin America and met with Ch谩vez in Caracas. Ch谩vez that Assad's visit was aimed at building a "Caracas-Damascus axis" of strategic cooperation. He also unleashed a vicious attack on Israel.
"Someday the genocidal state of Israel will be put in its place, in the proper place, and hopefully a real democratic state will be born," Ch谩vez . "But it has become the murderous arm of the Yankee empire--who can doubt it?--which threatens all of us." Assad chimed in, saying that Israel was "based on crime, slaughter." He also praised Ch谩vez as an "Arab leader."
Venezuela's outreach to Syria is an extension of its growing alliance with Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. There is a dangerous leadership vacuum in Latin America, which Tehran and Damascus are exploiting. After 18 months in office, the Obama administration still has not articulated a comprehensive policy for the region. Its dithering has emboldened Ch谩vez to establish closer links with rogue and authoritarian governments.
Meanwhile, Ch谩vez has continued his assault on private enterprise. Earlier this week, the Venezuelan government that it would seize eleven oil rigs owned by Helmerich & Payne, a U.S.-based multinational company. That same day, the beleaguered Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, that it had borrowed another $1.5 billion from foreign banks to alleviate its liquidity problems. Its total debt jumped by 42 percent in 2009.
These are the real results of Ch谩vez's "Bolivarian" revolution: Venezuela now has warm relationships with terror-sponsoring Mideast dictatorships, and a rapidly deteriorating petroleum industry. I wonder if is paying attention.