INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM VENEZUELA: EMERGING ON THE WORLD SCENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00608R000300060022-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2000
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: July 2, 1975
• Content Type: IM

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Intelligence Memorandum
Venezuela: Emerging on the World Scene
132
July ?, 1975
No. 0742/75
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Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
Additional Warning
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
Classified by 006827
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E. 0. 11652, exemption category:
g 56 (11, (21, and 131
Automatically declassified
on: Date Impossible to Determine
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S]EC:RET
July 2, 1975
Venezuela: Emerging nn the World Scene
Summary
President Carlos Andres Perez, a shrewd, energetic, self-made career politician
with strong charismatic appeal, has taken advantage of his country's growing
nationalism and prosperity to emerge as the unchallenged political leader at home.
Abroad, he has prese:-~ted himself as a hemispheric spokesman. Venezuela's position
as a founding member of OPEC has thrust that country nearer the world's power
center and into incipient confrontation with the US.
Now into his second year in office, Perez has given high priority to defining a
new working relationship with the US, using as a starting point Venezuela's role as a
traditional and reliable supplier of petroleum. At the same time, political and
economic ties with Latin and Third World countries are being intensified. Venezuela
sees its interests served by pursuing a foreign policy that allies the country with the
interests and aspirations of developing countries vis-a-vis the industrialized world. It
will not go so far, however, as to jeopardize its relations with the US-the main
market for Venezuelan petroleum.
Comments and queries on the contents of this publication are welcome 77tey may be directed to
-of the Office of Current Intelligence, code 143, extension U 228.
SECRET
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An Auspicious Beginnin&
Under the aggressive leadership of President Carlos Andres Perez,
Venezuela is rapidly becoming a hemispheric power. It is utilizing some of its
oil revenues to propel its ambitious drive to assert leadership in Latin
American political and economic affairs and to expand its influence in the
Third 1World. Despite the anti-US torte of President Perez' vigorous efforts to
establish a "new international order," he has indicated receptivity to a
dialogue that would lead to a new definition of relations between the twa
countries.
Venezuela's new assertiveness stems from rising nationalism and a
new-found wealth resulting from its position ss one of the world's major
petroleum exporters. The belief that oil revenues arc a temporary phenom-
enon is at the heart of its strong promotion of high international oil prices.
Venezuela has categori~wlly rejected classification with the rich countries;
instead it identifies wherever possible with commodity-producing LDCs.
C~~rrying this line to its logic;il conclusion, Venezuela also insists that :nigh oil
pr.ice~ are not the root cause of the present world economic problems.
Rather, i~ pictures the present structure of the world economic order as one
that discriminates against all commodity-supplying nations, including oil
producers.
To win support for this interpretation, Perez has personally initiated
bilateral contacts with all Latin, and Caribbean countries ar-d has also sought
a wider role for Venezuela among the non-Latin nations of the Third World.
By joining the vanguard of the "poor" against the "rich," Perez hopes tc
deflect criticism of Venezuela's oil-based wealth and the prominent role it
has played in working toward higher petroleum prices in OPEC and in.
defending these increases in world forums. The Perez administration has
apparently decided that its long-term political strategy is better served by
identification with the LDCs, whether in Latin America or elsewhere.
The Leading Architect
In contrast to previous administrations, in which the foreign minister
usually played an influential if not dominant role in the formulation and
execution of foreign policy, President Perez is the major force behind recent
diplomatic initiatives. Foreign Minister Ramon Escovar Salom and his
predecessor, Efrain Sc'nacht, have been little more than executors of deci-
sions made in the presidential palace. Perez has ordered a reorganization of
the Foreign Ministry i:o reflect the nation's increased inr~ernational commit-
ments and its position as a major oil exporter. Petroleum attaches are being
assigned to most major countries, and diplomatic relations are being ex-
panded on the African and Asian continents.
SLr:R.ET
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In recent months Perez has launched ~, strenuous diplomatic offensive
in Latin America aimed at strengthening political and economic relations and
convincing others of the need for more economic regional cooperation. He
has succeeded in broa~'ening Latin America's alertness to issues affecting the
region and has infused new vitality into the drive for new modes of regional
cooperation designed to free the area from dependence on the US. He was
instrumental in the recent decision by ten Latin American nations to form a
multinatio;ial merchant fleet, a move that will increase competition for
forei~?n ship operators in the region. Earlier, PerP,z played a prominent part in
the Ayacucho sesquicentennial celebrations in Peru last December and
hosted a meeting of Central American presi~ents in Venezuela the same
month. Recently he has proposed a meeting of all Latin American chief's of
state sometime later this year. Perez has sent personal emissaries to most
Latin American countries to lobby for a Latin Americar. economic organiza-
tion that excludes the US. In :~etur;~, he is receiving a growing number of
high-ranking foreign visitors.
I,: March, following a "tr,.umphal" ,:,tuna from the corf~rence of OPEC
chiefs of state in Algiers, he visited M;;xicc~ and later >?~articipated ~r. a
mini-summit in iPanama City with lea,'I~~rs ~~>f Colombia, Panama, and Costa
Rica, taking advantage of his visit t~~ pler,ge Venezuelan solidarity with
Panama in the canal negotiations. Fur-her ~.,ificial visits in the hemisphere are
under consideration, and at least v;lC, to Bolivia in August, has already been
announced. These activities demcnstr