venezuela – iran: interests in common?
DESCRIPTION
Venezuela – Iran: Interests in Common?. SIMILARITIES: Domestic Polity. Treatment of dissent Reliance on military & revolutionary militias/ guards to intimidate opposition Iran provides public opinion experts to assist Chavez “ Ahmadinejad is love’ “Chavez is love”. Iranian Militias - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Venezuela – Iran: Interests in Common?
SIMILARITIES: Domestic Polity
Treatment of dissent Reliance on military
& revolutionary militias/ guards to intimidate opposition
Iran provides public opinion experts to assist Chavez“Ahmadinejad is love’“Chavez is love”
Iranian Militias
Venezuelan Militias
Use of Elections to Maintain Legitimacy
• Elections controlled - IRAN
Change implied by elections unacceptable: Venezuela
SHARED Interests Counter efforts to
isolateAccess to
technologyPetroleumMilitary
Opposition to the United States
Dislike of secular consumer culture
Mutual Interest: Soften Isolation
Chavez: seven visits to Tehran since 2004Thirty cooperative agreements
Truck factoryAmmunition factoryCement plant
Weekly flight Caracas – Damascus – TehranVenezuela expresses support for Iran’s
right to develop nuclear energy
Financial Purchase of Corp Banca C.A (May 2008)
Paperwork processed in record timeIranian Board of Directors Circumvents embargo – allows Iran to move
money around USAIran – Venezuela Development Bank
April 2009 -2011 Capital begins $200 million to $1.2 BillionCapital projects (possibly uranium mining)
Military Cooperation Iranian military advisors
embedded with Venezuelan Army units since 2006
Iranian advisors from Revolutionary Guards assist in organizing popular militias and Francisco Miranda Front
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar met with Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez, (also acting defense minister) in March 2009
Asymmetric Warfare: Lessons learned from Iraq
Alain Joxe: “La Guerra USA-Iraq: Imperio, guerra asimetrica y caos global
Army field manuals from period of USA cooperation burned
Asymmetric warfare adopted as official doctrine of Venezuelan military
Iranian military manuals discussing asymmetric warfare appear in Venezuela
Militias promising to mount asymmetric warfare against imperialist invaders
Venezuela: facilitating Iranian ties with FARC Insurgents?
Colombian Army raid on camp of Raul Reyes (May 2008)08
Iranian field manuals$480,000 cash in Costa
Rican safe house traced to Iran
Low grade uranium buried (30 kilos)
Critical QuestionsWhat is Iran’s
capability to influence conditions/events in Venezuela – and Latin America that impact on U.S. ?
How concerned should the U.S. be with Iranian activities in Venezuela?
Ahmadinejad Welcomed in
Caracas
Iran & Brazil Lula – geopolitical
ambitions Mediation on nuclear
programEconomic ventures
Dilma more cautious/reserv
ed