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Russia and Venezuela: Russia's Gateway to Latin America
On 24 October 2010, during his speech at the All-Russian state library for foreign
literature in Moscow, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Hugo Chavez, declared, “I am one of those who believe that the Soviet Union
never disappeared”. He addressed these words to the Russian government, which
attempted to regain the lost positions in the international arena after the collapse
of the USSR. The close ties between Russia and Venezuela gave this opportunity
to Moscow. Post-Soviet Russia made significant investments in the Venezuelan
economy, while the Russian army conducted military exercises near the
Venezuelan coast and provided military-technical assistance to Venezuela. The
political presence of Moscow, large-scale projects, and the visits of the Russian
Navy and Air Force to Venezuela created a perception of the Moscow’s returning
to the great geopolitical game.
Before the heyday of Russian–Venezuelan relations under Chavez, the history
of bilateral ties saw periods of cooperation and periods of tension. Between 1926
and 1929, the Venezuelan Revolution Party (PRV) worked closely with the
Comintern and the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. PRV was
preparing an armed uprising against the regime of Juan Vicente Gomez and counted
on Moscow’s assistance. The Soviet ambassador in Mexico and the representative
of the Comintern Executive Committee, Stanislav Pestkovsky, supported the plan.
However, the Comintern Headquarters rejected the Venezuelan proposal (Jeifets
& Jeifet, 2015) and insisted on replacing PRV with a Soviet-model Communist
Party. The relations between the official Moscow and Caracas started much later,
only in 1945, to recognize the Soviet role in the Second World War. They also
lasted only seven years: As Cold War deepened its roots in the region, Venezuela
broke diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1952. The following 18
years were marked by tensions between Venezuela and USSR, primarily due to
the Soviet support to Cuba. According to Betancourt doctrine, Caracas did not
recognize the governments, which obtained power undemocratically like Castro’s
regime. Perhaps even more importantly, Havana helped the Venezuelan armed
opposition with weapons and military experts.