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The new international allies of Venezuela have in common its aversion to the US and the affinity for different types of government such as authoritarianism and antidemocratic behaviours. Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela, has built a network of international alliances to avoid the economic sanctions imposed by the US government, as revealed in this investigation “Ideological “compadres” of Chavismo: until the business breaks”. 

ICFJ, Freedom House, Alianza Rebelde Investiga (ARI) and CONNECTAS organized the Dialogue “The allies that back up Chavismo: affinity or opportunism?” to analyze the conformation and effects of this new diplomatic axis, with nations of the Middle and Far East. These alliances have allowed the Nicolás Maduro regime to remain alive despite the economic sanctions imposed by the US government and the commercial restrictions, and the ban for doing business with Venezuela. 

During this Dialogue our panelists talked about how the alliances with different countries keep economically alive Maduro´s regime and how it is avoiding economic sanctions. What is the role of these diplomatic partners? How long will these relationships last in a period of economic decline? 

The panelists of this #DiálogosCONNECTAS were María Alejandra Aristeguieta, internationalist and former Ambassador, Representative of Venezuela to the Swiss Confederation and to the UN in Geneva; Christi Rangel, Professor of Economics at Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela and Representative of Transparencia Venezuela; and Lisseth Boon, Coordinator of the Investigative Unit of Runrun.es, which is part of the Alianza Rebelde Investiga –ARI-.

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New Alliances

A few years ago, a lot of countries started strategic alliances with Venezuela, such as Iran, Belarus, Russia and China. All of those nations have in common its aversion to the United States. In addition, these countries have high levels of corruption and several alerts in the rankings that evaluate democracy in the world. Nevertheless, this ideological affinity with Maduro’s regime, their relationship goes further and has more interests. 

Mainly, those alliances have the purpose to sustain the commerce in Venezuela, as was explained by Lisseth Boon, but with the economic sanctions, imposed in 2015, turned these relationships in a strategic way to avoid the sanctions. Venezuela is also strategic for countries such as Russia or China, to approach Latin America and a way to confront the United States in the same territory. 

Thus, although Venezuela’s trade was in decline, mainly due to falling oil prices and sanctions, it continued to position itself as a strategic location. Its allies began to bring their products and businesses to the Latin American country while showing how to evade global sanctions. At the same time, these synergies later served to solve deficiencies in Venezuela, such as the shortage of medicines, which India is currently helping to cover. 

In addition, the non-existence of a credit line in the country, as well the lack of solid structures for commercial trade. According to Christi Rangel, due to this absence of transparency in the economy, there are swaps, imports and exports that are not documented and with not known registration, which the Maduro regime promotes, since its government is solvent through commercial transactions that do not occur through traditional channels.

Looking to the future

The panelists underlined the importance of why the regime of Venezuela has remained on its feet despite the economic sanctions, economic decline and the humanitarian crisis. According to Aristeguieta, negotiating with the government of Maduro for a democratic transition is too difficult, since they are not interested in any changes. 

Furthermore, the economic system will be hard to rebuild, thus, Venezuela needs to stabilize prices and to control hyperinflation will take years and a fiscal discipline that implies transparency, as explained by economist Rangel. Finally, despite the international agreements, as said journalist Boon, the Madurist regime is not interested in the economic growth of society, but rather in the reactivation of the commercial movement. 

At the moment, the system in Venezuela is obscured by corruption and abuses of power, there is no accountability and there is no way of knowing how the government behaves economically. There is also no control or counterweight to this power. In this context for the international allies it continues to be profitable to have relationships with the country, because in the end the goal is enrichment. 

In conclusion, the panelists saw the future of Venezuela with hope, but they are clear that the changes that the country needs will take time and require a political change that leads to another type of institutionality. Likewise, the panelists agreed with the need to restore the value of the democratic system to put again in track the country governed by Chavismo, and probably the actions of Maduro may be punished at some point.

Finally, they emphasized the need to put the interests of the citizens before any commercial transaction in the country, because while Maduro has all the comforts of a president, the Venezuelan people are going through a humanitarian crisis that seems to have no end.

Panelists

María Alejandra Aristeguieta de Álvarez 

Internationalist, graduated from UCV, Caracas. In 2019, she was appointed Representative Ambassador of Venezuela to the Swiss Confederation and the UN in Geneva. Today she works as an advisor on international affairs, lecturer, author of articles and essays, and human rights defender. In her country, she held management positions both in the Instituto de Comercio Exterior and in the Congress of the Republic, and was part of the Service Venezuelan exterior. Later, she headed the Geneva Office of APCO Worldwide, a well-known public policy and communications agency. She founded her own independent firm from which she carried out multiple projects as a lobbyist, professor, researcher, consultant for International Organizations, global NGOs, and multinational companies. Multinationals. With more than 25 years of experience and practice in Multilateral Policies, trade and development issues.

Lisseth Boon

Journalist with large experience in print and digital media in Venezuela. Member of CONNECTAS Hub. Her work has been recognized with the Ipys National Investigative Journalism Award, the FNPI`s Gabriel García Márquez Award, the Colpin Latin American Award, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Excellence in Journalism award, and the Online News Association (ONA) Award. and Fetisov Prize. Graduated from the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas with postgraduate degrees at the Simón Bolívar University and the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, ​​Spain. She has been part of the transnational projects Panama Papers, Investiga Lavajato, Conexion Suiza and FincenFiles. She coordinates the Investigative unit of the Runrun.es portal, which is part of the Alianza Rebelde Investiga -ARI-.

Christi Rangel

Doctor in Economics, specialist in public finance, fiscal federalism, fiscal transparency and the fight against corruption. Fellow of the Fulbright program of the Department of State of the United States of America as a researcher at George Mason University. Professor at the Universidad de Los Andes de Venezuela with 19 years of experience and representative of Transparencia Venezuela in Mérida for more than 12 years. She was Director of Human Resources at the Universidad de Los Andes. He has provided advice and training on finance, accountability and transparency to various municipal governments in Venezuela. Accredited researcher, she has published a book in Spain, 4 book chapters, works in journals from Venezuela, Argentina, Spain, Canada and the United States and research reports as a consultant.