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