Bachelet with Bush in the White House
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet arrived in Washington Thursday, for an official visit with U.S. President George W. Bush. Later yesterday afternoon, she travelled to Congress to meet with House Leaders and Senators. In the evening, the President dined with women leaders part of the White House Project. Dining with President Bachelet were Senator Hillary Clinton, actor Geena Davis, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg among other invited guests.
Bachelet with Senator Clinton and Justice Ginsberg
However, President Bachelet’s visit is under a cloud, after news surfaced in the Chilean press that U.S. State Department is pressuring Chile to join a group of Latin American countries to isolate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and specifically prevent Chávez’s aspiration to join the UN Security Council later this year as a non-permanent member.
According to a report in La Tercera, a Santiago daily, the U.S. Government may have pressured officials in Chile to stop Venezuela from gaining greater South American influence.
The article says that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Under Secretary Robert Zoellick, playing the old good cop bad cop game, told Chile’s Foreign Minister to join Washington’s efforts in isolating Venezuela’s Chávez.
In addition, the report says if Chile did not comply then the bilateral US-Chile free trade agreement would face serious consequences.
U.S. officials and Chile’s Government spokesman Ricardo Lagos Webber quickly denied the news. Despite denials of the reported political pressures, neither the Foreign Minister nor the Government has contested any of the other events described in the story.
President Michelle Bachelet was asked about Chile’s agenda in Washington in light of the report in La Tercera. She said she does not like being told what to do.
She told Cooperativa News Radio, in a sit down interview, “Chile has never allowed undue pressures.” She affirmed that, she “may have many flaws by one it does not have is being fainthearted. I have never allowed undue pressures.”
The President qualified that “if there are legitimate requests that I find credible then, I accept them wholeheartedly, but undue pressure I have never accepted them in the past, present, nor will I tolerate them in the future.”
She added that Chile voted in the Security Council against the war in Iraq, while Santiago was negotiating a free trade agreement with Washington.
However, Bachelet may have to tread carefully before saying yes or no.
The U.S. also wants Chile’s help searching for another Latin American candidate to occupy the non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, a candidate that is not Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Chile faces strategic energy needs and Venezuela has pledged to meet Chile’s growing energy demand for the next 50 years. Chile also has designs on buying gas from Bolivia and joins with Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina in financing the so-called South America energy ring.
University of Chile political scientist Guillermo Holzmann says Chile is navigating in potentially rocky waters. He says “the U.S. does not want Venezuela in the UN Security Council, particularly on how Venezuela may behave on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and the case of Iran and North Korea, that by the time voting comes around in a few months, it is possible to search for a different candidate.”
To do that analyst Raúl Sohr says, Chile has to work with its regional partners. HE says “Chile has to look carefully to the regional balance. Brazil and Argentina have already said that they would support Venezuela getting a seat in the Security Council.”
According to Sohr Chile has to weigh very carefully which way it will go.
President Bachelet may help look for a third candidate, or alongside Argentina and Brazil put forward Venezuela’s candidacy but place Chávez under a very short leash in order to maintain regional balance and good relations with Washington.
Pictures: Alex Ibañez Presidencia de Chile
