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Venezuela Venezuela and Brazil
Historically, the strategic postures of Venezuela and
Brazil
have proven to be largely exclusive, with few points of
intersection or friction. In contrast to Venezuela's
inclination
toward the Caribbean, Brazil's external focus lay to the
east,
toward the southern Atlantic Ocean. As Brazil has begun to
emphasize the extension, exploitation, and protection of
its
Amazon resources, however, minor potential conflict areas
have
emerged.
The Brazilian interest in the Essequibo dispute served
as a
signal of peripheral friction. Some Venezuelan observers
have
claimed that Brazil harbored a desire to extend not only
its
influence but also its territorial access northward to the
Caribbean. It is not clear whether governments in Caracas
have
shared this concern. Brazilian outreach to previously
neglected
areas such as Guyana and Suriname, however, has
highlighted for
Venezuelan strategic planners the vulnerability of the
southern
and eastern frontiers. In this context, the movement to
develop
and populate areas more remote from the Caribbean
heartland, such
as Ciudad Guayana, could be viewed not only as a response
to
economic circumstances, but also as a move to bolster the
nation's security posture.
Although neither government has stressed the issue
publicly,
the question of itinerant Brazilian gold miners plying
their
trade illegally across the border has been an irritant to
Venezuela. Although the strategic effect of this
phenomenon was
negligible, its implications appeared serious to some
Venezuelan
policy makers. This was because the situation touched on
two
nationalistic sore points: Venezuela's inability to police
effectively its long southern border and its apparent
inability
to protect its natural resources. The latter issue was a
particularly resonant one in light of Venezuela's
dependence on
one resource--petroleum--for its economic existence.
Data as of December 1990
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