Chávez wins to the displeasure of the West

This cooperation is something the West and those in Washington’s sphere of influence may not be pleased with. This includes social and cultural collaboration, energy production and the development of energy resources, business, manufacturing, agricultural and scientific development and lastly cooperation in the areas of military development and cooperation.

Speaking to ecstatic supporters gathered around the presidential palace on the eve of his clear victory in the national elections, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez declared that "Venezuela will continue along the path of democratic and Bolivarian socialism of the 21st century."

In an election that many in the West saw as a referendum pitting the ideals of socialism against those of capitalism, the people of Venezuela made their choice loud and clear, and they are happy with the path of Democratic Socialism that Chávez has been the champion of.

Shortly after the election results became clear Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with the leader and congratulated the charismatic Chávez wishing him continued success in the post of president.

During the course of the conversation both leaders gave high marks to the level of mutually beneficial cooperation that has been reached by both countries and confirmed Russian and Venezuela’s shared aim to further strengthen what have traditionally been friendly relations.

The leaders also spoke about further developing and completing many joint plans and stated their commitment to continuing the constructive dialogue between the governments of both countries at all levels.

On the other side of the spectrum the reaction from the West was far from warm, with the White House reacting faster than it did when President Putin was re-elected but not congratulating the elected leader himself. The frosty reaction from the White House to the leader who not long ago said he supported US President Barack Obama came in the form of a terse press statement congratulating the Venezuelan people and not Chávez himself.

As one of the few countries left in the world which pursues a robust and independent foreign policy agenda and internal policies which are far from those which Washington would characterize as being in keeping with their own self-serving interests, Venezuela has found itself increasingly in Washington’s sights. Recently it has even been openly discussed, albeit in hushed tones, that the West may have plans to eliminate Hugo Chávez and even launch military aggression against the Opec Member.

In the field of energy alone Venezuela has been a thorn-in-the-side of the US for a long time with Washington displeased over many of the policies and practices of state controlled oil company PDVSA, including what it sees as “discount” prices offered to the country’s “Socialist Allies”.

Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world and the West is displeased that they are not able to get their hands on the pie as much as they would like to. On Monday analysts at J.P. Morgan predicted that the win by Chávez would further stifle foreign investment, meaning there will be much less possibility of the West getting their share of Venezuela’s riches.

0Experts and analysts from all the over the world may also see the win by Chávez as a cementing of his position on the US list for regime change with many continuing to say that after Syria and Iran Venezuela will be next.