Chavez’s Empty Partnership with Russia

It appears that the deep isolation of Hugo Chavez has hollowed out Venezuela’s relationship with Russia.  Moscow probably doesn’t mind so long as he keeps the money flowing on arms.  From the Financial Times on Wikileaks and Latin America.

There is, for example, a freshness of perception in one 2004 cable by Mr Chávez’s former lover, Herma Marksman, who relates that the president’s lack of confidants and unwillingness to trust others “likely contributes to his government’s failure in executing many of his initiatives”.

This insight informs later reports, which describe the disarray of Venezuelan medical services, and the “pure political theatre” of nuclear cooperation talks between Caracas and Moscow. Venezuela is “incapable of cooperation with Russia on the development, design, construction and operation of nuclear reactors,” the cable notes.