With the Eurasian tour, Nicolás Maduro resumed his international agenda, in which, in addition to signing various agreements with his counterparts in Turkey, Algeria and Irandedicated himself to consolidating an anti-hegemonic discourse that, according to the president, is necessary to build a “new world of union and cooperation” under the so-called “Bolivarian diplomacy.”
(Also read: Maduro, seeking to strengthen his support in the non-Western world)
Particularly, the strengthening of ties and agreements with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi drew attention to the fact that this country was declared an “enemy” of the United Stateswhich constantly challenges the West with its nuclear developments.
Both countries, sanctioned by Washington, have helped each other to get around the restrictions, and although relations date back to 1960 when they jointly led the foundations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), it was not until 2005 that they began their path of consolidation. .
That year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strengthened relations with Caracas, and in turn, Venezuela has encouraged Cuba and Nicaragua to do the same. Until 2011, Tehran and Caracas had more than 270 agreements.
Vehicle factories, cement companies, concessions in a gold mine in Bolívar, southern Venezuela, and the construction of houses are some of the plans carried out by Iran in the territory of the neighboring country and that lead to speculation about the Persian need to approach the Venezuelan uranium for its nuclear developments, of which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently warned that it would be close to obtaining enough material for an atomic bomb.
After his visit, Maduro signed new agreements, the details of which are unknown, but which will last 20 years.
“Maduro’s relationship with Iran has escalated to a new dimension. The region must sound the alarms”. This is what the Venezuelan politician in exile Julio Borges believes.
Borges, who until a few months ago was in charge of international relations for the interim government of Juan Guaidó, assured that the defense sector is included among the agreements signed.
Since 2021 it has been known that in Venezuela they are showing the prototype of the unmanned artillery aircraft system, equipped with missiles and that Iran has offered Venezuela a coastal defense system
Caracas and Tehran became more closely linked when gasoline shortages hit Venezuela hard.
In 2020, Tehran sent ships loaded with gasoline and derivatives to Venezuela, a country with the largest crude oil reserves in the world.
Yetzy Villarroel, researcher and professor at the Simón Bolívar University, argues that the situation shows how Maduro continues to seek distant allies in the region to confront the US ideologically and geopolitically.
“Together with Russia and China, Iran represents for Venezuela an alternative alliance that it no longer had with the region, especially with the United States, whose relationship fissured since 1999 with the arrival of Hugo Chávez. It is an alternative to not being completely isolated because geopolitics has been changing and it is indicating that a change of hegemony may take place”, he explains.
The researcher considers that if the new bilateral agreements contain military proposals, the region and in particular US allies, such as Colombia, should sound the alarm.
I celebrate this day of talks and profound understanding with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi. We have managed to articulate our forces in an amazing map of cooperation, at the energy, financial, petrochemical and defense levels. pic.twitter.com/G9gM3ga7HK
– Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) June 11, 2022
“Venezuela would become part of a group of countries that is trying to change world hegemony,” Villarroel points out.
For some years it has been insisted that the Iranian presence in the hemisphere is constantly challenging the White House. In fact, under the administration of Barack Obama, Washington requested information on the actions of the Iranians in Latin America on several occasions.
The diplomat Jesús Mazzei considers that the projection of Iran in Latin America is “complex”, especially for Argentina, after the attacks suffered by the Argentine Israelite World Association and more recently with the incident of the plane with the Venezuelan flag.
Meanwhile, Maduro continues his tour in Kuwait, an oil-producing country with which he hopes to strengthen agreements on this matter.
ANA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS VENEZUELA
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