Venezuelan Geopolitics in the Caribbean:
Islas Aves 350 mi. from Ven.,90 mi. from
Dominica
La Geopolítica en el Caribe:
Un Siglo de Cambios
Presentación al Instituto de Estudios del Caribe
Universidad de Puerto Rico
Anthony P. Maingot
7 de octubre de 2010
A Basic Definition of Geopolitics
The relationship between a nation’s geography and it’s projection on
it’s neighbors and the international arena in terms of three elements of
power:
1.
2.
3.
Material wealth;
Capacity to project military force in the nation’s periphery
and beyond;
The political will to intervene in world affairs, either through
projecting ideology, economic capacity and/or soft power.
A Theoretical Point: Perceptions
How these basic “facts” of geography and politics are
interpreted will always vary with the dominant political (i.e.,
power) theories of influential “geopoliticians.”
“The influence of geopolitical conditions upon human
activities has depended…not merely on the realities as we now
know them to be and to have been, but in even greater degree
on what men imagined in regard to them….Each century has
had its own geopolitical perspective.”
(Sir Halford MacKinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality (1942), pp. 28-30. See
also the theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1940) on role of sea power.
Another Theoretical Point: Perceptions
“The fact that certain people live for example, on an island
has in itself no effect on their history; what has an effect is the
way they conceive that insular position; whether for example
they regard the sea as a barrier or as a highway to traffic. Had it
been otherwise, their insular position, being a constant fact
[being the “geopolitical bedrock” of politics], would have
produced a constant effect on their historical life; whereas it will
produce one effect if they have not mastered the art of
navigation, a different effect if they have mastered it better than
their neighbors, a third if they have mastered it worse than their
neighbors, and a fourth if everyone uses aeroplanes.”
“(R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (1946), p. 200).
A Geopolitical Reality of the Caribbean:
Hegemony
A system where the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
Thucydides
I asked Tom if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says:
“Yes, the little ones does.”
Mark Twain
Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894)
“Great revolutions need great enemies.” – A deliberate strategy.
Ché Guevara
Classical geopolitical dilemma of the weak: When to kiss the hand you cannot bite?
General metaphor expressing the rule of thumb in terms of small country preferences of
alliances: It is better to stick with the Devil you know than with the Devil you do not know.
Questions: (1) When and why do certain elites decide to challenge the “rule of thumb?”
To challenge hegemonic dominance? (2) What does it take for elites to understand
fundamental changes in hegemonic systems?
Geographical Impediments
The Geopolitics of the Spanish Colonial
System
Fundamental Geopolitical Debate:
Henry of Susa (The Ostiensian Doctrine) – Papal dominance in all maters
temporal and spiritual. Led to such dictates as “Papal Bulls” dividing the
known world, viz. 1493 Inter Caetera, Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).
Francisco de Vitoria (Lectures, 1539) – debated rights and wrongs of war and
conquest, questioned right of Pope or Monarch to exercise jurisdiction over
other princes, Christian or Infidel. Natural Law governed relations between
sovereign “gentes”– jus gentium. Founder of the study of International Law.
Another important Dominican - Bartolomé de las Casas
Wealth of the New World made this debate purely theoretical. Usus possedetis
governed international relations. Major obstacles to hegemony: (1) a major
geographical difficulty: viz., the Atlantic wind system; and (2) competition
from the European maritime nations. Geopolitics became a matter of
fortified harbors and attempts at securing routes for the convoys.
Defending the Spanish Empire:
Continuity in the
Geo-Strategy of Archipelagos
“During the years when Hawkins was trading in the Caribbean, Menéndez de
Avilés – captain-general, governor of Cuba and adelantado of Florida – was working
out his reorganisation of the defence of the Carrera. His proposals included the
provision of powerful escort for all trans-Atlantic fleets; a permanent naval patrol of
the waters between the Azores and the Andalusian coast; the creation of armadillas –
cruiser squadrons – permanently based in the West Indies to seek out and attack
corsairs upon their arrival in the area, and to patrol the main trade routes all the year
round; the fortification of all the principal harbours and the provision of regular
garrisons. The most important harbours were Cartagena, guarding the eastern
approach to the isthmus; Santo Domingo, the administrative capital of the islands and
a considerable city; Santiago de Cuba; San Juan del Puerto Rico; and, strategically
most important of all, Havana. Havana was to provide a safe place of assembly for
homeward-bound convoys. To complete the defence and control of the Florida
channel, another fortified base was to be constructed opposite Havana, on the coast
of Florida.”
(J. H. Parry, The Spanish Seaborne Empire (1966), p. 254).
The New Manifest Destiny:
An American View of “Inferior Races”
A Case of Conjuncture in History
Where Geography Helped Politics
The Churchill-Roosevelt Deal
On September 2, 1940, as the Battle of Britain intensified, United States
Secretary of State Cordell Hull signaled agreement to the transfer of the
warships to the Royal Navy. In exchange, the US was granted land in various
British possessions for the establishment of naval or air bases, in ninety-nineyear rent-free leases, on:
Newfoundland (today part of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador)
Eastern side of the Bahamas
Southern coast of Jamaica
Western coast of St. Lucia
West coast of Trinidad (Gulf of Paria)
Antigua
British Guiana (present day Guyana) within fifty miles of Georgetown.
The agreement also stipulated Britain’s acceptance of the US proposal for
air and naval bases rights in:
The Great Sound and Castle Harbour, Bermuda
South and eastern coasts of Newfoundland.
The Post-Cold War Period
Closed US Bases
1. 1999 – All bases in the Panama Canal.
Note: Howard Air Force Base: the largest in the Caribbean (4,000 acres).
2. 2003 – Vieques Naval Range
3. 2004 – Roosevelt Roads Naval Station - The largest naval base in the world. The
Army, Marine and Special Forces bases transferred to Texas and Florida (Southern
Command moved to Miami).
4. 2004 – President Chavez prohibits all US activities in or over Venezuela.
5.
2009 – Manta, Ecuador Air Base.
Existing Bases – Soto Cano, Palmerola, Honduras; Guantanamo, Cuba.
Forward Location Bases – (Cooperative Security Locations) Aruba, Curaçao
Cooperative Arrangements –
1. Colombia (Air Force: Palanquero, Apiay; Naval: Barranquilla, Cartagena, Bahia
Malaga). Congressional limit on US troops: 1,400 men (mostly contractors).
2. Brazil – Defense Cooperative Agreement (2010) establishing a Forward Location
Base in Amazon.
Which Venezuelan leader wrote these words?
“Venezuela’s socio-political process cannot be
separated from what we find in all the other countries
of Latin America. Our America has “entered into
revolution,” to use [José Martí’s] words. From one
extreme of the continent to the other one notes a swift
tide of popular insurgency…. It will fall to Venezuela
to play an important role in Latin America’s
integration process.”
Transnational Politics and Soft Power
Soft power emphasizes policies and diplomacy which
engender admiration and attraction…. The world today is
characterized by an information revolution. This has created
“virtual communities and networks” that cut across national
boundaries, they are transnational. “Politics,” says Nye,
“become in part a competition for attractiveness, legitimacy and
credibility.”
Source: Joseph S. Nye, Jr. ‘Soft Power’: The means of Success
in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2004), p. 41. See
also, Dominique Moisi, The Geopolitics of Emotion: How
Cultures of Fear, Humiliation, and Hope are Reshaping the
World (2009).
Conclusion:
Greater Geopolitical Maneuverability for
Cuba and Puerto Rico
The modification of US hegemony has opened the door
for Venezuela and Cuba to use soft power in a wide-ranging
fashion, and Caribbean states to challenge US objections to
certain initiatives such as, for instance, offshore banking and
gambling. It has amplified Puerto Rico’s potential options.
The sovereign determination of Caribbean governments to
accept and respond to what are essentially anti-American
initiatives such as ALBA, however, has limits. These limits are
set by their peoples’ political cultures and social preferences as
well as the ongoing realities of trade, investment, technology
and certainly not to be ignored, race and ethnic identifications
and preferences, including those of the diasporas.