IRMO Brief 07/2019, "Venezuela: First episode of the new Cold War?"

Introduction

Since the beginning of 2019, Venezuela has been in the focus of international politics because of its political and institutional crisis, together with its economic and social collapse generated in 2013, transformed into a regional and international crisis. The exit of some estimated three to four million emigrants mostly to neighboring countries has additionally deepened the contexts of the regional crisis including also the security aspect. In short, the crisis can be described as oscillating between the issues of defense human rights and democratic values, the authoritarian regime of socialist orientation, the current American strategy of strengthening its political and strategic influence in Latin America, the presence of significant nonregional emerging global factors, as well as the cyclical changes of political parties in power in this part of the world. Accordingly, this crisis tests the hemispheric and global leadership of the US, the influences of emerging global powers like China, Russia, India or Turkey, recently, and the potential of Latin American regionalism and political consensus.

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