Kerry Sides With Venezuelans Against His Supporter Chavez

With Venezuela in turmoil, gasoline prices in the U.S. soaring, hordes of Venezuelans flocking to Florida, and Venezuelan oil propping up Fidel Castro’s dictatorship in Cuba, the South American nation is looming large as an issue in the U.S. presidential election, with Democrat candidate John Kerry wooing opponents of strongman Hugo Chavez.

So hot has the issue become that some observers believe it could help drive Cuban-Americans, who have been among President Bush's strongest supporters, away from the Bush administration.

According to London's Financial Times, Venezuelan opponents of Chavez believe they might have found an ally in their struggle to oust their country's leftist president: Florida's politically powerful Cuban-Americans.

The Cuban exiles in Florida are equally unhappy with Chavez, who they charge is supplying Castro with a lifeline by sending 53,000 barrels of oil to Cuba a day.

"It's something that Cuban-Americans think is important," said Joe Garcia, executive director of Cuban-American National Foundation. "Venezuela is right now the biggest subsidizer of Cuba's economy."

Florida's Cubans are also worried about the huge influx of Venezuelans fleeing their strife-torn homeland. Over the past two years 200,000 Venezuelans have come to south Florida.

Now comes Kerry, who condemned Chavez in an apparent attempt to go after Bush's base.

Another Unwanted Foreign Supporter

"President Chavez's policies have been detrimental to our interests and those of his neighbors," Kerry said, even though Chavez had just two weeks earlier praised him and called him a friend. "His close relationship with Fidel Castro has raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic government."

That could spell trouble for President Bush. Julia Sweig, deputy director of the Latin America program at the Council on Foreign Relations, complained to the Times, "The Bush administration has abdicated significant leadership on the issue of democracy in Latin America, especially in Venezuela."

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