Hugo Chávez was a perpetual thorn in the side of the United States, sounding a constant drumbeat of anti-U.S. rhetoric and urging his Latin American compatriots to forge an independent, Washington-less path. And he drove home his points by force of personality and generosity with Venezuela’s oil wealth.
He formed and was the driving force behind regional alliances, was an ideological wellspring for the Latin American left, and exchanged regional influence for oil subsidies, favorable financing and outright donations.
One of the programs that especially endeared him to his neighbors was Petrocaribe, which sent about 10 percent of Venezuelan’s crude oil production to 17 regional countries on very favorable terms and allowed payment in goods or services rather than cash.