In a move perceived as a confirmation that Washington is awakening to the threat posed by the Chavez regime in Venezuela, the White House reports that president Barack Obama has nominated Peter Michael McKinley as ambassador to Colombia. McKinley, currently ambassador to Peru, was born in Venezuela, and is said to be an expert on matters regarding Colombia’s troublesome neighbor. His resume includes a book he wrote on the colonial history of Venezuela.
McKinley replaces outgoing ambassador William Brownfield, who is extremely well known and respected in Colombia. McKinley will assume office when Colombia’s new president will be known, which according to current opinion polls may well be the Green party’s Antanas Mockus, a center-left candidate. Mockus has publicly expressed admiration for Venezuela’s dictator, Hugo Chavez, later attempting to mitigate what he had said. Chavez has for several years taken a hard line against Colombia, disrupting virtually all trade between the countries, and recently meddled in the electoral process, claiming that there would be war if Mockus’ main rival, Juan Manuel Santos, was elected. Polls began to favor Mockus immediately after Chavez’ statement.
Evidently, McKinley will take his post at a time of turmoil, with increasing worries about what Chavez’ next move will be, and an uncertain future political direction in Colombia, the United States’ most important South American ally. Venezuela’s military build-up and alliances with Russia and Iran, as well as the spread of his leftist anti-American Bolivarian revolution in Latin America are high on Washington’s list of concerns.
Patrick Duddy is the current US ambassador to Venezuela. He was expelled by the Chavez regime in September of 2008 on accusations of planning a coup against the Venezuelan leader. Diplomatic relations with Venezuela were not restored until eight months later, in July of 2009, under the Obama administration, when Duddy was returned to his former post after intense negotiations. In view of the precarious position of the mission in Caracas, having a Venezuela-literate representative in Bogota becomes critical.