LatAms' Ideological, Economic Ties to Venezuela Color Response to Protests Jose de Cordoba - WSJ.com
go to original February 23, 2014

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been formally charged with arson and conspiracy relating to protests that have gripped the country. Lopez gave himself up to authorities in front of thousands of his supporters. Former Presidential candidate Henrique Caprilles has demanded his release. Al Jazeera's Rachel Levin reports from Caracas. (AlJazeera English)

MEXICO CITY — From Mexico to Brazil, most Latin American governments have remained impassive as the Venezuelan government violently cracks down on growing protests, arrests opposition leaders and censors most of the country's media.

Ideological affinity with Venezuela's leftist government and economic interests, including the country's oil largess, have complicated the response - or lack thereof - in the region. "The silence has been deafening," said Michael Shifter, the president of the Washington-based think tank, the Inter-American Dialogue.



"Damned are the media that give its people the cold shoulder," reads a sign held by a student protesting in Caracas. Protesters say national media are not reporting about the protests and the violence. (BBC)

That lack of condemnation gives Mr. Maduro a lot of political leeway to increase the pressure on his opponents, according to former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda. "There is no Latin American government that is going to lift a finger," he said.

... Analysts say that Mexico, where the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party recently returned to power, appears to be returning to its traditional noninterventionist foreign policy.

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