Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
In a March 1980 address to the Venezuelan Congress, President Luis Herrera Campíns stated: “Effective action by Venezuela in the sphere of international affairs must take into account certain key facts: Economics—we are a producer-exporter of oil; politics—we have a stable, consolidated democracy; and geopolitics—we are at one and the same time a Caribbean, Andean, Atlantic, and Amazonian country” (Venezuela Up To Date, 1980: 8). President Herrera's statement reveals a Venezuelan interest in geopolitics; at the same time, it outlines the difficulties in achieving a coherent geopolitical strategy.