Chicago Debate League 2013/14 Core Files
AC: Venezuela Democracy Affirmative 51
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1AC: Venezuela Democracy Affirmative 51Contention One is Inherency: Current U.S. policy toward Venezuela fails to establish guidelines for democratic reform. 1) Obama’s recent nominee to the United Nations proves the administration is taking a confrontational approach towards Venezuela that is driving the countries apart. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, 13 [Times of India; “Venezuela ends rapprochement with US: Official,” 7/20, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Venezuela-ends-rapprochement-with-US-Official/articleshow/21195430.cms] Venezuela on late Friday said it has "ended" its rapprochement with the United States due to a statement by Samantha Power, nominated to become the US envoy to the United Nations. Power said at a US Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday that if she got the job she would stand up to "repressive regimes" and challenge the "crackdown on civil society being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela." Washington and Caracas have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, even though Venezuela exports 900,000 barrels of oil per day to the United States. "The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela hereby ends the process ... of finally normalizing our diplomatic relations" that began in early June,the foreign ministry said in a statement. Venezuela is opposed to the "interventionist agenda" presented by Power, and noted that her "disrespectful opinions" were later endorsed by the state department, "contradicting in tone and in content" earlier statements by secretary of state John Kerry. Kerry and his Venezuelan counterpart, Elias Jaua, agreed on the sidelines of an Organization of American States meeting in Guatemala in June that officials would "soon" meet for talks that could lead to an exchange of ambassadors. President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday said that Power's statement was "outrageous," and demanded an "immediate rectification" from Washington. Instead the US state department on Friday defended Power. President Barack Obama has yet to acknowledge the victory of Maduro — the hand-picked successor of the late leftist icon Hugo Chavez — in the April 14 presidential election. 1AC: Venezuela Democracy Affirmative 522) The U.S. does not have a comprehensive policy in place for guaranteeing transparency and fairness in Venezuelan elections, and this puts democracy at risk. WALSER, 12 [Ray, PhD., Senior Policy Analyst for Latin America; “The Chávez Plan to Steal Venezuela's Presidential Election: What Obama Should Do,” 09/19, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/the-chavez-plan-to-steal-venezuelas-presidential-election-what-obama-should-do/] Currently, the U.S. lacks a comprehensive strategy for the Chávez phenomenon or the upcoming elections. October 7 represents a critical juncture at which the U.S. needs to employ boldly all available diplomatic tools to focus attention not only on the voting, but also on the fundamental lack of fairness in the electoral process and the deterioration of democratic governance in Venezuela. Before October 7, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should deliver strong messages of support for democracy and against dictatorship in Venezuela. Given the absence of serious international electoral observation, the U.S. should support active civil society participation and domestic electoral monitoring. From dispatching extra State Department personnel for observation on the ground to creating a bipartisan group of experts to monitor the elections and prepare a comprehensive post-election report, the U.S. can offer a serious assessment of whether the elections were genuinely free and fair. Beyond October 7, the U.S. needs a well-prepared contingency strategy for dealing with potential violence and governability issues in case of a Chávez loss or post-electoral disorders. If Chávez wins, the U.S. cannot abandon the millions of Venezuelans who cast their votes against an increasingly authoritarian regime that promises to curtail individual liberty, throttle economic freedom, and endanger the security of everyone living in the Americas. It also needs to plan for longer-term intelligence assessments and possible punitive countermeasures if Chávez’s anti-American activities continue. 1AC: Venezuela Democracy Affirmative 53Contention Two is the first Harms scenario: Iran. Venezuela is using anti-Americanism to create an alliance with Iran that allows for secret nuclear weapons development and eventual war. 1) The lack of democratic institutions in Venezuela causes growing anti-Americanism and turns the region into a hotbed for terrorism. WALSER, 10 [Ray, PhD., senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation; “State Sponsors of Terrorism: Time to Add Venezuela to the List,” 1/10, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/01/state-sponsors-of-terrorism-time-to-add-venezuela-to-the-list] The continuing decay of democratic governance in Venezuela, the loss of political checks and balances, and the decline of transparency coupled with the militarization of society and unparalleled concentration of power in the hands of Venezuela's authoritarian populist president, Hugo Chávez, is converting Caracas into more than a second Havana. Venezuela is emerging as a mecca for anti-U.S. hostility and the gateway for anti-American extremism into the Americas. Under Chávez's leadership, Venezuela makes its chief international mission the challenging of U.S. interests in the Americas and around the globe.[1] Since January 2009, the Obama Administration's attempts to improve relations with the stridently anti-America Chávez have yielded little more than empty gestures. Although ambassadorial relations were restored in June 2009, Chávez has signaled renewed support for the narcoterrorism of the FARC, begun threatening and punishing Colombia for its defense cooperation agreement with the U.S., helped destabilize Honduras by backing former president Manuel Zelaya's illegal referendum, pushed ahead with major Russian arms acquisitions, and sealed ever closer ties, including joint nuclear ventures, with Iran. Venezuela plays an increasingly prominent role as a primary transit country for cocaine flowing from Colombia to the U.S., Europe, and West Africa. Nevertheless, the Obama Administration, according to the President's National Security Council adviser on Latin America, Dan Restrepo, does not consider Venezuela to be a challenge to U.S. national security: President Obama "does not see Venezuela as a challenge to U.S. national security. There is no Cold War nor Hot War. Those things belong to the past." 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