Abstract
This article addresses how U.S. public diplomacy, in educational, cultural, and media-focused projects, has influenced the development of Venezuela’s civil society and democracy during three eras. First, during the Cold War, to contain communism, U.S. public diplomacy prioritized educational projects targeting Venezuela’s military and youth. As military coups occurred across Latin America, the U.S. government sought to educate and spread information among military officers who could promote anti-communist political development, especially in Venezuela. Second, in the 1990s, U.S. public diplomacy began shaping the development of political structures and democratization in Venezuela by training leaders of political parties, civil society, and media groups. Until the mid-2000s, the United States also sought to influence political parties and elections by establishing non-governmental organizations and interacting with a new generation of politicians. Third, in today’s era of digitalized international relations, U.S. public diplomacy has mobilized digital diplomacy to sway Venezuela’s political development, notably in the 2015 parliamentary elections and 2018–2019 political crisis. Although the United States has cooperated with independent Venezuelan media organizations and broadcast across local social media networks, the 2015 elections and recent political crisis revealed that local media are more popular among Venezuelans than their U.S., European, and Russian counterparts.
Highlights
From U.S President James Monroe’s December 1823 address to the U.S Congress, in which he stated that “the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers,” (Monroe, 1823) to current U.S President Donald Trump’s endorsements of military operations in Venezuela that support self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó, Latin American nations have been a major focus of U.S diplomacy, foreign policy, and economic interests during the past two centuries
During the 1930s, as Germany aggressively spread the ideas of Nazism throughout Latin American countries, the United States responded by disseminating pro-democracy films and literature as well as by engaging local elites on special visits to familiarize them with the U.S political system and the American way of life
U.S public diplomacy in Venezuela has always responded to challenges facing the country with an eye to mitigate perceived threats to U.S national security
Summary
The growing use of soft power and the Internet’s impact on political life are readily apparent, the essence of those phenomena are not. The politics of soft power refers to public diplomacy, which encompasses projects in the fields of culture, education, and media that seek to promote various goals related to broader political and cultural objectives. In those projects, the Internet-related policies of various countries influence the political life in others as part of socalled “digital diplomacy” and the global digitalization of international politics. The Internet-related policies of various countries influence the political life in others as part of socalled “digital diplomacy” and the global digitalization of international politics Addressing those trends as they have unfolded in Venezuela, the paper illustrates how public diplomacy and social media affect target audiences in the country.
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