Venezuela involvement in regime change

Venezuela involvement in regime change has entailed both overt and covert actions aimed at altering, replacing, or preserving foreign governments. During the Spanish American wars of independence, Venezuelan leader Simón Bolívar led expeditions to overthrow government loyal to the Spanish Empire. During the presidency of Hugo Chávez, his government made several, covert payments to regional allies.

New Granada (1819–1820)
During the Spanish American wars of independence, Venezuelan leader Simón Bolívar overthrew the Viceroyalty of New Grenada, which was led by Juan José de Sámano y Uribarri.

After the Captaincy General of Venezuela branched from the Viceroyalty of New Grenada in 1777, the captaincy soon found itself among the Venezuelan War of Independence and the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence was made in 1811.

After Bolívar led the Admirable Campaign in 1813 and establishing the Third Republic of Venezuela, the Spanish reconquest of New Granada occurred and the Viceroyalty of New Grenada was re-established in 1816. In 1819, Bolívar began his expedition to overthrow the Viceroyalty of New Grenada and led Venezuelan troops and British Legions into Spanish territory. Bolívar's motive was to conquer New Grenada and to join the territory with Venezuela to establish Gran Colombia.

Following the Battle of Boyacá, Viceroy Juan José de Sámano y Uribarri fled to Cartagena de Indias where he was not recognized. On 10 August 1819, Bolívar marched into Bogotá  and months later during the Congress of Angostura, the State of Gran Colombia was declared on 17 December 1819.

Colombia (1899–1902)


During the Thousand Days' War, the Colombian Liberal Party lost contested elections with the Colombian Conservative Party. According to de La Pedraja, what "had happened so often in the past in many other countries, the losing party turned to foreign help as the only way to attain victory" and that "key foreign help came from Venezuela". Venezuelan president Cipriano Castro granted Rafael Uribe Uribe's Liberal troops safety in Venezuela in 1901 and armed their troops. By August 1901, Castro sent 200 Venezuelan troops to aid the Liberals and to covertly blend into their ranks.

In September 1901, Castro deployed an additional 1,200 troops along with canons, rifles and a machine gun into Colombia, with Venezuelans comprising a large portion of Liberal troops in border area. During the Battle of Riohacha, President Castro sent a gunboat to block Conservative reinforcements from entering the city's harbor and order Venezuelan general José Antonio Dávila to manage Venezuelan troops alongside the Liberals. Errors by Venezuelan forces resulted with Colombian reinforcements landing near Riohacha and countering the joint Liberal-Venezuelan forces, resulting in a mass retreat and a victory for the Colombian army.

René de La Pedraja wrote: "President Castro, more than any other individual, was responsible for keeping the war going in Colombia through the end of 1901"

Costa Rica (1955)
In 1955, forces loyal to Costa Rican former president Rafael Calderón, backed by the Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza García, crossed the border from Nicaragua and invaded Costa Rica. Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez provided financial support to the rebels and, reportedly, air support. The invasion ultimately failed.

Guyana (1968–1969)
Since the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, the Venezuelan government held plans to invade Guayana Esequiba. President Pérez Jiménez anticipated the invasion of Guyana in 1958, but was overthrown in the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état prior to this.

After being elected in 1964, Venezuelan president Raúl Leoni made several territorial disputes against Guyana, claiming land for Venezuela. Five months after Guyana's independence from the United Kingdom, Venezuela moved to occupy Ankoko Island from Guyana in October 1966, with Venezuelan troops building military installations and an airstrip on the island. Venezuelan actions to acquire Guyanese territory intensified in 1968. Days after Venezuela left a subcommittee discussing Guyana-Venezuela border disputes on 4 July 1968, President Leoni declared an annexation of 9 mi of coastline in the Essequibo on 9 July 1968, stating that the Venezuelan Navy would enforce the area.

In January 1969, the Rupununi Uprising occurred in Guyana. According to Venezuelan author Pedro González, "Venezuela lost in 1969 a great opportunity to regain the Esquiba territory". The rebels were primarily ranch owners of European descent that were supported by Amerindians, who were mainly ranch employees. Following the controversial 1968 Guyanese general election, a rancher and candidate of the conservative United Force party, Valerie Hart, declared herself president of the "Republic of the Rupununi", claiming control of the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region of Guyana. The rebels stated that they would grant Venezuela control of Guyana's disputed Guayana Esequiba territory and called for support from Venezuela.

According to González, Venezuelan president Raúl Leoni supported the uprising during the final months of his presidency, writing that Leoni "undoubtedly inspired and encouraged" the Rupununi Uprising. Valerie Hart, who had led the uprising, had met with Venezuelan ministers at the time. According to Odeen Ishmael, rebels were transported into Venezuela by aircraft on 24 December 1968, days after the Guyanese general election, and that following their arrival, the Venezuelan Army flew the Rupununi rebels to one of their facilities on 25 December 1968 where they armed and trained them with automatic rifles and bazookas. On 2 January 1969, rebels attacked Lethem, Guyana, killing five police officers and two civilians while also damaging buildings belonging to the Guyanese government. Guyanese troops quickly put down the rebellion, with about thirty rebels being arrested.

Members of the failed uprising fled to Venezuela for protection after their planned unravelled, with Hart and her rebels being granted Venezuelan citizenship by birth since, according to the Venezuelan government, they were recognized as being born in "the Reclamation Zone", a term widely used by Venezuela. At a press conference in Caracas on 8 January 1969 and with, rebel leader Hart stated "If Venezuela does not intervene right now with troops they would have in their hands a situation similar to the Bay of Pigs". The Venezuelan government refused to further assist with the uprising and all support ended with the inauguration of Rafael Caldera.

21st century
During the tenure of President Hugo Chávez, it was stated that Venezuela's "imperialism" was beginning in Latin America, with Venezuela attempting to establish "a sort of hegemony" over smaller nations in the region. Venezuela's geopolitical ambitions grew as oil profits increased with much of the country's foreign policy involving oil politics. Noam Chomsky described Chávez's oil subsidies to Caribbean and South American countries as "buying influence, undoubtedly" and called Venezuela's social programs in neighboring countries as "just another example of Venezuelan imperialism".

Argentina (2007)
Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez allegedly contributed to the election campaign of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner during the Argentine presidential elections of 2007 in an attempt to influence the election. According to Rory Carroll, the incident "was one of multiple, clandestine payments to allies in the region". The governments of Argentina and Venezuela denied the accusations.

On 4 August 2007, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan-US entrepreneur of close to President Chávez, arrived in Argentina on a private plane chartered from Royal Class by Argentine and Venezuelan state officials, carrying US$790,550 in cash. Present on the flight were various Venezuelan and Argentine officials. Antonini Wilson was successful as part of the Bolibourgeoisie during the Chávez administration. He attended the 6 August 2007 oil deal signing ceremony between President Chávez and his Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, that took place in the Casa Rosada presidential palace. As investigations of Antonini Wilson began, he fled to the United States and began to cooperate with investigations performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

While wearing a covert listening device Wilson was approached by two Venezuelan businessmen; Carlos Kauffmann and Franklin Durán, Moisés Maiónica a Venezuelan lawyer and José Canchica of Venezuela's spy agency, the National Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP). The individuals were recorded attempting to coerce Antonini Wilson to not reveal details about the funding conspiracy. In November 2007, Antonini Wilson met with Maiónica, who was described as a member of Hugo Chávez's "team of fixers". Maiónica said in a recording that money buying Antonini Wilson's silence could not be wired into the United States by PDVSA, so DISIP direct Henry Rangel Silva was using a "secret fund" to send a cash payment. The lawyer also asked Antonini Wilson to sign for a $2 million receipt so Rangel Silva had proof that the cash was delivered and would not be accused of keeping the money for himself. Finally, Maiónica said that Chávez asked PDVSA director Rafael Ramírez to manage the hush money, but later decided on Rangel Silva.

On 13 December 2007 the FBI arrested three Venezuelans and one Uruguayan, accusing them of being agents of the Venezuelan government who intended for Antonini to help cover up the scandal over the money that was intended for "a candidate" in the Argentine presidential elections of 2007. Details of the case were explained by businessman Carlos Kauffmann and lawyer Moisés Maiónica, with both testifying against Durán and pleading guilty to conspiracy. The two testified that the $800,000 was sent from Venezuela through PDVSA to fund Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's campaign, with the plot being orchestrated by Venezuela's National Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services.