ABSTRACT
Two years before the end of the twentieth century, when encounters between Latin American revolutionaries and the Arab world seemed confined to the footnotes of the history of the Cold War, Hugo Chávez captured the presidency of Venezuela. Venezuela's role in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) opened the Middle East to the new president of Venezuela in 1999, Chávez pledged to reverse Venezuela's past reluctance to work with OPEC's quota system. Afghanistan was only the first step in what was taking shape as a new US foreign policy with a primary focus on the Middle East. Chávez's projection of the Arab-Israeli conflict onto Venezuela's foreign policy in South America intensified with the heightening of the conflict in the Middle East. When the Arab Spring spread to Libya and Syria, and given Qatar's support for the opposition in both countries, Venezuela's TeleSUR reacted against Doha, signaling the rupture of Venezuela's historically good relationship with Qatar.
