THE VISIT TO India last week of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marked an important milestone in not just New Delhi's relations with Caracas but also in the ongoing Indian effort to develop a broader relationship with Latin America. The countries of South America have borne the brunt of neoliberal globalisation, with the 1990s now widely acknowledged, even by the authors of the Washington Consensus, as a lost decade in terms of growth and development. Like other Left-oriented regional leaders who have been voted into power — in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and now Uruguay — Mr. Chavez is the product of a continent's desire to make up for lost time. The pro-social agenda and `Bolivarian' vision of pan-American unity he espouses resonate not just with the history and psyche of South America but also with the requirements of a modern economy. Projects like Petrosur and Telesur, which seek to link up the sectoral potential of individual countries into a common network, will help South America use its resources in an optimal fashion and prevent a large neighbour like the United States calling all the shots. That is why Washington has been so implacably hostile towards Mr. Chavez, backing a failed coup to overthrow him in 2000 and issuing veiled threats against his Government from time to time. Under these circumstances, India did well to host the Venezuelan leader and accord him a warm reception. The fact that thousands of people turned up to hear him speak — at Jawaharlal Nehru University and then in Kolkata — is testimony to the enormous respect Mr. Chavez commands in India and the wider world. It is proof of the fact that as far as public diplomacy is concerned, the size of a country matters much less than the dignity and largeness of heart of its leadership.

For India, the process of purposefully engaging Latin America started a few years ago with the IBSA — or India-Brazil-South Africa — initiative. Although the Manmohan Singh Government has been a little slow in recognising the potential of this initiative, this year has already seen the visit to Delhi of Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and now Mr. Chavez. Later in the year, the Mexican President, Vicente Fox, is likely to make an official visit. Indian companies have a small but growing presence in Latin American markets but this is dwarfed by China, which has been quicker off the block. In the oil sector too, Chinese companies have already established significant positions in Venezuela.

During his visit, Mr. Chavez made it clear that he would like to have an energy relationship with India, and that Indian companies would be welcome to help exploit the oil resources of Venezuela. Indeed, the scope for cooperation is enormous, despite the distances. Apart from New Delhi benefiting by extracting Venezuelan oil for use in India or sale through swap agreements, Caracas gets to further diversify its markets and reduce the monopolistic power of the U.S. Indian companies like IRCON are also well placed to assist Venezuela in the construction of railway lines and roads, not to speak of low-cost housing, which is a priority area for Mr. Chavez. His visit last week has done a lot to exorcise the ghosts of previous agreements that fell through at the last moment. The crucial factor in all this is the determination to follow through. ONGC Videsh Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding with the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, during the visit of Mr. Chavez, and this must now be taken forward and implemented.