Documents in this collection illustrate Cold War contexts, the role of the United States in Venezuela's foreign affairs, and the centrality of oil in the Venezuelan economy. Examples include a U.S. Department of State telegram titled "Communist Subversion in Venezuela," which details "three foreign Communists" being held on "charges of conspiring to overthrow the government, illegally purchasing arms and disseminating Red propaganda..." Illustrations of the Castro-Communist insurgency in Venezuela include a letter from Ambassador Stewart C. Allen to the Secretary of State that details a detachment of Marines being sent "[to] guard Maracaibo Lake installations and security installations elsewhere being strengthened. "Meanwhile arrest extremist labor leaders continuing in oil fields on direct instructions [to] State Governors from President" (October 1962). Other documents detail a range of issues, such as: clarification of Venezuelan boundaries; multiple balance sheets for the Central Bank of Venezuela; and police corruption in Zulia, one of Venezuela's twenty-three states.
Venezuela: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1960-1963