France-Venezuela relations
Map indicating locations of France and Venezuela

France
Venezuela

France–Venezuela relations are foreign relations between France and Venezuela. France has an embassy in Caracas and Venezuela has an embassy in Paris.

History

During the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts, the French Government "immediately signalled its refusal to accept a breakdown in institutional legitimacy.[1]

Since the Venezuelan presidential crisis started in 2019, France has supported Juan Guaidó. In February 2019, France joined major EU countries and United States in recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.[2]

State visits

President Hugo Chávez met French President Jacques Chirac on three occasions in October 2002, March 2005 and October 2005.[1][3]

In 2007, Chávez visited French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the situation of hostage Ingrid Betancourt held in Colombia.[4][5]

In September 2008, Chávez again visited Sarkozy and Chávez said he sought aid from "friendly" countries like France, in exchange for "Venezuelan energy".[6]

Agreements

In October 2008, the Venezuelan and French Foreign Ministers signed 10 agreements on cooperation including bilateral cooperation on energy, military, telecommunications, tourism and fight against drug trafficking.[7]

French investment

In 2000, French company Pechiney signed an agreement with the Venezuela government to invest USD 260 million over three years to expand state-owned bauxite and alumina.[8]

As of 2005, French oil company TotalEnergies was the largest foreign investor in Venezuela.[9] In 2005, Total commenced negotiations with the Venezuelan Government over a possible US$5 billion project to develop heavy oil in eastern Venezuela.[10] In April 2006, the Venezuelan government seized control of foreign owned oil fields including those operated by Total.[11]

Relation with Carlos the Jackal

The president Hugo Chávez is known to have had a sporadic correspondence with convicted terrorist Carlos the Jackal from the latter's prison cell in France. Chávez replied, with a letter in which he addresses Carlos as a "distinguished compatriot".[12][13][14] On June 1, 2006, Chávez referred to him as his "good friend" during a meeting of OPEC countries held in Caracas.[15]

On 20 November 2009, Chávez publicly defended Carlos, saying that "he is wrongly considered to be a bad guy and is to be praised as a key revolutionary fighter, instead."[16]

France summoned the Venezuelan ambassador and demanded an explanation. Chávez, however, declined to retract his comments.[17]

French Response to the 2019 Venezuelan Crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron sent a tweet stating that if an election was not called in 8 days, France recognise Juan Guaidó as the "President in charge".[18][19] Macron also called the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election "illegitimate". He joined the European Union in calling for Venezuelan democracy, and saying that the voices of the people cannot be ignored.[20] Macron also imposed sanctions on Venezuela and boycotted Nicolás Maduro's swearing in as President of Venezuela, as with the rest of the EU.

French oil company Total S.A. evacuated all of its staff in Venezuela after US imposed sanctions, shortly after EU countries imposed sanctions and recognised Guaido as interim President.[21]

Resident diplomatic missions

  • France has an embassy in Caracas.
  • Venezuela has an embassy in Paris.

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 "Venezuela - Ministère des Affaires étrangères". www.diplomatie.gouv.fr. Archived from the original on 2006-09-03.
  2. ↑ "France joins major EU powers in recognising Guaido as Venezuela's acting president". 4 February 2019.
  3. ↑ HighBeam
  4. ↑ "Chavez visit to France fuels hope about hostage". USA Today. 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  5. ↑ Barchfield, Jenny. "Chavez Visits Paris for Hostage Talks". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  6. ↑ "Chavez backs Sarkozy's call for financial summit". The Times Of India. Archived from the original on November 4, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Venezuela, France sign cooperation agreements _English_Xinhua". news.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". 2000-12-06. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2009-05-21.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ↑ "Total seeks to resolve differences with Venezuela's Chavez over oil contracts". Forbes. 2005-10-20.
  10. ↑ Luhnow, David; Millard, Peter (2005-02-14). "Venezuelan Oil Deals Ease Tensions". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. ↑ "Venezuela's oil field seizures from European companies causes jitters about country's outlook". The America's Intelligence Wire. 2006-04-04.
  12. ↑ Carta de Hugo Chávez a Ilich Ramírez Sánchez alias «El Chacal» Archived 2009-05-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ Blanco y Negro – secundaria Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ La familia de Carlos El Chacal" espera más gestos de Chávez.
  15. ↑ Nacional y Política - eluniversal.com.
  16. ↑ "Venezuela's Hugo Chavez defends 'Carlos the Jackal",] BBC News, 21 November 2009
  17. ↑ "Carlos the Jackal was 'revolutionary': Chavez". Agence France-Presse. 28 November 2009.
  18. ↑ Macron, Emmanuel (2019-01-26). "Le peuple vénézuélien







    doit pouvoir décider librement de son avenir. Sans élections annoncées d'ici 8 jours, nous serons prêts à reconnaître @jguaido comme " Président en charge " du Venezuela pour enclencher un processus politique. Nous y travaillons entre partenaires européens"    . @emmanuelmacron (in French). Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  19. ↑ "UK joins with EU leaders to demand Venezuela's Maduro calls election in eight days". The Independent. 2019-01-26. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  20. ↑ "France's Macron calls election of Venezuela's Maduro 'illegitimate'". France 24. 2019-01-24. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  21. ↑ McGuinness, Romina (2019-02-08). "Venezuela crisis: French oil giant Total evacuates staff from Venezuela amid US sanctions". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
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