“The enemy is the same: the empire of the United States,” Hugo Chavez said on his nationally broadcasted TV program. “Anybody who messes with one of us will have to mess with all of us, because we will respond as one.”Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has recently advocated for the formation of a defensive pact against perceived threats from the United States.

Chavez has called upon four of his crucial allies – Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica and Nicaragua – to add a defensive-military pact to the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) agreement.

The ALBA agreement is the leftist response to the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement that is being pushed by the United States in the region.

The defensive pact suggestion is just the latest of Chavez’s anti-U.S. imperialism rhetoric; it is a suggestion that he feels is a serious threat to his administration. The U.S. government has denied that it is plotting against Chavez.

Chavez does have reason to fear his ouster, however. An attempted coup in 2002, fueled by anti-Chavez private media, overthrew Chavez for two days before popular support and the army reinstated his position.

Chavez and many international observers accused the U.S. government of playing a pivotal role in the coup. U.S. officials quickly supported the coup and then quickly backed down after its immediate failure.

Chavez also accuses the United States and Colombia, one of the United States’ main allies in Latin America, of a second coup attempt in 2004. Fifty-five Colombian men were arrested on a farm owned by an anti-Castro Cuban exile.

Both the United States and the Colombian governments deny any knowledge or involvement in the matter.

The news of the proposed defensive pact also comes at a time when Venezuelan-Colombian relations are strained. Chavez has been negotiating the release of several hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist group fighting to overthrow the government.

Chavez accuses the Colombian government, and subsequently U.S. influence, of marring progress in an attempt to make him look bad. Chavez was essentially fired as a mediator by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe last November.

Many, including Chavez, believe that the current tension between the countries could lead to conflict on a larger scale.

“I accuse the government of Colombia of plotting a conspiracy, acting as a pawn of the North American empire, of plotting a military provocation against Venezuela,” Chavez said, as quoted by Reuters.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega agreed, saying that the tensions between Colombia and Venezuela are perpetuated by the United States to harm the regional progress that Chavez and the members of ALBA are trying to spread.

“This isn’t just against Venezuela, it’s against the integration process,” Ortega said to The Associated Press.

While public opinion about Chavez and his actions is usually polarized, the defensive pact also brought on conflicting views.

“Historically speaking, I think it’s a good idea to have an alliance to support each other,” said senior Ima Paz, a Latin American studies major. “We’ve used and abused Latin America for centuries. But it’s also fanning the flames, so to speak. They have every right to protect themselves, especially against the U.S., but these actions could be seen as aggressive, especially to the outgoing Bush administration.”

While there is no official confirmation of the agreement, the currently volatile climate may be pushing towards that goal.