tance has never been compromised in Mexican foreign policy, it has lead to some ambiguities. For example in 1962, Mexico chastised Castro for being Marxist/Leninist and held to her own law of private property. While at the same time signing an OAS resolution declaring Marxism as being incompatible with OAS ideals, she abstained on the vote to exclude Cuba from the OAS. Mexico was one of the only American states to maintain good relations with Cuba throughout the Cold War. Although Mexico never supported the US directly because of the many interventions in the region, Mexico never strayed very far from the US ideologically. It has always remained a democracy with capitalist markets. In the seventies and eighties, Mexico began a furious race to catch up the industrialized world. The Mexican government borrowed millions of dollars to create oil and mining industries. During the eighties Mexico went a long way in industrialization. Many scholars and economists were calling it the "Mexican Miracle". The Miracle would be stopped short with the Pesos' fall in value that forced many industries and the government to refinance the debt and halt the once fast pace of industrialization. C. Venezuela 1960-1980: The Coming of a Regional Power Since the birth of its' constitution and democracy in 1961, Venezuela quickly rose to be one of the most influential of all the Latin American and Caribbean countries in regional and international politics. Due to large oil reserves, the Venezuelan economy flourished and brought Venezuela forth as the rich democratic leader of the third world. Venezuela also achieved an established democracy that lasted for more than thirty years. None of the political scientists of the era predicted that Venezuela would be one of the first Latin American countries to become democratic because of its' long history of military dictators. This all changed December 15, 1957 after the false elections of the military dictator Marcos ...
