On the face of it Hugo Chávez’s decisive election victory in Sunday’s election in Venezuela and his promises to radicalise what he calls “21st century socialism” might seem to present something of a problem for policymakers in Washington.

After all, the Venezuelan leader seems to go out of his way to make friends with US enemies and elections in Latin America during the past 12 months have shown that he has pull in the smaller and more economically vulnerable countries of the region.