How will US respond to Venezuelan Socialism?

Recently, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami visited Venezuela and held talks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Both countries, of course, are major oil-producing nations and members of OPEC. It will be interesting to see how this played out in Washington, DC (I haven't heard anything about the US's reaction yet).

According to an article at CNN.com, "Chavez says his foreign policy seeks to build a multipolar counterweight to what he calls the U.S. 'terrorist state.'" What's more, Chavez is heading up the first Venezuelan government to use oil as a tool for applying direct political pressure on the world scene. As I stated before, this is certainly a situation that merits watching.

So, will the US resort to the tactits it has traditionally used against uncooperative Latin American leaders and their countries, or will the US exercise restraint and deal with Venezuela only through diplomacy?

Rumsfeld criticizes Venezuelan arms purchase
The U.S. has already labeled Venezuelan President Chavez as a potentially destabilizing influence in the region (though Chavez's neighbors don't seem to feel he's such--in fact, Chavez seems to be on pretty good terms with most of his neighbors). Now Rumsfeld is criticizing Venezuela's purchase of 100,000 AK-47s. Venezuela has a military of about 100,000 full-time soldiers --100,000 soldiers...100,000 rifles: a coincidence?