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[Manner of Speaking]

Venezuela president says he'd blow up oilfields if U.S. attacked

Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 Article tools

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned Wednesday his government would blow up its own oilfields if the United States ever were to attack -- the latest in a series of warnings against Washington. U.S. officials have repeatedly denied any military plans against Chavez but also have called him a threat to stability in the region. Speaking with other South American leaders, Chavez said his conflict with the United States is rooted in Washington's thirst for oil.


If the United States were to attack, Chavez said: "We'll do like the Iraqis. We won't have any other alternative -- blow up our own oilfields but they aren't going to take that oil.'' Chavez, however, cited what he called a regular flow of threatening statements and actions from the U.S. government -- from naval exercises behind held this month in the Caribbean to U.S. complaints about Venezuela's deepening ties with Iran.


Chavez rattled off a list of insults he said the United States is trying to pin on him: "tyrant, dictator, abuser of human rights, there is no freedom of expression in Venezuela.'' "The real reason for the open conflict...is energy,'' Chavez said. "They will never admit that because, of course, they're looking for other excuses.'' Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and remains a major supplier of oil to the United States.


Chavez called U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, whom he recently threatened to expel, "a constant provocation'' and accused Washington of stirring up suspicions about his country's relations with Iran. "The latest they've invented is that we're sending uranium to Iran and what's more, yesterday, it came out in the Venezuela press that we're making a secret plan to bring Iranian nuclear missiles and install them in Venezuela,'' he said.


The Venezuelan newspaper 2001 published that report Tuesday, citing unidentified U.S. intelligence sources saying Iran and Venezuela had made a secret deal to ship missiles to Venezuela and Cuba aboard oil tankers. It did not provide any details about its sources and the report was roundly denied by Venezuelan officials as preposterous.


Chavez said the United States seems to be "searching for an excuse for anything'' against Venezuela, noting U.S. warships are holding naval exercises this month in the Caribbean -- "there under our very noses.'' In Caracas, meanwhile, Venezuelan Defence Minister Admiral Orlando Maniglia said the military plans to hold its own exercises soon along its coasts and with neighbouring countries' armed forces. "We have the same sort of exercises,'' Maniglia said.


"We already have planned some future exercises with the government of Curacao and also with the Dutch, with the navy and armed forces of Colombia...with the Brazilians.'' The dates of the training were unclear but the defence minister suggested Venezuela's military is planning air and naval exercises along its coast in the short-term.

© Canadian Press 2006

[Big_Bird]

I've been watching Venezuela and Chavez with fascination for a long time now. So far I'm amazed and delighted that the US have thus far been unable to do the same to Venezuela as they did to Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the newly democratic Iran of the 50s, etc. But I always have an uneasy feeling that something is around the corner....how long can the people of Venezuala possibly get away with using their natural resources to benefit themselves rather than a small Venezualan elite and the world's most powerful country?

....and the other day I spotted this:

[Tiger Beer]

I took the article more as a propoganda campaign to snowball the Venezuelan people.

The U.S. will not be attacking Venezuela for its oil fields.. thats just Chavez propoganda kicked into overdrive.

[Yo!Chingo]

Venezuela has nothing we would want except oil and we've got plenty of other sources for that! Chavez has a Napoleon complex and a big mouth. It's a piss Ant country that no one even cares about and they're screaming bloody murder.
I believe he'll get what's coming too him but not at the hands of the USA. It'll be his own people that bring him down...eventually that is.

[Yo!Chingo]

Venezuela has nothing we would want except oil and we've got plenty of other sources for that! Chavez has a Napoleon complex and a big mouth. It's a piss Ant country that no one even cares about and they're screaming bloody murder.
I believe he'll get what's coming too him but not at the hands of the USA. It'll be his own people that bring him down...eventually that is.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Venezuela is to the US : Korea is to Japan (concerning Dok-do)

So far, Chavez is talking big because it sounds good at home, but he is still selling oil to the US. IOW, he's having it both ways.

[Big_Bird]

[Big_Bird]

[mindmetoo]

Crazy unsophisticated leader of an economy dependent on oil, subscribes to an outdated belief system, uses a phantom war threat to consolidate his tenuous grip on power and get sweeping new powers. Chavez or Bush? At least Chavez has only alienated one ally (the USA) and made new ones (Cuba). The USA has lost almost all its allies and made none.

[Big_Bird]

Dark clouds are gathering. There's a lot of talk of Operation Bilbao these days. Are the US going to make a 4th attempt to oust Chavez? There are certainly some onimous signs.

[Big_Bird]

[Wrench]

[Big_Bird]

For those of you (and there seem to be many) who are unaware of what a serious threat Chavez is to the world as we know it, have a little read down this list. Warning: the following is not for the faint hearted. Some of the more shocking and heineous of his crimes are: free health care, wiping out illiteracy and food subsidies for mothers and pregnant woman. This man is a monster!

1. Chavez uses Venezuela��s large oil revenue to tackle the poverty of 80% of the Venezuelan population. This is a complete break with his predecessors, the Venezuelan elite and its international (mainly US) friends who enriched themselves at the expense of most Venezuelans.

2. He extends the benefits of the oil revenue to other countries in the region, providing oil at a 40% reduction payable with food and services by those who can��t afford to pay cash. Even low income people in the US have benefited: Hurricane Katrina victims and others receive cheap heating fuel from Venezuela��s US subsidiary, Citgo.

3. He has worked with Cuba on literacy and health programmes which in less than two years have succeeded in eliminating illiteracy in Venezuela, and are providing free health care for all. These programmes are now being used in other countries such as Bolivia whose governments are also intent on eliminating poverty. (But then Evo Morales, the newly elected president of Bolivia was dismissed by Rugman as a ��Chavez protege;��.)

4. He is redistributing idle land to those willing to work it, restarting agricultural production which was killed decades ago by the oil boom, in order to achieve food security for the Venezuelan population who depended on imports for 65% of its staple foods.

5. He publicly challenges attempts by the US administration – that great exporter of democracy – to bring his government down, and there have been a number, including: the April 2002 coup, defeated when millions of people, starting with women, took to the streets to demand Chavez��s return and most of the army remained loyal to the constitution; and the oil sabotage of 2002-3 which was run from the CIA offices in Caracas. There have also been assassination attempts and calls by those close to the Bush administration for his assassination (the latest was Pat Robertson). A number of those involved in the 2002 coup are now living in Miami.

6. He speaks out against the war and invasion of Afghanistan, Haiti and Iraq.

7. He has won eight elections and a presidential referendum since 1998, each time increasing his majority.

8. He can count on over 70% support according to the latest polls and is the most popular head of state in the Western hemisphere, probably in the world.

9. He acknowledges the enormous contribution of women��s unwaged caring work to society, the economy and the revolution, and has called for implementation of Article 88 of the constitution which entitles housewives to social security. In February he announced that some of the oil revenue would go to women whose hard work deserves recognition: from June the poorest housewives will receive $160 a month. About 500,000 women are expected to get this money. Article 14 of the Land Act prioritises woman-headed households for land distribution and for food subsidies for pregnant women and new mothers and their infants. In March the Women��s Development Bank celebrated its fifth anniversary: thousands of poor families have benefited from its subsidised micro-credit.
10. He promotes anti-racism and the rights of Indigenous people who have suffered most from over 500 years of first European then US imperialism, and are now entitled to resources including ancestral land, bilingual education and other recognition of their cultural autonomy.

11. He has stated more than once that the market cannot be allowed to be in charge of us because it will destroy the world, and that life is too precious to be left in the hands of such an unregulated force. He talks about ��eliminating poverty by giving power to the poor�� and ��creating a caring economy, an economy at the service of human beings, not human beings at the service of the economy��.

12. Most importantly, he plans for the involvement of the entire population most of whom are actively engaged with the revolution, especially women. He promotes direct democracy rather than representative democracy so that those elected cannot ignore the electorate and do as they please as soon as they are voted in. The poorest sectors of the population have been running the anti-poverty and health programmes; they are determined to do everything in their power to defend what they have won so far and to prevent any kind of intervention.

The list is much longer. But popularity when it is deserved earns not the respect of so-called democrats but cries of ��populism�� and ��demagogy��. It is wrong for Chavez to ��buy�� populations by funding anti-poverty reforms but perfectly OK for Bush to buy whole governments with corrupt deals and arms sales.

http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/English2006/LetterToCh4News.htm

[Manner of Speaking]

There are some interesting posts on the subject over at the General Latin America Forum:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=26922&highlight=venezuela

[Big_Bird]