Chavez Says U.S. Thirst for Oil Lies Behind Tension With Washington

[cal04]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday attributed tensions between his government and Washington to a U.S. thirst for control of his country's oil.
Chavez praised his government's cooperative oil projects Petrosur and Petrocaribe, which sell Venezuelan fuel to neighboring countries under preferential terms.

"We want to share our oil and gas reserves with the nations of the Caribbean, the nations of Central America, the nations of South America," Chavez said, speaking by phone to an inaugural ceremony for the regional TV channel Telesur.
"What is it the United States wants?" Chavez said. He said through conflict with his government, U.S. leaders want "to assure themselves those resources to support their irrational model of development, which at the same time means underdevelopment and misery for the majority of the world's people."

Faced with that U.S. policy, Chavez said, "We say no." He reiterated, however, that Venezuela intends to keep selling fuel to the United States. Despite political tensions, Venezuela remains a major oil supplier to the United States. The South American country is the world's No. 5 oil exporter. Chavez has repeatedly accused U.S. President George W. Bush's government of being behind efforts to topple him, including a short-lived 2002 coup. U.S. officials have repeatedly denied it. "We want to keep supporting the American people to the point that we can, supplying them energy, but not only to large U.S. companies, or the established power in Washington," Chavez said.

Chavez said Venezuela has oil reserves of more than 300,000 million barrels, which can partly be used to support development in Latin America. "This is very important because there are many citizens across our Latin America who don't have electricity," Chavez said. "There are entire cities that suffer blackouts. There is an energy crisis in the world." Chavez's opponents have accused him of selling oil under preferential terms to build political alliances. He has defended his government's oil deals, saying they benefit Venezuela as well as the region.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBH0XRTJBE.html

[Cha]

1. I believe that!

And someday the world is gonna know it.

[indepat]

2. How dare Chavez sell oil under preferential terms to build political

alliances. The very idea he thinks he can act independently. That man is asking for a comeuppance and might have to be taught a few lessons the hard way.

[Rose Siding]

3. "to support their irrational model of development"

Sometimes this guy just NAILS it

[meganmonkey]

4. And he's right

That thirst for oil, and that successful government.

Damn those Venezuelans! ;)

[Greyhound]

5. Can we take bets on how long it will take them to kill him?

They will. Absolutely.

recommended.

[hippiechick]

10. They've been trying for over 2 years already ...

... but Chavez's peeps are watching his back.
They know what they're dealing with.

[johannes1984]

6. you know something is wrong

when the president of venzuala sounds wiser at the ways of policy , than the president of the US of A....

A luxembourgh commentator speaking about chavez and his social sec. policy


Which reminds me we're going to be broadcasting burger king ads into poor venezuela soon enough now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4713361.stm

i wondered why in the world he would start structuring a natl guard system .....but who knows they might .....unleash the force of the MSM ,....the poor don quixote reading bastards would be powerless

[Peace Patriot]

7. Recommended! We really need to keep on top of the Venezuela story!

The Bush Cartel used OUR MONEY to support the anti-Chavez rich oil elite in their absurd and wasteful and spiteful Recall election. Chavez, who is hugely popular and who helped write Venezuela's first Constitution, won it hands down, in the most monitored election in history (dozens of international election groups, all whom said he won it fair and square). If people like Bolton had their way, Chavez would be dead, and a military dictatorship would be installed, to funnel all the oil to the U.S., through the greedy hands of the rich few (to keep their Jaguars serviced).

However, I feel that the Venezuelan revolution--which is peaceful, democratic and fair--is very solidly rooted, and would survive even the loss of Chavez. Indeed, it is an example to us all. Imagine having an election scrutinized by every elections group in the world, and have it declared fair and square! Yes, we could learn from Venezuela! Imagine some of our own rich natural resources actually benefiting the poor, as well as the middle class and the rich. Imagine fairness, combined with respect for ingenuity, creativity and individualism. Chavez is using some of the oil profits to seed small businesses--and also to establish schools, medical clinics and community centers, among Venezuela's vast poor population which has never been served by government, and has never seen any benefit from Venezuela's oil riches.

Imagine that!

I was struck by this sentence in the above article: "Chavez's opponents have accused him of selling oil under preferential terms to build political alliances."

And that is bad? He and Venezuela's vast poor population don't need political alliances? He shouldn't be leveraging the oil for fair trade, justice and equity? He should be using it instead to suck up to the mass murderers and massive thieves in Washington DC? Yup, that's what the oil elite would have him do. That's what THEY would do.

Thank God the people of Venezuela have established democracy at last! Long live the peaceful, equitable, and long dreamed of Bolivarian Revolution!

[dansolo]

8. As if we didn't do the same thing

How many countries did we have to bribe to become part of the "Coalition of the Willing"?

[sintax]

9. The Pentagon -The Vampire

The bloodthirsty Pentagon requires this oil as the worlds largest user of fuel. It is a self perpetuating feedback loop. The oil is their lifeblood that kills everything in sight.

An F-16 uses more fuel in one hours flight than the average US motorist uses in two years. The US Navy uses 16% of the Worlds diesel fuel.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Chicago Democrat]

11. Viva Chavez!!

Darling of all true leftists!


(incl. me)

[Demeter]

12. Say Rather A Taste For Grinding Others Into The Dirt

if you aren't part of BushCo, like a wholy owned subsidiary, dirt is all you'll ever be, or should be, in their eyes.

[Matilda]

13. He's right of course.

He has so much courage to stand up to Washington, but I fear for him.

I hope he has a good deputy who is prepared to step in if the worst
happens and continue his policies.

[applegrove]

14. This seems to be the century when we will find our leaders in the

Southern Hemisphere. The Neocons in the West or corrupt elites who cannot see straight.

[Sgent]

15. Countries

Countries don't have allies or enemy's, they have interests.

What is Venezula's interest in providing low cost oil to Carribbean/Latin America?

[applegrove]

16. There interest is now to get the best price for oil they can and not

let big US Oil demand all the profits. Chavez wants this so he can redistribute the money.

The oil will run out in the next 50 years. Who do you want that money to go to? The elite? Or into education, diversification of the economy & reducing poverty with some rich people still making money if they invest wisely & don't break the rule of law of the country?

Cause when the oil is gone - it is gone.

What would you do?

[K-W]

21. Nations dont really have interests either, but

The interest of the Venezualan government is to build up cooperation between south and central American countries, so that they can support each other in establishing self-determination.

They want to provide an alternative to US lead integration which is of course a top down integration that suits the US purposes.

[Massacure]

17. Is Chavez including tar sands in that 300 billion barrels of oil?

Cause Saudi Arabia only has 80 billion barrels if I recall. The problem with tar sands is that they are expensive and ecologically destructive.

[rman]

18. i think so yes

don't have a source at hand but as much was mentioned recently in another article on Venezuelan oil.

[johannes1984]

20. yeah that's part of the deal

Venezuala has very rough and coarse quality oil

[4_TN_TITANS]

19. He really does nail it....

"their irrational model of development.." The whole American lifestyle revolves around that black gold. What a shocker it will be someday without paved roads or gasoline to navigate the urban srawls.

Why can't we have a leader like this?

[wallwriter]

22. Hey. Doesn't Chavez have WMD's??

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

24. Not sure. But he is complicit in the

global sex-trade industry. I know so, cause the chimperor told me so.

So there...