Sunday, November 05, 2006

Venezuela

In the wake of the video scandal, in which employees of the state oil company were told to vote for him or leave their jobs, Hugo Chávez has once again raised the possibility of cutting off oil exports to the U.S. He’s done so many times before, so there is a boy crying wolf feeling to it.

"If they try to destabilize PDVSA, if the empire and its lackeys in Venezuela attempt another coup, ignore the outcome of the elections or cause election or oil-related upheaval, we won't send another drop of oil to the United States," Chavez said in a speech to PDVSA workers in the coastal city of Puerto La Cruz, 150 miles east of Caracas.

At the same time, the NYT has an article about the boom in the auto business in Venezuela, where American auto makers are increasing production at their Venezuelan plants. A few months ago, another NYT story highlighted all the many mutually beneficial capitalist relationships that exist between the U.S. and Venezuela.

The example of Cuba is there for all to see. Can a Latin American country, even one rich in oil, really afford to cut off economic ties with the U.S.? A unilateral cut in oil would trigger a host of other cuts as the U.S. would retaliate, Venezuela would counter, etc. Is Hugo Chávez really ready to take that step? He is aggressive but, I think, not irrational. Can his fear and loathing of the U.S. actually trump economic realities?

4 comments:

Anonymous,  8:50 PM  

Oh but the BBC left out the best part

"I am insulted … that we find people Ni-Ni in here, chavistas light, that there are people that say that we need to open up this thing. No sir, here the one that will forget that we are in the middle of a revolution we are going to remind him by hitting him hard ["carajazos" physical roughing up, trashing up, hitting to blood if needed] because here this company is with the President"

If you want to see the video visit this link:

http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/2006/11/video-of-ramirez-starts-hitting.html

The trascript:

http://venezuela-digital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12548

BTW, are you familiar with the Maisanta list?

Greg Weeks 8:29 AM  

Yes, though not much more than the basics. Certainly, it exists, but the question is whether it is being used as much as everyone claims for nefarious purposes.

Anonymous,  11:21 AM  

Provea, a human rights organization in Venezuela has documented over a thousand people who have lost their job due to the list. About 800 cases have been presented to the OAS. People also have lost work contracts and denied passports for having signed. There is a documentary on google video called "La lista".

BTW if you want a copy of the database I'll be happy to send you a copy (I can pay postage) you need about 3GB free on your hard drive and run Windows.

Greg Weeks 1:01 PM  

I don't need to see the list--more interesting would be the OAS response.

  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP