Cutting an oil artery (story on Venezuela & Chavez)

[cthrumatrix]

Cutting an oil artery
The virulently anti-American president of Venezuela, the fourth largest U.S. supplier, seems intent on severing those oil ties.

By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
Published February 7, 2005

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MIAMI - It's been one of the longest-serving and most reliable oil suppliers to the United States. But for how much longer?

That's the question facing United States oil companies and the Bush administration after reports this week that Venezuela's revolutionary government is seeking to cut its U.S. oil ties.

snip

Venezuela's fiery leftist president, Hugo Chavez, has emerged in recent years as one of the harshest critics of the United States. He has repeatedly warned of his determination to reduce dependency on sales to the United States. Lately Chavez has taken to accusing the United States of "robbing" Venezuela of tax revenue, claiming that Citgo receives its gas from PdVSA at a discount.

snip

"We ought to be concerned about this," said Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, who was part of a small Senate group that traveled to Venezuela last month for a two-hour meeting with Chavez.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

snip

http://www.stpetetimes.com/2005/02/07/Business/Cutting_an_oil_artery.shtml

looks like Nelson is the "oil cabal's hitman"... maybe a few calls to his office are in order

Read Confessions of an Economic Hitmen to see how the US does business. (ST Pete Times has a review of the book in today's bus section- same link as above)http://www.sptimes.com/2005/02/07/Columns/A_hit_man_comes_clean.shtml