Chavez Calls on Venezuela to Defend Its Oil Sovereignty

[Joanne98]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on the Venezuelan people to defend the nation's oil sovereignty on his Sunday talk show Aló Presidente yesterday. Broadcasting from the former oil fields of ExxonMobil in the Orinoco River Basin, Chavez dedicated the show to the recent clash with the transnational oil company and the new projects of the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA.

"We have the reigns in our hands, and we won't ever let go of them again," said Chavez from the oil fields of the Orinoco Oil Belt that have recently been taken over by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

The President opened his Sunday TV and radio program conversing with a group of PDVSA employees at the newly nationalized oil fields. Chavez discussed with them the recent battle with the transnational oil company ExxonMobil, which has taken legal action against Venezuela in a fight to win a larger compensation for its nationalized stake in the Orinoco oil fields.

Chavez criticized the terms under which Exxon extracted oil in the region and accused the Venezuelan opposition parties of "giving away" the nation's resources when they were in power.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3170