Posted on 02/29/2004 8:18:35 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
(Please note that paragraph 7 contains language that may be offensive to some readers)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the U.S. government Sunday that if it tried to invade Venezuela or impose a trade blockade against his country, he would shut off Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States.
Although the context Chavez gave was hypothetical, it was the first time the outspoken Venezuelan leader had publicly mentioned the possibility of cutting off oil supplies to the United States.
Venezuela is among the four top suppliers of crude and oil products to the U.S. market.
The left-wing Venezuelan leader made the warning in a fiery speech to supporters in which he accused U.S. President Bush's administration of backing opposition attempts to oust him from the presidency of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
"Mr. Bush must know that if he gets the mad idea of trying to blockade Venezuela, or, even worse, of invading Venezuela, if that happened, the people of the United States should know that not a drop of oil would reach them from Venezuela, not a drop more," Chavez told tens of thousands of cheering supporters.
Ties between Washington and Caracas have been badly strained by U.S. criticism of Chavez's rule, and his sharp condemnation of U.S. policies. But the Venezuelan government has always insisted it will remain a secure oil supplier to the United States.
In his speech, Chavez also called Bush an "asshole" for, he said, supporting a short-lived coup in 2002 that briefly toppled him.
The U.S. government has repeatedly dismissed as false and "not serious" accusations by the populist president that Washington is supporting efforts to topple him. His opponents accuse him of blocking a bid by them to secure a recall referendum against him this year.
Chavez said that if the U.S. government tried to confiscate Venezuelan oil refineries in the United States, run by the Citgo affiliate of the state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), he could do the same to U.S. oil operations in his country.
"There are plenty of American installations here," he said.
Chavez said U.S. oil magnates were manipulating Bush "like a puppet" and added the United States wanted to "get its hands on PDVSA."
The Venezuelan president has tightened his government's nationalistic political control over PDVSA since the company was rocked by a strike by employees in December 2002 and January 2003 that badly disrupted oil production and exports.
More than 18,000 PDVSA workers who joined the strike were fired by Chavez, who replaced them with soldiers and loyal personnel.
Venezuela's government says oil output has been restored to pre-strike levels of above 3 million barrels per day (bpd). But fired PDVSA managers opposed to the president say production is running well below this.
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