Speaking at a stadium packed with supporters in central Lara state, Chavez said he would hold a referendum to put the question of his remaining in office to Venezuelans if the opposition pulls out of upcoming presidential elections.
"I am going to ask you, all the people, if you agree with Chavez being president until 2031," he said. ....................***
"The government should just keep its mouth shut," said Mazhar al-Shereidah, an Iraqi who teaches oil economics at Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. "Can you imagine the oil minister of Saudi Arabia talking so much to the press?"
Loyalists at PDVSA
Although ChevronTexaco signed a letter of intent to invest $6 billion in a new heavy oil project in the Orinoco basin, Venezuela has showed little interest in the project. No new petroleum deals have gone forward since Chavez took office.
Questions also surround PDVSA, which used to be considered one of the top state-run oil companies in the world.
.......A 30-year employee, Salazar is one of the few veterans left at PDVSA. During the nine-week national strike that tried to force Chavez from office in 2003, the president fired 19,000 oil workers for joining the work stoppage. The strike failed, mainly because key PDVSA supervisors remained on the job, including Salazar.
Chavez then packed PDVSA with loyalists.
"We are the new Venezuelan heroes," said Armando Lopez, who helps runs an offshore platform that loads oil tankers at Venezuela's port of Jose.
Today, some PDVSA workers wear Lance Armstrong-style wristbands with the phrase "Bolivarian Revolution," a reference to the Chavez movement named for Simon Bolivar, the 19th-century South American liberator.
Even pipelines carry pro-Chavez graffiti.
Trouble for joint ventures?
But political fervor sometimes seems to outstrip technical know-how, said Victor Poleo, a Caracas oil analyst.
PDVSA workers used to average about 15 years on the job, but since the strike, that number has dropped to about four years. A recent report in the Caracas daily El Nacional said that nine PDVSA workers had been killed in fires and explosions at refineries over the past six months, an unprecedented number, Poleo said.
"This country lives on oil, but its best people are gone," Poleo said. ..........